A&B Computing


Treasure Hunt

Categories: Description: Game

 
Author: Jonathan Copus
Published in A&B Computing 6.01

Most computer games are like an England cricket team - only one or two people can actually play. But this one works best as a team effort. For a Christmas party, it's a real cracker

Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is a kind of quiz for you to set your party guests, and sends them scurrying off around your home on a tantalising treasure trail. You won't be able to take part, of course, because you'll know the answers, having typed them in - or, better still, made them up.

You can just key in the program and RUN it - provided you place strategically around your abode some apples, dates, Turkish delight, a Christmas cracker and some logs by the fireside. If you can't manage any one of these, simply change the figure in the relevant DATA statement to 130. And don't forget to put a little gift for each guest in the fridge - anything from a bar of chocolate upwards. Mine's a bottle of Scotch. Oh all right, then, a miniature.

The Personal Touch

It's much better, though, to personalise the proceedings, in two ways.

First, you can substitute the names of your guests - or even your address - in lines 320 to 340. A maximum of twelve characters per line is allowed. And then the real idea is for you to make up your own clues to suit both your domicile and your guests' special interests. Just follow the format:

DATA Clue, colour number, ANSWER (this last one in capitals).

The colour number is 130 for a "BRAIN STRANGLER" (which you can solve by sheer mental might) and 133 for a "SEARCH CLUE" (where you have to go looking for the answer). Each clue can have a maximum of eight lines, with up to thirty-four characters (but no figures) per line. Don't forget that if you want to include a comma in the clue, you have to put that part in double quotes - as in line 3470, for example.

The only thing to remember when inserting your own clues is that the answer to the one in the last DATA statement also has to be used in line 230.

It's best if the "SEARCH CLUES" can only be solved by exercising the legs, and not just the grey matter. Unfortunately this isn't the case with the examples in the program, because they obviously had to be of a general nature. But your clues could point to a particular book, say, or the picture of Aunt Maude you use to hide that hole in the wallpaper.

Talking of Aunt Maude, even she can take a turn at the keyboard, because PROCinput ensures you can only type the answers in capitals. Pressing BREAK will restore your machine to normal, of course.

By the way, if you don't get the one about the Communist French town, pour yourself a glass of Red Bordeaux. Cheers!

Procedures

Input
ensures all input is in CAPS

title
prints the title page

instr
prints the instructions

guess
the main guessing loop

sta
prints names letter by letter

gun
makes firing sound

jingle
plays "Jingle Bells"

rest
plays silence!

delay
provides a pause

head
prints the heading

big
prints big letters

space
waits for SPACE BAR to be pressed

wrong
reports wrong answer

huh
makes "oh-oh" sound

right
congratulates on right answer

round
explains sound effects!

hurra
organises applause and fanfare

clap
makes clapping sound

fan
sounds fanfare

return
prints reminder to press RETURN

clue
prints answer letter by letter

ohwell
gives comfort after failure!

fin
prints final clue and farewell

brain
identifies BRAIN STRANGLER

search
identifies SEARCH clue

holly
prints sprig of holly

sprig
prints line of sprigs

Jonathan Copus

This article was converted to a web page from the following pages of A&B Computing 6.01.

A&B Computing 6.01 scan of page 84

Page 84

A&B Computing 6.01 scan of page 85

Page 85

A&B Computing 6.01 scan of page 86

Page 86