Introduction

In A Mazing World Of Malcom Mortar, you become B. Rick, the apprentice bricklayer, working at the renovation site of a huge mansion.

Under the weight of a load of bricks and dynamite for the grizzled master bricklayer in the basement, you wind your way down through a myriad of passages. Suddenly, there's a shout from your ill-tempered foreman, the deafening crash of breaking masonry above, and the awareness of a searing pain in your head. For a moment, everything goes completely black.

Then a scuffling sound down the corridor focuses your attention and the fog slowly lifts from your mind. You push the fallen rubble aside, stand up and look around in astonishment; the mansion has become sinister and labyrinthine. Again you hear a shuffling sound and turn just in time to see a strange, fuzzy creature armed with poisoned quills jump out from behind a corner. Running down the corridor, you somehow know this is all a creation of your unconscious mind. The bearded master bricklayer is now a hostile fuzzy creature, the mansion is now an endless series of mazes, and your foreman has become the evil Malcom Mortar, Master of the Mansion Maze.

Objectives

Play begins at the entrance to the lair of the evil Malcom Mortar, and it is within this lair that you will attempt to construct a trap for him. The lair itself is a great cavernous hall filled only with brick pillars. By laying magic bricks between these pillars, which are picked up during your ventures through the mazes, you create a maze of your own within which you must trap the evil Master to win.

As you pass through the trap door at the lair's exit, you will drop into your first maze. Three such mazes must be successfully traversed before you will again find the entrance to the lair, and each succeeding set of mazes will escalate the level of difficulty.

Every maze has a single main hall between its entrance and exit from which many winding passages, rooms, and dead ends branch. To successfully traverse a maze, you must discover the main hall and then trap the Borehead and all the fuzzy creatures in its adjoining passages. When the Borehead and all Fuzzies have been trapped, and the main hall is clear of bricks from entrance to exit, the trap door at the exit will open allowing you to pass to the next round.

B. Rick

B. Rick, the apprentice bricklayer, needs your help! In order to recover from the blow to his head, he must trap all the creature in Malcom's sinister world, including Malcom himself. You must direct B. Rick through the various mazes, and trap all the creatures using bricks, magic bricks and, if necessary, dynamite.

Controlling B. Rick Using A Joystick

If using joystick, this is used to direct B. Rick through the mazes. Moving it partially up, down, left or right will correspondingly alter the direction that he is facing. Moving it to the extreme up, down, left or right will move him in that direction.

Other controls in this mode include:

F1 (or Fire Button) - To build a brick wall
F2 - To convert a brick wall to a permanent wall
SPACE - To drop a stick of dynamite

Bricks, Brick Walls and Permanent Walls

Brick walls are built using bricks from the brick pile. Picking up the single grey-coloured brick when it appears in the maze adds a number of bricks to the pile equal to five plus the current game level. If B. Rick is ever caught in the maze without bricks, either in the brick pile or in the maze, then the trap door at the exit can never be opened and the game ends.

To build a brick wall, position B. Rick so that he is looking toward the area where the wall is to be placed and press the fire button (or the F1 key). A brick wall will appear on the display in grey and one brick will be removed from the brick pile. Brick walls can be used both offensively and defensively and may be destroyed by dynamite.

To build a permanent wall, position B. Rick so that he is looking at a grey brick wall and press F2. The grey brick wall will change to a permanent red wall and one brick will be removed from the brick pile. Permanent walls can only be used offensively and may not be destroyed once they are created. If B. Rick ever traps himself behind a permanent wall or builds a permanent wall in the main hall, then the trap door at the exit can never be opened and the game ends.

Dynamite

Dynamite may be used to destroy brick wals that were placed either inadvertently or as a defence against attacking Fuzzies. Picking up the single red stick of dynamite when it appears in the maze adds a number of sticks to the dynamite pile equal to the current game level.

To destroy a brick wall using dynamite, position B. Rick so that he is beside and facing in the direction of the brick wall you want to destroy and press SPACE. A burning stick of dynamite will appear on the wall - then explode and destroy it. If B. Rick is ever trapped behind a brick wall without dynamite, either in the dynamite pile or in the maze, then the trap door at the exit can never be opened and the game ends.

Permanent and magic brick walls cannot be destroyed by dynamite.

Magic Bricks and Magic Brick Walls

Magic brick walls are built using bricks from the magic brick pile. Picking up the single yellow brick when it appears in the maze adds one brick to the pile.

To construct a magic brick wall, position B. Rick so that he is facing the area where the wall is to be placed and press the fire button (or the F1 key). A yellow brick wall will appear on the display and the magic brick pile will be reduced by one brick. Magic brick walls may only be built between pillars or between a pillar and a wall of Malcom's lair. All bricks in the magic brick pile must be laid in the lair before the exit door will open and allow B. Rick to pass to the next round.

Fuzzies

Fuzzies are the malevolent servants of the evil Malcom Mortar who single-mindedly hunt the mazes for B. Rick and, upon finding him, attack by throwing their poison quills. If R. Brick is hit by a quill, your score is reduced by an amount dependent on the current game level. The number of Fuzzies in a maze also increases with the current game level.

In addition to averting their attacks, B. Rick must trap each of the Fuzzies in one of the rooms or passages adjoining the main hall before the exit door will open to allow him to pass to the next round.

The Borehead

The Borehead is the mechanical minion of Malcom Mortar created by his master to roam the mazes in search of trapped Fuzzies who it frees by boring through the brick walls entrapping them. Timid and fearful of B. Rick, he will avoid B. Rick whenever possible.

As with the Fuzzies, the Borehead must be trapped in a room or passage adjoining the main hall before the exit door will open allowing B. Rick to pass to the next round.

Malcom Mortar

Malcom Mortar is the master of the mansion mazes, and it is within his lair that the ultimate contest is waged between he and B. Rick. His sole intent is to inflict his fatal touch on B. Rick. At the same time, B. Rick must construct a trap of magic brick walls around Malcom while averting Malcom's attacks.

The Game Screen

The game screen is divided into two portions, the Maze Display and the Scoreboard display.

The Maze Display, making up the left portion of the game screen, provides your window into the action taking place within the maze.

The Scoreboard Display is found in the right portion of the game screen and contains the following:

• your current score
• your current brick count
• your current dynamite count
• your current magic brick count

Getting Started

Ensure the Color Computer 3 is off. Insert the Program Pak. label side up, into the slot on the right side of the computer.

If using a joystick, connect it to the right joystick port on the back of the computer.

Turn on the computer. The game screen of A Mazing World Of Malcom Mortar appears.

Game Controls

The game initialises for use of an RGB analog color monitor and a joystick. You can configure it with the following keys:

M - Change monitor type (RGB/Television)
J/K - Joystick/Keyboard, S - Toggle Sound, ALT - Toggle Pause, BREAK/FIRE - Start Game

Scoring

Each time you succeed in leaving a maze, you are awarded points.

The following table describes how many points you receive:

To win the game, you must trap Malcom in his lair by building an enclosure of magic bricks, leading Malcom to the enclosure, getting out, and finally, sealing Malcom in.

If you succeed in winning the game, you will receive bonus points for using the least amount of magic bricks. The bonus starts at 5,000 points, and decreases by 50 points for each magic brick used. If your resulting score is highter than the current high score displayed, your score will become the high score.