Countdown

Ever wanted to see how you would perform as a contestant on Countdown? Well, here's your chance!

Based closely on the highly successful and long-running TV show, this game has been specially created for the home computer.

Pit your wits against the Countdown clock as you race to win each round. You can play against friends, family or, if you prefer to play alone, challenge the computer!

Thousands of words are contained in the program "dictionary", so draw up a chair and prepare yourself for Countdown.

The Game

Countdown is a version of the successful TV words and numbers game adapted for popular home computers. the game includes an in-built dictionary containing thousands of words and may be played as a one or two player game.

The game consists of nine separate rounds of Number and Word (Anagram) games. The aim of the game is to score as many points as you can.

Any mistakes made can be altered with the DELETE key.

Before starting, someone must be the Dictionary Master (so arm yourself with a Dictionary) because in the Anagram section if the computer cannot find a particular word, the players will be asked if they are sure that the word is valid. The Dictionary Master will have to decide. You will need some paper and pens.

Remember that you have a time limit when entering your answers, so be quick!

The 1st Round is an Anagram Game - Player 1 selects 9 Vowels or Consonants (by pressing the 'V' or 'C' keys at the bottom of the keyboard). Once all nine letters have been chosen the Players have a 30 second Countdown, during which they attempt to make up the longest word that they can from their selection of nine letters.

When the Countdown has ended, both players are prompted to enter their words on the keyboard, followed by RETURN. The words are checked against the computer's own dictionary. If the computer cannot find a particular word, they will be asked to consult the Dictionary Master who will be aksed to press Y for a valid word and N if it is incorrect. The player with the longer valid word gets 1 point for each letter in his word.

At the end of the round, the computer will display the best word that it could obtain.

Rounds 2 and 3 are the same as Round 1, except that Players take it in alternate turns to choose the letters.

The 4th Round is a Numbers game. Here, Player 2 chooses six numbers from four rows. The 1st row contains four large numbers (all between 25 and 100), and the other rows have small numbers, all less than 10. When choosing how many numbers to take, the player uses the number keys at the top of the keyboard, followed by RETURN (the computer shows how many numbers are allowed, in brackets after the 'How many do you want from row...' prompt at the bottom of the screen.

Once the six numbers have been chosen, they are displayed in six boxes at the top of the screen. You will then be asked to 'Press any key to spin CECIL'. Cecil will choose a random number, and you will then have 30 seconds to get this number by adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. You *do not* have to use all the numbers.

At time up, both players will be prompted to enter the figures that they managed to get, by using the number keys followed by RETURN.

The players will then have to enter their calculations, one operation at a time as follows:

"number operator number = result" e.g. "10 + 2 = 12" (RETURN)

until they reach their target number (displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the screen)

The computer will only accept calculations in this format and will not allow invalid calculations - i.e. operations where the result will be negative, greater than 999 or a fraction. If you do not reach your target number, your attempt will be disqualified.

The player whose result is closed to CECIL's target number gets seven points. If neither player can get close, Cevil displays how the calculation should be done, line by line.

After the Numbers Round, there are thre more Anagram Rounds, with players again taking turns to choose vowel or consonant. The next round is another Numbers Round, followed by the Countdown Conundrum.

In this final round, both players have 30 seconds to unravel a nine letter anagram. The first player to spot the word gets 10 points. Player 1 presses the 'A' key to stop the clock, and Player 2 presses the 'L' key. If you stop the clock, you must immediately type in what you think the anagram is. If you are wrong, then the other player has the rest of the countdown to try and work it out - so be careful!

At the end of the game, the final scores are displayed along with the winner's name. Press 'Y' to play again, or 'N' to stop the program.

Loading

Tape: CHAIN"" (RETURN)
Disc: Hold SHIFT and tap BREAK

On loading, the title screen is displayed. Press any key to continue.

Both players are prompted for their names, which are entered on the keyboard, followed by RETURN (for a one-player game, press RETURN when asked for Player 2's name. You must score as many points as you can, and try to beat the computer's best words and calculations).