It's Magic

It is the last 22nd century, and "dream" carsers as we know them - being a showbiz personality or a pop star (or both) are no longer appealing to the World's youth: who now see their futures as recognised magicians as a much more exciting prospect.

There is only one way of being accepted as a true magician, and this is achieved by joining the elite band who became known as The International Union Of Magicians.

However, the Union were quick to spot potential danger. A sudden unparalleled influx of semi-skilled school leavers would surely leave them vulnerable to a takeover by fringe magicians. And so, an emergency meeting was called whereby new strict entry regulations were introduced. Each year all interested school leavers will be given the opportunity of gaining a nomination for membership - achieved by learning the fourteen basic spells as quickly as possible - and from the nominees a handful of new members will be selected at an annual banquet.

You play one such ambitious school leaver. Once you have gained knowledge of the fourteen spells, you will be given a password for part two, where you should attempt to reach The Magicians' Ball. Note, however, that reaching your destination will not necessarily guarantee you a place in the Union!

Playing The Game

To play this adventure, just enter a command when ready, and then press RETURN. Commands can be simple words like LOOK, or phrases such as DROP THE PEN AND THE CUP. For a full list of the action words you can use in each part of the adventure, type WORDS.

There are some special commands to be found in the game. These are outlined below:

SAVE and LOAD. These commands allow you to save your current position to cassette and call it back at any time.

STORE and RECALL perform the save and load function to and from memory, and so are quicker than a cassette save but the STOREd position is lost when you finish a playing session.

R or REPEAT. This performs the last understood command again.

STATUS has a slightly different function in each part. In part 1 this will tell you all of the spells that you have fully learnt, and also list those currently in effect. In part 2, as you have learnt all of the spells, this is replaced by a statement telling you if you're inside or outside.

The game also understands IT, which can be used in place of an object just referred to.

Note that you may enter more than one command at once, just separate each one by a comma or full stop. e.g. NORTH, EXAMINE LAMP, GET IT, INV (RETURN)

Loading

Tape: *RUN (RETURN)

In part two only, pressing and releasing the Spacebar will alter the magician's workrate.

For successful loading, you should play the tape fairly loud.