The Game

I learned today that I am to be the subject of a computer game. The object of the game is to make me popular with everyone, which sounds dead brilliant. Apparently they've written an enormous programme containing 200 kilos of text, which Brainbox Henderson says is a lot. Now everyone else can have a go at coping with all the problems that beset me over an entire year of my life.

It's an illustrated text game, which means you have artistic pictures to look at while you ponder about what to do next. So have a go, and see what it's like being a budding intellectual and poet who has to cope with my family, friends and the dog. Then you'll know what I have to put up with. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Introduction

Playing this game will take you through a year in the life of Adrian Mole. When you have loaded the first part of the game, following the instructions under the heading Loading, you will see that, as you progress through the days in Adrian's diary, you will be asked to make choices for Adrian. Press a number from 1 to 3 to choose one of the options suggested. Pressing key number 4 will display the command and help system menu. This gives a list of the additional features in the game and full instructions on how to use them.

The Game

Adrian is a worrier. The problems of existence hit him hard. Spots, bits of him that won't keep stil, the cracks in his parents' marriage, all prey heavily upon his mind. There are some consolations.

A fourteen-year-old feminist, an eight-nine-year-old chain smoker and his spoilt best friend all help to lift the gloomy introspection of Mole's moods.

Mole believes he is an intellectual. He is dogged by ill-health as well as by an infuriatingly ever-present pet dog, and by a catalogue of misfortunes familiar to anyone over the age of thirteen.

The aim of the game is to make Adrian as popular as possible with everyone - family, friends, and the dog! At regular points in the game your score will appear on the screen to indicate how well you are doing. (You can aim to make Adrian as unpopular as possible and see how low a score you can achieve!)

The results of your actions may not be immediately obvious. It won't necessarily pay to overdo things: for example, being too neat and tidy might arouse his mother's guilt feelings.

There are a number of random elements in the game and your course through the troubled path of adolescence may vary every time you play.

If you have already read Sue Townsend's books The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole and The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole, you will find some characters you have met before and a number of familiar scenes. But, if you haven't yet read the books, you'll still be able to play the game - and knowing the books won't necessarily give you an advantage: in the game, familiar scenes may well have a new twist.

Saving Your Position

While playing the game, you can save your current position. To do this, insert a spare, blank cassette in the recorder.

Type 4 instead of 1-3 when asked to make a decision on behalf of Adrian Mole. This will display the command and help system on the screen. Press RECORD, type SAVE (RETURN) and follow any on-screen messages.

Loading Your Position

To load a saved game position, you must be playing the same program of the game you were playing when you saved your position (i.e. that program must be loaded). Remove the game cassette from the recorder and replace it with the one used to save the position earlier.

Type 4 instead of 1-3 when asked to make decision on behalf of Adrian Mole. This will display the command and help system on the screen. Type LOAD (RETURN) and follow any on-screen messages.

Loading

CHAIN"" (RETURN)

The game consists of a number of separate programs. Each program covers a few months of Adrian's life. When playing the game, press SHIFT to continue when the game pauses.

When you read the end of a program, a message on the screen will ask you if you want to go on to the next program. Type YES and press RETURN.

Game Credits

Programmed by Pete Austin Pictures by James Horsler