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1991-08-23
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OUTBURST - THE GAME OF TOPICS
COPYRIGHT 1986 HERSCH & COMPANY
OUTBURST is a game of topics. Each question has a Topic CATEGORY and
ten TARGET ANSWERS. This demo version is for one or two players, but the
registered version is for up to four players. You can also play in teams,
if you like.
The object is for you or your team (hereafter referred to as just "you")
to attempt to guess as many of the TARGET ANSWERS as possible. You receive
one point for each TARGET ANSWER you give.
A few words of advice for this game:
THIS GAME IS UNFAIR!
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE MORE THAN TEN APPROPRIATE ANSWERS FOR
A TOPIC. YOU MAY THINK OF ONE THAT IS NOT ON THE LIST.
TOOOOO BAD!
TO PARAPHRASE ONE FORMER GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL,
"YOU NO MAKKA THE GAME, YOU NO MAKKA THE RULES!"
YOUR GOAL IS TO TRY TO MATCH THE TEN TARGET ANSWERS FOR THE TOPIC AS
CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE.
MAYBE YOU'VE GOT A GREAT ANSWER... BUT IF IT'S NOT ONE OF THE TARGET
ANSWERS, THAT'S THE WAY THE COOKIE CRUMBLES (IN OTHER WORDS, TOUGH!) .
STARTING THE GAME
-----------------
Type OUTBURST to start the game. After a few seconds, the title screen
will appear. Hit any key to go on.
Next pick whether you want sound or not. The default is 'Y' (Yes), so
if you want sound you can just hit enter. If you don't want sound, hit 'N'.
(If later you want to change the sound on or off, hit F2 on the main screen
when asked for a TARGET answer (see below).
Your next screen will ask if you want to play against the computer or
another person. Use the arrow keys and select the one you want by hitting
enter.
You now enter your name. After entering your name, a level menu will
appear. The times are how much time you are given to try to guess the TARGET
answers. Level 1 is the easiest, 10 the hardest. If you are playing against
another person, enter that person's name and level. The levels can be
different so you can handicap if one person is better than the other one.
If you are playing against the computer, select the level you want
the computer to run. The computer always has thirty seconds, because it
doesn't need to type the questions in and it thinks a little faster.
On the average, the computer's level determines how many TARGET answers
it will get.
For example, on Level 1 the computer has a 60% chance of getting one
TARGET answer, but only a 1% of getting four TARGET answers right. On
Level 5, the computer has a 60% chance of getting five answers right and
a 1% chance to get eight answers right. But on Level 10, the computer
has a 40% chance to get nine answers right and a 40% chance to get all ten
TARGET answers right! So if you think you're good, try Level 10.
SCOREBOARD
----------
The next screen that appears is the scoreboard. Your score is shown
by a horizontal bar (right now on 0) and also on the right in numerical
form. To win the game, you must get sixty points. If both people are above
sixty, the one who is highest, wins. If one person scores sixty or higher
and the other person hasn't played, that person gets to finish their turn.
The scoreboard will show after each round, where a round is when all persons
have each completed their categories. Hit any key to go on.
The computer will now load in all of the topics it has into memory. All
topics are picked at random and it is set up so that as long as it doesn't
run out of topics, there will be no repeats in a full sixty-point game.
MAIN SCREEN
-----------
After loading in all of the topics, the main screen will appear. This
is the screen where you enter in the TARGET answers to the categories.
The main screen consists of a top portion, a middle portion, and a
bottom portion. The top portion shows the category that the player is
answering and the ten blanks where hopefully, you will answer. When you
answer one of them correctly, it will print in the top portion. You get
one point for each correct answer you get, up to ten points. Also, you can
get bonus points for getting the special TARGET answer (see bonus points
below).
The middle portion is where you enter what you think will be a TARGET
answer. Type in the answer you think is right and hit enter. If it matches
one of the TARGET answers, a bell sounds and the answer appears in the number
that it was assigned to. If you want to turn the sound on or off, hit the
<F2> key at this point (you don't have to hit enter). If you can't seem to
understand the category and want a little help, hit <F1>.
The TARGET answer #1 will appear (if you already haven't answered it) to
give you a clue (of course, you do not get a point for this answer). Keep on
entering answers until your time runs out. If you just can't think of any
more and there's still time left, you can hit <Esc> to exit out of the question.
The bottom portion shows your time left in two ways. First is the time
format after the 'Time Remaining:'. When it reaches one minute, it will turn
yellow, and at ten seconds, red. The second is a time bar below showing a
graphical representation of your time left. Each character block is equal
to two seconds. Also, your number of passes remaining will be shown (see
passing below).
PASSING
-------
The first thing you see when the main screen appears is a window showing
your category for this round and it asks if you want to play it. If the
category seems too hard or you don't want to play it, you can pass it. You
can pass up to three categories in a full game. If you pass, another
category is picked that you must play. The other team has to play the
category you passed on when it is their turn, so there could be a little
strategy in this.
BONUS POINTS
------------
After selecting your category, the category will print on top and
another window will appear in the bottom half of your screen. It shows
what the TARGET answer will be (random 2 to 10) and how many bonus points
it is worth (random 1 to 3).
The TARGET answer number is in red and if you answer that number the
answer will print in red there will be a different bell sound. If the
TARGET answer happens to be the only one you answer, you can still possibly
get four points for this round. If you can answer all ten, you could get
up to thirteen points for the round. Hit any key to start.
ENTERING ANSWERS
----------------
See (Main Screen) middle portion above on how to enter answers. You and
the other player will continue until one or both of you has reached sixty
points. The Topics can be broad or specific. Sometimes it can be just as
hard to pick the ten answers when there are ten possibilities as when there
are fifty possibilities. An average score of 5 per question is really good.
Function keys you can use while entering answers:
<F1> - Clue
<F2> - Sound
<F10> - Quit Game (will show scoreboard before quitting game)
(can only quit game when a player (not computer) is entering answers)
ENDING GAME
-----------
When one or both of you have reached sixty points, the scoreboard will
print "Winner!!!!!!" to the right of the one who has won and a message will
appear at the bottom showing who won. If you want to play again, hit enter.
If you don't hit "N".
REGISTERED VERSION
------------------
This partial version has fifty-one topics and is one or two players.
If you would like the full version (1.0) which has two hundred topics and
up to four players are able to play, send $20 (this includes shipping and
taxes) to the address listed below. A topics editor, specially developed
for this game, is available for $20 (again, includes shipping and taxes,
to the address below), where you can write your own topics. If you want
to send your own topics, I would greatly welcome them (place them in an
ASCII file on disk or a printout). If I use at least fifty of your topics
in a later version, I will give you the next version free. Just send them
to the address below. If you have any suggestions or comments, I would
love to hear from you.
Place the Topics in this format:
Category: ________________________________ (limit 60 characters)
1: ________________________________ (limit 30 characters)
2: ________________________________
3: ________________________________
4: ________________________________
5: ________________________________
6: ________________________________
7: ________________________________
8: ________________________________
9: ________________________________
10: ________________________________
Address : Greg Westgate
The Software Doctors
5100 FoxRidge Drive Apt. #1113
Mission, KS 66202-1586
(913) 236-5484
To borrow a phrase from some famous wine cooler sellers,
"Thanks for your support!"
Greg Westgate