¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢ PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE¢ by Jack Gedalius¢¢ January--February, 1998¢¢ Wow! Another year has gone by. We¢ hope that the new one will bring¢ health and happiness to all!¢¢ Membership dues are coming in at a¢ rapid pace. If you are one who¢ forgot to renew your membership,¢ please do so now. You know how¢ important you are to us. If you¢ would like to join our unique group¢ so that you may learn more about the¢ Atari 8-bit and meet our present¢ members, kindly send in your dues. ¢ We have a library consisting of¢ computer programs for our computer¢ containing more than 700 disks!¢¢ At our October meeting, Alan Sharkis¢ demoed a game similar to Tetris. The¢ main difference is that, in the new¢ game, one must throw the items up,¢ instead of down. It has twenty¢ different play levels. He also¢ illustrated a disk from the computer¢ club Time & Ware issue twenty-eight. ¢ On the disk was a game called,¢ "Megablast." It contains blasting¢ with reflectors that cause¢ ricocheting.¢¢ Ron Fetzer demoed an ABBUC disk #50. ¢ One program shows a color palette of¢ 256 colors. It also uses some games¢ like Monopoly games of the United¢ States. The disk has beautiful¢ pictures, kaleidoscopes, and a maze¢ game.¢¢ At the November meeting Alan Sharkis¢ demoed a TWAUG disk issue # 29. On¢ it is a game called, "Bridge¢ Builder," which is extremely¢ frustrating. Another program,¢ "Convoy," makes you determine where¢ each ship will be, by the nature of¢ its cargo. "Failsafe" is a nuclear¢ power-plant operation. "Starwar" is¢ a very detailed game. This disk also¢ contains a label printing program¢ which permits you to adjust your¢ label to any size. Alan also demoed¢ a program called, "Rosetta Stone."¢¢ At the December meeting, the club¢ discussed keeping the Atari 8-bit¢ Computer to work with the PCs. Ron¢ Fetzer demoed an ABBUC disk having a¢ program called, "Dynakillers," which¢ has excellent graphics and is a¢ terrific game. He also demoed ABBUC¢ disk #22, which had a unique way of¢ showing pictures, using a method of¢ interlace which had fantastic detail.¢ He demoed another disk from the San¢ Andrea Club (12/97), with a double¢ decker pinball machine program.¢¢ Our group will be having its exciting¢ Valentine's Day Dinner on Friday,¢ February 13th at Lambrou's¢ Restaurant, in Island Park. All¢ wives and other guests are invited.¢¢ Bye for now,¢¢¢¢ JACK GEDALIUS¢¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢¢¢