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1990-06-06
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++--------------------------++
|| WORDS*WORDS 1.1 ||
|| (C) Copyright 1989 ||
|| Blanchard Software ||
|| All rights reserved ||
++--------------------------++
WHAT IS WORDS*WORDS?
WORDS*WORDS is a word game for the IBM PC and clones. The
program selects a five letter puzzle word, and you must try to
identify the word in 18 guesses or less. For each of your guesses
the program will tell you how many letters are common to the
puzzle word. If you solve the puzzle, the program displays a
comment or quotation based on the puzzle word.
Some simpler versions of this game allow you to guess
arbitrary combinations of letters instead of words. That makes
the game childishly simple. WORDS*WORDS uses a dictionary of more
than 6000 five letter words to make sure that you guess real five
letter words. This makes the game challenging enough for an
adult. It places a premium on your ability to make rational
deductions and to do logical manipulation of words and letters.
This is a challenging puzzle. It requires a good bit of
concentration, careful logic and a facility with words and
letters. It is not a game for children.
GETTING STARTED
In the discussion below the symbol <CR> refers to the Carriage
Return or Enter key. This is the large key marked with an angled
arrow on the IBM keyboard. The function keys are identified with
square brackets, as in [F5].
WORDS*WORDS runs on an IBM PC or clone with color or
monochrome display. It requires 86k of storage and one floppy
drive.
The first thing to do is to make a backup copy of the
WORDS*WORDS disk. This is standard operating procedure, and I
assume you already know how to do this. If you use a hard disk,
then choose a directory and copy WORDS*WORDS. All of WORDS*WORDS
and it's files must be in the same directory. Then you are ready
to run the game.
If you are running WORDS*WORDS from floppy disk drive A, then
type A:<CR> to make A the current drive. If you are running
from a hard disc, then make the hard disc the current drive, and
choose the directory that holds WORDS*WORDS.
Then type WW<CR> to start the program. The program will
display a screen with instructions for the game. The instructions
are brief, but they will be adequate for many people to begin the
game.
After you have read the instructions, press any number or
letter key. The next screen shows a registration message while
the program loads it's dictionary file. Then press any key again
to go on to the game display.
The game display shows function key reminders in the upper
right corner of the screen. These notes tell you what the
function keys do and how to enter a guess.
Below the horizontal line on the screen is the "Letter Pool".
It initially shows all the letters in the alphabet. When you
identify a puzzle word letter, move the letter from the pool to
the "Part of Word" display line. Just type the letter or letters
and press function key [F7].
When you identify a letter that is not part of the word, move
it to the "Eliminated" display line. Just type the letter or
letters and press [F9].
You can move individual letters back to the pool with the [F5]
key. The [F3] key moves all letters back to the pool.
To guess a word, just type the word and press<CR>. The program
will check the word against the dictionary. If the letter
combination is not in the dictionary, it will display a message
on the next line. You can correct the letters and press <CR>
again.
When you guess a word, the program compares it with the puzzle
word and counts the number of common letters. It displays your
guess and the number of common letters below the data entry line.
All 18 of your guesses and their numbers of matching letters are
shown.
When you correctly guess the puzzle word, the program displays
a message in the area below your guesses. The message may be
congratulatory, an explanation of why the word was chosen for the
puzzle or some suggestions for game strategy. Most often it is an
interesting or humorous quotation based on the puzzle word.
If you don't get the puzzle word in 18 guesses, WORDS*WORDS
displays a message and shows you the puzzle word. Sometimes it is
useful to review your guess strategy at this point.
When you are ready to go on to the next puzzle word, press
any key. WORDS*WORDS will refresh the screen and randomly select
a new puzzle word.
You can get out of WORDS*WORDS at any time by pressing the
<Esc> key once or twice.
RULES
The rules are simple. You must guess 5 letter words.
WORDS*WORDS will check to be sure they are valid words.
Hyphenated words and abbreviations are not allowed. Proper nouns
such as names of people and places are allowed. Most trade names
are not allowed.
STRATEGY
Part of the challenge of WORDS*WORDS lies in working out a
strategy to use the 18 guesses efficiently. I don't believe there
is a neat algorithmic approach that will always solve the puzzle
in 18 guesses. However, there are some useful observations and a
general approach that works.
First you have to be aware of letter frequencies. The letters
ETAOINSHRDLU are the most commonly used letters in the English
language, arranged in order of decreasing frequency. All words
include at least one vowel, and all of the vowels are in this
list. (But Y is sometimes used as a vowel).
Words made up entirely of the most common letters are useful.
Examples are DEATH and LIONS. Words made up mostly of the less
common letters are also useful.
Once you have identified some included or excluded letters, it
pays to review your other guesses. You may be able to use the
eliminated letters to make new words, related to your other
guesses. This can help resolve individual letters in the other
guesses.
A pool of excluded letters is very useful. Solving a puzzle is
considerably easier once you have some excluded letters to work
with. It usually pays to start the puzzle by finding one or two
words that have no letters in common with the puzzle word. Be
aware of letter frequencies in formulating these early guesses.
Then you must do the logic carefully.
Suppose you have guessed LIGHT and found it has only one
letter match,
LIGHT 1.
Then you guess RIGHT and find that it has one letter in common
with the puzzle word,
RIGHT 1.
All you can deduce here is either L and R are both part of the
word, or neither L nor R are part of the word. Not much help.
Letter frequencies can help you make probabilistic inferences,
but a pool of excluded letters is most useful.
Suppose you had already excluded the letters F and M. Then you
could guess FIGHT or MIGHT and interpret the result with
certainty.
MIGHT 0, L is part of word.
MIGHT 1, L is not part of word.
With more excluded letters, you can make better guesses that
eliminate two or three letters at a time.
Some of the puzzle words have repeated letters. If the puzzle
word has two X's and your guess has a single X, you will get only
one match (assuming no other letters match). If you guess a word
with two X's, then WORDS*WORDS will tell you there are two
matches. It is up to you to figure out when there is a repeated
letter, and it isn't difficult.
If there is still a letter missing after you have accounted
for all of the common letters and most of the uncommon letters,
then you should suspect a repeated letter. For example, if you
have identified ACRY and you have eliminated almost all of the
other letters, then you might suspect that the puzzle word has a
double R (CARRY). Usually you don't have to eliminate all of the
other letters before deciding that there is a repeated letter.
There are three reasons why a word is difficult to solve in
WORDS*WORDS. These observations should suggest some strategies
for the game.
Reason number three is that the word may have several
anagrams. Even when you have identified all of the letters it may
take several guesses to get the right word. WORDS*WORDS does not
exploit this possibility in most of the puzzle word sets. When a
word has several anagrams, one of the more common words is
usually the correct word. Unusual or obscure words are used only
in the most difficult word sets.
Reason number two is that the word may have one or two double
letters or a triple letter. If you are not aware of this
possibility, you may use up too many guesses trying to identify
the missing letter. It is usually possible to identify three or
four included letters and to exclude most of the remaining
letters of the alphabet in 10 to 12 guesses. Letters can usually
be eliminated three or four at a time once you have a small group
of included and excluded letters to work with.
The most important factor in determining puzzle word
difficulty is the puzzle word letter frequencies. We do exploit
this factor in choosing words for the WORDS*WORDS puzzle.
Puzzle words that are made mostly of the infrequently used
letters are generally easier to solve. There is a good chance
that some of your early guesses will turn out to have zero
letters in common with the puzzle word. This gives you a known
set of excluded letters that are a powerful tool in selecting
subsequent guess words.
Puzzle words that contain the most frequently used letters are
more difficult. It is less likely that you will find words with
no common letters. Therefore, you won't get the bonus of a set of
excluded letters, and you will have to exclude letters one or two
at a time.
Consider an example. The word ANISE is made up entirely of
high frequency letters. If you select a 5 letter word at random,
you have about one chance in twenty of picking a word that has no
letters in common with ANISE. The actual count is 323 words out
of 6200 words in the WORDS*WORDS dictionary.
Thus if ANISE was the puzzle word, most random early guesses
would have one or two letter matches. But if you guessed one or
two low frequency letter words you would quickly find a zero
letter match word.
Words which have the vowel U, such as PLUCK or JUMPY, are
useful. I am sure you can find others.
The word PLUCK is mostly low frequency letters. There are 2347
five letter words that have no letters in common with PLUCK. So
there is about a 40% chance of zero letter matches with a
randomly selected puzzle word.
Well, forewarned is forearmed. Your word arsenal should
include a few words made mostly of low frequency letters and a
few words made entirely of high frequency letters. This will help
you in sorting out the possibilities. The WORDS*WORDS puzzle sets
are salted with a few special cases just to keep you on your
toes.
The more difficult word sets also include a few obscure words.
You could come across a word or two that you don't recognize even
when you have all the letters. I picked a few of these words
because of their novelty. None of the obscure words are
scientific or technical words.
The word set included with WORDS*WORDS 1.1 includes three
words with a double letter and one word with a triple letter.
These words may give you some problems. Otherwise you should be
able to solve all of the words in 18 guesses or less by
straightforward logic. An experienced player with a good arsenal
of guess words can solve all of the puzzles in 15 guesses or
less.
Each of the puzzle words typically takes about 15 to 20
minutes to solve. The program selects words at random from a list
included with WORDS*WORDS. The list includes enough words for
more than 10 hours of play. However, if you play the game long
enough, you will begin to remember the words. By that time, of
course, you will have registered and gotten Volume 2.0 of
WORDS*WORDS with more than 200 new puzzle words.
REGISTRATION
Shareware effectively gives you "free home trial" of new
software. If you don't like the program or don't plan to use the
program, then there is no obligation to pay for it. If you play
WORDS*WORDS, then you should register your copy with the program
author and pay the fifteen dollar registration fee.
The author receives no payment from shareware libraries or
bulletin boards that distribute copies of the program.
Send your $15.00 check payable to Walter Blanchard, along with
any comments, suggestions or complaints to
Walter Blanchard
Blanchard Software
P.O. Box 1650
Norristown Pa. 19401
I will send you Volume 2.0 of WORDS*WORDS with more than 200 new
puzzle words and commentary. I will keep you informed of program
improvements or new word sets.
APPENDIX - ERROR MESSAGES
Comments file is not correct.
Has file been renamed or contents altered?
The program has detected an error in reading the comments
file. Restore NOTES(1).WSL from your backup copy.
ENCODING ERROR ?????
This error can only come from a defective copy of the
program. Restore your copy from your backup or get
replacement from your source.
ERROR. Cannot find WORDS(1).WSL file.
WORDS*WORDS checks the current drive and directory for it's
support files. The file is not present. You may have to
reset the drive, change the directory or copy files from
backup disk.
ERROR. Cannot open NOTES(1).WSL file.
WORDS*WORDS checks the current drive and directory for it's
support files. The file is not present. You may have to
reset the drive, change the directory or copy files from
backup disk.
ERROR. Cannot open WORDFIL.UNF file.
WORDS*WORDS checks the current drive and directory for it's
support files. The file is not present or is present but not
readable. You may have to reset the drive, change the
directory or copy files from backup disk.
ERROR in reading the NOTES(1).WSL file
The file is present on the disk, but WORDS*WORDS find
something wrong in the file. Restore the file from backup.
ERROR in reading the WORDFIL.UNF file
The file is present on the disk, but WORDS*WORDS finds
something wrong in the file. Restore the file from backup.
ERROR in reading the WORDS(1).WSL file
The file is present on the disk, but WORDS*WORDS find
something wrong in the file. Restore the file from backup.
Not a valid word. Please try again.
Your guess word is not in the dictionary. Check spelling.
Try again. This does not count as a guess.
Unable to select a puzzle word.
The program cannot successfully make a random selection of a
puzzle word. Most likely cause is that the word file
WORDS(1).WSL has been corrupted. Restore the file from your
backup copy. If error persists, restore WW.EXE also. If
error continues, you have a defective copy of the program.
WORDS*WORDS abnormal termination.
The program has terminated operation and returned control to
DOS. You may now take steps to correct the error condition.
5 letter limit for puzzle word. Some letters dropped.
You used [F5] function key to post too many letters to the
"Part of Word" display line resulting in more than five
letters on the line. Clear with [F3] and post letters again.
REGISTRATION FORM
I have enclosed a check payable to Walter Blanchard for the
WORDS*WORDS fifteen dollar registration fee. Please send Volume
2.0 of the program.
Name: ________________________________________________
Company:________________________________________________
Street: ________________________________________________
City: ________________________________________________
State: __________________________ ZIP _____________
Telephone: __________________
(Optional)
I run WORDS*WORDS on an:
[ ] IBM PC [ ] IBM XT [ ] IBM AT
[ ] OTHER (please specify):
Hard disk? (Y/N):
Monitor? [ ] Monochrome [ ] Color
Printer:
Where did you get your copy of WORDS*WORDS?
Suggestions/Comments/Complaints:
Mail to: Walter Blanchard
Blanchard Software
P.O. Box 1650
Norristown Pa. 19401
