PsL Monthly 1993 September

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GA-05: Board/Strategy Games Board Games Megadisk 7036/3147 [3 disks] contains a selection of the best board games: chess, checkers, backgammon, Monopoly, and many more. Battle Fleet Corby, Wade L. $15 #20022/2803 is an excellent computer version of Battleship. There are 10 levels of play against the computer. Also included is a version that can be played over a Hayes compatible modem. Requires EGA or VGA. Warships 2.1 Tag Software $15 #20022/4644 is a computerized version of the game Battleship. You play against the computer, trying to sink its ships before it sinks yours. It features sound effects, nice EGA/VGA graphics, and mouse control. Sea Quest 1.0 Burns, David $20 #4891 requires you to seek out and destroy all the enemy submarines and mines. Your fleet of six ships is equipped with sonar, torpedos, and depth charges. Land masses and bad weather interfere with your sonar, and if you shoot at a sub and miss, the sub will shoot back. The playing area is larger than the screen, so the main display is a scrolling window on the full map. Sonar can be used on three levels: surface, for mines, and shallow or deep for subs. A minimum of two ships are required to triangulate and locate a sub. This is an interesting, challenging game. Requires EGA/VGA, 286+, and a mouse. ---------------- 0091 Board Games Small Programs Disk ---------------- Aggravation 1.5 (AGGRAVT) Kohler, Kevin T. $5 is adapted from the board game Aggravation. The object is to move all four of a player's pieces around the board from Home Base position to "Home Safe". Up to four people can play, or you can play against the computer. Mah Jongg LapTop 1.1 (MJLAPTP) Balewski, Ron $15 is a version of Mah Jongg written with black and white graphics so that the tiles can be easily identifiable on laptops and other systems without color monitors. This is a fun way to pass time at the airport, or wherever else you have to sit around with nothing but your laptop for company. Of course, it is equally as much fun on any kind of computer, but the color EGA versions are usually more enjoyable on desktop systems. Monopoly 6.7 (MONOPLY) Gibson, Don Phillip $0 if fashioned after the popular family board game. You really need a color monitor for this one. Pachisi Leotti, George $5 is a version of an ancient game on which is also based the modern game of Parchesi. One to four people may play with the computer optionally playing any unmanned positions. It appears that more luck than strategy is involved. EGA or VGA compatible video is required. Property Dealer (PROPRTY) Clafton, David E. $5-$10 is a Monopoly-like game, where the general idea is to buy property in order to charge rent and thus deprive the opposition of their money. Up to six players can compete, and features include customizing the board size, saving and restoring games, and much more, including a complexity beyond the original Monopoly game. EGA is required, although there are no impressive graphics. Skimmers Just For Me Software $17 is a two-player game somewhat like Parchesi. One player moves pieces to the right and the other to the left, according to the value of the dice. The first person to get all their pieces across the board wins. The catch is that after each set of moves, if opposing pieces are in the same column, those with with lowest total value get sent back to square one. Skimmers is easy enough for young kids to learn, but challenging enough for adults. VGA required. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #0091 -------------------------------- ------------------- 2406 Board Games #2 Small Programs Disk ------------------- Blitz 3.6 08-93 CD PC Solutions $24 is a very strong game of checkers with many options. You can resize the checker board, alter the response time, show movable pieces, select two-player mode and more. Checkers 1.61 (CHECKJM) McCranie, Judson ASP $15 is the best checkers game we have seen for the PC. It has excellent graphics and plays a good game. You can select colors and the level of strength at which the computer should play. Checkers (CHKR-PF) Franchuk, Peter $0 lets you play checkers against the computer. The program is not very strong, but the complete Turbo Pascal source code is included. If you are a TP programmer, you may have more fun with the source code than with the game. EGA compatible video is required. Chekkers 1.7 (CHEKKER) Shewchuk, J.D. $15 is an excellent version of checkers. It features several levels of play, your choice of Hoyle or Huff jump rules. Sound can be toggled on/off. You can flip the board to change sides and record game and board information. Dynamo Draughts 5.9 (DYNAMO) 08-93 CD PC Solutions $24 is the European version of Draughts, a variant of checkers. Draughts is played on a 10x10 board, although this program allows you to resize the board. One major difference between Draughts and Checkers is the way a king moves. Kings can move along an entire diagonal, leaping opponents, landing on any space beyond the opponent, and then taking further leaps in different directions. You can select the board size, number of men, response time, auto-play, computer IQ, corner shapes and more. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2406 -------------------------------- --------------------- 1903 BackGammon Games Small Programs Disk --------------------- Backgammon (BACKGMM) is just an electronic board and dice with which you can play a human opponent. The computer will not play you. Backgammon 5.1 (BACKTDM) The Dream Machine $12 is a challenging version of the ancient board game. It offers a multitude of playing options and includes 10 levels of difficulty. Pieces are moved by typing in the position number you want to play. You can save and recall games, switch sides during play, take back moves, use a doubling cube, have the computer suggest moves, and much more. The program does not offer mouse support, and it can be a nuisance to type in numbers to move a piece. During testing, it aborted to DOS when trying to save a game. Despite these flaws, we believe it is the strongest backgammon game in the library. BG is a very good backgammon program. Moving the blots is not exactly difficult, but it could have been made easier to do. The author warns you to expect to get crushed, but in a test game, we won by a roll or two and we are not experts by any means. Still, it is an interesting game. Backgammon (BACKGAM) is a backgammon game (complete with C source code). No graphics are required. BackGammon (BACK-JG) Gatewood, Joe $0 is a CGA version of BackGammon, with doubling cube, graphics and running game score. It plays a decent game, but no option is giving for turning off the annoying sounds. If the noise gets to you, get SILENCER on disk #2006. EGAGammon 2.0 Evans, Daniel R. $10 is a beautifully done version of Backgammon for the EGA/VGA. You play the computer or a human opponent. Mouse or keyboard may be used by the first player. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #1903 -------------------------------- PC-Gammon IV 1.1 Repstad Computer Consultants ASP $25 #4557 is the best shareware backgammon game to date. (We called to register as soon as we finished reviewing it!) It plays a very good game, but really shines when it comes to the user interface. In addition, you can save and restore games, write a log of all moves to disk, and customize set up positions. Other features include three user-selectable playing strengths, three levels of AutoMove, and modem play. --------------------------- 2311 Chess Games and Utils. Small Programs Disk --------------------------- Chess88 is an amazing game. The program is only 9k, which is very tiny by today's standards, yet it has great graphics and plays a decent game for all but hardened tournament players. It first appeared in 1982 and for years remained the best pd/shareware chess game available. ChessClb 2.55 Wharry, Stephen $5 keeps track of a chess club's roster and statistics for two rating systems. Each rating system includes a club rating for each member, the total number of points accumulated, and the total number of games played. CHESSCLB will also keep track of who played whom, when, the result, their ratings at the time and how many rating points were earned/lost. The roster and statistics lists can be sorted by ratings, total number of games, total points scored, ID number, name, or address. The program is fast, menu-driven and easy to use. The Correspondence Chess Recorder 1.0a (TCCR) Churchill, Eric $15 helps you keep track of postal or Email correspondence chess games. Features include game printing, several options for stepping back through a game, three different forms of chess notation, and more. Ed's Chess 2.3 (EDCHESS) Hendricks, David and Bell, John T. $15 was at one time the very strongest pd/shareware chess game available. It can give a hard time to the retail-only game Chessmaster 2100 and to most tournament chess players. PowerChess (#2484) seems to be just as strong and has excellent graphics. Ed's Chess is still a good game and its board makes very good use of ASCII graphics. Since it does use ASCII, it will run on any type of video. The game has many features, including saving/restoring games, move take-back, choice of colors, varying levels of play, recorded time for each move in saved games, board and game editing, printed game reports, and much more. Queens8 Hack, Sidney $7 is an ancient chess puzzle that requires placing 8 queens on a chessboard in such a way that none threatens another. (Two queens on the same row, in the same column, or on the same diagonal `threaten' each other) You don't have to know anything about chess to try to solve the puzzle. All necessary instructions will appear in the form of messages and prompts. Star Trek Tridemensional Chess (TRID) Rutan, David E. $0 tells you how to construct a 3D chess set like the one on the old Star Trek series and how to play the game. TakeNote 6.1 (TAKENOT) 08-93 CD Katelansky, David $10 is a study tool for chess. It allows you to enter multiple lines of play in one game and easily switch among various lines. You can also add notes and go through notes of the game without losing the original position. A tutorial is included. Telechess (TELCHES) lets two people play chess over the phone. The opponent's move is automatically displayed (without graphics) on the screen WaxMan 1.1 Bacigal, Ivan $10 is a surprisingly strong pop-up chess game. Since it is a TSR, you can pop it up at any time to play a few moves. Its use of ASCII characters to represent the pieces is clever and very well done. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2311 -------------------------------- Chess Games/Lessons Pep-Cal Software $15 #20173 [4 Disks] Disk #1: Chess Pearls is a set of 12 lessons drawn from the best short games of the old masters of Chess. Disk #2: Kasparov-Karpov 1990 displays the 24 games of the 1990 World Championship of Chess. This is Garry Kasparov's and Anatoly Karpov's monumental and decisive match in which Kasparov won. The program lets you step back and forth through each move. The games are heavily annotated. Disk #3: Games of Garry Kasparov contains the best and recent games of the current World Champion Garry Kasparov. The games reflect his current ideology and position about the various openings and how he plays them. All games are annotated. Disk #4: Games of Nigel Short is a replay of recent chess games played by the August 1993 world challenger, Nigel Short. Chess Gems & Jewels Pep-Cal Software $15 each #20143 Gems is a collection of 12 chess games from the world's best players that illustrate and teach Chess tactics. The Jewels section contains 12 lessons from the best short games of postal chess players. Chexo 1.0 Soleau Software $12 #12075 is a strategy board game similar to checkers except that you can only move a piece by jumping over another piece of yours or the opponent's. If you jump the opponent's, that piece is removed. The object is to remove all the opponent's pieces. Requires EGA/VGA and a mouse. Chess Quiz Series Pep-Cal Software $0 #7699/4088 [5 disks] is a set of quizzes designed to help make learning the game of chess fun. Quizzes include an introduction to chess, the Sicilian defense, king pawn openings, queen pawn openings, and the English opening. Chessedt Wharry, Stephen $10 #7287/1426 will allow you to build a personal database of chess games, checking for notation errors as you go. You can store the chess games as files and bring them back into the program and examine them at any position in the game, which is especially useful for postal chess players. Besides printer output, the game and annotation can be output to a normal ASCII file that can then be imported into the text editor of your choice. You can build a table of openings and your success/failure with these openings. It will allow you to build a list based on openings, score, tournament, color, date, opponent, ratings, and more. In this list you may include as few as one and as many as every game you have ever played. The program will allow up to 100 moves and replies and up to 50 annotation strings per game. Now the tricky part - it took quite a bit of head banging to figure out how to enter moves. The documentation is sketchy on this and gives no examples. To move a pawn, just give the target square, such as "e4". To move a piece, first give the letter of the piece "in uppercase", then give the target square "in lowercase". Example: to move White's King's Bishop to Queen-Bishop-4, enter "Bc4". To capture with a Pawn, enter the starting "column" and the target " square". Example: "ed5". Chess Saver Pep-Cal $15 #7287/2218 allows you to record and play back any game of importance to you. Each move can also be annotated with remarks. It precludes having to set up the chess board every time you want to replay a selected game. Also on the same disk: Chess Translator (Pep-Cal; $15) translates opening moves into both the descriptive and the algebraic equivalents as well as showing the moves on screen. The Pep-Cal chess programs use ASCII characters to display the board and pieces, so they do not look impressive, but they will work on any monitor. Chess Tutor Pep-Cal Software $15 #7287/1680 familiarizes you with many of the opening lines of chess. It is not a tutorial on those openings, just an overview. We recommend it for anyone just starting to study chess seriously. The same author has more advanced tutorials available. Chess Corresponder & Chess Indexer Pep-Cal Software $15 each #7287/3295 Chess Corresponder will keep track of all your postal chess games. It maintains a game board showing the up-to-the-minute position for an unlimited number of games. You can search on a number of different index keys. Chess Indexer catalog chess games - yours or others of interest to you. You can enter up to seven search keys, such as the name of the opening variation, type of end-game, etc. DNC 1.02 Pawn Promotions, Inc. $40 #4918 is an excellent system for recording chess games and analysis. You can enter comments and alternative lines of play. The moves are displayed on an attractive graphical on-screen chess board as you enter them. Descriptive or algebraic notation can be used. You can load a database and step through a game a move at a time, seeing the moves displayed and reading the analysis and alternative moves. You can also add your own alternative moves and analysis to the database at the same time. Fischer-Spassky 1992 Pep-Cal SoftWare $15 each #4969 lets you replay all the games that were played in the Fischer-Spassky chess match in Yugoslavia 1992. The games are heavily annotated, making this a good learning tool as well. Also included is COACH, a tutorial on the rules of Chess. Percentage Chess and Chess Tactics Pep-Cal SoftWare $15 each #12036 Percentage Chess is a study aid for developing the playing skills of Chess and a winning Praxis (method of play). The program traces the most common opening moves, 1.e4 and 1.d4. Chess Tactics provides examples of tactics and maneuvers seen in expert games of Chess. PowerChess Wild, W. and Heiss, H. $35 #2484 is a powerful, full-featured chess program with excellent graphics. Features include save/restore games, board edit, opening move library, take back moves, print move sequences, play black or white, hints for learning game, set up checkmate puzzles, and the ability to adjust the computer's playing strength by varying its response time from 10 to 300,000 seconds. Supports Hercules compatible mono-graphics, CGA, EGA and VGA. Requires 512K and DOS 3.0 or higher. We experienced some oddities on our VGA system: the first time we ran it, the Hints and the Information screens were both blank. The next time we ran it, they displayed information, but both screens were the same. We had no problems with the actual play of the game, however. The author is no longer at the address listed in the documentation. Dan Waddell: "The documentation for PowerChess lists NewWare as the place for registrations. NewWare no longer supports PowerChess and was unable or unwilling to provide further information." PsL: We do not have any further information, but we have written the last known address for one of the authors of the program. Now we just have to wait and see. ----------------------------- 12420 Dominos & Miscellaneous Small Programs Disk ----------------------------- Aggression 1.05 (AGGRESS) Expert Source Code, Inc. $15 is a unique graphic board game that combines some of the aspects of checkers and backgammon. The object is to get all of your pieces from their starting side to the opposite side before your opponent does from a random starting pattern. Requires mouse, EGA/VGA. Domino 4.2 08-93 CD Ball, B. J. $15 is an implementation of a two-person, single-spinner game of dominos that you play against the computer. Graphics are required. Muggins 1.0 Young, Scott $8 is a challenging domino game in which you play the computer. The dominoes go up to 9-9 instead of the usual 6-6. The play of the game and the graphics are very good. EGA/VGA required. Scrabble 1.05 (SCRABBL) Hall, Christopher $10 lets you play Scrabble with friends without a board. It does not let you play against the computer. It makes the game easier to play by drawing the letters for you and keeping score automatically. --------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #12420 --------------------------------- ------------------------ 20023/3555 Othello Games Small Programs Disk ------------------------ Blockade 1.9 (BLOCKAD) 08-93 CD PC Solutions $15 is a strategy board game similar to Othello. Each player takes turns placing his pieces on the board, but unlike Othello, your piece must be placed adjacent to both one of your pieces and one of your opponent's. The effects of such a placement differ from Othello as well. An interesting game. Capture 2.0 (CAPTRCW) CurtWare $10 is similar to Othello. The main difference is that you can select a greater number of squares, up to 400. You can play a friend or the computer, or let the computer play itself. There are three skill levels, but the strongest is not as strong as other Othello type games in the PsL. The program is easy to use and has lots of features, such as being able to save a game. DoublOlo (DOUBOLO) Soleau, William $10 is the best thing to happen to Othello since the two-colored disc! While many programmers have written "yet another rendition" of the classic game of Othello (some of them with excellent graphics and/or playing skill), William Soleau, who has been writing a lot of terrific games recently, has come up with another winner. In this variation, the board varies in size and shape and location of obstacles on the board with each game. This endless variety and different challenges is sure to please anyone who has ever enjoyed a game of Othello but who has grown bored with the same old game all the time. Requires EGA/VGA. Flip-It 4.7 08-93 CD PC Solutions $15-$24 is an interesting variation of Reversi/Othello. You can select various grid patterns and sizes for the board. There is also an unusual play-to-lose mode. Function keys can provide help and rules or invoke an auto-play feature. Reversi 1.8 Parson, David $15 is an excellent version of Othello that supports CGA or EGA/VGA compatible video. We have a game like this in the library already, but this one beat me like a drum in front of witnesses, so I am forced to add it to the library. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #3555 -------------------------------- ---------------------------- 20023/12337 Othello Games #2 Small Programs Disk ---------------------------- AntiC 1.11 Cascoly Software ASP $20 is a cross between Othello and Life. The object of AntiC is make the pattern a single color color using the fewest number of transformations. Each square is one of three colors and sends its color to neighboring squares in the network. If only one color comes into a square, it takes that color. If two colors come in, they cancel and the square assumes the third color. Each time you change a square, all squares in the pattern are recalculated and redrawn. Requires EGA monitor and mouse. Hexes 0.93 Foltz, H.D. $0 is an Othello game played on a hexagonal board. Othello 6.2 (OTHL-EW) Waud, Earl $20 is an good implementation of Othello for EGA or mono systems. It has seven levels of play; can be played by one or two players; has mouse support and a "boss screen". This is not the strongest Othello we've seen, but the user interface is above average and the program is strong enough to beat the non-expert. (The author is no longer at the address listed in the documentation.) --------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #12337 --------------------------------- Apples & Oranges Expert Source Code, Inc. $15 #20023/2520 is the game of Othello using apples and oranges rather than the usual black and white pieces. Unfortunately, the program plays a rather weak game, but the graphics are unbeatable. So it's not that much fun to play, but it's great for showing off your video. Three levels of play are offered. Requires EGA or VGA, 355k RAM and a mouse. Tribolo Soleau, William $12 #20023/3304 pits you against two computer opponents in a game of three way Othello. The regular rules of Othello apply, but having three participants creates drastically different playing strategies. Tribolo has excellent EGA graphics and mouse support. --------------------- 2405 GO Related Games Small Programs Disk --------------------- Connect4 1.1A (CONN4JM) McCranie, Judson ASP $15 lets you play Connect4 against the computer. Each player tries to get four of his pieces connected in a row either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Another version of Connect4 in the PsL uses ASCII characters and will work on monochrome monitors. This version has better graphics, but requires some type of graphics adapater, including monographics. Connect4 2.07 (CONECT4) Harper, Jeff $5 lets you play the computer in this popular strategy game that takes tic-tac-toe to a higher level. Drop-It 1.7 PC Solutions $15 is a customizable variation of Connect Four. You can change the size of the playing grid, adjust the IQ of the computer, or select a play-to-lose mode. Pente Leach, Michael A. $0 is a game in which two players, or one player and a computer, take turns placing a piece on a grid. The object is to be the first to get five pieces in a row. Pieces can be captured only in pairs. This is a fun, interesting game. Plotz Soleau, William $10 is a strategy game in which the objective is to change an entire column of squares to your color before the computer does. It may take a time or two to catch on to the game, but it becomes pretty interesting after that. Quinta 2.0 Penner, Lester $5 is similar to Othello, Go-Moku, Go and Pente. It is a very challenging game to try to win against the computer. The graphics and colors are excellent. Requires a mouse and EGA/VGA/CGA compatible video. TTT is a 3D Tic-Tac-Toe game. TTT3D Microstuff $15 is a multi-level 3 dimensional tic-tac-toe game. Play against the computer or your friends. Even at the Beginner level, the computer is hard to beat. CGA or mono-graphics compatible video required. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2405 -------------------------------- ------------------------ 4532 GO Related Games #2 Small Programs Disk ------------------------ Concentration Tic-Tac-Toe (CTTT) Evans, Bruce $? is a game of Tic-Tac-Toe where the owners of the markers are not identified, so you have to remember where you have put your "X". You can specify the number of players, number of squares, and time limit for a turn. You can peek, but it costs you a turn! Contax 2.2 08-93 CD PC Solutions $24 is a game variant of GO. You take turns placing stones on the board and the first one to get five in a row wins. You can select different grid patterns and board sizes, two-player mode, auto-play and more. Go-Moku Passera, Gerard G. $10 plays a very old Japanese game called GOMOKU, also known as 5-in-Line and Pente. The board has 19x19 squares; Get 5 stones in a row and you win. You can play against the computer or another player. GO-Renju 1.4 (GORENJU) PC Solutions $12 is a variant of the Oriental game GO. You can play either a standard 5-in-a-row to win game, or a challenging game in which 4-in-a-row loses. The board size can be customized from a 7x7 to a 19x19 grid. Pirates (PIRATE) Tracker Software $5 is a series of challenging puzzles in which you move from gold bag to gold bag without retracing previous moves. It is based on Hiroimono, which is a 14th century Japanese classic involving Go stones. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #4532 -------------------------------- GoGame TMW Co. $20 #3441 is based on the ancient board game GO. Players can be man or machine. Problem solving is included in the program so you can look ahead. The program uses ASCII graphics so it should work on most machines. Chinese Checkers 2.1 ImagiSOFT, Inc., ASP $20 #3637 is a colorful game based on the old traditional played by kids and adults. The graphics and play of the game are excellent. If you have the inverted-T cursor pad on your machine, you will need to turn off NumLock and use the number pad to play the game, as the 1-3-7-9 keys are needed for diagonal moves. Requires EGA/VGA and a mouse. Dead End Huenefeld Software $20 #12135 is a unique strategy game for up to 6 players. You must choose a path through the streets and avenues of the board and mark each turn of your path with an arrow. The object of the game is to be the last player on the board to reach a dead end. Features include nine selectable levels of difficulty for computer opponents, adjustable time-limit countdown clock, mouse support, and more. Requires 640K, VGA, and DOS 3+. Kirsta Games Kirsta Computers Ltd. $30 each #4419 is a set of four popular card and board games including Backgammon, Cribbage, Checkers, and Patience. These versions make you quit the program and restart it after every game, going through a shareware registration screen. Although this is a nuisance, it really doesn't take much time on a fast hard disk. The Checkers game is pretty weak, but fun for novices. The Backgammon game plays a decent game, but lacks a doubling cube; however, it has one of the best interfaces of any backgammon game we've seen. Hong Kong Mahjong (HKMJ) Fitch, Julian $15 #884 is a version of Mahjong as played in Hong Kong. It has excellent graphics because it is written to run only on the VGA. Directions are provided when you run the program. This game works on VGA only. On the same disk is: Mahjong King, P. E. ASP $20 #884 is the game of Mahjong translated to the computer. ALSO ON THIS DISK IS: Mah Jongg Anderson, Nels ASP $10 #884 is a solitaire game played with Chinese tiles. The "Boss Mode" allows you to Shell to DOS to run other programs. A list of all pairs of tiles played so far is available by hitting the F2 key. You also have the ability to load different tile sets. One additional set, "Flags of the World", is included along with a tile editor utility. Moraff's Morejongg 3.0 [MOREJONG] MoraffWare $0 #4648 is a unique implementation of the ancient tile game Mahjongg. It contains tile sets with monsters from the Moraff's World games, letters of the alphabet, three letter words, and traditional oriental tiles. You can customize the colors of the tiles and background, and virtually all video types from Hercules to Super-VGA are supported. Mouse is optional. Megagopoly Visual Data Communications Corp. $18 #1372 is an investment strategy game. The object is to reach financial independence. The game simulates an investment environment in which a player may test his skills by interacting with economic parameters, standard financial algorithms and portfolio analysis. Save/Retrieve game options are available. (The author can no longer be reached at the address provided in the documentation.) Redhook's Revenge 1.0 ImagiSOFT, Inc. ASP $23 #20135 [2 disks] You will sail the seas as a bloodthirsty pirate in this fantastic animated board game. You roll the dice to see whether you will fight a city, discover treasure, get lost in a storm, answer a trivia question, and much more. It combines the elements of classic board games like Risk, Trivial Pursuit, and Life with beautiful graphics/animation and entertaining theme music and sound effects. Up to three people can play, and the player with the most gold at the end of the voyage wins. Games can be saved, and two of the scurvy bucaneers can be controlled by the computer. Old Redhook himself pops up on occasion with some endearingly salty pirate sayings. Requires 640K and VGA. An AdLib or Sound Blaster compatible board is required to hear music. Wall $treet Raider 4.0 Ronin Software ASP $25 #4626 is a simulation game of corporate finance, in which one to four players (including the computer) engage in hostile takeovers, empire building, participate in greenmail payoffs and more. Created by a Harvard lawyer/CPA/economist, Michael Jenkins, this game allows you to use the same techniques as real corporate raiders on Wall Street. Not only is the game fun to play, but you will really learn a lot about business. W$R has been a long time in the making. Jenkins says: "There hasn't been a month in the last 20 years when I haven't done something on it. It takes five or ten minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master." Requires 512K RAM and 720K disk space. Moraff's Stones 3.1 Moraffware $0 #27676/3641 is a barter-gambling game played against monsters. The monsters are easy to beat at first, but each time a monster gets wiped out, it is replaced by a more intelligent and stingy monster. Eventually you are surrounded by malicious, hard-core gamblers at the highest levels of the game. Nine Men's Morris Langin, Chet ASP $10 #27676/3443 is an ancient game of strategy played on a special board in which the object is to get three pieces in a row and take the opponent's pieces. You can play against the computer. There are several levels of difficulty. Requires 384K. Robix 1.0 Soleau, William $12 #4850 The objective is get your colored blocks to the bottom of the game board by pushing rows of blocks either to the left or right. You can play against the computer or a friend. Requires EGA/VGA. Scoot-A-Long Zimmerman, Ray $25 #4093 is a simple board game along the lines of Parchesi. The first player to get all four game pieces to home position, wins. Requires EGA/VGA, a hard disk and 512K RAM. Silicon City 2.5d Lyric Software Co. $22 #12133 is an interesting 3D strategy game. Due to massive over population, all of the Earth's people have been digitized and transferred to a large computer universe. Your job is to rescue the helpless inhabitants of Silicon City from a deadly virus that has infected the incubators. This game features excellent EGA/VGA graphics. A mouse is recommended. Tommy's Monopoly Tommy's Toys $0 #1895 is the classic game by Parker Brothers converted to play on your PC. Like other "Tommy's Toys" games, all graphics are done with ASCII characters, so a graphics card is NOT required. ---------------------- 1619 Strategy Games #1 Small Programs Disk ---------------------- Addix 2.0 PC Solutions $24 is a strategy game in which you and the computer take turns capturing numbers from a grid. You select a number from the horizontal row of the computer's last move and the computer takes a number from the vertical column of your last move. The player with the higher score wins. You can change the board size, adjust the IQ of the computer, select auto-play and more. Awele Cabannes, Jean-Pierre $0 is a well known African game (that comes to us from France) to be played between two players (ie: you can't play the computer). The archive contains two versions - one in English and the other in French. Both require EGA. Numbers & Logic III (NUMLOG3) Burns, David $18 is a new set of four challenging, number/logic puzzles. The games are not overly difficult to solve, given enough time. The object is to solve them as quickly as possible. This approach makes the game entertaining for all ages. A log of best times and players' names are kept for each game. EGA/VGA and mouse required. Shut The Box 1.2 (MLSHUT) Lancaster, Bob $5 is a computerized implementation of the old board game of Shut The Box. Players alternate turns trying to get the highest score possible shutting numbered doors matching rolled dice. The colors and (ASCII) graphics are great, but the game plays well on a mono system too. Mouse is supported but not required. SeaHunt Halma, Andy M. $0 is computerized version of the game Battleship. Stars Meachem, William $0 is a "brain teaser" that works something like the Game of Life. YerMony is a collection of a few simple games with some rather bizarre embellishments. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #1619 -------------------------------- ---------------------- 1620 Strategy Games #2 Small Programs Disk ---------------------- Aldo (ALDO-JR) Riordan, Jason $10 is based on the childhood game of paper-rock-scissors, but this version is not for young children. The strategy in deciding which item to play and where on the playing board to place it is pretty difficult to master. (This game has no relation to the run-and-jump arcade game of the same name.) Arionx Dalal, Dan $0 is a math solving game that requires some math background. It is the third game is a six game series. Each game requires you to solve the previous game to continue in the series (which can be ordered from the author) although games one and two are not necessary to complete this game. Border 1.1 (BORDRSE) Estvanik, Steve ASP $20 is a strategy game in which you try to enclose more areas than your opponent. Your aim is to make the largest triangles you can, while selecting points to block your opponent's triangles. Players take turns claiming points within a rectangular area, trying to make triangles connecting those points. If a proposed triangle is clear of your opponent's points and intersects no other triangles, your score increases by the area of that triangle. The first player to enclose more than 40% of the available area wins. HardArt 1.0 Dowst, Ken $0 a heart is hidden on the screen and you have to find him in an allotted number of moves. You can tell if you are getting closer by the pitch of a tone emitted after each move. The higher the tone, the closer you are. Stained Glass 910116 (STAINGL) Brewster, Kent $25 is a very tough puzzle-game in which you clear the board by jumping colored boxes ("panes of glass") over each other. What happens when one box jumps another depends on the colors involved, making planning ahead pretty tricky. For example, if a blue box jumps over another box and lands "on" a yellow box, the double "panes of glass" combine to become a green box. A blue box jumping "over" a green box would remove its color from the double box and leave just the single yellow box. Very challenging. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #1620 -------------------------------- ---------------------- 2671 Strategy Games #3 Small Programs Disk ---------------------- Conquer 2.64 (CONQEGA) Arnold, Paul $10 is a war game in which you battle the enemy on several fronts in an attempt to take over the world. It is a single or multi-player (1-4) game and you are matched up against the computer who plays for the Soviet Block, the Common Market, and the Opec Nations. The documentation is a bit skimpy. EGA/VGA required. Cyberbox II (CYBRBOX) Beeferman, Doug $7 is one of the best push-pull puzzle games yet, which is saying a lot, because there are some outstanding games of this type. In Push-Pull Puzzles (for want of a better name), you have to move your man around a maze, pushing/pulling (or whatever) obstacles out of your way to get to the diamonds/keys/exits/whatever. The feature that makes Cyberbox II so interesting is that unlike the other games which have one room per screen (and vice-versa), C2 uses a large, scrolling playing field. Sometimes you can't even see all the elements involved, and you have to go exploring before you can get to the diamond you are after. There are three levels of play, and you can design your own playing fields. Hurkle Hunt 2.5 (HURKLE) Voss, William R. $0 is an amusingly-done game in which you try to trap the soon-to-be-extinct "Hurkle". To give you an idea of the spirit of this game, Voss gives only his phone number and asked satisfied users to Fax him $5, whereupon he will Fax you back a disk with the source code. Then there's the "Boss" screen, which is a screen some games provide for you to pop up when you hear the Boss coming. This one is different. Super Maxit 2.0 (SUPMAX) Expert Source Code, Inc. $15 is a graphic version of the traditional, strategic board game, Maxit, with a few twists. It has the ability to choose different board shapes and sizes that are filled with numbered squares. When you choose a number in a row, then the computer picks on in the column you chose, then you pick from the row the computer chose, and so on. Some numbers are negative and the strategy is to try to force the computer to pick from a column that has lower numbers than the one you picked. The higher number total wins. EGA or VGA required. Super Nim 1.0 (SUPRNIM) Stanton Computing $10 is an interesting version of the game of Nim, which you play against the computer. VGA required. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2671 -------------------------------- ---------------------- 3877 Strategy Games #4 Small Programs Disk ---------------------- Bolo Ball 1.2 (BOLOBAL) Soleau, William $12 is a challenging strategy game where the objective is to get your marbles to drop as far down the screen as possible. This sounds pretty simple, but the screen is filled with ramps, walls, black holes, and other obstructions. You can play against the computer or a human opponent. Their marbles also get in your way. The animated EGA/VGA graphics are very nicely done. This is another quality "thinking" game from the author of the Bolo Adventure series. Boxcars 1.0 Radcliffe, Jim $10 As you move a token through the grid of dice, the ones you pass change values. Your goal is to recognize the pattern of change and move the token through in a pattern that will cause all the dice to display a six. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of possible patterns, but on the first 20 boards, you have to beat the target score (by making fewer moves) before you can advance to the next. EGA/VGA required. Numbers & Logic I 1.0 (NUMLOGI) Burns, David $8 is a set of three unusual and challenging number puzzles. The object is to get a solution in the shortest possible time. EGA/VGA and mouse required. Slime Menlove, Spencer $0 is a strategy game where the object is to dominate the board by taking over adjacent enemy pieces. It features one- and two-player modes, or you can watch the computer play itself. Even on the intermediate level, this is a tough game. Requires a mouse. Stock Market Technician 1.1 (SMT) RGJ Systems $10 is a stock market investment game. You must gain a greater Net Worth than any other player and remain in the game the longest to win. You need no special financial skills to play. One to four players may compete. -------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #3877 -------------------------------- ----------------------- 12008 Strategy Games #5 Small Programs Disk ----------------------- Balloon Challenge 1.0 (BALOONC) Soleau Software $12 pits you against the computer as you each try to launch 25 balloons higher the balloon rises into the sky, the higher the score. There is a new maze everytime you play. EGA/VGA. Bulls and Bears 1.0 (BAB) Crabb, Ronald L. ASP $20 is a stock market game. To do well, you have to be able to deduce how the news headlines each morning will affect the various parts of the market (eg: housing, industrials) and to adjust your portfolio accordingly. Requires EGA/VGA. Electron Havoc 1.1 (HAVOC) Shramko, John $10 lets you and an opponent take turns firing at each other's space ships. You must adjust your firing speed and ship location to allow for gravity pockets. Requires VGA and a mouse. Spectrum Sorcery 1.0 (SORCERY) Bollinger, David $10 Two players compete on a multi-colored playing board, moving around different computer opponents and 11 board layouts are available. requires VGA and a mouse. Ten-Thousand 1.0 (TENTHOU) Status Que Software $10 is a dice game for 2 to 6 players. Each player tries to reach a score of 10,000 first with a combination of luck and good strategy. Requires 640K RAM and VGA. --------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #12008 --------------------------------- ----------------------- 12421 Strategy Games #6 Small Programs Disk ----------------------- Atoms-3 1.0 Distant Markets $25-$31 is a network/local strategy game played on an 8x8 board. Place atoms in the right squares on the board so that the atoms can begin a chain fission reaction to other squares. From 2 to 6 can play. Requires EGA/VGA. Cascade 1.9 08-93 CD PC Solutions $15 is a strategy game played against the computer. A maze of letters is presented on the screen, scattered with balls and other objects. You take turns with the computer removing a letter, and the balls cascade down the gaps left. On reaching the bottom, they will enter your hopper and add a value to your score. Minefield (MINE-PM) Mills, Paul $0 is a DOS-based version of the popular Windows game of the same name. The object is to find and mark all of the mines in the playing field without setting any off. VGA and a mouse are required. Silencer (SILENDF) 08-93 CD Foss, Donald E. $10 is a military strategy game in which you'll battle with seven different creatures that vary in number, speed, and strength. There are 15 levels of competition and various skill levels. VGA required. --------------------------------- END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #12421 --------------------------------- ------------------ 1948 Yahtzee Games Small Programs Disk ------------------ MLYaht 2.2 Lancaster, Bob $0-$5 is an excellent implementation of the dice game Yahtzee. There is better playing logic and several other improvements in the regular game. Quimbee CurtWare $10 is a game for 1 to 6 players, inspired by Triple Yahtzee. In Quimbee, you get six dice. The game plays like Yahtzee, but if you get a "Q", it acts as a wildcard. You get up to three rolls per turn, but you can only select the dice to keep by value. That is, if you select "4", all 4's are kept for the next roll. Yahtzee 1.0 (YAHTZMH) Holmes, Michael $0 is a computer version of the well-known dice game. One or two players can play. This version is much slicker than others we have seen and even includes a "boss screen" - a simulated spreadsheet that you can pop up when you see the boss coming. Yahtzee is the game of Yahtzee in uncompiled BASIC, for those who like to modify the source code. --------------------------------- END OF SMALL PRROGRAMS DISK #1948 --------------------------------- ]]]]]]]]]]