JCSM Shareware Collection 1993 November

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Text File | 1993-03-01 | 21KB | 402 lines

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ GREYHOUND (C) DOGWARE 1990 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ WHAT THIS GAME'S ABOUT GREYHOUND is a game in which you are the owner of a greyhound kennel. You must use your skill and judgement to compete against other kennels and ultimately win the Championship Trophy at the end of the season. Each week there are 10 races. Each race is for a specific grade. The top grade is 1, the bottom is 10. Only grade 1 wins count towards the championship. Much of the time you must spend moving your dogs through the gradings. This is achieved by a combination of success in races and careful training. GRADES There are 10 grades. Only a dog of grade 1 standard can enter a grade 1 race, only a dog of grade 2 can enter a grade 2 race, etc. A dog of grade 1 can be seen as a fast, experienced dog. A grade 10 dog is a novice. A grade 5 or 6 dog is fairly average. Dogs will move through the rankings, down as well as up. Although in "real" greyhound racing grading trials must be run before a dog can be re-graded, in this game the computer automatically moves dogs into new grades whenever their achievements (in training or races) warrants such a move. RACES Races are run over three distances: sprint (1 lap), standard (2 laps) and distance (3 laps). Each dog has a preference for a particular distance, which is best heeded. For instance, a very good dog may lose to a much worse one if he is running in a distance race when he prefers sprints. Race times differ depending on the distance. Sprints tend to be upwards of 15 seconds, standard races over 30 and distance over 45. Actual times, whatever the distance depends on the race track and the current going. The prize money for each race is dependent on the grade of the race. There is more money to be won in a grade 1 race than a grade 2 race, and not much at all in a grade 10 race. The winning dog/kennel gets half the prize money, with the dogs finishing 2nd and 3rd sharing the other half equally. Entry fees have to be paid for entering a dog in a race. The cost depends on the grade of the race and, as with the prize money, the cost is greater for a grade 1 than a grade 2 race, with a grade 10 race charging a minimal fee. THE CHAMPIONSHIP The championship table is calculated each week according to the following rules: Number of grade 1 wins. If two kennels have an identical number of grade 1 wins then total wins has priority. If two kennels have an identical number of grade 1 wins and total wins then best strike rate has priority. If two kennels have an identical number of grade 1 wins, total wins and strike rate, then the position is decided by the best points total. Strike rate is the number of wins times 100 divided by number of races. For example, if you had entered 100 races and recorded 20 victories your strike rate would be 20 x 100 ÷ 100 = 20% At the end of the season the top 6 kennels play for the championship trophy. Each kennel is permitted 1 entrant per race in each of 10 races. Points are awarded as follows: 1st-6, 2nd-5, 3rd-4, 4th-3, 5th-2, 6th-1. The winner of the trophy is the kennel with the most points after the 10 races have been run. MOVING THROUGH THE MENUS/SELECTING OPTIONS The top and bottom lines of the screen are used exclusively for instructing you as to which keys to press. If in doubt as to what to do, read what they say. The letter f followed by a number, such as f6 refers to the function key F6 (labelled F6 on the keyboard). The function keys are normally located down the left hand side or along the top of the keyboard and tend to be grey rather than white. An example: f1-HELP means that if you press the key marked F1 you will get help. The other keys used for selection are the cursor keys located on the right hand side of the keyboard. They comprise of arrows pointing in 4 directions and the words home,pg up,end and pg dn. I use the words, up, down, left and right for the arrows and the same words as on the keyboard for the others. For example, "left-MENU" means that if you press the cursor key with the arrow pointing left you will bring up a menu. Pressing a function key will bring up a menu. For example, pressing F2 (the "DOGS" option) will bring up a menu that offers you 4 options, thus: Rearrange New name Train Print info A white arrow will point to one of these options. To move the arrow use the cursor keys (up will move the arrow up, down will move it down, home will move it to the top, end to the bottom). Once the arrow is pointing to the option you want to select press the spacebar (the biggest key on the keyboard, you can't miss it). If you want to have a look at your kennel press left. You are now in the dog menu. You can move about in here as with the other menu (up moves you up, down moves you down, etc) and as you move from one dog to another the information displayed on the screen will be specific to the dog the white arrow is pointing to. To escape from the dog menu and return to the function key menu press the cursor right key (or any of the function keys on offer to bring up a new menu). THE OPTIONS NB If you are playing this game for the first time then the most important thing you need to know is that the F4: "show races" option is the only way to get the game in motion. ┌───────┐ │F1-HELP│ └───────┘ GENERAL HELP: Lets you read this file. SEND TO PRINTER: Press Y if you want a print-out of this file. TURN SOUND ON/OFF:If the sound annoys you you can turn it on and off here. ┌───────┐ │F2-DOGS│ └───────┘ REARRANGE: Use this option to reorder your kennel. For instance, you may prefer all the dogs in the same grade to be grouped together. Select the dog you want to move (up, down, etc. followed by the spacebar), then select the dog to swap him with. NEW NAME: Use this to give any of your dogs a new name. Select the dog you want to rename (up, down, etc. followed by the spacebar) and then type in his new name. You must press the Enter key (also known as carriage return or return) when you've finished. TRAIN: This is a useful method of improving the skills of your dogs. Press F1 to train over a sprint, F2 to train for standard races or F3 for distance. To train all your dogs you require the use of a track.A nominal fee is charged for the use of the track.The dogs are raced over your selected distance and their times are recorded. A best lap time shows that the dog is running faster. Dogs who are already fast will profit less by training than those with little experience.There is also a level (unique to each dog) at which point no amount of training will produce improvements. You can train your dogs as many times as you like (if you can afford it). But remember that training may result in injury. Only dogs that are not involved in the current day's racing may be trained. PRINT INFO:Press Y if you want a print-out of the information about the dog currently on the screen. ┌───────┐ │F3-RANK│ └───────┘ The first two options under this heading display sorted information in several categories for the current season. DOGS: The top 20 dogs in your chosen category are shown on the screen, the best at the top, 20th at the bottom. You can view the dogs in a particular grade (use the cursor keys to move through the grades) or lump them all together (press end) The top line of the screen tells you which grade is being viewed or says ALL if you are looking at all of them. Also, the manner in which they have been sorted is mentioned. For instance, "GRADE 4 Sorted by Wins" means that you are looking at the 20 dogs in grade 4 who have won the most races. To view the top 20 in grade 5 press the cursor right key; alternatively, to view the top 20 best times in grade 4 press F5. Press F5 twice more to get the best times for each of the 3 distances. Press ESC to return to the main screen. KENNELS: As above, except there are no grades. DETAILS: This supplies various bits and pieces of useful information for all kennels. The first kennel to be displayed is always your own. Shown on the screen are: the stable name and size top sprint time, top standard time and top distance time the strike rate for the current season money won this season number of races entered, grade 1 wins and total wins last 10 finishing positions (most recent at the left) the best dog in the stable the most promising dog in the stable the dog with the best sprint time (races only, not training) the dog with the best standard time ( ditto ) the dog with the best distance time ( ditto ) current position in the championship Use the cursor keys to move from one kennel to another. ┌───────┐ │F4-RACE│ └───────┘ SHOW RACES: This shows the 10 races for the week consecutively and moves on to the next week. For each race you will be offered the chance to watch it or get only the result Each of the dogs are shown in a different colour. Any dogs in the race who belong to you are shown in their racing colour next to the word YOURS. Any dogs you have placed bets on are shown in their racing colours next to the word BETS. The race is run anti-clockwise. The race continues til the last dog is over the finish line. Finishing places, however, are decided on the point of crossing the line, not where the dogs are when the last one finishes. Your betting stakes and accumulated winnings are shown and updated with the result of each race. Winning times are shown for each race and also for any of the dogs in your kennel who were racing. ENTER DOG IN RACES:Select this option if you want to enter one of your dogs in any of the week's 10 races. Remember that a dog can only enter a race at which he is graded. To enter the dog for a race simply move to the appropriate race, press the spacebar and select the dog you want entered. It sometimes happens that certain races are fully booked, in which case you have to patiently wait until next week. If a race has several vacancies you are at liberty to fill all of them. Any dog due to race must pass a fitness test, which an injured dog will fail. Once you have entered a dog for a race you can't back out, although you can replace him with another. QUIT GAME: This enables you to leave the game and return to the operating system. If you are a registered owner you will be offered the option to save the game so you can carry on playing later from where you left off. If you are not a registered owner, please consider sending off those few pounds/dollars/yen/etc to receive the many benefits of registration. ┌───────┐ │F5-INFO│ └───────┘ OTHER KENNELS: Selecting this option enables you to look at the info for any dog attatched to a kennel. Initially a menu of the 20 kennels appears on the right of the screen. Info for the kennel indicated by the white arrow appears.You can move through the kennels as normal (up,down cursor keys). Press the left cursor key to gain access to the dogs belonging to the current stable. Now you can view the statistics concerning any of these. To return to the kennel menu press the right cursor key. Then press ESC to return to the main screen. HISTORY: This option supplies you with a detailed history of your performances since your first season. Use the cursor keys to move from one year to the next. The most relevant factors to the game are shown, including your own results and the best results from that season. If you have played more than 20 seasons, only the info for the past 20 seasons will be available (and I must say I'm pleased you find the game so entertaining). CHAMPIONSHIP: This is the championship table. For information as to how it is calculated see above under THE CHAMPIONSHIP. If you finish the season in the top six you will be automatically entered into the competition for the championship trophy, the winner of which receives 50000 guineas. ┌──────┐ │F6-VET│ └──────┘ A few words about injuries. All racing greyhounds are prone to injury.They travel at such a speed that any slight barging or bumping can be serious. They pick up injuries ranging from knocks to breakages. Extensive racing or training without frequent medical attention is inadvisable, since your dogs will find themselves out of action sooner or later. If you do have an injured dog get it treated as soon as possible, otherwise the injury will worsen and, when eventually treated, the unfortunate animal will spend an unncessarily lengthy time recuperating. NB: A dog does not have to be injured to benefit from vetinary attention. GET ADVICE: Advice is free. CHECK-UP: The vet will inform you of the state of health of your entire kennel. TREATMENT: The cost depends on the severity and number of dogs requiring treatment. Press Y to receive treatment, N to let your poor dogs suffer. ┌────────┐ │F7-SALES│ └────────┘ The maximum number of animals permitted in your kennel is 60, which is pretty generous. The least you can have is 10. GO TO SALES:You can watch an auction race. If any of the dogs you see running take your fancy you can buy them (move the arrow to the dog you want to buy and press the spacebar) or try again for something better. There are up to 10 sales per week over all grades except grade 1. Prices are usually in the range: grade 10 - 1000 upwards grade 9 - 2000 upwards grade 8 - 3000 upwards etc. BUY PUPPY: One cheap method to increase your kennel size and provide future champions is to buy puppies. The benefit is that they are cheaper than buying dogs from auction races, the drawback is that they are unraced, untried and may prove disappointing. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. SELL DOG: Another kennel may wish to buy one of your dogs. Select the dog you wish to sell. If there is any interest you will be informed of the kennel wishing to purchase and the amount they are prepared to give you. Take it (press Y) or leave it (press N). Old dogs are usually fairly worthless, though a stud farm may offer some money for a dog that has finished a successful racing career. Old bitches are worthless (no sexism intended); the best you can hope is that they will be taken off your hands to reduce your kennel running costs. ┌────────┐ │F8-MONEY│ └────────┘ All the money in this game is in guineas (G). 1 guinea is £1.05 in British money. AMOUNT IN BANK:An instant, uncluttered display of how much money you have. CASH FLOW: A detailed cashflow statement of what happened to your money during the week just past. GET LOAN: Here you try to cajole some rich member of your family to provide you with additional funds. They will offer you a specific sum of money, which they will want paid back over a certain number of weeks. Being a member of the family they won't ask you to pay any interest. Press Y if you agree to their conditions, N if you don't. BET: It is well known that betting is a mug's game. It is no less of a game for its connexions with mugs. You could, in fact, say the same of accountancy, except it isn't even a game. The betting in this game is deliberately simplified to avoid long explanations and complicated selections. You can only bet to win. This means 1000 on a dog at 5/1 will yield a return of 6000 (5000 winnings plus your 1000 stake money) if, and only if, that dog wins the race. To place a bet move to the race you want to bet on, then select the dog you think will win (use the cursor keys and press the spacebar when the white arrow is pointing to the correct dog). The bottom line of the screen will offer you options as to how much you want to bet. The maximum this particular bookie is prepared to accept is 1000 guineas. To place your bet press the function key indicating the amount you think is the most you can afford to lose. You may, if you wish, bet on as many as all six dogs in any race and on as many as all 10 races. BITS AND PIECES For any one playing this game at work, shift F9 is a hot key to DOS. If you press F9 with the shift key at any point in the game where the program is waiting for key input, you will be dropped into a DOS shell, which might be sufficient to fool your boss into believing that you're actually doing some work. Type EXIT to return to the game. If you run heavily into debt you will be declared bankrupt and the game will be over. Otherwise you can play, theoretically, forever. The maximum age at which a dog can race is around 6 years. After that he starts to fade badly. The colours for each grade are: 1 - white 2 - yellow 3 - light red 4 - light blue 5 - green 6 - red 7 - brown 8 - dark blue 9 - purple 10- grey To win the championship trophy you need a depth of quality racers. 1 consistent winner is not enough. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For information on other games, contact PO BOX 19 LIVINGSTON EH27 8EH SCOTLAND 031-333-4958 or WIZARD GAMES OF SCOTLAND PO BOX 498 WILMINGTON MA 01887-0498 U.S.A. 1-508-658-2209 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ GREYHOUND (C) DOGWARE 1990 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘