300 Totally Awesome Games for DOS

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Text File | 1992-02-16 | 11.2 KB | 508 lines

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- RULES.SMT 02-16-92 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- S T O C K M A R K E T T E C H N I C I A N (TM) INVESTMENT GAME Copyright (C) 1991 RGJ Systems -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (1) IBM personal computer or compatible with 256K of memory, floppy diskette drive, and DOS 2.1 or later. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. START UP (1) Load DOS then insert the game diskette in drive A: Enter "A:SMT" if using a color monitor or "A:SMT/M" for monochrome. STOCK MARKET TECHNICIAN (SMT) may be installed on a hard disk. (2) Enter Game Menu activity number to View Game Board, Begin Game, Continue game, or Set Speed. INTRODUCTION Are you a Bull, Bear, or perhaps just feel like a Donkey as a Stock Market Investor? SMT is an investment game where you can be all of the above and win or lose in the process. SMT is based on over ten years of Stock Market research and trading. Experienced Investors will find numerous events to identify with. OBJECT The object of the game is to achieve a greater Net Worth than any other player and remain in the game the longest. Any player with a Net Worth less than zero and not owning any Stock will be eliminated from play. (1) DEFINITIONS Stock: Certificate of company ownership issued in Shares. Share: Fraction of total company ownership. Investor: Buyer or seller of Stock. Broker: Agent for Investor as a buyer and seller of Stock. Paid Commission by Investor. Investment: Stock owned by an Investor. Position: Stock owned by an Investor. Exchange: Institution for buying or selling Stock. Market: Institution for buying or selling Stock. All institu- tions for buying or selling Stock. Bull Market: Market characterized by advancing prices. Bull: Investor with a Bullish outlook. Bear Market: Market characterized by declining prices. Bear: Investor with a Bearish outlook. Net Worth: Cash Available + Stock - Margin Debt Indicator: Data believed to be relevant to the Market. GAME BOARD The game board consists of 3 separate screens that represent alter- native Investment institutions. Characteristics of each institution and associated companies may be derived by individual players. (1) National Stock Exchange (2) Regional Stock Exchange (3) Under The Counter Market (2) SET SPEED Speed may be set to vary the duration of displayed messages or change the sound of player prompts. The default setting is "3". Different values may be used for various personal computers or player skill levels. PLAYERS 1 to 4 players and representative colors may be selected. Previously entered data may be reviewed by depressing Escape Key. Order of play is based on computer selected random numbers. PROMPTS When SMT is waiting for player input, the Player Response line will blink in the active player's color and a single beep will be sounded. FUNDING Initial Cash Available for Investments is based on the number of players: Initial Cash Available = $12,000 / players At the beginning of each turn, the game board Score Card will display Cash Available - a dollar amount followed by the letter "A". Beginning with each player's second turn, Credit Balance Interest will be earned on Cash Available. Margin Interest will be charged on funds borrowed to make Investments (Margin Debt). The Market Response line will display this action. Interest is based on the number of players: Interest Earned = Cash Available x 1/2% x players Interest Charged = Margin Debt x 1% x players STRATEGY SMT is divided into 72 player turns consisting of 2 Bull Markets (24 player turns each) and 1 Bear Market (24 player turns). At the begin- ning of each turn, a Market Indicator will be displayed. Market Indica- tors and subsequent Market Responses may be used by individual players to develop a Bullish or Bearish outlook. (3) INVESTING Following the computation and display of Cash Available, a player's Position may be reviewed by depressing Cursor Keys. Stock prices of the active player's color indicate existing Positions and initial prices. Long, Short, Cash, Margin, and total Shares may be reviewed. Depress En- ter Key to skip this activity or continue. Investment orders may be en- tered as follows: BL (Buy Long ): Buy at a low price with the goal of selling at a higher price. SL (Sell Long ): Sell existing Long Position. SS (Sell Short ): Borrow Stock from Broker and sell at current price with the goal of buying back at a lower price. CS (Cover Short): Buy Stock to replace Shares borrowed from Broker. XX (Skip Turn ): Do not buy or sell. Both Long and Short Positions may be held for the same company. This is referred to as "Shorting Against the Box" and may be used to lock in profits at current levels. Below each game board company name is a 2 character Ticker Symbol which must be entered next. A Cash or Margin account code must also be entered if Position is Long. C (Cash Account ): Stock is paid for in full. Ownership is in name of Investor. Profits available for additional Investments upon sale of stock. M (Margin Account): Stock is held by 50% down payment. Ownership is in name of Broker. Stock may be loaned to Short Sellers. Interest is charged on Margin Debt. Account is used for both Margin and Short Posi- tions. Profits available for additional Invest- ments at any time subject to Margin Debt. (4) Finally, the number of Shares to be bought or sold must be entered. SMT will calculate the maximum number of Shares available based on ownership and Available Cash. Shares owned by individual players are identified by shaded boxes of each player's color. If a player owns more than 50% of the available Stock of a given company, the shaded box will be triple width and that company's Stock may not be bought or sold by any other player. Commissions will be charged on all Investment orders and displayed on the Market Response line. Commission = Market value of Stock x 5% SMT will respond to all Investments by displaying messages on the Market Response line. Any company declining in price to zero will be de- clared Worthless and Suspended from trading. SMT will end the active player's turn by displaying each player's Net Worth - a dollar amount fol- lowed by the letter "N". STOCK SPLITS Stocks advancing in price will split when the Market price reaches $10. At this point, the price will be divided by 2 ($5) and the number of Shares owned will be multiplied by 2. Next to the company Ticker Symbol is a Stock Split Counter. No Stock may Split more than 5 times. If all Positions in a given company are closed, however, the Stock Split Counter will reset to 0. 1,000 Shares are initially available (Stock Splits = 0) for each company at a "New Issues" price of $4. TAKEOVERS Any company may be taken over by buying more than 50% of the available Stock. Takeover Positions are identified by a triple width shaded box of the owner's color. Positions of players whose company is taken over by another player are eliminated and become Worthless. (5) STOCK TABLE Stock Split Counter 0 1 2 3 4 5 Shares Available 1,000 2,000 4,000 8,000 16,000 32,000 Minimum Takeover Shares 501 1,001 2,001 4,001 8,001 16,001 DIVIDENDS Dividends will be paid during the game to owners of selected compa- nies. If a Dividend Market Indicator is displayed and no Dividend paying company is currently owned, the active player may enter an Investment or- der. Dividends will not be paid on Short Positions. WILD CARDS Wild Card Market Indicators will occur during the game and include categories listed below. (1) News related to a company. (2) News related to the Market. (3) News related to the active player. END OF GAME Turns played are recorded by the game board Turns Counter at the left end of the Market Indicator line. At the end of 72 player turns, the Game Menu will again be displayed. The game may be continued for an indefinite period unless terminated by any of the following: (1) Any player with a Net Worth equal to or greater than $1,000,000. (2) All players except 1 eliminated from play. (3) All players eliminated from play. (6) EXIT TO DOS Return to DOS by either of the following actions: (1) Depress Escape Key from the Game Menu. (2) Remove game diskette and reboot system. DISCLAIMER While SMT is based on actual Stock Market performance, some excep- tions have been made for simplification or entertainment considerations. Like the real Stock Market, SMT makes it easy for anyone to buy or sell. Winning consistently or outperforming the competition, however, re- quires substantially more effort! (7) APPENDIX (1) Game software will identify monitor type or mode may be selected by entering either of the following commands at the DOS prompt: SMT <ENTER> For color monitor/mode. SMT/M <ENTER> For monochrome monitor/mode. (2) Data entry may be simplified as follows: Home Key - Depress to restart order entry. C Key - Depress for 100 shares. K Key - Depress for 1000 shares. Enter Key - Depress to process order. End Key - Depress to skip player turn. Depress to cancel order and terminate order entry. Depress to terminate player turn. (8)