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FUNNELS.LZH
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1984-09-21
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397 lines
FUNNELS & BUCKETS
Version 2.00
User-Supported Educational Software
from
Data Sage
Yale Station 2902
New Haven, CT 06520
------------------------------------------------------------
For: IBM PC with PC-DOS
Requirements: Eighty-column display, one diskette drive,
96K random access memory (RAM)
Files Used: FUNNELS.EXE, FUNNELS.DOC, FUNNELS.INV
FUNNELS.SCR (created by program)
------------------------------------------------------------
Over dinner one evening, eight-year-old Jed said, "You
were right, Dad, when you told me learning math would pay
off."
His father raised a questioning eyebrow. "What do you
mean, son?" he asked.
"A boy in our class said he would give anything if
someone would do the last row of problems on his math
assignment. So I did and he paid me a dime."
The dime was only the beginning of the payoffs Jed will
get from the time and effort he invests in learning
arithmetic. Someday he may become an accountant or
financial advisor and charge hundreds of times that amount
for essentially the same work: solving number problems.
Whatever he does, his mastery of arithmetic will mean
he has some useful tools to achieve his personal goals.
Unfortunately, his classmate may never be able to use those
same tools, unless he overcomes his distaste for arithmetic.
Funnels & Buckets is a computer program meant to help
people like Jed and his classmate learn and enjoy
arithmetic. Although it is aimed at children, it can help
adults polish their skills.
BACKGROUND
Funnels & Buckets is a learning game. Playing it
improves your skill in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and
dividing. The object of the game is to POP equations by
solving them as they fall from a funnel. The funnel glides
across the ceiling of a room called The Cleaning Closet.
Funnels & Buckets Users Guide
As a player, your job is to type in the correct answers
to the equations before they reach the buckets. That will
POP them, and the more you POP, the higher your score. At
fast speeds, POPping will challenge even an adult.
The dastardly villain Burglar runs the funnel. He
wants to fill all the buckets in The Cleaning Closet with
equations. Burglar gets his name because he tries to steal
the points you earn from typing in an answer. Even worse,
if you type the wrong answer when he's around, he steals
TWICE the points. To avoid losing points, never type an
answer when he's around.
Meggie, the cleaning woman, is the game's heroine.
This is her cleaning closet, and the buckets belong to her.
She's busy cleaning, but she drops by often to reward you
with bonus points for stopping Burglar. If you type in the
correct answer when she's around, you get TRIPLE the points.
When you don't know an answer, Meggie will help you.
(Her cleaning job is just a money-making sideline. In real
life she is a math teacher.) Press the <space bar> when an
equation is falling and she'll show you how to get the right
answer. You can remember it for the next time Burglar drops
that equation.
START UP
To start Funnels & Buckets, place the diskette into
your logged disk drive and type:
FUNNELS <enter>
A title screen will appear. Press the <space bar> to get
the main menu.
SETTING UP THE GAME
Funnels & Buckets allows you to set up the game the way
you want. You control the type of problems (addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, or mixed). You
control whether you want sound effects. And you control
how fast the game will go.
The game has already made its own choices. They appear
in parentheses to the right of the menu selections in the
middle box on the screen. If you want these choices, just
press the <space bar> to start playing. If you want to
change a choice, press the number key beside it on the menu.
Copyright (C) 1984 by Data Sage 2
Funnels & Buckets Users Guide
To change the type of problem, press <1>. A menu of
choices will appear in the bottom box on the screen. Choose
whether you want to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or
solve a mixture of problems. Difficult problems earn more
points than easy ones:
Addition . . . . . . . 5 points
Subtraction . . . . . 10 points
Multiplication . . . . 15 points
Division . . . . . . . 20 points
To choose whether you will have sound effects, press
<2>. A menu will appear in the bottom box on the screen.
Select quiet or sound.
To choose how fast the equations will fall, press <3>.
There are six options, ranging from FASTEST to SLOWEST. You
may choose the speed you want. The computer will
automatically speed things up as you get better and your
score gets higher.
You may get short instructions from the main menu by
pressing the <enter> key. You may quit by pressing <esc>.
PLAYING THE GAME
When you have chosen how you want the game to work,
press the <space bar>. Then use either set of number keys
to enter answers.
If you make a mistake typing the first digit of a two-
digit number, press the <backspace> key to start over.
Keep an eye out for Meggie and the Burglar at the top
of the screen. If Meggie comes, try to answer the question
right away to get bonus points. If Burglar comes, stop
typing until he leaves. Otherwise you'll lose points.
To get an explanation of a problem, press the <space
bar> when an equation is falling. Meggie will show how to
solve it.
You may change the speed, the sound, and the type of
problems anytime. This will not cause you to lose points.
Press the <esc> key to interrupt play. Make the changes you
want. Then press the <space bar> to continue play.
EXITING
The <esc> key always takes you back to the previous
screen. You may end the game at any time by pressing the
Copyright (C) 1984 by Data Sage 3
Funnels & Buckets Users Guide
<esc> key several times. The game will also end by itself
if Burglar succeeds in filling all the buckets.
The computer will compare your score with that of
previous players. If you beat all previous scores, it will
ask you to enter your name as the new record holder. Then
you may decide if you want to play again.
GETTING THE MOST FROM THE GAME
The value of Funnels & Buckets is that it makes
learning fun. Some people like the excitement of outpacing
the burglar. They lose track of time as they POP equations.
Others prefer the gentle explanations Meggie gives when they
press the <space bar>. A player learns best by playing the
game in his or her own way. That keeps it fun without
becoming threatening or boring.
Many children between the ages of four and seven prefer
to watch Meggie's explanation instead of playing for points.
Older children usually prefer both explanations and play.
Note that the game is designed so you only have to use
the numeric keypad, the <space bar>, the <backspace> key and
the <esc> key. The <esc> key, which is used for exiting, is
separated from the playing keys to prevent accidental use.
For children this will make play easier.
SHAREWARE
Funnels & Buckets is a "user-supported" program. User-
supported software, sometimes known by the name "shareware,"
is an experiment in software distribution. It is based on
three principles:
1. You are the best judge of how useful a
program is. By using it on your own computer, you
can you see whether it meets your needs. If it
doesn't you shouldn't have to pay for it.
2. The creation of personal computer
software can and should be supported by the
computing community.
If you use someone else's work, you will want to
contribute a small share of the cost, just as someone who
uses your work should do for you. Supporting a software
author helps him or her create more software and improve
what is already available.
Copyright (C) 1984 by Data Sage 4
Funnels & Buckets Users Guide
3. Copying and sharing software is a good
thing that should be encouraged.
Distributing "user-supported" software reduces the cost
of marketing, advertising, manufacturing, packaging, and
copy-protecting. It costs less to distribute, so you pay
less. (This is one way your users group or bulletin board
operator saves you money.) When you use a shareware
program, the author trusts you to send your fair share to
help support the program.
We've tried to make Funnels & Buckets as high-quality
as any professional program you can buy. Please give your
fair share. For your convenience, we've included an invoice
(FUNNELS.INV) on the disk. You can print it out and send it
with your check.
============================================================
> > > SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION < < <
$10
Schools and organizations, please contribute $25 per
building.
============================================================
We encourage you to copy and share Funnels & Buckets
with others, if:
1. You do not change the program or the
documentation. (If even a few persons made
changes, there would soon be several different
versions and it would become difficult or
impossible to fix problems.)
2. You copy all three files:
FUNNELS.EXE
FUNNELS.DOC
FUNNELS.INV
(The score file FUNNELS.SCR is optional; the
computer will create it if it is not there.)
3. You do NOT charge any fee or
consideration, but inform the person to whom you
give a copy that this is a shareware program.
(User Groups may charge their normal library fee.)
Copyright (C) 1984 by Data Sage 5
Funnels & Buckets Users Guide
SUGGESTIONS WELCOME
If you have suggestions or comments about Funnels &
Buckets, we'd appreciate a letter. There's also room for
comments on the convenient invoice. Thank you for your
support.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Stan W. Merrill, Ph.D., created Funnels & Buckets and
programmed the IBM PC version. An earlier version appeared
in PC Disk Magazine (Volume I, Number 7). An Apple II
version, programmed by Paul Ravina, appeared in A+ Disk
Magazine (Volume I, Number 4). Many people have helped test
it, including JoLynn Bennett, Denise Dillman, Tracy Gibbons,
Erica Merrill, Jed Merrill, John Roeder, Scott Roeder, and
Tommy Roeder.
* * *
Copyright (C) 1984 by Data Sage 6