371 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION ------------------- Any number of participants may play the game of Gramarcy with this computerprogram. The program is supplied in compiled BASIC on an eight sector per trackdiskette so will run in any version of DOS. The game is played when the program gives the player a word of from 7 to 11characters in length as per his request. The player then uses each letter only once to form other words of from four letters up to the length of the word he picked. The player's final score is computed from the words he has found in thegiven word plus a time bonus if he finishes before a predetermined number of minutes. Along with this final score is a percentage of words he found which can actually be found in the given word. The object of the game is not to obtain the highest point total since this number is computed objectively but to obtain the highest percentage of correct words. Game scores are stored in orderof point totals since the best player should find his highest percentage in the words with the most anagrams. The object of the game may then be summarized by saying that the player must find the highest total of correct words in any givenword in the least amount of time. Finally, before you get a letter off to your lexicographer complaining about the fact that "GRAMARCY" is not in your dictionary let me say that it is aregistered trademark and not a word. In your daily newspaper it is simply called "Word game". I think Gramarcy is as close as I care to get to a word describing this game. Also, a U.S. Patent has been applied for and is pending on the process by which this coding finds words. Copyright 1984, Robert L. Nicolai PLAYING THE GAME ---------------- Initializing the Program ------------------------ The first thing you should do is make a backup copy of this diskette. I suggest you format a new diskette and place the system on it with the /S option.Then using the COPY *.* command transfer all files from the distribution diskette to it. When playing the game you should use this diskette. Keep the original diskette in a safe place in case you need it to restore lost files. When playing the game the program makes extensive use of the files stored on diskette. The program will run faster and more efficiently if you have a RAMcard and a disk emulator. The program searches files stored on the default drive when the program is running. So if you want to speed execution of the program by using a disk emulator you should do the following before running it: 1. Configure your RAM disk for a minumum of 256 KB. 2. Next, copy COMMAND.COM to this diskette then copy all "&" files, any files with the name extention .GAM and the NAME file, if present, to it. 3. Change the default drive to your RAM disk. If it is configured on drive C then following the > prompt in DOS type C:. 4. To run the program enter the drive designator for the drive in which your program diskette is located followed by a colon and the word GRAMARCY. 5. To save player history files don't forget to copy all .GAM files back to your program diskette when the game is finished. If you don't have a RAM card and disk emulator you don't have to do a thingto initialize the program other than to make up the new diskette. You will start the program by typing the word GRAMARCY following the > DOS prompt. Starting the Program -------------------- The Gramarcy program was written in BASIC and has been compiled for faster execution. In order to run it all you must do is type the name of the program following the DOS prompt. When the program ends return will be to DOS. If you have a copy of COMMAND.COM on your program diskette you will next see the DOS prompt. If not, a message will be displayed to insert the diskette containing COMMAND.COM into the default drive and strike any key. This would be impossibleif you did not place the command processor on your RAM disk so make sure it's there if you are using a RAM disk. When the program starts you will see the main program menu. There are three options you may exercise while this screen is being displayed. You may enter the number 1 to play Gramarcy or you may enter the number 2 to display or print the program documentation. If you do not want to use your printer while playing the game you can toggle it to OFF by pressing number 3 in this menu. Itcan be turned back on in the same manner. If you wish to end the program you may do so by striking the ESC key. Return from either option will always be to this menu. Playing Gramarcy ---------------- The first option you may exercise from the menu is to play Gramarcy. If you have not yet played the game you will first enter your name. You must enterit exactly the way you want to be remembered because this is what the computer will call you from that time on. You may enter only one word but may combine capital letters with small letters in the name. The maximum length the computerwill accept for a name is eight letters. If you type any more your name will betruncated to the first eight you entered. If your name is already on file when this portion of the program starts all you need do is answer with the letter "N"until the proper name is displayed and then enter the letter "Y". If you miss the name when it is displayed you may enter it when the program prompts but you must enter the same name that was entered the first time or you will create a new player file for yourself. Any number of players may have a unique history file stored on disk for this game. If this list becomes too long you may delete excess player files by running the EDLIN program on your DOS diskette and removing the player's name from the NAMES file then using the ERASE command in DOS to delete the file of the same name with the name extention .GAM. If you have any trouble doing that all you need to do is to copy the GRAMARCY.EXE and GRAMARCY.URN file to another diskette to start each history file from scratch. The game begins with a prompt for length of the word you wish to be given. You may enter any number from 7 to 11 in response to this prompt. The program will then find a word of that length for you to solve. The next display will bea skeleton work sheet. This will consist of the elapsed time, the number of minutes you will have as a time bonus and the word the program has picked for you. The word will not be displayed and the time will not begin to run until you strike a key as you will note from the message on line 25. This will give you a break between games if you are playing multiple rounds. When the game starts the words you enter will be numbered and displayed on the screen. You may enter any letter or a backspace to delete the last letter you entered up to the beginning of your current word. If you see that you have made a mistake on a word you entered prior to the current word, it may be deleted by striking the tab key and then entering the number of the word you want to delete. The clock will not stop while you are making this deletion eventhough the current elapsed time is not displayed. When you finish entering yoursolution you must strike the ESC key to tell the program you are done. The program will extract the minute portion of the elapsed time from the display andcompute your time bonus, if any, from that number. If you end at 3:01 or 3:59 into the game your time bonus will be computed from the number stated in the upper right hand corner of your screen less the number 3. This bonus will be added to your final score but will not be less than zero so you can only gain points by finishing before the time bonus has elapsed. While you are entering words in your solution, the program will be going through its table look up to find all words in the given word. Here you may benefit if you have an electronic disk in two ways. The grinding of the disk drive may disturb your concentration or at least distract you while playing the game. A RAM disk would make no noise at all so you'd never know that it's working. Second, it would be faster. This BASIC program is actually running a multi-processing job. You are entering data and storing it in memory while the program is looking up other data and storing it in memory. You will notice somediscontinuity in the speed with which the program picks up your keystrokes when the disk drive is working if you are using a diskette. A RAM disk would work fast enough that you would not need to wait for the disk drive to stop before entering the next letter. The program will finish finding all words in the given word before you are done unless you are working on a short word or give up early. When it does finish, the program will display the total number of words it found in the givenword. This may or may not help you determine when to quit. If you finish before the computer is through analyzing the word you must wait until it is donebefore the program can continue. When the message is displayed stating the total number of words found in the given word the program will have finished itsmulti-processing job and you will be getting 100% of its attention. You will get as much time as you want to finish your list. However, you may enter no more than 300 words in this phase of the program or it will be terminated due toexcessive length and execution will continue with the solution phase. Unless you used Option 3 to toggle your printer OFF it should be turned on and ready to print while executing this routine. That is because for every multiple of fifty words you enter the screen will be cleared and those words output to the printer. If you forget just what you have entered, and on long words you will, you may check your printout to see what is there. The elapsed time clock will not stop during this printout. When you strike the ESC key you will stop the clock and be told at what minute mark you finished. The words that you formed will then be placed in alphabetical order and the list of correct words will be output to both the screen and the printer. Then your list will be printed. Your final score for this word will be computed and when ready the message will be displayed on line 25 to press any key for a summary. This summary will consist of a statement of your final score for the word and the amount of bonus which is included in that score. The current time will also be displayed. If your score is high enough to be placed on the permanent list the next display will be of that list. You will next have the option of ending the game by pressing the ESC key or playing another round by pressing any key. If you decide to end the game, your high scores for each word length from seven through eleven letters will be displayed. Return will be to the program menu after recording the new high scores for this session on disk. If you want to play another round you will be asked to enter the length of word you want. Any number from 7 to 11 will be accepted and execution will begin again for thisword length from the point of displaying your work sheet. Reading Documentation --------------------- The second option in the main menu is to do just what you are doing right now. That is to either print or display program documentation. By entering thenumber 2 you enter the routine which can either display or print documentation. During this time you may use the Carriage Return to advance the display by one line at a time, the Page Up and Page Down keys either by themselves or in con- junction with the CTRL key to change the display and the Alt-P (both pressed at the same time) key to print the file. No special characters are sent to the printer during output so this routine will work with any printer. After you begin printing documentation you may abort it by pressing the ESC key. To exit this routine and return to the main menu all you need to do is to strike the ESC key. Printer Toggle Switch --------------------- Option 3 in the main menu is a toggle switch for the printer. The main menu will tell you just what will happen if you enter option 3. If the printer is on it will say Turn Printer Off while if the printer is off it will say Turn Printer On. This toggle switch is only valid for playing the game. While you are viewing documentation it will be assumed that if you want a printout of it then your printer is turned on and ready to print. The program will check the status of your printer before entering the main menu. You will be told if it isoff and this switch will be set to off before the game starts. You will not be able to toggle it on unless the printer is placed on line. Exiting the Gramarcy Program ---------------------------- You may exit the program only while the main menu is being displayed. If aprogram error occurs you should check the time on your system clock to make sureit is correct. If the program terminates abnormally during the game the system clock will probably be wrong. Pressing the ESC key will terminate the Gramarcy program and return control to DOS. R U L E S O F G R A M A R C Y --------------------------------- If you play the newspaper word game you know that the rules of a game such as this are simple. The rules for this game are just as simple but you must understand them to get high scores. Rule #1 - How to Form Words --------------------------- You may use any letter in the given word to make up a new word but each letter may be used only once. If the word contains two or more of the same letter you may use the letters once for each time they appear in the word. EXAMPLE: LABELLUM uses 3-L, 1-A, 1-B, 1-E, 1-U and 1-M The words you form from these letters must be a minimum of four letters in length. Since you may not use any letter more than once the words in your list will go from four letters in length up to the number of letters in the given word in length. The word you are given must not appear in your solution and anyword you form from the given word may not appear more than once. Rule #2 - Proper Nouns ---------------------- No proper noun may be used in your solution. Proper nouns are those nouns beginning with a capital letter. EXAMPLE: Monday, October, Easter, Dutch, Lutheran, Latin, Mercurochrome Rule #3 - Abbreviations and Contractions ---------------------------------------- No abbreviated form of a word may be used nor may a contraction of words beused. Abbreviations may end in or contain periods while a contraction would contain an apostrophe. EXAMPLE: ICBM, can't, e.g., ma'am, Sgt., o'clock, Tue., ne'er, etc. Rule #4 - Foreign Words ----------------------- No foreign words or words containing foreign letters may be used. Neither may you enter foreign monetary units, weights or measures. EXAMPLE: couturier, garcon, eclair, creche, peso, krona, artel, vara Rule #5 - Spaces and Hyphens ---------------------------- No word contaning either a space or a hyphen may be used. EXAMPLE: pent-up, crab apple, self-made, per se, age-old Rule #6 - British Variants -------------------------- Words that are chiefly British and British variants are not used. EXAMPLE: colour, petrol, telly, bobby, metre Rule #7 - Dictionary Listings ----------------------------- Any word shown as the main dictionary listing may be used even if it is a variant form of another listing or another form of the same word as long as it is not in one of the aforementioned categories. EXAMPLE: choose and chose, ameba and amoeba, mean and meant All variant spellings of the word appearing before the definition may be used but not other forms of it shown in the listing. EXAMPLE: numskull and numbskull, catalog and catalogue, veld and veldt, abate but not abated or abating, optimism but not optimist, nova but not novae or novas Words on special lists may be used. EXAMPLE: words on lists with a common prefix such as non-, re- or un- are used but not the prefix or suffix by itself Rule #8 - Usage --------------- Colloquial or informal, slang, obsolete, archaic and poetic labels on wordsor interjections will not exclude these words from use. However, vulgar slang terms are not used. EXAMPLE: lummox or hunch, schlock, grippe, hath, eventide, phooey Rule #9 - Final Authority ------------------------- If you are a serious player, when you receive this program you will go to your local book store and purchase a copy of some dictionary that you will feel good about using as the final authority for words in this game. Every lexicog- rapher lists words differently. One dictionary may list optimist separately from the listing for optimism. If a question arises about the vaildity of a word you may use that word source to resolve it. This program will not allow you to modify the data base used in forming a solution but a version of Gramarcy is available which will. Information on how to obtain that version may be found at the end of this documentation. Rule #10 - Work Aids During Solution ------------------------------------ Unless you are totally proficient at solving this type word game you may use any reference necessary while solving the puzzle. After all, the rationale for playing the game is to become more proficient in the spelling and use of theEnglish language. What better way to do that than to use the dictionary while you are solving the puzzle? In competition play, you may wish to exclude use ofa dictionary but I encourage it for any other purpose. The use of a dictionary may even be extended to the use of specific word lists composed for the express use of saving dictionary look up time while you are playing this game. You could, therefore, make up a special list of four letter words which could be used as reference while you are playing the game. S C O R I N G You will receive one point for each word you form correctly. If the word you form is not in the computer's solution you will receive nothing for the wordbut will not lose points from your total score. If the word contains any letterwhich is not in the given word two points will be subtracted from your score. MISCELLANEOUS ------------- Comparing Scores ---------------- Two different players may compare their scores by comparing both their point total and their percentage. If their point total is the same the player with the highest percentage would be better than the one who has the lower percentage of words for the same score. If their point totals are different thebest way to compare scores is by multiplying the point total by the percentage. A single player may determine if his games are improving by noting the way the percentage on the top line of his permanent list changes. It does not make any difference what the final score is in this case since there will be eight other scores below it. This will establish a firm enough base that the percent figure will be a good indication of overall performance. You may progress from the seven letter word through the eleven letter word at your own speed but I recommend that you start with the seven letter word and not attempt to work on the next higher word length until you have at least nine games displayed and thepercent shown on the top line of your score sheet is at least 75. Viewing the 11 Letter Words --------------------------- As you know, there is no way to either alter or view the 11 letter words. If you want to view words on this list insert the Gramarcy diskette in your default drive and execute the following coding to get a hard copy of it: 10 DEFINT B-T: DEFSTR U-Z 20 OPEN "&11" AS #1 LEN=11: FIELD #1, 11 AS X: GET 1: GET 1 30 FOR J=1 TO 6: GET 1: IF ASC(X)<>176 THEN LPRINT X SPC(2): NEXT:LPRINT:LPRINT: GOTO 30 40 LPRINT: END User Support and Program Upgrades --------------------------------- If you have any problem running the program or understanding how to play the game you may call me at 800-NICOLAI (642-6524) for help. As with all share-ware, this program is copyrighted by me but I expressly waive that right only tothe extent that you, the end user, may make exact copies of this diskette to distribute to other interested parties. I will accept any donation offered but,if you enjoyed playing this game, I suggest a donation of $25 if you want other programs I write to become available to you as shareware. You may instead decide to upgrade this program to one which includes a routine that will search any word you enter for all words contained in it and another utility which will allow you to modify the data base by actually adding and deleting words. That program also contains a data base of 23,500 words and comes with printed documentation. The price for it is only $50. If you live in Missouri you must include sales tax (6.1% at this time). Please send any donation or order to: Robert L. Nicolai 4038 N. Ninth St. St. Louis, MO 63147-3441
