SINT NICOLAAS

                            Version 1.4 (English)
             (C) Copyright 1998 by Mike Wiering/Wiering Software
               www.wieringsoftware.nl, info@wieringsoftware.nl


LICENSE

     This game is FREEWARE. Before running this game, you must read,
     understand and accept the terms of the license agreement. See
     LICENSE.TXT.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     The minimal system requirements to run Sint Nicolaas are:

         -  PC with 286 processor or higher (486 recommended)
         -  VGA graphics card


STARTING THE GAME

     To start Sint Nicolaas in DOS, type:

         SINT

     The following command line options are allowed:

         SINT -?    Help
         SINT -E    Start the game in English
         SINT -N    Start the game in Dutch
         SINT -Q    Start the game without sound
         SINT -S    PC-speaker sound only


THE GAME

     Every year Sint Nicolaas comes all the way from Spain to Holland to
     gives presents to the children. On December 5th, at night, Sint travels
     over the roofs and drops the presents through the chimneys.

     In this game, Sint Nicolaas has been robbed! The thieves have taken
     his big sack full of presents and gingerbread cookies. In their run,
     however, the they aren't careful and presents start dropping out of the
     sack. Now Sint only has to collect the fallen gingerbread and presents
     and bring them to the right chimney.

     Presents are in four colors: red, blue, green and purple. All chimneys
     have a mark indicating the correct color. There is also a number written
     on every chimney, that is the number of gingerbread cookies that still
     have to be dropped.

     Sint can carry as many presents behind him as he can find. However, he
     can only drop the first one into the chimney. So he must visit the
     chimneys in the same order as the colors of the presents he gathers.

     All the presents must be brought to the right homes in this same night.
     Sint must be ready before dawn. The time Sint has left to complete the
     level is displayed on the statusline at the bottom of the screen. When
     only one minute is left, the sky will start getting lighter. If two
     minutes or more are left at the end of a level, Sint has time to play
     a bonus level!

     Sint's quest over the roofs is dangerous: the old Sint will not survive
     a fall from such a roof. Sometimes it can be very slippy. Sint also has
     to be careful not to touch the sharp edges of TV antennes. There are
     even dangerous birds that attack him and even try to steal presents or
     gingerbread. Sint can make these birds fall down by jumping on top of
     them, but that wouldn't be very kind towards the birds. So every time
     Sint jumps on a bird, he loses 500 points. If he manages to complete a
     level without injuring any bird at all, he receives 10,000 extra points.

     At the right-bottom of the screen, a number of hearts are displayed.
     This indicates how often Sint can hurt himself before losing a life. He
     can earn extra lives by eating four chocolate letters S, I, N and T
     or by collecting 100 gingerbread cookies in a bonus level.


CONTROLS

     In all menus, use the arrow keys to move the cursor and select an option
     by pressing <Enter> or <Space>. Hit <Esc> to go back or to end the game.

     If you have a joystick, go to CONFIGURATION and then CONTROLS to set it
     up and calibrate.

     Keys to play the game:

         <Left/Right arrow>   -  Walk
         <Alt>                -  Jump
         <Ctrl>               -  Accellerate

     If you want to configure other keys, from the main menu, choose:
     CONFIGURATION, CONTROLS and then KEYS.

     Other keys during the game:

         <F1>                  -  Help
         <F2>                  -  Save game
         <F3>                  -  Load game
         <F4>                  -  Sound on/off
         <P>                   -  Pause
         <Esc>                 -  Exit


MORE GAMES

     For a complete overview of the SINT NICOLAAS games, see:

         http://www.cs.kun.nl/is/sint/

     For more fun games, visit the Wiering Software homepage:

         http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/


WORD OF THANKS

     Special thanks to all members of the GiPHouse Beta Testing Team and
     everyone else who helped testing this game!