Loadstar 128 #9/q09.d81/t.yacht word

Text File | 1989-01-01 | 7.3 KB | 161 lines

                             Y A C H T    W O R D

                               by Robert B. Cook

     You've undoubtedly played the dice game, YAHTZEE, but wait till you see
what Robert Cook has done with it.  Instead of trying to get 'poker'-type
hands, you have to come up with real English words.  It sounds as though it
may be easier, since there are a LOT of English words, and just a few types
of poker hands, but things are rarely what they seem.

     If you know YAHTZEE, you'll have no problems in seeing what must be
done.  All you have to do is learn the nifty point and click interface that
Robert has perfected.  If you haven't played the game, here is a quick
synopsis, followed by in-depth instructions by Robert himself.

     One to five may play, taking turns in order around the 'table'. On your
turn you roll seven dice and try to make a word or words out of the seven
letters that show.  You have a 'scorecard' at the top of the screen that
shows you the categories you want to fill in.  You may roll any (or all) of
the dice two more times, trying to get a better combination of letters.
After the third roll, you HAVE to pick a category to fill in.  In order to
win, you must choose the category wisely. The winner will be the player with
the most points -- the one who has chosen the dice for re-rolling and
category the most wisely.  Of course, Lady Luck has her svelte fingers in
the game, too.

     Robert's instructions, which deal specifically with the YACHT WORD
program, follow.

     First, choose the number of players, 1-5, then for each player, choose
a time limit of 00, 30, 45, 60, 75 or 90 seconds.  A 00 time limit will
allow a player to play without time constraints.  The border will change to
light grey when there are 10 seconds left on the clock and flash in
multicolor when time has elapsed.

ROLLING THE DICE
------- --- ----

     The dice are rolled at the beginning of each turn.  A player then has
two more turns to roll up to seven dice.  Using the joystick in Port 2 or
the CRSR keys to move the arrow, choose the die you wish to reroll and press
the FIRE button or RETURN.  The die will change to yellow.  If you wish to
undo your choice, press FIRE or RETURN again and the die will change back to
white.  Then, after all the dice that you want to reroll have been chosen,
move the arrow to ROLL and press FIRE or RETURN.  The number in the ROLL box
indicates the current dice roll.

SORT OPTION
---- ------

     Move the arrow to SORT and press FIRE or RETURN to rearrange the order
of the dice and, hopefully, find more word combinations.

VIEW OPTION
---- ------

     The VIEW option allows you to look at all sides of one or more dice.
Choose the dice that you wish to VIEW with the arrow then press the FIRE
button or RETURN.  The die will change to yellow.  If you wish to undo your
choice press FIRE or RETURN again and the die will change back to white.
Then, after all the dice that you want to look at have been chosen, move the
arrow to VIEW and press FIRE or RETURN.  Continue pressing FIRE or RETURN to
look at each side.

PLAY OPTION
---- ------

     To play the first or second roll of the dice just move the arrow to the
PLAY option and press FIRE or RETURN.  If you change your mind move the
arrow to REDO and press FIRE or RETURN.

CREATING WORDS
-------- -----

     After the third roll, or if your allotted time has run out, or if PLAY
has been chosen, the arrow will move to the dice.  You CANNOT access the
options after your third roll or after time has run out.  You will have as
much time as you need, (or your fellow players will allow), to form your
words.  You should decide, at this point, which category you would like to
play and form a word or words for it.  Moving the arrow to a die and
pressing FIRE or RETURN will place that letter in the first word space.  You
may use each letter only once.  Pressing FIRE with the joystick UP or
SHIFT/RETURN will total the score for the current word and move you to the
next word space.  After totaling the third word space you will move to the
scoring chart.

     At any time before totaling the third word you may reenter your words
by placing the arrow on REDO and press FIRE or RETURN.  You don't have to
create a word for each word space but you must use the spaces in order. The
only exceptions are for the CONSONANTS or VOWELS.  You don't create words
for these two categories. The WILD die has no scoring value but may be used
in place of any letter.

SCORING
-------

     To score your word(s), move to the row of your choice by using the
joystick or cursor keys then press FIRE or RETURN to enter your score. If
you haven't formed a word or words applicable for that category, you'll be
prompted to press FIRE or RETURN to enter a zero.

     The scoring is as follows:

     2-LETTER to 6-LETTER words:  The word in the first space must be the
exact length for the category you choose.  In order to qualify for the 35
point bonus you must score at least a total of 40 points in these five
categories.

     1 WORD to 3 WORDS:  Words may be any length including the one-letter
words, A and I.  The total of each word is scored.

     All CONSONANTS or all VOWELS: Don't create words for these categories.
Simply press FIRE/UP or SHIFT/RETURN three times to move to the score chart.
The WILD and 'Y' dice may be used for either category. These score 25 and 40
points respectively.

     YACHT WORD:  Seven-letter word. Scores 50 points.

     CHANCE: The total of any length word in the first space.  This should
be played as a last resort when you can't score in any other category.

     XTRA YACHT:  If you have placed a word in the YACHT WORD category you
may place successive seven-letter words here.  Because you must use one
category per turn, an unused category must be zeroed, for XTRA YACHT, to
complete your turn.

     Each entry scores 75 points.

STRATEGY
--------

     The idea, of course, is to try to score in each of the 12 categories.
Since this is not always possible, you may have to place a zero in certain
categories.  If you must place a zero or low score in the top half, the
category you'll lose the least in is the 2-LETTER row.  These points may be
made up in another category in order to gain the bonus.  You may not have a
choice in the lower half. Near the end of the game only certain categories
will be open. The most difficult ones to score will be YACHT WORD or all
VOWELS and these should be zeroed first.

     At almost any time in the game, you can press ESC and you'll be asked
if you want to quit the game.  If you answer N you'll be returned to your
place in the game.

     Fender here again: I have an IBM game called JOTS that is a word
version of Mastermind, and it is incredibly tough.  YACHT WORD is not that
bad, since you're allowed to make up to three words out of the seven
letters.  However, a good, winning player will ferret out those seven-letter
YACHTs, or at least the longer, higher-scoring words.

     I recommend that you practice YACHT WORD by yourself, and casually
break out the game when friends are over.  If you've supplied some good
finger foods and beverages, they probably won't mind too much when you
thrash them into the ground with your YACHT skill.  Lady Luck rewards those
who do their homework.

FT
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