Best of Arcadian

Best of Arcadian © 1980 Fabris, Robert.

Contains the best of type-in programs originaly published in the Arcadian newsletters.

O-Jello
1 or 2 Players. The object is to capture and retain as many spaces as possible using the rules of Othello. You can capture a space if it is occupied by your opponent, and you can sandwich him between your existing spaces and the new one. Pull the Trigger to register the move. You will see the computer checking all possible moves when it is Up, in the 1 player mode.

Hamurabi
You are the King, and must make decisions on running the kingdom economically. Start with 100 people, 1,000 acres/land and 3,000 bushels/food. Buy and sell land, feed people, and plant the crops using food as barter. And things happen. The object is to garner performance points based on how you govern and to figure out how the game works. It takes bushels to plant land and people can plant only so many acres. If you last ten years, then your reign will be complete.

2000 AD
A two-player shoot-em-up between an alien invader ship on a ground station. Use the knob to aim, the trigger to fire, and the joystick to move about. After five points use TR(1) to restart.

Bots
A 10x20 grid is set up, and a number of 'walls' are setup randomly, and then a number of 'BOTS' (*) are randomly located. Your position (+) is then taken. Your first choice is whether to 'shoot' an adjacent BOT, and the second choice is which way to move. Either of these directions requires the use of the Knob to turn the little pointer in the desired direction, or turn until it disappears if you wish to stand still. Pull the trigger to effect the decision. Then all the BOTS will move towards you, one box at a time. If a BOT hits a wall, or another BOT, it will be destroyed.

Bowl-a-Rama
A two player game. The computer displays the pins and keeps score. the ball is invisible at the bottom of the screen moving between the two gutters. Whtn the player UP pulls his trigger, the ball appears and stars rolling down the alley. The player controls the curve on the ball by moving his joystick left or right. The frame number is shown in the center box at the bottom of the screen.

Checkers II
This is an updated version of the previous game by John Collins. 1 Player. All the moves of the board game, including double jumps. Use the keypad to indicate the row and column that you wish to move FROM, and then the row and column you wish to move TO. Press GO after each figure. When the computer is up, it will go through five calculations in deciding where to move, and you will see the figures 1-5 as it does so. Every so often it will redraw the playing board.

Connect Four II
A grid is placed on the screen. Use your Joystick to move the marker over the column that you wish to enter. Press the Trigger and the piece will go down the column as far as it can. Getting four of your pieces in a row before the computer does so will win the game. Move the Joystick back and forth to register the win.

Artillery Duel
This program sets up a random mountain scene and adds two gun emplacements. As each player's turn is taken, he adjusts the knob for barrel elevation, moves the joystick to add or reduce the number of gunpowder bags (by whole bags sideways; by tenths back and forth). Then when ready, pull the trigger. There is gravity and a random wind. The gun recoils and fires the shell. There is an explosion when it lands. A gun is destroyed when less than half a gun remains (the repair crew can replace a gun barrel). The program uses all available space, so don't enter lines 3 and 4. Be sure to exercise the joystick to see how the variables work.

Subsearch
1 Player. When asked 'Enter Search 1 to 10,' enter the horizontal value (X) (GO), and then the vertical value (Y) (GO) of your search probe. Once a probe has made contact, you will have missiles to fire to three depths. Meanwhile, the sub is looking for you...

Yahtzee
Use the Joystick (JY) to position the arrow on the die you want re-rolled. Push JX to erase the die. Pull the trigger to re-roll. After three rolls, you will be shown the scores. Use JY to position the arrow to the one you want and pull the trigger. Scores almost like the real game.