~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contact is Dedicated to,
Thurston Kingsley Decker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You taught me much, the least of which was Contact, the most of which was what
a true gentleman is.
We all miss you dearly Papa . . .
-Love, Georgie-



Contact, Copyright 1991 by George Leotti

This program is released as SHAREWARE, and as such it is not free. All I ask
is this: If you try the program and enjoy it and would like to support it and
future inexpensive entertainment programs, please send $5.00 to me at the
address supplied on the opening screen.

You are free to give copies of this program to anyone you choose as long as
you do not modify the documentation or the associated files, or charge anyone
anything beyond a reasonable copying fee. If you paid anyone, other than
myself, anything for this program you've paid a copying fee; I receive none of
that fee. If you want to support this software, see the above paragraph.

Contact is provided as is, and includes no implied nor expressed warranty of
any kind. In no event shall the author be held liable for incidental or
consequential damages through the use or misuse of this program and its
associated files.

Note to Non US supporters:

My bank will not cash "foreign" checks for small amounts of money. If you wish
to support this program, please send an International Money order, or cash in
your (or US, ) currency equivalent to $5.00 US.


Program requirements:

at least 256K free RAM
VGA or EGA card and monitor capable of displaying 640x480 or 640x350 in 16
colors
Microsoft compatible mouse is optional

Files included with Contact:

CONTACT.DOC - Game instructions, you're reading me.
CONTACT.EXE - Program executable.
EGAC10.FNT - If you are using a VGA card you may delete this file.
VGAC10.FNT - If you are using an EGA card you may delete this file.
C10.FNT - All files ending in .FNT are font files required (except as
noted) by Contact. These files must be kept in the same
directory and/or disk as CONTACT.EXE or Contact will not run!
CONTACT.INF - This file will be created by Contact if you use the Setup option
(see below) and must be kept with CONTACT.EXE for your changes
to be in effect each time you run Contact.



About Contact:

Contact is a 6 die dice game with no gambling involved. As with all dice
games, there is a certain element of chance in the game. But Contact also
requires some skill to win. This version of Contact allows from 1 to 4
players, human or programmed.


Object:

The first person to score 5,000 or more points wins.


Counters (scoring):

A counter is a die, or dice, that can be added to your score. Counters are a
1, 5, or any three-of-a-kind thrown in one roll. Counters are scored as
follows:

CounterScore
============
1 one 100 points
2 ones 200 points
3 ones1000 points
1 five 50 points
2 fives 100 points
3 fives 500 points
3 twos, threes, fours, or sixes: 100 x number of triple
(Example: 3 fours = 400)


First roll:

On the first roll of each turn, two special things can happen. If a player
rolls 3 twos on the first roll, that player my re-roll all of the dice and the
player gets a new first turn. If a player rolls a straight (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and
6 in any order), that player automatically wins the game.


Playing:

On screen you will see the dice "rolling". To determine your roll press any
key, except ESC, to stop the dice. If you roll any counters (see above) your
turn can continue. If no counters are rolled your turn ends.

The total score for your current roll is displayed to the right of the dice
and is a total of all counters thrown in that roll. You now have the option of
keeping this score, or rolling for a higher score.

If you are satisfied with the score you can Keep it by pressing 'K'. The total
counter(s) score will then be added to your score and play will pass to the
next player.

If you wish to go for a higher score you must keep, take out of the next roll,
a counter. Thus, each roll after the first roll in a turn you roll fewer dice
and the chance of rolling a counter becomes less.

You may keep any number of one's, 1 or 3 five's, or any three of a kind thrown
in any roll. The counter (die or dice) that you keep will be moved above the
"rollable" dice and the score for this counter and all previously kept
counters will be shown at the right.

To keep a die, simply type the number displayed under that die. If, after
keeping a die and before you continue rolling, you change your mind and don't
want to keep it, type the number under the die again. The program will not
permit illegal moves. If the counter you want to keep is more than 1 die, you
must select all of the dice in that counter.

Once you have decided what to keep, press 'R' to roll the dice you didn't
keep. Press any key to stop the dice rolling and decide again if you want to
Roll more or Keep. You may continue rolling and keeping counters as long as
you roll a counter in each roll. If on any roll you do not throw any counters
you lose any score accumulated in the turn and play passes to the next player.

CONTACT:

A Contact is when all the dice on screen are counters. When you roll a Contact
you are asked if you want to continue rolling. If you answer yes ('Y') the
program remembers the score accumulated so far, and rolls the dice, giving you
a new first roll (see above). If you answer no ('N') all points accumulated in
the turn are added to your score and play passes to the next player.


Confused?:

If the above rules seem confusing, don't worry. The game isn't as complex as I
may have made it sound! Try playing a game. The program won't allow you to
make any wrong moves and the rules may make more sense after you see the game
in action.


Setup:

The Setup option from the main screen allows you to choose your own colors,
from a palette of 64, for many of the program's display elements. The colors
of things you can't change include the dice and the shadows under text. Follow
the on-screen directions to change the colors.


Mouse Users:

On the title screen you will not see a mouse cursor. However, if you would
like to use your mouse with Contact, click a mouse button at the title screen.
(Be sure your mouse driver is loaded.) If you select 'S'etup to change the
colors, you will have to exit Contact, (see quitting, below) and re-start it
to use the mouse.

To Keep ('K') or Roll ('R') as stated above, point at the word Keep or Roll
and click the left button. To keep a die, point at the number under the die or
the die itself, and click the left button. All yes/no questions can be
answered by a click. Left button = Yes, right button = No.

While writing this program and testing it with two different mouse drivers on
the same mouse (trackball, actually) I discovered that not all mouse drivers
are created equally. If you have any problems using your mouse, there is not
much I can do except to say don't click your mouse on the opening screen and
don't walk your mouse while Contact is running. If you don't click on the
opening screen, no mouse cursor will be displayed and you will have to use the
keyboard.


Quitting:

To quit Contact, at any time, press the ESC key. You will be prompted to
prevent accidental quitting.


Statistics:

After you quit Contact and if at least one entire game was played, you will
see a display of averages. This is simply an average of how many points were
lost per game (by not rolling counters and losing accumulated points), and how
many points were earned per game.


Cheating:

The program does not allow you to cheat or make any wrong moves. NO! The
program doesn't cheat!

Notes:

The fonts used in Contact are not my work. They are included in a programming
library by C Source, called GFX Fonts & Menus. The original names of these
fonts are: SS2_28.@, SSD14_38.@, and TTL01_41.@. I renamed these files to try
to make it clear to the user that these are font files for Contact. If anyone
at C Source has a problem with this renaming, please contact me . . .

If anyone finds a problem or (yuck) bug in this program, or has constructive
criticism or kind words, please contact me through the postal service mail or
CompuServe Email at, 75616,1724.

Contact Version 1.0, May 1991

George Leotti
416 S. Elmwood Ave.
Glenolden, PA 19036-2327