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Information about “PLAY ‘N’ LEARN”
PLAY 'N' LEARN is a delightful collection of six simple educational
games for young children, ages 1-1/2 to 4. They help children acquire
skills in letter recognition, simple counting, and computer usage.
AMANDA'S LETTER LOTTO teaches both upper- and lower-case alphabets;
ZACK-A-DOODLE is a paint/draw game; COLOR SCREEN and COLOR MATCH help
children to recognize colors; WORD WHIRL and NEXT NUMBER are perfect
for learning words and simple counting from 1 to 9. PLAY 'N' LEARN
also includes a game that helps a child learn shapes.
FILE0916.TXT
Disk No: 916
Disk Title: Play 'n' Learn
PC-SIG Version: S2.32
Program Title: Play 'n' Learn
Author Version: 2.12
Author Registration: $10.00
Special Requirements: None.
PLAY 'N' LEARN is a delightful collection of six simple educational
games for young children, ages 1-1/2 to 4. They help children acquire
skills in letter recognition, simple counting and computer usage.
Amanda's Letter Lotto teaches both upper- and lower-case alphabets;
Zack-a-Doodle is a paint/draw game; Color Screen and Color Match
help children recognize colors; Word Whirl and Next Number are perfect
for learning words and simple counting from 1 to 9. PLAY 'N' LEARN also
includes a game that helps a child learn shapes.
PC-SIG
1030D East Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
GO.TXT
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║ <<<< Disk #916 Play `N' Learn >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ To view author's introductory remarks, type: TYPE READ.ME (press Enter)║
║ and TYPE INTRO.DOC (Enter) ║
║ ║
║ To print the documentation and instructions for this disk, type: ║
║ PRINT (press Enter) ║
║ ║
║ To print the list of software offered by the author, type: ║
║ COPY OTHER.DOC PRN (press Enter) ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
(c) Copyright 1990, PC-SIG Inc.
INTRO.DOC
P L A Y 'N L E A R N
VERSION 2.12
This disk contains version 2.12 of Play 'n Learn
dated 06-10-90. This disk contains the following files:
AUTOEXEC.BAT - Batch file to start Play 'n Learn
PRINT.BAT - Batch file to print the documentation.
LETTERS.DAT - Data file for Amanda's Letter Lotto
PLAY.EXE - Play 'n Learn Copyright Screen
READ.ME - Last minute information (if required)
PLAYPGM.EXE - Main program
Play 'n Learn is a simple game for children 18 months
and older. It helps to teach children about the alphebet and allows
them to learn about computers.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible with 128K,
one disk drive, and DOS 2.0 or later.
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DISCLAIMER
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS," THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND
SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER HOMECRAFT COMPUTER PRODUCTS
NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION,
PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN
IF HOMECRAFT COMPUTER PRODUCTS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS.
This disclaimer shall be governed by the laws of
the State of Oregon and shall inure to the benefit of Steven
C. Hudgik, his successors, administrators, heirs and assigns.
Steve Hudgik
HomeCraft Computer Products
P.O. Box 974
Tualatin, OR 97062
If you are using Play 'n' Learn, PLEASE register as a user.
We are not a big company - it's just me and my computer trying to
earn a living.
There really is a lot of effort that went into Play 'n' Learn. If you
knew how to program, and were to write this program for yourself, it
would be the equivalent of paying yourself 10 cents per hour. (It
will take a minimum of 100 hours, including debugging, and you'll
save the $10 registration fee).
So please send in your registration and help keep a good thing going!
If you would like to find out about other software products from
HomeCraft (that's me), then take a look at the OTHER.DOC file.
would like to find out about other software products from
HomeCraft (that's me), then take a look at the OTHER.DOC fi
OTHER.DOC
OTHER SOFTWARE PUBLISHED BY HOMECRAFT:
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THE COLLECTORS SERIES
All of the software in the collector's series has been specifically
designed for a certain type of collection. Each allows you to catalog
your collection using 21 different characteristics and you can perform
searches based on any combination of the information you've entered.
This series is unique in that each of the programs has three levels
of operation providing screens for beginning collectors through professionals.
Thus you only need to catalog the information that is important to you.
The following software is a part of the collectors series:
FOR RECORD COLLECTORS (LPs, 45s, CDs, cassettes, etc.)
FOR RECORD COLLECTORS - CLASSICAL MUSIC VERSION
FOR RECORD COLLECTORS - Jazz Version
BOOK MINDER (Books and magazine articles)
PROFESSIONAL BOOK MINDER (larger fields for title, authors,
keywords and subject).
FOR COMIC BOOK COLLECTORS (comic books)
FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (Slides, negatives and prints)
THE FILM & VIDEO TAPES (movies, TV shows & home videos)
FOR SPORTS CARDS (baseball cards, football, etc.)
THE INFORMATION INDEX (Misc. information such as
recipes, dieting instructions, jokes, trivia,
exercise instructions, etc.).
FOR COIN COLLECTORS
FOR ANTIQUE DOCUMENTS
FOR STAR PERFORMERS (memorabilia - Elvis, sports, etc.)
FOR SPACESHIPS
FOR STAMP COLLECTORS
FOR SHIP MODEL COLLECTORS
FOR GUN COLLECTORS (available 1/30/90)
Plus there's more collector's software on the way!
THE SUPER UTILITIES FOR COLLECTORS
To add more flexibility to the software in our collector's series we have
developed the Super Utilities for collectors. These add-on utilities
provide the following functions:
<> User defined report formats. You can set up your reports to
look like you want them. Supports wide carriage printers.
<> Any/all lines can be indexed and alphabetized.
<> Multiple level sorts can be done. Thus, for example, in Book
Minder you can get a listing of books in alphabetical order by
author with each author's books listed in alphabetical order by
title.
<> The ability to create "child" databases using the results of a search/
sort to create the new database.
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HOME FINANCIAL SOFTWARE
Home Loan (The Financial Calculator) - Home Loan not only calculates the
$35.00 monthly payment for nearly any type loan, it
provides tables showing the effects of various loan
options at a glance. Calculation of amortization
tables, the value of an annuity, present value, and
future value are also provided. In addition, Home
Loan has special sections to help plan for your
retirement, calculate the value of your IRA, plan
for your children's college expenses and to do
equity calculations for your home.
Home Insurance (Home Inventory and Insurance Planning) - provides a way for
$59.95 you to keep track of what you own, where it is
located, what it cost, and any identifying marks.
Home Insurance uses the same user interface as the
collectors series and thus each item in your
inventory can be cataloged using any of 22
characteristics (serial #, model #, color, etc.)
Home Insurance also provides several other features
to help with your insurance planning. A life
insurance estimator will take your current financial
status and your future plans, and calculate the
amount of life insurance you need. An insurance
records file provides a convient place to store
vital information about your insurance policies.
Home Money Manager IIa - home budgeting and checkbook software. Includes
$29.00 check printing, tracking of tax deductible
transactions, unlimited split transactions, over
800 expense catagories, credit card tracking, and
many more advanced features.
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EDUCATIONAL
Play 'n' Learn - combines 6 education games (plus an additional 12 variations)
$10.00 for very young children - ages 18 months to 4 years. These
games include:
Amanda's Letter Lotto > learn the alphabet
Zach-A-Doodle > Etch-A-Sketch type game
Color Screen > a very simple game that changes screen colors
Color Match > learn colors and the alphabet
Word Whirl > learn about words and names
Next Number > learn numbers 1-9
Black Board Shapes > learn to match shapes
The Play 'n' Learn games are also designed to help your
learn about using computers. They teach skills ranging
from just getting a response from pushing any key, to
multiple key combinations and making menu selections.
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B O O K S A N D A U D I O T A P E S
Coming soon... a book, audio cassette, and software combination called
"Making Money Writing Shareware." A complete description
of software basics, plus the details of marketing,
promotion and software production. If you'd like more
information, send us a note with your name and address.
For more information on any of the above write to:
HomeCraft
P.O. Box 974
Tualatin, OR 97062
If you missed any of the information, push CTRL NUM LOCK to pause the
screen and any other key to restart it.
u
PLAY.DOC
PPPPPPPPPPPP LL AAAAAAAA YY YY
PP PP LL AA AA YY YY
PP PP LL AA AA YY YY
PPPPPPPPPPPP LL AA AA YY YY
PP LL AAAAAAAAAAAA YYYY
PP LL AA AA YY
PP LL AA AA YY
PP LLLLLLLLLLL AA AA YY
'' nn nnnn ''
'' nn nn nnn ''
'' nnnn nnn ''
nn nn
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LL EEEEEEEEE AAAAAA RRRRRRRRRR NNNN NN
LL EE E AA AA RR RR NN NN NN
LL EE AA AA RR RR NN NN NN
LL EEEEEE AA AA RR RR NN NN NN
LL EEEEEE AAAAAAAAAA RRRRRRRRRR NN NN NN
LL EE AA AA RR RR NN NN NN
LL EE E AA AA RR RR NN NNNN
LLLLLLLLL EEEEEEEEE AA AA RR RR NN NNNN
Copyright 1988, 1989, 1990 - Steven C. hudgik
Published by HomeCraft
P.O. Box 974
Tualatin, OR 97062
PLAY 'N' LEARN
INTRODUCTION
Computers came into our life about the same time as our first
child, Amanda. Eighteen months later Zakary was born. As they
grew they noticed daddy spending nearly every day working with a
computer and they wanted to use the computer like daddy did. So, I
went through the software stores and saw all kinds of wonderful games
and educational software - but nothing for very young children.
What I wanted was something that would let an 18 month old bang
on the keyboard and be entertained. As he grew older, and his
coordination improved, the software should teach him about letters,
numbers, colors, shapes using the keyboard and multiple key
combinations. Since I couldn't find anything I wrote Play 'n Learn.
Play 'N' Learn provides several different games and there are
multiple games that can be played within each main game. For
example, with Amanda's Letter Lotto young toddlers can push keys that
change colors and symbols on the screen and get sounds from the
computer. As your kids grow older they progress to locating specific
keys and learning multiple key combinations. At the most difficult
level of play you need to correctly pick five secret letters to win
Letter Lotto. It works just like a miniature version of the Lotto
games run by many states.
In these instructions we'll describe the different games and how
they can be used. You can also invent your own games and we
encourge you to play with and guide your kids so you can all have
fun together.
The names of the games included in Play 'n' Learn are:
COLORS and COLOR WHEEL
WORD WHIRL
AMANDA'S LETTER LOTTO
ZACH-A-DOODLE
NUMBERS
BLACK BOARD SHAPES
UNDERGROUND ALPHABET
- 1 -
software has a higher chance of becoming damaged. We've also tried
to price our software as reasonably as possible. In return we ask
that you be fair with us. We can not continue to support or software
or develop new software without the income we get from selling our
software. So, if you know someone who likes Amanda's Letter Lotto,
then please ask them to contact us to purchase a copy. Our address
and phone number is:
HomeCraft Computer Products
P.O. Box 974
Tualatin, OR 97062
(503) 692-3732
To make a backup copy load your DOS System disk and type
"DISKCOPY A: B:" at the A> prompt. Put the Amanda's Letter Lotto
disk in the "A" drive and a blank disk in the "B" drive. If you
only have one disk drive, you will be prompted to remove the "source"
(the original Amanda's Letter Lotto disk) disk and replace it with the
destination (blank) disk.
BOOTING
There are several ways that Amanda's Letter Lotto can be booted.
You can boot your computer with your DOS System disk. When the
A> prompt appears remove your DOS System disk and put the Amanda's
Letter Lotto disk into the "A" drive. Type "LL" (for Letter Lotto)
and push ENTER.
You can also set up a disk so that Amanda's Letter Lotto will
self boot. First format a blank disk and copy the DOS System onto
that disk by typing:
FORMAT B:/S <push ENTER>
The /S indicates that you want the DOS System copied to the
newly formatted disk. Next put the Letter Lotto disk in the "A"
drive (the blank formatted disk should still be in the "B" drive).
Now copy all of the files from the Letter Lotto disk to the disk
you just formatted by typing:
COPY A:*.*=B:/V <push ENTER>
Take the disk out of the "B" drive and put it in the "A" disk
drive. When you push CTRL-ALT-DEL, to reboot your computer, DOS
will load and then Amanda's Letter Lotto will load and run. With
the disk set up this way you can also start Amanda's Letter Lotto
by putting the disk in the "A" drive, typing "LL" and pushing ENTER.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Throughout Amanda's Letter Lotto we'll be referring to the user
(your child) as her. We realise that your child could be either a
- 2 -
boy or girl, but saying "him or her" all of the time would be cumbersome.
Since the game is named after my daughter Amanda, we'll use her.
When using Amanda's Letter Lotto I encourage you to play with
your child and cheer her on. We'll describe various games that you
can play, and although you can leave your child to play by herself
(a welcome break for parents), also take some time to help her learn
her colors and letters.
STARTING THE GAME
To start playing Amanda's Letter Lotto put the disk in the "A"
drive, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys and then push the DEL key.
This will reboot your computer and automatically start the game.
Amanda's Letter Lotto can also be started, with the Letter Lotto
disk in the "A" drive, by typing "LL" at the A> prompt and pushing ENTER.
The copyright notice screen will appear. To start play just push
any key. The character that you push will be printed on the screen.
If you do not push a key, the copyright screen will eventually
disappear and a prompt that says, "Push any key" will appear. The
amount of time the copyright notice stays on your screen will depend
on the speed your computer runs at.
You are now playing Amanda's Letter Lotto at the simplest level.
Any key you push will be displayed as a large, bold character on the
screen. You can push either upper or lower case letters, numbers,
symbols and pushing the control key and a letter key will put graphics
characters on the screen.
Each character is displayed on the screen in the same way your
computer produces that character and the quality will vary among the
different brands of computers. On some computers the letters may look
somewhat choppy and we can not guarantee the quality of the
characters displayed.
There are two key combinations that will not produce a character:
Holding down the CTRL key and pushing the letter "X" will result in
a blinking display.
Holding down the CTRL key and pushing the letter "E" will result
in your exiting the game and going to the Letter Lotto Menu. This
menu allows you to set the screen colors and switch to other, more
complex games.
My kids also find two other CTLR key combinations to be exciting.
Holding down CTRL and pushing the letter "A" will display a happy face.
Holding down CTRL and pushing "B" will display a happy face with the
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colors reversed. Amanda really gets excited about making a pink
happy face. Of course her favorite color is pink.
MONOCHROME SUGGESTED GAMES
A color display tends to hold a small child's attention much
longer than monochrome, but if you do not have a color monitor
there's still a lot you can do with Letter Lotto. Of course, all
of these games can also be played in color.
As you read through this list of games please remember that
each requires progressively more skill and coordination. Don't
expect an 18 month old child to identify specific letters or push
multiple keys. However, if your 18 month old can do this, then I'd
feel very proud. All children develop at different rates so keep in
mind that today your child may only be interested in pressing random
keys and next week you'll be teaching him the alphebet.
Also, I'd like to offer one hint for playing Amanda's Letter
Lotto games. When your child gets something right make a big deal
about it. Cheer. Clap your hands. Throw a party! Make a lot of
noise! Do it up just as you would if you team just scored the winning
point in the third overtime of the title game.
Let's describe a few games that can be played using the settings
Amanda's Letters Lotto has when it first boots.
GAME 1 - Keyboard Kaos
This game is for kids who have not yet learned the alphebet or
what letters look like. Sit with your child at the computer and let
her push whatever keys she wants. You may need to push a few keys
so she can see how to do it and what happens. Kids like to feel
they control something, and pushing a key (or a bunch of keys) and
seeing a response on the screen makes them feel in control.
By the way, I've had quite a few kids banging on my keyboard to
test this software and none of them damaged the keyboard or computer.
If your child wants to, you can let her push random keys and watch
the changes on the screen. Very young kids may get excited and start
hitting the keys fairly hard. Don't try to get them to push individual
keys. Let they play, freely. If they start to get too violent with the
keyboard, tell them to take it easy. Show them that pushing keys gently
will also get results. However, don't expect little kids to be instant
typists or even be interested in pushing individual keys. Let then go
ahead and push five, ten or all of the keys at one time.
Amanda's Letter Lotto has been designed to handle a massive
overload of keyboard input, so your child should be able to hit as
many keys as she wants without upsetting anything. However, if she
should find a key combination that locks up the computer (these vary
- 4 -
with computer brand), just push CTRL-ALT-DEL or turn your computer
off, wait a few seconds and turn it back on again. Amanda's Letter
Lotto will reboot and you'll be ready to start again.
Just allowing your child to push bunches of random keys starts to
teach her about the keyboard. She learns that pushing keys produces
a result on the screen. With your help she'll also learn to push
keys softly and one at a time. Most importantly she learns to think
of a computer as a friend and to feel comfortable using a computer.
GAME 2 - Make A Pointer
As your child becomes used to the keyboard you can start to teach
her to push individual keys. One way to do this is to first teach
her to make a pointer (extending the index finger to point at something).
This is something you can work on without being in front of your computer.
Next sit down at the computer, have your child make a pointer and
then guide the tip of her finger to a key and say, "Push a key."
Depending on how exicitable she is, you may or may not get her to
do this right away. However, with some patience on your part, and
as your child grows older, she'll eventually be able to do it.
Also, when your child first learns to "make a pointer" and you
help her push a few keys, she'll probably become impatient and revert
to using all fingers to push bunches of keys. It's to be expected,
so let her have some fun for awhile and then come back to making a
pointer and pushing individual keys.
GAME 3 - The Name Game
Once your child can push an individual key she can then learn
to push specific keys. A good way to start is with the first
letter of your childs name. For example, with Amanda I told her
to "find the letter A for Amanda." Then I'd guide her finger to
the letter A. It took going over it a few times, and some days
she seemed to have forgotten everything we did the day before, but
shortly she could find the letter A, which she called Amanda.
Once your child can find the first letter in her name, introduce
her to the first letters of the names of other people she knows.
You can show her that D is for daddy, M is for mommy, and Z is for
her brother Zak. Little kids associate much better with the people
in their lives (family, relatives and friends) than they do with
objects. Amanda was much more interested in learning that A stood
for Amanda and B was her friend Brenda than she would be in learning
that A is for Apple and B for Barn.
After your child can identify five or six letters by peoples
names, then you can move onto other letters. Either let your child
name some people and you point out the letter that name starts with,
- 5 -
or use the names of objects when you run out of people.
These types of games teach your child that each letter is an
individual symbol. For example, kids can learn to sing their ABCs,
but many times they just know it as the words to a song. For example,
most little kids think LMNOP is one letter because they are sung very
quickly, all together in the "Now I Known My ABCs" song. Having then
pick out the individual letters on the keyboard teaches than that each
is a separate, distinct symbol.
GAME 4 - Robot Invaision
Now you can move on to teaching your child how top push several
keys to make some new things happen on the screen. Start by having
your child hold down the CTRL key with one finger and then push a
letter. This will produce a graphics character. Amanda called these
characters robots (although there are two happy faces, CTRL-A and
CTRL-B and a few she thought looked like spiders).
GAME 5 - Flash A Smile
Another multiple key combination is to hold down the CTRL key and
push the letter X. This will cause the screen to display blinking
characters. Pushing CTRL-X again will switch the blinking off.
Amanda liked to make blinking happy faces.
USING COLOR
These first five games can also be played in color. Of course,
with color they are many other games you can play. We'll describe a
few of these shortly, but first let's see how to get the color turned on.
When you first boot up Amanda's Letter Lotto it will be operating
in the monochrome mode. Hold down the CTRL key and push the letter "E."
This will display the Letter Lotto Menu.
The first three items on the menu allow you to set Amanda's Letter
Lotto for either color or monochrome operation. Selections can be made
from this menu by either pushing the function key (F Key) associated
with the selection you want or by using the up/down cursor keys to
move the scroll bar to the desired selection and then pushing the ENTER
key.
F1 - Multiple Colors
The first choice on the Amanda's Letter Lotto Menu is usually the
one kids find the most interesting. Pushing F1 will set Amanda's
Letter Lotto to change the background, character and border colors
- 6 -
on a random basis. While playing the game these colors will change
each time a key is pushed.
F2 - Set Three Colors
The second selection, F2, switches Amanda's Letter Lotto to the
color mode and allows you to select three colors that will be used
all of the time. You can select the color of the character, the
background color and the border color around the edge of the screen.
This color setup is generally used if your child finds the changing
colors to be a distraction or if your child is more interested in the
changing colors than learning about letters.
When you push F2 a menu will appear that allows you to select the
background color. Push the function key associated with the color you
want to use.
Next you can select the color of the characters. Again push the
function key associated with the color you want to use. If the
selected color is not compatible, for example if you select the same
color for the character as you selected for they background, they
will blend together when displayed. You'll be returned to the menu
to make another selection.
The final menu is used to select the border color.
After selecting three colors you'll be returned to the Letter
Lotto Menu. To play the game either push F8 or move the scroll bar to
"F8 - Play Game" and push ENTER.
GAMES WITH COLOR
All of the games described for monochrome use can also be played
in color. In addition you can make up new games that use the colors
displayed. All of the following games are played with Amanda's
Letter Lotto set to change colors randomly, selection F1 on the Letter
Lotto Menu.
GAME 6 - Rainbow
The first game is basically the same as described for monochrome
use. Just let your child push random keys and watch the colors and
characters change. This game provides you with the opportunity to
name the colors as they appear on the screen. Generally children
focus on the color of the character, so as each character appears
name its color. Of course, kids are all diffenent and it's impossible
for me to predict what your child will focus on. It she seems to be
noticing the background color first, then name that color for her.
- 7 -
GAME 7 - Color Search
Once your child can identify one specific color by name, then
ask them to find that color. Have them push keys, any keys, until
that color appears. When they correctly identify that color cheer
like your team just won the superbowl. Don't be afraid to get excited
and make some noise.
GAME 8 - My Special Letters
Another game with colors is to have your child to find a specific
letter or character that is also a specific color. Amanda loved to
find the letter "A" in her favorite color, pink.
Let's go back to the Letter Lotto Menu and see what other
functions are available.
BLINKING ON / OFF
If you should forget that CTRL-X is used to turn the blinking
either on or off, you can go to the Letter Lotto Menu and push F4.
CAPITAL LETTERS ON/OFF
When you first start teaching your child the names of letters,
or when playing some of the Amanda's Letter Lotto games, you may only
want to have capital letters displayed. Showing two shapes on the
screen, a big A and a little "a" for example, and calling them by
the same name, might be confusing for some kids. However, you may
have a kid that likes to push the SHIFT or CAPS LOCK keys. To avoid
problems you can push F5 and Amanda's Letter Lotto will only display
upper case letters reguardless of what your child pushes. Push F5
again to switch back to using both upper and lower case letters. The
status of this function will be shown in brackets on the F5 - Capital
Letters menu selection line.
THE AWARD LETTERS
The sixth selection on the Letter Lotto menu allows you to pick
up to five award letters. When your child picks a character you've
selected as an award letter, she'll be rewarded with a short computer
song.
When you first push F6 a vertical line of six dots will appear.
A scroll bar will be next to the top dot and the word EXIT will be
next to the bottom dot. The up/down cursor keys move the scroll bar
up and down. A character can be entered for each of the upper five
- 8 -
dots. Just push the character you want and it will appear.
Characters can be changed by putting the scroll bar on the character
you want to eliminate and entering a new character or pushing the
space bar to leave a blank.
Any character on the keyboard can be entered including both
upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and the graphics
characters made by holding down the CTRL key and pushing a letter.
However, keep in mind that if you enter a lower case letter as an
award letter, your child will need to also push the same lower case
letter in order to get the song to play.
When you've entered all of the award letters you want to have
(you can have fewer than five), move the scroll bar to the word EXIT
and push ENTER. The Letter Lotto menu will appear and you can then
push F8 to play the game. Now anytime your child pushes an award
letter she'll be rewarded. However, I still encourage you to cheer
her on when she gets the right letters.
GAME 8 - Go Get 'Em
Having award letters adds a new dimension to having your child
push specific letters or combinations of keys. Pick the letters or
characters you want your child to learn and set them as the award
letters. She then has to find the award letters. You can either
give her the name of each letter, or let her search for them on her own.
GAME 9 - Big & Little
A good game to play with the award letters is Big & Little Letters.
Set the award letters so they are all either upper case or lower case.
For discussion purposes we'll assume they are upper case. Then play
the game and have your child push one of the award letters but not
the shift key. Tell him the name of the letter, for example "Capital
A." Next hold down the shift key, or have your child hold the shift
key and push the same letter. This time the "award song" will play.
Tell your child the name of this letter, for example say, "little A."
Practice this a few times until your child learns that she needs to
push the shift key in order to get the capital (big) letter and the
award.
GAME 10 - Learning To Write
In spite of the predictions that electronic publishing would
eliminate paper, a pencil used with a piece of paper remain as
useful and popular as ever. Amanada's Letter Lotto can help your
child learn to use these tools.
When you start to play any of the games have a pencil and some
paper next to your computer. As the letters appear on the screen
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have your child copy them. You can also have her look for a
specific letter. When that letter appears on the screen have her
copy it on the paper.
THE LETTER LOTTO GAME (Games 11 and 12)
The final selection on the Amanda's Letter Lotto Menu sets up
the actual Lotto game. Push F7 and five letters will be chosen at
random. When you start playing the game you'll then have 26 chances
to find all five letters. Since only upper case letters are selected,
and there are 26 letters in the alphebet, you should be able to find
all five just by pushing all the letters on the keyboard. However,
Amanda's Letter Lotto will compute a score based on the number of
keystrokes it takes you to find all five letters. The fewer key
strokes you use, the higher your score will be. Finding all five
letters with five key strokes will result in a score of 100. If you
use 26 key strokes to find all five, or you can't find all five, you
get a score of zero.
Before you start playing Letter Lotto, you'll be asked whether
or not you want your selections displayed. If you push the letter Y
(for Yes) at this prompt, your key strokes will be listed across the
top of the screen as you make them. If you push the letter N, you
will need to remember the keys you've already pushed (making the
game a little harder).
When you begin playing Lotto the number of key strokes left will
be displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. Each time you
select a correct letter the award tones will sound and that letter
will be listed in the bottom center of the screen.
If you should want to stop the game, before you use all of the
available key strokes, just push the ESC key.
That's all there is to playing Letter Lotto. So, here's your
chance to test your ESP before you buy your next Lotto ticket. Of
course, you'll need to get kids away from the computer first.
FINISHED PLAYING
When you are done playing Amanda's Letter Lotto you can return
to the DOS A> prompt by going to the Letter Lotto Menu and pushing
F10.
LET'S PLAY THE GAME
Now it's time for you and your kids to have some fun. We've
described a few games here. Of course you can make up other games
so feel free to use your imagination.
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UNDERGROUND ALPHABET
Underground Alphabet is a game in which Mickey Miner (the happy
face) digs tunnels to get letters out of the ground and put them
in the bank. This game is designed for a variety of ages up to
five years old.
NOTE: This game requires color graphics.
Playing The Game
The first screen that appears has the words, "PUSH ENTER TO
START..." When you push a key Mickey Miner appears in the
middle of the mine and a randomly selected letter will appear
somewhere underground. In the lower right hand corner is a timer
that displays the amount of time available to get letters. You
will have 60 seconds to dig tunnels and collect as many letters as
you can.
Mickey Miner can be moved in several ways:
<> Look at the letter that apppears on the screen and push
that same letter on the keyboard. Mickey Miner will
dig a tunnel to the letter using the most direct route.
<> The cursor keys can be used to move Mickey Minor. The
advantage of using the cursor keys is that Mickey can take
shortcuts. Mickey can quickly get from the right side of the
mine to the left by moving all of the way to the right side
then moving one more space. The same approach works for getting
from the top of mine to the bottom, just move Mickey Miner
all of the way to the top and the next move will bring
Mickey directly to the bottom.
A second advantage of using the cursor keys is that they allow
Mickey to run through tunnels that have already been dug. If
you move Mickey into an existing tunnel, he doesn't have to do
any digging and he can run towards the letter. Since he
doesn't have anyone to tell him which direction to go when he's
running on his own, he doesn't always take the right turn.
However, when he stops running he will be a lot closer to the
letter - maybe right next to it.
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As Mickey collects letters a counter in the lower left corner will
keep track of how many he has.
When time runs the letters Mickey Miner dug up will be put in
the Second National Bank. Your score will be calculated and
displayed. The score is based on the number of letters collected
and the amount of time available. If Mickey digs up more letters
than the bank can hold, the bank will have to build an anex to
hold the additional letters.
SETTING THE AMOUNT OF TIME TO PLAY
You can set the amount of time Mickey Miner has to dig out
letters. When the "PUSH ENTER TO START..." prompt is on the
screen enter the number of seconds you want the game to run.
You can enter times up to 300 seconds (five minutes). The default
setting, if you enter nothing, is 60 seconds. Once a time has
been entered it will remain as the game duration until a new time
is entered.
KEEPING SCORE
If a new high score or a new high number of letters collected has
been reached you will be prompted to enter your initials. Under-
ground Alphabet will maintain a record of the highest score and
the initials of the person who got it.
If you would like to start the scoring over again, when the "PUSH
ENTER TO START..." prompt is on the screen hold down the CTRL key
and push the letter E. Then if you want to reset the score push
the letter Y. Pushing any other key will return you to the game.
A score of 25 to 35 is average for most children, however this
will vary a lot with age. A score of 75 to 85 are very good.
Scores above 100 are almost impossible to get.
STRATEGY HINTS
Hint 1: When Mickey is running through the tunnels he will try to
get closer to the letter by always trying to run up or down first.
If he can't get any closer by moving up or down he will then try
to move right or left.
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Hint 2: If Mickey is running through an existing tunnel, pushing
the letter he is trying to get will move him toward that letter
when he stops running.
Hint 3: If Mickey is in an existing tunnel and he is on the same
horizontal level as the letter, he will not move up or down. If
you want to have him move up or down, get him out of the existing
tunnel.
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NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
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With some computers there are key stroke combinations that will "lock up"
the operation of your computer. These vary among different brands. The
Tandy 1000 series of computers, in particular, are very likely to have
this problem when running Amanda's Letter Lotto. (Tandy computers will
lock up when running Tandy's own Deskmate Software). If this should
happen push the CTRL-ALT-DEL keys to reboot. If this does not work, turn
the power off and then on again.
These problems only occur when random key combinations are pushed. On
some computers the problem is less if you are running the BASICA source
code directly. We have included the source code (LETTERS.BAS) for your
use. To run the source code first load BASICA. Then, with the Amanda's
Letter Lotto disk in the "A" drive, type: RUN "LETTERS"
We encourage you to play Amanda's Letter Lotto with your children. This
will help them learn, they'll be gentler with your computer and you'll
have fun together.
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er and you'll
have fun together.
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Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #0916
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
PLAY EXE 51432 6-09-90 11:34p
PLAYPGM EXE 144750 8-10-90 8:26a
LETTERS DAT 20 9-10-89 10:48p
PLAY DOC 32000 6-10-90 1:34p
INTRO DOC 2944 6-10-90 1:17p
OTHER DOC 6272 6-10-90 1:24p
AUTOEXEC BAT 128 5-29-88 8:14p
PRINT BAT 640 5-25-88 12:20a
READ ME 512 6-10-90 1:25p
MENU OVL 150 7-14-90 5:41p
FILE0916 TXT 1777 9-19-90 12:04p
GO BAT 38 10-19-87 3:56p
GO TXT 956 1-01-80 3:31a
13 file(s) 241619 bytes
72704 bytes free