(A) Introduction

CLUEDO is a detective game of investigation, skill and luck. The game takes place on the ground floor of "Tudor Close", where a mysterious murder has taken place!

The object of the game is to solve by elimination and deduction the mysterious murder of Dr Black, the owner of the house, whose body has been found at the foot of the stairs. The WINNER is the first person to identify in ONE accusation all of the following:

- the murderer
- the weapon used
- the room in which the murder was committed

At the time of the investigation, there are 6 occupants at "Tudor Close" and some (or all) of them may also be investigating the crime - even the villain will not know that he (or she) is the guilty person until the end of the game! The 6 occupants are:

- Colonel Mustard
- Professor Plum
- The Reverend Green
- Mrs Peacock
- Miss Scarlett
- Mrs White

There are also 6 weapons, any one of which may have been used to commit the crime. They are:

- Dagger
- Candlestick
- Revolver
- Rope
- Lead Piping
- Spanner

The game starts with each player being given a limited set of clues which they then use as a basis for their investigations. The search for further clues is then conducted room by room - where each suspect may be questioned and the possible weapons examined.

Computer CLUEDO is a sophisticated and entertaining game which allows you to play CLUEDO® on or against your computer. The program can provide you with up to 5 opponents whose skill levels (novice, intermediate and experienced), can be set to suit your own ability.

You are also supplied with a pad for making your own "Detective Notes".

(B) Rules for playing CLUEDO

Players may move their pieces anywhere on the board on the squares (except the staircases) according to the throw of the dice.

Pieces must move in straight lines only, i.e. forward and/or crosswise, but never diagonally. Players may enter rooms by the doors only, but cannot leave a room in the same move, i.e. entering a room ends the move (it is not necessary to throw the exact number of units on the dice to enter the room. For instance, if you need 4 to bring you into a room and you throw 6, the last 2 units are ignored when you enter the room).

No two pieces may occupy any one square, nor may a player move his piece through the square on which another piece stands. A room, however, may be occupied by any number of pieces and weapons.

A player's piece may remain stationary in any room during any number of his turns to play.

Secret passages enable players to move from certain rooms to those indicated in one move. This can be done at a player's turn without throwing the dice but constitutes a move.

A player may make a "suggestion" (which must include the 3 factors - Room, Person, Weapon) on any of his turns of play when (and ONLY WHEN) his playing piece is in the room concerned in the "suggestion".

Playing pieces transferred to a room as the result of a "suggestion" being made are not replaced in their original places afterwards. Players must resume moving their pieces from their new positions on the board.

(C) Loading Instructions

Power up the computer. For cassette - type RUN"" and press RETURN. Now press PLAY on the cassette unit and then any key. For disk - type RUN "CLUEDO" and press RETURN.

Once the program has loaded, the program titles display and the game starts. When the first prompt appears, remove the disk and keep it safe for next time.

(D) Playing CLUEDO on your computer

A "character" is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen - Miss Scarlett- who is always the first player. The program will prompt you for the first player's name. Simply type up to 8 letters of the player's name and press the ENTER key on the right-hand side of the keyboard.

The entry of the player's name is followed by a request for a play level. If the computer is to be this player then press one of the keys 1-3 at the top of the keyboard to allocate it an appropriate skill level. (1 - novice, 2 - intermediate, 3 - experienced). If this is NOT a computer player then simply press ENTER.

The computer chooses the next "character" at random and repeats the prompts for name and skill level as above. Up to 6 players can be entered, and any of them may be designated as computer players. (Remember that all the occupants of "Tudor Close" are suspects - whether they are players or not). Once you have entered the names of all those playing then simply press ENTER instead of entering another name. This tells the program that all the names have been entered and you are ready to start the game. (The program will automatically continue after a sixth player has been entered).The Computer CLUEDO program follows with a series of YES/NO questions which can be answered with one keystroke (Y for YES and N for NO). Each question has a default value (shown below in brackets) which is entered by simply pressing ENTER.

The questions are listed below:

Are you using a colour monitor? (Y)

The Computer CLUEDO program substitutes letters for the character colours to enable play on a green screen monitor. It always assumes a colour display to start (this is the default).

Do you want sound effects? (Y)

The reply N ensures that there are no apparent delays due to sound generation.

The last prompt deals with the speed at which the program moves pieces on the board - not the time it takes "thinking". The speed can be varied from 0 (fastest) to 9 (slowest) - if you are playing Computer CLUEDO for the first time then 3 or 4 are good values to try.

The program will randomly select a murderer, weapon and room and remove their "clue cards" from the game - these are the "MURDER CARDS" and are placed face down in the centre of the board.

Each player now rolls the computer dice (by pressing any key) and the player with the highest number becomes the "clue dealer". The program now "deals" the clue cards starting with the player whose name was entered after the dealer's name. (If the dealer is the last player entered, then the deal starts at the first player).

THE PLAY

The Computer CLUEDO program draws a floor-plan of the ground floor of "Tudor Close". The corridors between rooms are marked out in squares for the movement of pieces.

The pieces representing the players are placed on their starting positions. The play always starts with Miss Scarlett and continues clockwise.

Each player rolls the dice and moves that number of squares along the passage to any room desired. When it is your turn to move, roll the dice and to get the number of squares in the move and direct the cursor to the point where you want to move your piece. (Use the cursor keys at the bottom right of the keyboard). Then press ENTER when you reach the desired square.

The program will only let you move the number of squares appropriate to the roll of the dice.

The next player may then roll the dice and move the appropriate number of squares. When a player reaches a room, that player can immediately make a "suggestion" about the crime by calling a suspect and weapon into the room for enquiries. The screen display changes to that of the room which the current player has entered. On recognising that a player is in the room, the program presents 3 choices to that player.

1 - Roll the dice. A player may roll the dice and leave a room by any door- making a normal move.
2 - Secret passage. A player may use up to one turn by taking a secret passage to another room.
3 - Suggestion. Using the cursor keys a player can choose a suspect and weapon for the current room and suggest that (for instance) the murder was committed in the lounge by the Reverend Green with the spanner. The person and weapon appear on a "suspect sheet" on the screen.

After such a suggestion has been made, the next player in turn must (if possible) show one clue card which refutes this suspicion. A card shown may be either a room, person or weapon. The program pauses here and allows a player to cover up a section of the screen. This allows a human player to show a clue card without exposing the card to another human player. The card may be shown after responding Y to the question "Are you ready?"

If the next player in turn is unable to show a clue card, the enquiry passes on to the next player after that until one card has been shown. Obviously, if no one has a card to show, the player making the suggestion has isolated one or more of the "Murder Cards".

Clue Cards

Any player can see their own clue cards dealt to them by selecting the appropriate entry on the menu.

Notes

Any player can make notes by using the cursor keys to move to an entry and then highlighting it with a letter or number.

To erase the highlight use the SPACE BAR key.

Accusation

When a player feels sure that all the clues have been examined, a full accusation can be made. In the same way as a card is shown, the program provides a covered area for the player and allows the accusation to be made in secret.

If the accusation is correct, the program exposes the "Murder Cards" and declares the winning player. If the accusation is wrong, the player is out of the game and only participates in order to be a suspect and to show cards as appropriate. The program will offer to take over a human player's cards if he is declared out of the game.

When a player's piece has been moved to a room to answer an enquiry, it remains there and is not replaced in the original position. Players must resume moving their pieces from their new positions on the board. If (one assumes it is an accident), a player fails to show a card in response to a "suggestion" (on their third try) then they are penalised by being out of the game in the same way as if a wrong accusation had been made.

If at anytime, you wish to end the game or "give up", simply press the CTRL and C keys simultaneously and the game will come to an end. The program will then show you the "Murder Cards".

AT THE END OF THE GAME

The Computer CLUEDO program recognises the end of the game when a correct accusation has been made.

When the end of the game is reached, the program announces the name of the winner and displays a suitable message.

You then have the opportunity to play again with the same players and levels.