bonus game

SCRAMBLE

by F. NEIL SIMMS

A computerized, competitive version of the familiar word finding puzzles.  The BASIC program runs on all Atari computers of any memory comfiguration.  Antic Disk subscribers RUN "D:SCRAMBLE.BAS"

Scramble is a one-or-two player word game designed to develop vocabulary and spelling skills in a way that's entertaining for all ages.  A five-by-five grid of letters is presented to each player.  The object is to form words by connecting adjacent letters together.  The longer the word, the more points you receive.  The number of points required to win may be chosen by pressing the SELECT key at the beginning of the game.  Words must be between three and ten letters long.
   To play, first type in the listing, check it with TYPO, and SAVE an extra copy for safety.
   Each player competes simultaneously by manipulating the cursor around each board with his or her joystick (plug the joysticks into ports number 1 and 2).  When the cursor is positioned over the first letter of a word you have spotted, press the fire button to mark the letter.  Proceed to the next letter, mark it, and so on until the word has been spelled out completely.  Then position the cursor over any one of these marked letters and press the fire button again to enter the word into a string array, from which, your score will later be tallied.
   Remember, the letters in the sequence must be adjacent (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally).  For example, in the grid below, "darling" is legal while "ding" is not.  "Dared" is illegal since a specific letter may be used only once in each word.

Z Z E Z Z
Z D R G Z
Z L A N Z
Z Z I Z Z
Z Z Z Z Z

If you make a mistake while marking the letters, enter the erroneous word anyway; it will be deleted later when the words are reviewed at the end of the round.
   The program surveys each player's set of words and deletes any duplicates.  That is, if you enter the word "dog" twice in the same round, the second instance will be disregarded.  Any duplicates will be displayed one at a time at the top of the screen, above the appropriate player's board.  Press either fire button to pause during the review process.
   Each player's words are presented for acceptance or rejection.  A dictionary comes in handy here.  Press either joystick to the left to accept a word and add its value to the player's score, or to the right to reject a word.  After scoring is completed, if the minimum winning value has been reached, a winner is declared.  Otherwise a new round is begun.

F. Neil Simms is a graduate student in Computer Science at Union College in Schenectady, New York.  He started programming games on his Atari about two years ago, but now concentrates on utilities and graphics programs.

Listing 1: SCRAMBLE.BAS Download