
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 1     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
                                      MASTER                                  
                                                                              
                                        by                                    
                                                                              
                                Richard F. Parker                             
                                                                              
                                        for                                   
                                                                              
                            Thunderhead Software, Inc.                        
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER is a takeoff on the Milton Bradley game of MasterMind, but with      
  less colors and purely random goals.  This game is for one player only.     
  The computer selects the goals. You must guess the goal in less than 11     
  turns by making a guess, looking at the scores, and making a (hopeful-      
  ly) better guess.                                                           
                                                                              
  This software includes the C source code, which was compiled using MIX      
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 2     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
  Software's POWER C compiler, and is fairly self-contained.  I am not        
  submitting this to the public domain, but I am offering it as an exam-      
  ple of how some programmers write code.                                     
                                                                              
  This software is distributed as freeware/shareware.  We are not asking      
  for 'registration fees', or 'contributions', or 'donations', etc.  We       
  are asking that if you distribute it, distribute the WHOLE archive:         
  catalog and credits included.  After all, some effort was put into this     
  software, and the least that users can do is give credit where credit       
  is due.                                                                     
                                                                              
  If you like this program, take a little time and examine our commercial     
  catalog: we have programs of higher quality for sale, and many more on      
  the way.  We are even starting to consciously make some of our software     
  'Voice/Speech friendly', for those users with synthesizer attachments.      
                                                                              
  TO RUN THIS GAME: you MUST have an ANSI driver.  It could be NANSI,         
  ZANSI, or ANSI.sys, but those screen-color codes must be in place for       
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 3     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
  this program to run.  After all, you are guessing COLORS.                   
                                                                              
  TO PLAY: simply run the program.  No parameters are needed or wanted.       
  Just type 'master' and press enter/return.  Your screen will turn blue,     
  with a game box in the middle.                                              
                                                                              
  If, instead, you get a paragraph of numbers and letters, you are not        
  running ansi.  Control break or ^C out of the game, and check your          
  config.sys file (it should be in the root directory of your boot disk).     
  Config.sys must contain a line that says 'device=ansi.sys', or nansi.sys,   
  or zansi.sys.  If that line does not exist, add it and reboot.  (Make       
  sure that a copy of ansi.sys is in your root directory on the boot disk).   
  Then run the game again.                                                    
                                                                              
  At the top of the game box, you will see four question marks.  These        
  represent the colors you must guess.  There are always four.  They may      
  be all one color, or any combination of colors.  You goal is, within        
  ten moves, to guess what the combination is, in the proper order.           
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 4     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
                                                                              
  Make a guess, giving the LETTER that is CAPITALIZED for each color:         
  Black is 'b', bLue is 'l', et cetera.  The computer will then give you      
  a score, based on the accuracy of your guess.  The score will consist       
  of black and white dots to the right of your guess.                         
                                                                              
          A black dot means that one color is right, in the correct place.    
          A white dot means that one color is right, in the wrong place.      
                                                                              
  Obviously, then, the goal is to get 4 black dots.  Here's the catch:        
  The DOTS ARE NOT IN THE ORDER OF YOUR GUESS.  They tell you something is    
  right (or close), but they don't tell you which exact piece is right.       
  You have to deduce that for yourself.  You only have 10 guesses, so think   
  carefully before making guesses.  Here are some sample scores:              
                                                                              
          Goal: BBYY    Guess: YBYB   Score: BBWW                             
                                                                              
          Two guesses, 2 and 3, are right color, right place.                 
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 5     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
          Two guesses, 1 and 4, are right color, wrong place.                 
          Scores always show black first.                                     
                                                                              
          Goal: BBYY    Guess: GGLL   Score: <nothing>                        
                                                                              
          Goal: BBYY    Guess: BBBY   Score: BBB                              
                                                                              
          There is no indication of WHICH position is wrong...use logic.      
                                                                              
  The goal should change every time you play...the randomizer is based on     
  WHEN you start the game (in seconds).  If your games are getting too        
  similar, check your system clock from DOS with the DATE and TIME comm-      
  ands.                                                                       
                                                                              
  I hope you enjoy the game as much as I have.  To me, that is the defi-      
  nition of an effective programmer.                                          
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
  MASTER: A puzzle for the thinking man...or woman                Page: 6     
  Thunderhead Software P.O. Box 91 McKeesport Pa 15135  412-751-4020 voice    
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                 DISCLAIMER                                   
                                                                              
       The author of this program warrants that this program will run on     
  his computer when he uses it.  No further warranties exist in relation     
  to this product, stated or implied, on the part of the author.  There     
  is no warranty  of suitability or fitness for a particular purpose, nor     
  is there a warranty  of merchantability.  The author is not responsible     
  for damages, direct or indirect, that arise as a consequence of the use     
  or misuse of this product.  This includes, but is not limited to damage     
  to other software, data, and hardware, and claims by other parties.         
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
