COUNTDOWN is a version of the successful
TV words and numbers game adapted for popular
home computers. The game includes an in-built
dictionary containing thousands of words and may be
played as a one or two player game.

LOADING

    Insert the tape into the recorder and rewind if
necessary. Type in LOAD "" and press ENTER, then
press PLAY on your recorder.

    On loading, the title screen is displayed. Press
any key to continue.

    Both players are prompted for their names,
which are entered on the keyboard, followed by
ENTER.

    The game itself consists of 9 separate rounds of
Number and Word games, starting with the Anagram
Game. In the 1st round, Player 1 selects 9 Vowels or
Consonants (by pressing the 'V' or 'C' keys at the
bottom of the keyboard). Once all 9 letters have been
chosen, the Players have a 30 second Countdown,
during which they attempt to make up the longest
word that they can from their selection of nine
letters.

    When the Countdown has ended, both players
are prompted to enter their words on the keyboard,
followed by ENTER. Mistakes can be altered with the
delete key (Note that DELETE is achieved on the
Spectrum by holding down the CAPS SHIFT key
whilst pressing the zero key). The words are checked
against the computer's own dictionary. If the
computer can not find a particular word, the players
are asked if they are sure that the word is valid. Press
'Y' for a valid word, and 'N' if it is incorrect. The
player with the longer valid word gets 1 point for
each letter in his word.

    At the end of the round, the computer will
display the best word that it could obtain.

    Rounds 2 and 3 are the same as round 1, except
that Player 2 chooses the letters in Round 2.

    When the three Anagram rounds are over, play
continues with the Numbers Round. Here, Player 2
chooses six numbers from four rows. The 1st row
and the other rows have small numbers, all less
than 10. When choosing how many numbers to take,
the player uses the number keys at the top of the
keyboard, followed by ENTER. Remember not to
choose more than 4 numbers from the 1st Row, and
not more than 6 numbers altogether. In fact the
computer shows how many numbers are allowed, in
brackets after the 'How many do you want from
row...' prompt at the bottom of the screen.

    Once the six numbers have been chosen, they
are displayed in six boxes at the top of the screen.
You will then be asked to 'Press any key to spin
CECIL'. Cecil will choose a random number, and you
will then have 30 seconds to get this number by
adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. You do
not have to use all the numbers.

    At time up, both players will be prompted to
enter the figures that they managed to get, by using
the number keys followed by ENTER.

    The players will then have to enter their
calculations, one operation at a time, until they reach
their target number (displayed in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen). Each operation should be
entered as follows "number operator number =
result", eg "10 + 2 = 12". The computer will only
accept calculations in this format and will not allow
invalid calculations - ie operations where the result
will be negative, greater than 999 or a fraction. If you
do not reach your target number, your attempt will
be disqualified.

    The player whose result is closer to CECIL's
target number gets 7 points. If neither player can get
close, CECIL displays how the calculation should be
done, line by line, in exactly the same way that the
players would enter their calculations.

    After the numbers round, there are three more
letters rounds, with the players again taking turns to
choose vowel or consonant. The next round is
another numbers round, followed by the Countdown
Conundrum.

    In this final round, both players have 30-seconds
to unravel a nine letter anagram. The first player to
spot the word gets 10 points. Player 1 presses the
'A' key to stop the clock, and Player 2 presses the 'L'.
If you stop the clock, you must immediately type in
what you think the anagram is. If you are wrong, then
the other player has the rest of the countdown to try
and work it out - so be careful!

    At the end of the game, the final scores are
displayed, along with the winner's name. Press 'Y' to
play again, or 'N' to stop the program.

    Remember that you have a time limit when
entering your answers, so be quick!

    For a one-player game, press ENTER when asked
for Player 2's name. You must score as many points
as you can, and try to beat the computers' best
words and calculations.

The program code is the copyright of GBA Ltd and copyright is
reserved on all graphic representation and art work an may not
be reproduced, stored, hired or broadcast in any form whatsoever
without the written permission of the copyright holders.

Software (C) Macsen Software (GBA Ltd) 1985
COUNTDOWN is a Trade Mark of Yorkshire Television*
COUNTDOWN is an Armand Jammot game
Photographs (C) Yorkshire Television Limited*
All music rights are reserved

THE COUNTDOWN TELEVISION SERIES:

PRODUCER _________________________________ John Meade
PRESENTER __________________________ Richard Whiteley
HOSTESS ________________________________ Cathy Hytner
STATISTICIAN ________________________ Carol Vorderman