MANHUNT

          Roman Laskowski survives in Catford,
              can YOU survive the Manhunt?

Manhunt - the Time-honoured Manhunt of Legend and Fable. Fiend
chases Man. Fiend is Large, Ferocious, Swift, Deadly, and
Hungry. Man, alas, is not.
   You are that man (or, if your Birth was Different, that
woman). Unarmed, and not as quick as the Fiend, you must rely
on your cunning to escape the Fiend and survive. This assumes,
of course, that your Birth bestowed any cunning upon you.
   The field of the Manhunt is to be a grid fifteen by fifteen,
with grid positions marked by the numbers One to Five. The
numbers say how far you may move each go. To make a move,
you use a combination of letters and numbers: Letters for 
directions (L - Left, R - Right, U - Up, and D - Down), and
numbers for spaces moved. Upward for spaces, for example,
is input as U4; upward two spaces and right one space is
input as U2R1 or, alternatively, as R1U2.
   The Fiend moves after you. It closes in on you, hiding the
square it is standing on. Thus, you do not always know whether
it will reach you the next go. Your moves score points depen-
ding on the squares you are on: 500 for landing on a 1, 400
for a 2, 300 for a 3, 100 for a 4, and, somewhat meanly, -50 
for a 5. If three successive moves of yours form a sequence
(such as 345 or 432) you earn a bonus 200 points. A further
bonus, of 2,000 points, is obtained for making the Fiend dis-
appear. To do this you have to visit the numbers One to Five,
three times each. This is your Aim, and your progress towards
it is indicated in the top left of the screen.
   Needless to say, no bonus points are scored if the Fiend
catches you. Instead, you get eaten, and lose 700 points.
   Dodging the Fiend is no easy matter, so a hint is given to
the uninitiated Runner: Keep moving. Gain ground on the Fiend
by fleeing from it along either a vertical or horizontal line,
making sure that the Fiend's moves take it to low-value squares
while your own moves land you on high-value squares. Try also
not to get trapped in the corners or to leave yourself too
many low-value targets to aim for.
   The world-ercord score can be altered at line 1000 to record
your best runs. The actual world record to aim for is currently
6,850. Incidentally, the Fiend can be any creature of your
choice. The game provides six fearsome options: Orc, Troll,
Jabberwock, frumious Bandersnatch, Sandworm, and, last but not
least, the ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. The end result
is much the same whichever Fiend you choose, though some Fiends
eat you more politely and more appreciatively than others.