                    TRIVIA CHALLENGER HELP BULLETIN

                   ---------------------------------
                   Copyright (C) 1994 Gisle Hannemyr
                   ---------------------------------


TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================

1: How do I get my own copy of Trivia Challenger?
2: How do I play the game?
3: The game menu
4: The highscore table
5: Character sets


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1: HOW DO I GET MY OWN COPY OF TRIVIA CHALLENGER?
=================================================

The best way,  if you have access to ftp or electronic mail,  is to get
it over the wire.

If you have access to anonymous ftp, you can ftp the MS-DOS game from:
  oslonett.no:Software/MsDos/Bbs/trivXXX.zip
  garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/bbs/trivXXX.zip
  (XXX should be substituted with three digits to indicate version no.)

Alternatively, by electronic mail:
  Send mail to gisle@oslonett.no / gisle(at)oslonett.no, giving a valid
  Usenet/Internet e-mail address, and I shall mail an uuencoded archive
  directly to your account.  You need to have access to  a Unix machine
  (or at an Unix-compatible uudecode) to be able to unpack this.

Enquire about availabiliy of UNIX versions at the same e-mail address.

You can also order a registered version to be sent you on a floppy disk
though first class mail by sending a letter containing  US$20/NOK 100.-
and a note indicating preferred diskette format  (5 1/4" or 3 1/2")  to
the following address:

  Gisle Hannemyr, Hegermanns gt. 13-3, N-0478 Oslo, Norway

Trivia Challenger should work with BBS systems compatible with PCBoard,
Mike's BBS (MBBS),  WILDCAT! systems,  GAP BBS,  SPITFIRE BBS and other
systems  using standard  DOOR.SYS  file along with  RBBS-PC,  QuickBBS,
Remote Access  and  other  systems  using  DORINFOx.DEF  files.  Trivia
Challenger will also utilize a file called GENERIC.SYS.  This file will
allow Trivia Challenger to work on ANY BBS system.

Trivia Challenger's features include interrupt driven I/O, 16550AN UART
support, and FOSSIL support.



2: HOW DO I PLAY THE GAME?
==========================

Trivia Challenger  is  a trivia quiz game.  It will ask questions,  and
the object of the game is to find the correct answer.

You have  a limited time to answer the questions.  This limit is set by
the SysOp, and is displayed as part of the initial instructions. If you
haven't got the right answer before your time is up, you will lose!

There are four possible types of questions:

     * standard questions :     Type  in  the answer  matching  a "hint
                                mask"  showing  the general  format  of
                                the answer.

     * fill in the blanks :     Fill in  the remaining part of a parti-
                                ally displayed phrase.

     * no hint mask       :     Type in the answer to the question.  No
                                "hint mask" will be shown.

     * multiple choice    :     Where some suggested answers is listed,
                                and you have to pick the right one.

Below is a more detailed description of how to deal with the four types
of questions:


2.1: Standard questions
-----------------------

The program  will pose  a question,  and you will be awarded points for
answering the question correctly.  To help you find the correct answer,
a "hint mask" -- indicating a possible format of the answer --  will be
shown.  The "hint mask" will display the number of words and characters
in the answer. In the mask, all alpha charcters will be shown as a "*".
Digits (0-9) will be shown as a "#". Special characters (!?+-=@$%^&...)
will be shown as they are.  To  assist  you further,  indicate units of
measure,  reveal  redundant  parts,  etc.,  one  or more letters of the
answer may already  be filled in.  On subsequent tries,  the characters
you got right in the previous attempt  to answer  replaces the  #'s and
*'s.

The  following keys have  special functions:

     SPACEBAR:    (ACSII 32)  Moves one character  to the right without
                  overtyping.

     BACKSPACE:   (ASCII 8) This destructively backspaces (deletes) one
                  character.

     DEL:         (ASCII 127) This works the same way as BACKSPACE.

In cases where  more than one  answer may be acceptable,  the hint mask
will reflect (in the opinion of whoever created the quiz) the "best" or
most likely answer.  In such cases,  the mask may not display the exact
number of words or characters in the answer  for alternate  answers. If
your answer fits  better  with one of the alternate answers,  the  mask
with  the alternate best fit will be displayed for subsequent attempts.
In general, the canonical spelling for all answers is based upon:
    The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (6th ed., 1976)
for the English quiz tables, and:
    Tanums Store Rettskrivingsordbok (6. utgave, 1983)
for the Norwegian quiz tables.


2.2: Fill in the blanks
-----------------------

This is  a slight variation  of the standard questions.  No question is
displayed, but instead a partly filled in phrase. To be awarded points,
you need to complete the phrase.

The  partly  filled  in phrase is constructed in the same manner as the
"hint mask" described above, and the  SPACEBAR,  BACKSPACE and DEL keys
work in a similar way.


2.3: No hint mask
-----------------

The "no hint mask"-questions is also a variation on standard questions.
In this type of question, no  "hint mask"  is displayed.  To be awarded
points, you need to supply the correct answer.

On subsequent  tries,  note  that  only  the initial characters you got
right in the previous answer will be shown.


2.4: Multiple choice questions
------------------------------

Alternatively, some quizes  (or part of quizes) may consist of multiple
choice questions.  In those instances a list of suggested answers  will
appear below the question, with the letters  A, B, C, etc. appearing to
the left.

Only one of the suggested answers will be correct,  all the others will
be  wrong.   You  indicate  your  choice  of  answer  by  pressing  the
appropriate letter.


3: THE GAME MENU
================

Between each quiz,  you will see the game menu.  The game menu consists
of the following options:

     Exit:        Exit the game and return to the main board/system.

     Change:      Change setup (toggle colour).

     Info.:       Get some information about the current quiz  (who did
                  originally provide it, etc.)

     Gripe:       Built in function  to complain about the game,  wrong
                  answers, bad spelling, etc.  This function is to help
                  the game maintainer improve the quiz base.

     Next quiz:   If more than one quiz per day is allowed, this option
                  will appear in the menu.  Selecting this  option will
                  present  you with  the next quiz  without any need to
                  re-open the door.

     Results:     Show the updated "Hall of Fame" highscore list.

     Status:      View your own statistics.

     Help:        Online help

You  select  a command by typing the first character of the command.  A
default response is shown,  and to get that,  you just hit the  <ENTER>
key.


4: THE HIGHSCORE TABLE
======================

The  highscore  table  ranks players according to their position in the
game.  The first column gives  player position,  the second the name of
player and the third number of points.

The longer version of the highscore  table has four additional columns,
with the following fields:

  - Gold  : Number of questions player has  managed to answer correctly
            while being the player with highest score.
  - Answ. : The number of questions the player has attempted to answer.
  - R%    : The percentage the player has managed to answer correctly.
  - Last  : Days elapsed since last time the player played the game.


5: CHARACTER SETS
=================

The game will make use of 8 bit character sets. On MSDOS and compatible
systems, this will be the IBM CP-850 (multinational) character set.  On
Unix systems, it will use the ISO Latin 1 character sets. This does not
mean that the players have to type in special 8 bit characters. Even if
the answer  contains  an accented character,  typing  in  the character
without the accent will be accepted.  For the special  Norwegian/Danish
characters, the ISO-IR-060 replacements (i.e. {|}[\]) is also accepted.
However, if you don't have the correct character set,  8 bit characters
in questions and in answers will not display correctly.

..EOF
