JOTTO for Windows

Hi! I'm your host, C. M. Pewter. Need help? You've come to the right place.

How to Play the Game

Object of the Game

Rules

Using the Keyboard

Using the Mouse

Options

Shareware notice

And special thanks to...


How to Play the Game

Object of the Game

Both you and I (Pewter) will pick a JOTTO word. We will each take turns trying to guess each other's word, (you will go first) and the one who guesses the other player's word first wins the game.

Rules

Words

JOTTO words:

A player's JOTTO word is the secret word he (or she, or it) chooses that the other player must guess. It must be a five-letter word with no two letters the same. It cannot be a proper noun (name, place or nationality). It also cannot be the -s form of a shorter word. (All other suffixes, such as -ed,-er, and -ing are valid.)

Guessing words:

A guessing word is the word that a player uses when he (she, it) tries to guess the other player's JOTTO word. This word may be any five-letter word in the English language that is not a proper noun (name, place or nationality).

My word list is taken from the WordPerfect 5.1 (for DOS) dictionary.

Examples:	word 	as JOTTO word	as guessing word

adios	Invalid 	Invalid

James	Invalid 	Invalid

Spain	Invalid 	Invalid

Roman	Invalid 	Invalid

bakes	Invalid 	Valid

cheer	Invalid 	Valid

reach	Valid 	Valid

baked	Valid 	Valid

Scoring

When one player enters a word, the other player must respond by giving its score. The score tells the guesser how many of the letters that are in the other player's JOTTO word are in his guessing word. If the guesser got the word exactly correct, the score is 'J' (upper or lower case are equal).

A player who enters an incorrect score forfeits the game.

Examples:	JOTTO word	Guessing word	Score

reach	reach	J

reach	cheer	4

swamp	papas	3

timer	merit	5


Using the Keyboard

The keyboard is always used to enter words and scores. Only keys that are applicable to the present function will do anything. Only the backspace key can be used to correct a mistaken keystroke. When you press the ENTER key or click the ENTER button with the mouse, the word or score will be officially entered.

The alphabet at the right of your screen is there to help you keep track of which letters are certainly in, certainly not in, and might be in my word. To change the state of a letter box, press the space bar and then press the appropriate letter key. If you have pressed the space bar and no longer wish to affect one of the letter boxes, press ESC. The state of the letter box will change in the following sequence: Maybe (blue) - Poss. (cyan) (If the four-state option is chosen) - Yes (green) - No (red) - Maybe (blue).

To get the Help index, press F1, to start a new game, press F2, and to stop playing, press F3.


Using the Mouse

To enter a word or score, you must use the keyboard, but, if you wish, you can click the left mouse button on the button marked ENTER instead of using the ENTER key.

The alphabet at the right of your screen is there to help you keep track of which letters are certainly in, certainly not in, and might be in my word. To change the state of a letter box, simply click the left mouse button on that letter. The state of the letter box will change in the following sequence: Maybe (blue) - Poss. (cyan) (If the four-state option is chosen) - Yes (green) - No (red) - Maybe (blue).


Options

The "Level" menu offers two options. The "Vocabulary" option refers to the level of your vocabulary so that I do not choose a JOTTO word that is too hard for you. After all, if you are in third grade, would you want to have to guess a college-level word? I thought not. It implies no restrictions on the level of word that you may use for your JOTTO word, nor does it imply any restrictions on the guessing words that either of us might use. The "Computer Guessing" option allows me to use a slow, medium, or fast guessing method. It depends on whether you'd rather win or be challenged a little. If you choose to change this option in the middle of a game, use of the new level will begin with the next game.

The "Alphabet" menu allows you to have the alphabet on the right side of your screen arranged either vertically (3 columns of 9 letters each) or horizontally (9 rows of 3 letters each). It also allows you to enable or disable a fourth state for the alphabet boxes if you feel you need one (or feel that you'd be better off without it).


Shareware Notice
This program is shareware. You have full permission to use, copy and give this program to friends (or, for that matter, enemies) as you wish. If you would like new versions of this game as they are developed, please send $5.00 to the address below, although there are no guarantees that there will be any (I will try, though). If you would like the source code, send $10.00 for a copy on disk or CompuServe upload, and $15.00 for a hardcopy, also to said address. Now, here it is:

C . M. Keller

415 Grand St. Apt. 402

New York, NY 10002

Anyone with questions, comments or suggestions about this game can send them to the above address as well or send to me on CompuServe at UserID 71172,1513. Enjoy!


And special thanks to...

Aaron J. Katz, my uncle, without whom I would not have had the opportunity to learn Windows programming, and whose Petzold book I borrowed for about a month,

James M. Curran, who got me through some really bizarre bugs and taught me much, if not all of what I now understand about Windows programming, and without whose help this program would still be stuck in WinMain,

Charles Petzold, for obvious reasons,

and last, but not least, Professor Isaac Herskowitz of Touro College, without whom I might not have gotten the idea in the first place. Thank you very, very much, all of you!