810 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
810 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
[First Class Presents]
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------------------------
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- Ballyhoo Documentation -
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- -
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- Written by: The Andrex -
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Spurred by your natural curiosity,
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you stick around after the show in the
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big top, hoping to catch an after-hours
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performance. Perhaps you'll get a peek
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at an impromptu clown act, or watch the
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late-night feedings of the exotic ani-
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mals you goggled at earlier. But life
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at the circus isn't glamorous after the
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audience has gone home: instead of
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flashy feats, you overhear a mysterious
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conversation: a little girl--the circus
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owners daughter--has been kidnapped!
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Her father is too naive (or is he too
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pompously stupid?) to do more than hire
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an inept detective to find her. He Re-
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mains blindly loyal to his overworked
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performers, but...could it be an inside
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job? The girl might be hidden some-
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where on the circus grounds...and one
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of the performers might be the ab-
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ductor!
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So you do what anyone would do in
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these circumstances: set out to rescue
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the damsel in distress. The odds arent
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in your favor: you--a spectator, a by-
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stander, an outsider in a defensive
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close-nit community--trying to find a
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girl you've never met, in a place you
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know nothing about, among bizarre
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people who want nothing to do with you.
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Some would call you brave. Some would
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call you foolish.
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Every circus has its seedy underside.
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But few are as dangerous as this.
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If you're familiar with Infocoms
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interactive fiction, you may not feel
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like reading this entire manual. How-
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ever, you should at least look at the
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appendix of recognized verbs; some of
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the verbs listed are found in all Info-
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com stories, while others are included
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especially for Bollyhoo.
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-----------------
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Table of Contents
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-----------------
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An Overview
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-----------
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o What is Interactive fiction?
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o Moving around
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o Turns and scoring
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Tips for Novices
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----------------
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Nine useful pointers about interactive
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fiction.
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Communicating with Ballyhoo
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---------------------------
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o Basic sentences
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o Complex sentences
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o Talking to characters in the story
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o Vocabulary limitations
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Starting and Stopping
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---------------------
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o Starting Ballyhoo ("Booting up")
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o Saving and restoring
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o Quitting and restarting
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Appendix A: Important Commands
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Appendix B: Some Recognized Verbs
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Appendix C: Ballyhoo Complaints
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Appendix D: About the Author
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--This ends Table of Contents.
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An Overview
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-----------
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Interactive fiction is a story in
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which you are the main character. Your
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own thinking and imagination determine
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the actions of thaty character and
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guide the story from start to finish.
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Each work of interactive fiction,
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such as Ballyhoo, presents you with a
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series of locations, items, characters,
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and events. You can interact with
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these in a variety of ways.
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To move from place to place, type the
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direction you want to go. When you
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find yourself in a new location, it's a
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good idea to become familiar with your
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surroundings by exploring the nearby
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rooms and reading each description care
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fully. (You may notice that Ballyhoo
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occasionally refers to a location as a
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"room", even if you are outdoors.) As
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you explore, it is helpful to make a
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map of the geography.
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An important element of interactive
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fiction is puzzle-solving. You should
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think of a locked door or a ferocious
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beast not as a permanent obstacle, but
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merely as a puzzle to be tackled. Sol-
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ving puzzles will frequently involve
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bringing a certain item with you, and
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then using it in the proper way.
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In Ballyhoo, time passed only in res-
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ponse to your input. You might imaging
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a clock that ticks once for each sen-
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tence you type, and the story progress-
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es only at each tick. Nothing happens
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until you type a sentence and press the
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RETURN (or ENTER) key, so you can plan
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your turns as slowly and carefully as
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you want.
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To measure your progress, Ballyhoo
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keeps track of your score. You may get
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points for solving puzzles, performing
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certain actions, or visiting certain
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locations. A perfect score is to be
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strived for, but of course having fun
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is much more important.
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Tips for Novices
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----------------
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1) Draw a map. It should include each
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location, the directions connecting
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it to adjoining locations, and any
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interesting objects there. Note
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there are 10 possible directions,
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plus IN and OUT.
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2) Examine all objects you come across.
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Most objects in the story that you
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can pick up are important for solv-
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ing one or more of the puzzles you
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will run into.
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3) Save your place often. That way, if
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you mess up or get "killed", you
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wont have to start over from the
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beginning.
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4) Read the story carefully. There are
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often clues in the descriptions of
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locations and objects. Even strange
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or dangerous actions may provide
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clues, and might prove to be fun!
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You can always save your position
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first if you want. Here is a Silly
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example:
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>PUT THE SADDLE ON THE PONY
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As you drop the heavy saddle onto the
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pony, the animal is crushed by the
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weight, and it falls down, legs splay-
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ed.
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^there you have a clue that you should
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find either a lighter saddle or a
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sturdier horse.
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5) Unlike other "adventure games" you
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may have played, there are many pos-
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sible routes the to end of Ballhoo.
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Some puzzles have more than one sol-
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ution; other puzzles don't nees to
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be solved at all. Sometimes you
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will have to solve one puzzle in
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order to obtain the item(s) or info-
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rmation you need to solve another
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puzzle.
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6) You may find it helpful to go thr-
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ough Ballyhoo with another person.
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Different people may find different
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puzzles easy and can often comple-
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ment each other.
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7) If you really have difficulty, you
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can order a hint booklet and a com-
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plete map using the orfer form in
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your package. You don't need this
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booklet to enjoy the story, but it
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will make solving the puzzles eas-
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ier.
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8) Read the sample transcript ahead in
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the docs to get a feel for how Info-
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com's interactive fiction works.
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9) You can word a command in many dif-
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ferent ways. For example, if you
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wanted to pick up a yellow hoop, you
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could type in any of the following:
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>GET HOOP
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>TAKE THE HOOP
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>PICK UP THE YELLOW HOOP
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In fact, if the hoop is the only
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thing in sight that you can take,
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just typing TAKE would havr been
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good enough. But more about that
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in the next section...
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Communicating with Ballyhoo
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---------------------------
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In Ballyhoo, you type your sentence
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in plain English each time you see the
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prompt ">". Ballyhoo usually acts as
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if your sentence begins "I want to...,"
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although you should'nt actually type
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those words. You can use words like
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THE if you want, and you can use cap-
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itol letters if you want; Ballyhoo
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doesn't care either way.
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When you have finished typing a sen-
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tence, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key
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and Ballyhoo will process you request.
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Ballyhoo will then respond, telling you
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whether you request is possible at this
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point in the story, and what happened
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as a result.
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Ballyhoo recognizes your words by
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their first six letters, and all sub-
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sequent letters are ignored. Therefore
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HYPNITist, HYPNOTize, and HYPNOTic
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would all be treated as the same word
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by Ballyhoo.
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To move around, just type the desired
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direction. You can use the eight com-
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pass directions: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST,
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WEST, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST, SOUTHEAST,
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and SOUTHWEST. You can abbreviate these
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to N,S,E,W,NE,NW,SE, and SW, respect-
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ively. You can use UP (or U) and DOWN
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(or D). IN and OUT will also work in
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certain places.
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Ballyhoo understands many different
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kinds of sentences. Here are several
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examples. (Note that some of these ob-
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jects do not actually appear in Bally-
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hoo.)
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>WALK NORTH
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>DOWN
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>NE
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>GO UP
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>GET THE LEDGER BOOK
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>READ THE BANNER
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>LOOK UNDER THE BED
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>GO OUT
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>POUR THE WATER INTO THE POT
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>EXAMINE THE LARGE RED BALLOON
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>PUSH THE BLACK BUTTON
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>GIVE $1.50 TO THE HAWKER
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>SHOOT THE ELEPHANT WITH THE ELEPHANT
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GUN
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>GIVE THE FLY TO THE FROG
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>LOOK INSIDE THE CAGE
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>CLIMB THE FENCE
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>BET 75 CENTS
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>SET THE WATCH TO 8:30
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>TAKE THE BURNING COAL WITH THE
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ABESTOS
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You can use multiple objects with
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certain verbs if you seperate them by
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the word AND or by a comma.
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Some examples:
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>TAKE BOOK AND KNIFE
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>DROP THE YELLOW BALL, THE SPOTTED FROG
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, AND THE PEANUT
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>PUT THE LADYBUG ABD THE SPIDER IN THE
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JAR
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You can include several sentences on
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one input line if you seperate them by
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the word THEN or by a period. (Note
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that each sentence will still count as
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a turn.) You don't need a period at
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the end of the input line. For example
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you can type all of the following at
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once, before pressing the RETURN (or
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ENTER) key:
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>READ THE SIGN. GO NORTH THEN TAKE THE
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CROWBAR AND MALLET
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If Ballhoo doesn't understand one of
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the sentences on your input line, or if
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something unusual happens, it will ig-
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nore the rest of your input line (see
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"Ballhoo complaints" later in the Docs)
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The words IT and ALL can be very use-
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ful. For example:
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>TAKE THE APPLE. POLISH IT. PUT IT IN
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THE BOX
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>CLOSE THE HEAVY METAL DOOR. LOCK IT
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>TAKE THE SHOE. EMPTY IT. PUT IT ON
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>TAKE ALL
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>TAKE ALL EXCEPT THE WET EGG AND THE
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KEY
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>TAKE ALL FROM CABINET
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>DROP ALL BUT THE PENCIL
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The word ALL refers to every visible
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object except those inside something
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else. If there were an apple on the
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ground and an orange inside a cabinet,
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TAKE ALL would take the apple but not
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the orange.
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There are three kinds of questions
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that Ballyhoo understands: WHO IS(some-
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one), WHERE IS(something), and WHAT IS
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(something). For example:
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>WHO IS HARRY?
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>WHERE IS THE TICKET?
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>WHAT IS A PHRENOLOGIST?
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You will meet other people and creat-
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ures in Ballyhoo. You can "talk" to
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some of these beings by typing their
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name, then a comma, then whatever you
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want to say to them. Here are some
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examples:
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>LOIS, HELLO
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>FRED, WHERE IS MY TICKET?
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>JUGGLER, FOLLOW ME
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>MIDGET, GET OFF THE PONY THEN GIVE ME
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A TICKET
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>HARRY, TAKE THE GUN. SHOOT THE PENGUIN
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Notice thaty in the last two examples
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, you are giving a person more than one
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command on the same input line. But
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remember: most people in the story do
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not care for idle chatter. Your deeds
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will speak louder than your words.
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Ballyhoo tries to guess what you
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really mean when you don't give enough
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information. For example, if you real-
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ly mean you want to do it to or with,
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Ballyhoo will sometimes decide that
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there is only one possible object you
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could mean. When it does so, it will
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tell you. For example:
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>UNLOCK THE DOOR
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(with the key)
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The door is now unlocked.
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If your command is ambiguous, Bally-
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hoo will ask what you really mean. You
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can answer most of these questions
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briefly by supplying the missing infor-
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mation, rather than typing the entire
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input again. You can do this only at
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the very next prompt. For example:
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>CUT THE ROPE
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What do you want to cut the rop with?
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>THE KNIFE
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As you cut the rope, you hear a loud
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crash in the tent.
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or
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>TAKE THE BUTTERFLY
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Which butterfly do you mean, the deli-
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cate magenta butterfly or the fat yel-
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low butterfly?
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>DELICATE
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The delicate magenta butterfly flutters
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away as you reach for it.
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Ballyhoo uses many words in its de-
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scriptions that it will not recognize
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in your commands. For example, you
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might read, "The full moon is bright
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and clear, and the wagon casts eerie
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shadows." However, if Ballyhoo does
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not recognize the words MOON or SHADOWS
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in your input, you can assume they are
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not important to your completion of the
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story, except to provide you with a
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more vivid description of where you are
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or what is going on. Ballyhoo recog-
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nizes over 900 words, nearly all that
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you are likely to use in your commands.
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If Ballyhoo doesn't know a word you
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used, or any of its common synonyms,
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you are almost certainly trying some-
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thing that is not important in cont-
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inuing your adventure.
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Starting and Stopping
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---------------------
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Starting the story: Now that you know
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what to expect in Ballhoo, it's time
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for you to "boot" your disk. To load
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Ballyhoo, follow the instructions on
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the Reference Card in your package.
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The story will begin with a descrip-
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tion of In the Wings, the opening loc-
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ation. Then the prompt ">" will appear
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indicating that Ballyhoo is waiting for
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your first command.
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Here's a quick excercise to help you
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get accustomed to interacting with
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Ballyhoo. Try the following command
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first:
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>LOOK AT THE BIG TOP
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Then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key.
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Ballyhoo will respond with:
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Soiled by endless miles of travel and
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heavily patched in places, the wide
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blue-and-white stripes nevertheless
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rise up to meet at the top of the tower
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ing center pole.
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Then try:
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>GO NORTHEAST
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After you press the RETURN (or ENTER)
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key, Ballyhoo will respond:
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Climbing up into the deserted and litt-
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ered grandstands produces a disorient-
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ing sense of deja vu. You make a head-
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achy descent diwn the steps.
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Saving and Restoring: It will probably
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take you many days to complete Bally-
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hoo. Using the SAVE feature, you can
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continue at a later time without hav-
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ing to start over from the beginning,
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just as you can place a bookmark in a
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book you are reading. SAVE puts a
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"snapshot" of your plave in the story
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onto another disk. If you are cautious
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you may want to save your place before
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(or after) trying something dangerous
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or tricky. That way, you can go back
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to that position later, even if you
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have gotten lost or "killed" since
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then.
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To save your place in the story, type
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SAVE at the prompt ">", and then press
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the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then follow
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the instructions for saving and restor-
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ing on your reference card. Some com-
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puters require a blank disk, initial-
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ized and formatted, for saves. Using
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a disk with data on it (not counting
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other Ballyhoo saves) may result in the
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loss of that data, depending on your
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computer. You can save your position
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a often a you like by using additional
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blank disks.
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You can restore a saved position any
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time you want. To do so, type RESTORE
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at the prompt ">", and then press the
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RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then follow the
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instructions on you Reference Card. You
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can then continue the story from the
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point where you used the SAVE command.
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You can type LOOK for a description of
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where you are.
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Quitting and restarting: If you want to
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start over from the beginning, simply
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type RESTART and press the RETURN (or
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ENTER) key. (This is usually faster
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than rebooting.) Just to make sure,
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Ballyhoo will ask if you really want to
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start over. If you do, type Y or YES
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and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key.
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If you want to stop entirely, type
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QUIT and press the RETURN (or ENTER)
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key. Once again, Ballyhoo will ask if
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this is really what you want to do.
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Remember when you RESTART or QUIT: if
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you want to be able to return to your
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current position, you must first do a
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SAVE.
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Appendix A - Important Commands
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-------------------------------
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There are a number of one-word com-
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mands which you can type instead of a
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sentence. You can use them over as
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needed. Some count as a turn, others
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do not. Type the command after the
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prompt ">" and press the RETURN (or
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ENTER) key.
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AGAIN - Ballyhoo will usually respond
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as if you had repeated your pre-
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vious sentence. Among the cases
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where AGAIN will not work is if
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you were just talking to another
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character. You can abbreviate
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AGAIN to G.
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BRIEF - This tells Ballyhoo to give you
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the full description of a locat-
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ion only the first time that you
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enter it. On subsequesnt visits
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Ballyhoo will tell you only the
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name of the location and the ob-
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jects present. This is how Bal-
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lyhoo will normally act, unless
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you tell it otherwise using the
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VERBOSE or SUPERBRIEF commands.
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DIAGNOSE - Ballyhoo will give you a
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medical report of your phys-
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iscal condition.
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INVENTORY - Ballyhoo will list what you
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are carrying. You can abbr-
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eviate INVENTORY to I.
|
|
|
|
LOOK - This tells Ballyhoo to describe
|
|
your location in full detail. You
|
|
cam abbreviate LOOK to L.
|
|
|
|
OOPS - If you accidentally mistype a
|
|
word, such that Ballyhoo doesn't
|
|
understand the word, you can cor-
|
|
rect yourself on the next line by
|
|
typing OOPS and the correct word.
|
|
Suppose, for example, you typed
|
|
GIVE THE YELLOW BALL TO THE KUGG-
|
|
LER and were told "I dont know
|
|
the word 'kuggler'." You could
|
|
type OOPS JUGGLER rather than
|
|
retyping the entire sentence.
|
|
|
|
QUIT - This lets you stop. If you want
|
|
to save you position before quit-
|
|
ting, follow the instructions in
|
|
the "Starting and Stopping" sect-
|
|
ion displayed earlier. You can
|
|
abbreviate QUIT to Q.
|
|
|
|
RESTART - This stops the story and
|
|
starts over from the begin-
|
|
ning.
|
|
|
|
RESTORE - This restores a position made
|
|
using the SAVE command. See
|
|
"Stopping and Starting" dis-
|
|
played earlier.
|
|
|
|
SCORE - Ballyhoo will show your current
|
|
score.
|
|
|
|
SCRIPT - This command tells your print-
|
|
er to begin making a tran-
|
|
script of the story as you
|
|
venture onwards. A transcript
|
|
may aid your memory but is not
|
|
necessary. It will work only
|
|
on certain computers; read
|
|
your Reference Card for
|
|
details.
|
|
|
|
SUPERBRIEF - This commands Ballyhoo to
|
|
display only the name of a
|
|
place you have entered,
|
|
even if you have never been
|
|
there before. In this mode
|
|
Ballyhoo will not even men-
|
|
tion which objects are pre-
|
|
sent. Of course, you can
|
|
always get a description of
|
|
your location, and the
|
|
items there, by typing LOOK
|
|
In SUPERBRIEF mode, the
|
|
blank line between turns
|
|
will be eliminated. This mode is meant for players
|
|
who are already familiar
|
|
with the geography. Also
|
|
see VERBOSE and BRIEF.
|
|
|
|
UNSCRIPT - This commands your printer
|
|
to stop making a transcript.
|
|
|
|
VERBOSE - This tells Ballyhoo that you
|
|
want a complete description of
|
|
each location, and the objects
|
|
in it, every time you enter a
|
|
location, even if you've been
|
|
there before. Also see BRIEF
|
|
and SUPERBRIEF.
|
|
|
|
VERSION - Ballyhoo responds by showing
|
|
you the release number and the
|
|
serial number of your copy of
|
|
the story. Please include
|
|
this information if you ever
|
|
report a "bug" in the story.
|
|
|
|
WAIT - This will cause time in the
|
|
story to pass. Normally, between
|
|
turns, nothing happens in the
|
|
story. You could leave your com-
|
|
puter, take a nap, and return to
|
|
the story to find that nothing
|
|
has changed. You can use WAIT to
|
|
make time pass in the story with-
|
|
out doing anything. For example,
|
|
you can wait for a specific time,
|
|
or wait for an event to happen,
|
|
etc. Youcan abbreviate WAIT to Z.
|
|
|
|
Appendix B - Some Recognized Verbs
|
|
----------------------------------
|
|
|
|
This is a partial list of the verbs
|
|
that Ballhoo understands. There are
|
|
many more. Remember you can use a var-
|
|
iety of prepositions with them. For
|
|
example, LOOK can become LOOK INSIDE,
|
|
LOOK BEHIND, LOOK UNDER, LOOK THROUGH,
|
|
LOOK AT, and so on.
|
|
|
|
ASK EXAMINE
|
|
ATTACK EXIT
|
|
BET EXTINGUISH
|
|
BOARD FILL
|
|
CLIMB FIND
|
|
CLOSE FOLLOW
|
|
COUNT GIVE
|
|
CUT JUMP
|
|
DESTROY KICK
|
|
DIG KILL
|
|
DISEMBARK KISS
|
|
DRINK KNOCK
|
|
DROP LIE
|
|
EAT LIGHT
|
|
ENTER LISTEN
|
|
LOCK SIDE-WALL
|
|
LOOK SLIDE
|
|
OFFER SMELL
|
|
OPEN STAND
|
|
POUR TAKE
|
|
PULL TELL
|
|
PUSH THROW
|
|
PUT TIE
|
|
RAISE TOUCH
|
|
READ UNLOCK
|
|
SEARCH UNTIE
|
|
SET WAKE
|
|
SHAKE WAVE
|
|
SHOUT SHOW
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appendix C - Ballyhoo Complaints
|
|
--------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Ballyhoo will complain if you type a
|
|
sentence that confuses it completely.
|
|
Ballyhoo will then ignore the rest of
|
|
the input line. (Unusual events, such
|
|
as being attacked, may also cause Bally
|
|
hoo to ignore the rest of the sentences
|
|
you typed, since the event may have
|
|
changed your situation drastically.)
|
|
Some of Ballyhoo's complaints:
|
|
|
|
I DON'T KNOW THE WORD "------". The
|
|
Word you typed is not in the story's
|
|
vocabulary. Sometimes using a synonym
|
|
or rephrasing will help. If not, Bally
|
|
hoo probably doesn't know the idea you
|
|
were trying to get across.
|
|
|
|
YOU USED THE WORD "------" IN A WAY
|
|
THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Ballyhoo
|
|
knows the word you typed, but couldn't
|
|
use it in that sense. Usually this is
|
|
because Ballyhoo knows the word as a
|
|
different part of speech. For example,
|
|
if you typed LOWER THE FLAG, you are
|
|
using LOWER as a verb, but Ballyhoo
|
|
might know LOWER only as an adjective,
|
|
as in PRESS THE LOWER BUTTON.
|
|
|
|
THERE WAS NO VERB IN THAT SENTENCE!
|
|
Unless you are answering a question,
|
|
each sentence must have a verb (or a
|
|
command) in it somewhere.
|
|
|
|
THERE SEEMS TO BE A NOUN MISSING IN
|
|
THAT SENTENCE. This usually means your
|
|
sentence was incomplete, such as EAT
|
|
THE BLUE or PUT THE BOOK IN THE.
|
|
|
|
THERE WERE TOO MANY NOUNS IN THAT SEN-
|
|
TENCE. An example is PUT THE SOUP IN
|
|
THE BOWL WITH THE LADLE, which has
|
|
three noun "phrases," one more than
|
|
Ballyhoo can digest in a single action.
|
|
|
|
I BEG YOUR PARDON? You pressed the
|
|
RETURN (or ENTER) key without typing
|
|
anything.
|
|
|
|
YOU CAN'T SEE ANY ------ HERE! The ob-
|
|
ject you reffered to was not accessible
|
|
to you. It may be somewhere else, in-
|
|
side a closed container, and so on.
|
|
|
|
THE OTHER OBJECT(S) THAT YOU MENTIONED
|
|
ISN'T (AREN'T) HERE. You reffered to
|
|
one or more objecbts at the same sen-
|
|
tence, some of which aren't present or
|
|
accessible.
|
|
|
|
YOU CAN'T USE MULTIPLE (IN)DIRECT OB-
|
|
JECTS WITH "------". You can use mul-
|
|
tiple objects (that is, nouns of noun
|
|
phrases separated by AND or a comma) or
|
|
the word ALL only with certain verbs.
|
|
Among the moew useful of these verbs
|
|
are TAKE, DROP, and, PUT. An example
|
|
of a verb that will not work with mul-
|
|
tiple objects is EXAMINE; you couldn't
|
|
say EXAMINE ALL or EXAMINE THE BOWL AND
|
|
THE SWORD.
|
|
|
|
YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY. There is no
|
|
passage or exit in the direction you
|
|
want to move.
|
|
|
|
THAT SENTENCE ISN'T ONE I RECOGNIZE.
|
|
The sentence you typed may have been
|
|
gibberish, such as TAKE ROPE WITH READ.
|
|
Or, you may have typed a reasonable
|
|
sentence but used a syntax that Bally-
|
|
hoo does not recognize, such as WAVE
|
|
OVER THE MOUNTAIN. Try rephrashing the
|
|
sentence.
|
|
|
|
Appendix D - About the Author
|
|
-----------------------------
|
|
|
|
Jeff O'Neill is a computer school
|
|
dropout from Whittier, California.
|
|
After graduating in 1982 from Calif-
|
|
ornia State University, Los Angeles, he
|
|
worked in journalism and for a while
|
|
dabbled in computer science at a local
|
|
community college. In the spring of
|
|
1984 he did the equivalent of running
|
|
away with the circus by moving to Mass-
|
|
achusetts to become a game tester for
|
|
Infocom. Through diligence and hard
|
|
work he finally came to fulfill the ty-
|
|
pical American boyhood dream--to get
|
|
paid for writing interactive fiction.
|
|
Ballyhoo is his first Infocom Story.
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------
|
|
Thats it moes.. Call:
|
|
|
|
The Motherboard Elite - 516/333-7165
|