Mumbo Jumbo --------------------------------- Copyright 1992, David Becker Compuserve 73030,3562 GEnie D.Becker8 Mumbo Jumbo is yet another of my word game offerings for the Atari ST. It will run on all platforms with a monochrome monitor. My other word games available online are FRUSTRATION and SEARCH ME. Check them out! I wanted to create another program that you could use with the dbWRITER dictionary file (also available online). My word search generator was the first (SEARCH ME) and this word jumble game rounds things out. I have also included a smaller dictionary file for 520 users. Mumbo Jumbo is not an original idea. I play the word jumble puzzles in the local paper quite regularly. No doubt the newspapers use a similar program. When first run you will be greeted with the main screen. That's funny! Where did the bottom half of my monitor go? I shut it off. I will return the other half to you when you exit back to the desktop. Other than that, you will see a GEM drop down menu and two windows. The top window in labeled "Puzzle" and this is where the jumbled word will be displayed. The bottom window called "Answer" is where you type in your guesses. When run, Mumbo Jumbo automatically loads the dictionary file called MUMBO.DIC. This can actually be any text file as long as it is in the same directory as MUMBO.PRG. Best you stick with the dictionary included or rename the dbWRITER dictionary. Lets look at the first drop down menu titled "File". The first choice is "Word configuration". Give this menu a click or press Control-W on the keyboard. A new box will appear asking for the length of the word and the letters of the alphabet that the word will begin with. Words can be up to 12 letters in length (really hard) but no less than 3 (really easy). Click in the box, enter the length and press Return. You can also click on the alphabet letters at the bottom to select or de-select the letters you want the words to begin with. Click the right mouse button to exit this box. After choosing the word length, click "Choose a new word" from the drop down menu or press Control-C. Mumbo Jumbo immediatly searches the dictionary for a new word matching your criteria. It won't take very long (unless you've told it to search for only Z words twelve letters long! Hit Undo if it simply can't find any words). When the word has been chosen, it will quickly be jumbled and then diplayed within the top window. Now the fun begins... Type your guess from the keyboard directly into the bottom window, one letter at a time. Backspace deletes the last letter and ESC clears your answer. There is no need to hit Return, if you type in the correct answer Mumbo Jumbo will recognize it and display the winners box. If you start getting fed up and simply can't guess the answer you can hit the Help key. You will be shown how many letters are placed correctly (this is cheating and I don't expect you to use Help unless you are stuck!). If you still can't figure it out (believe me, the dictionary contains some wild words!) then click the drop down menu called "Show me the answer!" or hit Control-S. You can also choose a new word at any time. The menu heading "Print" contains two choices. The first is "Print out a puzzle page" and this option is neat. Mumbo Jumbo will compile 50 words based on the length and letters you have chosen and then print them onto a single page in a special way. The jumble will be listed on the left and the answer on the right, fold the page real fast after it prints and you will have a super deluxe puzzle tournament to take anywhere! You can also send the same listing to disk and then import it into your favorite word processor or desktop publisher. The last menu "Quit to the desktop" exits the program and returns the bottom half of your monitor to regular use. You use Mumbo Jumbo at your own risk. It is freeware. Have fun!