  -[ BOARD MASTER v2.3 Player Instructions ]-

  HISTORY: Board Master has evolved from a simplistic, single node game
  to a very complicated, but easy to play, Inter-BBS, multi-node game.

  If your sysop is involved in an Inter-BBS league, you will get the
  chance to play against other people from all over, making the game
  more difficult and challenging, but also more fun.
  

  SCENARIO: You are the Sysop of your own Bulletin Board System.
  You will be responsible for maintaining your system, performing
  upgrades, buying new equipment and verifying new users.

  OBJECTIVE: To be the first to earn 100,000 points.
  This is accomplished by having the best of everything and attracting
  the largest number of users.

  There is no quick way to win. There are no shortcuts. The best
  strategy is to shop smart and only take risks when necessary.
 
  
  Every night, sometime around midnight, when your sysop performs all
  the other maintenance on his/her board, they will be running the
  Board Master maint. program which calculates how many points and
  users should be added or deducted from your board... if any.
  
  This doesn't mean that you can sit on your laurels and expect to earn
  mega points or draw the biggest number of users. Quite the contrary.
  Running and maintaining a BBS is sometimes a difficult task especially
  when your trying to run a payboard... You will soon learn Board Master
  is no different.

  Have fun with the game, and don't get too frustrated if it seems a little
  tough at first. It gets much easier as you go along.


                                 - MENU'S -  
  
  MAIN MENU  
  This is the primary menu from which other vital menu's can be
  accessed. Like 'Work on board','Read mail','Computer store", etc...

  The main menu also shows the user activities of 4 of your nodes.
  
  STATS 
  This screen will show you how your bbs is made up. What components
  you have, how many users, points, etc...
  
  LIST
  This lists all the other sysops that are competing against you and 
  that are in the current game.
  
  WORK
  Allows you to perform several different maintenance tasks
  on your board, from making new menu's to verifying new users.
  *Each of these items can only be accomplished once per day.
          
  STORE
  The computer store has a big list of items that are regulary used
  on BBS systems and sold to BBS operators like yourself.
  Anything from CPU upgrades to modems to doors can be bought here.

  - Your BBS has certain limitations depending on many various          
    aspects. For this reason you will not beable to buy anything
    you want at anytime.
          
  - One unique thing about this computer store is that trade ins
    for certain items are automatic. ie. Some items have a trade in
    value, for those items, you will recieve 1/2 the original cost
    of purchase when you buy something new, automatically.

  READ
  This allows you to read and reply to the mail your users have sent you.
  Reading and replying to your mail is among the many things any good 
  sysop does on a regular basis. Reading your mail is good, but replying 
  to your mail is even better (hint).

  NEWS 
  Allows you to view the news file which contains the activities
  of all players during the course of the day.

  MAILBOX
  Allows you to read & write messages from/to other players in the 
  game. When entering the mailbox, it will scan for new private mail,
  and any public mail that hasn't been purged.
         
  Any private mail addressed to you will automatically be deleted
  after you read it, public mail will be purged nightly.
  
  If you wish to send private mail, you must know the player # of
  the person you are sending it to. This is easily found by doing
  a LIST from the main menu.
         
  The mailbox supports up to 3 lines. Press ENTER after each line.

  ALLEY
  The back alley is where you have the option of buying used
  equipment at a substantial lower price... But beware, the guy
  you'll be buying from is notorious for stealing, and there is
  a chance you will get caught when doing business with him.

  If you get caught buying from this guy, substantial losses
  could occur. You could end up loosing everything you have, so
  take caution.
        
  Because of how this guy gets his equipment, he will not have
  every item normally found in the computer store.

  HACK  (Registered feature only)
  Allows you to log into another sysop's board and crash their system. 
  The amount of points that can be made from this are astounding, 
  but the penalty for getting caught is even bigger.

  VIRUS
  The virus shop has both virii and virus scanners for sale.
  If you choose to buy a virus, you must upload it before you do
  anything else.

  You must have a scanner if you want to perform a virus scan.
  
  PAY BBS  (Registered feature only)
  The payboard feature allows you to set your system up for either a
  pay or free board. 
  
   - Having a payboard has the potential to earn you extra money each
     day, but if you charge too much or you have too few features, you
     could loose users.

   - Having a free board is the safest, but obviously your cash flow
     will be substantially less, and you'll have to settle for whatever
     donations the users decide to give you.


  ADVERTISE  (Registered feature only)
  Advertising your BBS will greatly enhance the number of new
  users you attract. Of course like most everything else, the more
  money you spend, the greater the impact.

  Be careful not to spend too much too soon though, since you could
  easily run out of money. Advertising costs are deducted each night
  and are based on a monthly scale.
         

                                 - NOTES -
    
  Message nets, SLIP, 56k, or T1 fees will be deducted from your account 
  each night, but the amount deducted is equal to 1/30th of the monthly cost.
  
  If you buy a SLIP line, 1 of your dial up lines will be deducted to use
  as your SLIP line.
  
  If you run out of money, it will automatically be deactivated.

  When buying modems, you will be asked how many. This refers to the number
  of nodes you want to add. The price of the modem includes the cost of
  setting up an additional phone line.
                     
  When buying a CPU, if you have a LAN based system you will be asked if
  you want it to replace your server. Your server is the main computer
  in a LAN environment. If you do, answer yes. If your wanting to buy it 
  as a workstation (extra node), then answer no.
  
  New users and Users are viewed differently in Board Master.
  New Users are users that have joined your board but still require
  verification. You will only gain a small percentage of points for new
  users. Once you verify the new users, they will be added to your user
  database, and more points are given for each of them.
 
 
                    Goodluck on your journey to the top!

