A Day At The Races Help

STARTING A NEW RACE

Races may be run without any of the four players betting, or with only some of the players betting.  To run a race, select the Race/They're Off! menu option or simply click on the RACE button to the right of the racing track.

BETTING

To bet on a race, a player must first select a player number.  To do so, either select a player number from the 'Player' menu or click on 'Player1', 'Player2', 'Player3', or 'Player4', under the racing track.  The player number will be highlighted.  If an account is empty no bet may be made by that player.  (If all accounts are emtpy, you will be asked if you wish to play another game.)  Then complete making the bet, by choosing a horse to bet on, a wager, and a finish.

To choose a horse, either select a horse number from the 'Horse' menu, or simply click on the horse itself, or click on the horse name at the bottom of the screen.

To select a wager, either select the wager from the 'Wager' menu, or simply click on one of the wager amounts to the left of the racing track.  Choose one of the pre-selected amounts, or use the 'Other' option to select a different amount, up to $9999.  If you choose an amount greater than that in your account, the wager will be reset to the account amount.  If you started to place a bet, and then decided not to bet after all, select the 'Other' option and enter 0, or a negative number.  Your bet will be cleared.

The odds on the horses are shown next to the horse names on the bottom of the screen, and influence the horse's performance.

To select a finish, either choose one from the 'Finish' menu, or simply click on the 'Win', 'Place', or 'Show' button to the left of the racing track.  Select the position in which you think the horse will finish.  The 'Win' option is for a first place finish, 'Place' for second and 'Show' for third.  A 'Place' or 'Show' ticket on the winning horse pays, but at a lower rate than a ticket to 'Win'.  The same holds for a 'Show' ticket on the horse finishing in second.

Repeat the betting process as many times as you wish for the four players.  Before a race begins, players may change their bets.

Finally, to run the race, either select the 'They're Off!' option from the 'Race' menu, or simply click on the 'RACE' button to the right of the racing track.  This option will work any time except when a wager has been started but is incomplete (you must select a horse, wager and finish to complete a wager.  Anywhere from zero to four players may bet at a time.)

RESET RACE

Before a player is selected, and betting begun, the 'Reset Race' option in the 'Race' menu allows you to change the horses and their odds up to three times per race.  Selecting a player number, however, resets the race, if it hasn't been reset already, and now, the race may not be reset using the 'Reset Race' option.

INQUIRY

Every so often, an inquiry will be made.  Sometimes in an inquiry, the winning horse is disqualified.

SOUND

Choose the menu options to turn voices on and off.  The dimmed option is the one that is currently activated, and hence, cannot be chosen.  Turning voices on and off may be done at any time during the game.

Note:  If you have a microphone hooked up to your computer you can make the game even more fun by recording your own voice messages.  Use the Sound Recorder (which is a Windows 3.1 Accessory.  See your Windows 3.1 documentation on how to do this.)

The voices are in files with a .WAV extension.  Open one of these files using the Sound Recorder.  Play it, and then record your own message, saving it to that file.  WARNING: The file names must be the same.  Be sure to delete any blank space before or after the actual voice message using the Edit commands.

SPEED

The menu options for speed will cause the race to become slower or faster.  Choose the time according to your preference.  Initially, the speed is set to average.  The dimmed option is the one that is currently activitated, and hence, cannot be chosen.  Changing the speed may be done only before a race.

REGISTER

'A Day At The Races' is a "shareware program," and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation.  Feel free to share it with your friends.  The essence of "user-supported" shareware is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products.  If you find this program useful and find that you are using 'A Day At The Races' and continue to use it after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment.  The 'Register A Day At The Races' option will allow you to fill in a registration form to either register A Day At The Races or to order A Day At The Races Pro.  (A Day At The Races Pro allows a player to win up to one million dollars).  When you register A Day At The Races, a registration key will be sent to you to turn off the registration reminder screens.  Also provided is the following support.  LatticeWork Software will answer questions and fix serious bugs during a one-year period after registration.  For problems involving specific hardware or software environment or feature, LatticeWork Software may choose not to modify the program.  In that case, if a problem is reported within three months after registration, then LatticeWork Software will refund the user's registration price.  You may contact LatticeWork Software at the following addresses:

LatticeWork Software

P.O. Box 362

Lafayette Hill, PA 19444

or by way of America Online mail to LatticeWrk

or by way of CompuServe mail 74453,2112

After you have registered 'A Day At The Races', you will receive a registration key in the mail.  Choose 'Enter Registration Key' from the 'Register' menu and enter the registration key you have received.  The registration reminder screens will now be turned off.  If, for some reason, e.g., the program was re-installed, and the registration reminder screens are shown again, simply enter the registration key once more.