Superstar Baseball Written By James P. Orazi This game is based on a Sports Illustrated board game issued in 1974. All the data used is accurate up till then. Requirements 1. 640 x 480 VGA 2. 256k Memory 3. 286,386,486 IBM PC or Compatible Installation 1. Copy all the files on the floppy to the same directory on your hard drive, or run directly off the floppy. All files must be in the same directory as the "bb.exe" file. Instructions All scoring and and base runners are kept track of by you. Just as if you were scoring a real baseball game. So you will need a score sheet. I have provided an ascii file called "bb.frm" that can be printed out, provided your printer supports extended characters,which most do. Just type "copy bb.frm prn" and see if it looks ok, if it doesn't, your on your own. Also, if you have a software program called Formtool this file is in the correct format it uses. CHOOSING TEAMS To start the game just type "bb". The first thing you will see is the main menu. Hitting "1" will ask you if you want to use the designated hitter, type either a Y or N, depending on whether or not you want your pitchers to hit for themselves. After you have made your choice, the next screen is the players menu. I suggest you start by choosing pitchers for both teams first, you are allowed only 1 player at each position, per team. Next to each pitchers name is the arm that he throws with, R = right, L = left. You should note this on your score sheet, because players performances are different when facing a righty or a lefty. Remember that all the statistics used in this game are from the players lifetime stats up till 1974 and are very accurate. After choosing your pitchers, you can go through each position, choosing your teams, making sure you write them down. The R + L on the position players menus are for what side of the plate that they bat from, the letter B stands for both, or, he is a switch hitter. If you have decided not to use the DH, item 8 on the menu will not work. No player can be chosen more than once, for any position including the DH. BATTING ORDER After your teams are chosen, go back to the main menu. Choose "2", this is the batting order menu. Select either Team A or B, the lineup you have picked will be displayed on the screen. At each prompt type in the number next to the player you want to bat in that position. When you are done, the batting order menu will come back and then choose the opposite team. When you have put both teams in the correct order(hopefully writing this onto your score sheet as you go along) go back to the main menu. At this point you are ready to start the game. STARTING THE GAME THE DICE Hitting "3" at the main menu brings you to the dice screen, this is called a dice screen because those 3 square blocks at the top are supposed to represent the dice that are used in the board game version(this is my first attempt at this, so don't laugh!). These are not ordinary dice,the numbers can range from 10 - 39. They are read by multiplying the left die(the yellow one if you have color VGA) by 10 and then adding it to the other 2 die. Examples: Left Die = 3 (x10) Left Die = 1 (x10) Center Die = 1 Center Die = 4 Right Die = 0 Right Die = 5 --------------- -------------- Total = 31 Total = 19 DEFENSIVE RATINGS On the left and right of the dice are boxes that have the defensive ratings for the teams, this is derived by a total of all the individual players defensive ratings on each team. I have not shown you the ratings for each player, mostly to keep this program simple, but believe me, these ratings are accurate. The defensive ratings are used by hitting "C" at the dice screen. This brings up the charts menu, hit "2" and the defensive chart appears, using the total defensive rating for your team on the left side gets you from 1 - 4 dice numbers as automatic outs on the right side. Write these numbers down on your score sheet for each team. Then, when your pitcher rolls one of those numbers, the batter is automatically out because of a great defensive play(ground out). THE BATTER On the dice screen you will see five rows that pertain to the batter. The first row has the current batters name,whether his stats are against a lefty or righty,his speed rating from 1 - 5, (1 = slowest 5 = fastest) and his bunting ability(A = Good B = Bad). The second row has the dice numbers from 10 - 24 which reference to the third row which has the players actual stats. The fourth row has dice numbers 25 - 39 which reference the fifth row which has the remaining players stats. To find out what each of the players stats means,there is a legend, you can reference the legend by hitting "L" at the dice screen. THE PITCHER The pitcher also has five rows that pertain to him,but with less information. The first row has the current pitchers name and whether he throws righty or lefty. The next four rows are the same as the hitters but with pitching stats instead. To find out what the pitchers stats mean,use the legend, you can reference the legend by hitting "L" at the dice screen. PLAYING THE GAME The normal order of play is as follows. 1. Team A always bats first,his team will automatically come up first in the batters box. 2. Team B pitcher will automatically come up in the pitchers box. 3. Pitcher hits "R" to roll dice. 4. Pitcher looks up the result of his dice roll(the stat directly below the number he rolled),if it is an out it gets marked as such on the score sheet. Then the next batter is up, to go to the next batter hit the letter "N" at the dice screen. The next batter and his stats will appear on the screen, at this point the pitcher rolls again,and the whole process repeats itself. If the result of the pitchers roll is that the batter swings, then the batter rolls the dice by hitting "R".Then he looks up the result of his roll, this gets marked on the score sheet and the next batter("N") is up. The pitcher always rolls before the hitter! This continues until there are three outs, after which you hit "S" at the dice screen to switch sides.This will automatically bring up the other teams pitcher and his stats and also the first batter on your team and his stats. 5. Go back to step 3. SPECIAL SITUATIONS INTENTIONAL WALKS The manager of a team in the field(pitching) can intentionally walk an opposing batter at any time simply by announcing this move, even after the manager of the team at bat decides to have his batter bunt. BASE STEALING The manager of the team at bat may,before the pitcher rolls the dice, have his runner attempt a steal. In this case, one of the appropriate steal charts(hit "C" at dice screen,and then choose the correct chart,second,third or home) is used. The manager of the team at bat rolls the dice for his runner. The speed rating of the base stealer, found next to his name on the dice screen(use "N" to cycle through players till you find him) determines which column in the appropriate chart contains the result of the roll of the dice(hit "R" while looking at the screen with the chart,in the upper right corner is the dice total). If there is more than one base runner, the manager of the team at bat must announce which man or men are attempting to steal and which are holding their bases. The manager of the team in the field may choose which man he wants to attempt to throw out or he may elect to not make a play at all and concede the stolen base or bases. If this is the case, the base runner(s) steals the base(s) unopposed. BUNTING The manager of the team at bat may, before the pitcher rolls the dice, have his batter attempt a sacrifice or suicide squeeze bunt. In this case, either the sacrifice or suicide squeeze bunt charts should be used(hit "C" at dice screen). Refer to the appropriate column, determined by the batters bunting ability, which is indicated next to the batters name on the dice screen( A=Good B=Bad). The manager of the team at bat rolls the dice for his bunter and follows the rusults on the appropriate chart. The suicide squeeze bunt chart may be used only with a runner on third base. On a missed bunt, when the runner from third attempts a steal of home, the same batter remains at bat after the steal attempt. The sacrifice bunt chart cannot be used to attempt to advance a runner from third base. When using the sacrifice bunt chart, the manager of the team at bat can declare that any base runner who is not forced is not trying to advance. Example:With runners on first and third,the manager of the team at bat may elect to sacrifice with the runner on first trying to advance on the bunt and the runner on third holding. MANAGERS DECISION CHART When indicated on the batters legend, the manager of the team at bat can choose to have certain base runners attempt to advance an extra base. In this case, the managers decision chart is used. The manager of the team at bat rolls the dice for his runner and follows the result in the appropriate column on the chart.If there is more than one man trying for an extra base,the manager of the team in the field has the option to choose which runner he wants to attempt to throw out. Accordingly, the managers decision chart is used only for the runner on whom the play will be made. The manager of the team in the field may also decide not to make the play, in which case the runner or runners trying to advance are safe. Any comments concerning this program can be sent to: James P. Orazi 1210 Ariel Dr. Forked River,NJ 08731 or e-mail to: orazi@pittpa.cray.com (internet) or: Prodigy ID# VXFW73A This is my first attempt at programming so please be lenient in your comments. This program is free of charge and may be distributed freely,as long as no changes are made to any files included.