MONOPOLY [6.3] This Monopoly adaptation is designed to be played intuitively and really should not require any explanation or rules. Even if you are not familiar with the original board game, it will be simple to catch on from the program. The computer won't let you break any rules and will keep track of all your properties, houses, hotels, rents, and money. Two to four players may participate. During the DiceRoll: pressing F1 will toggle sound on or off. pressing F2 will allow you to save the game you are presently playing to disk or just quit the game. A saved game may be reloaded by pressing F2 during the 'Who are the players?' entry section. Or you may include the filename of the SavedGame file in the command from the DOS prompt. For example: A>MONOPOLY JOHNMARY.FRI If you encounter any logic errors or problems in the program please let me know. If you enjoy it, please let me know too. Programmers need compliments. Don Phillip Gibson 910 East 11th Winfield, KS 67156 Though this MS-DOS adaptation is copyrighted, I encourage free distri- bution through bulletin boards or by passing a copy along to a friend. Please be certain that all eight files: MONOPOLY.COM, MONOGRAF.GRA, MONOCODE.CHN, MONOCODE.000, MONOCODE.001, MONOCODE.002, MONOCODE.003, and this READ.ME file are grouped together. You are specifically prohibited from making any charge for this Monopoly game or from distributing any modified versions without written permission from the author. It must not be distributed by any commercial establishment except as a free item. Non-profit users' groups are granted permission to assess a handling fee not greater than $6 for media, postage, and overhead. For those who are curious, the source code was developed on a Tandy 1000 in TurboPascal. The project was started as an exercise to teach me that language. I have high praise for Borland's TurboPascal environment. It is a joy to work in. And I also have high praise for my Tandy 1000. The individual files function as follows: MONOPOLY.COM simply loads the TurboPascal library and checks that the other six game files are present on the logged drive and directory. It then chains to MONOCODE.CHN which has the actual game code. The four MONOCODE files with numbers as extensions are overlay files. You will occasionally be aware of a disk access as they come in and out. The various graphics figures were drawn with separate programs and are stored in arrays in MONOGRAF.GRA. Version 3.1 was the first distributed version and appeared on CompuServe November 30, 1985. Some minor tinkering resulted in 3.21 - 3.23. Version 4.0, issued December 12, 1985, added the SoundOff option and corrected a rule misinterpretation in the previously distributed 3.x versions that led to overcharging when unmortgaging property. 4.1 appeared a day later when I found two noises in the Community Chest and Chance section which were not controlled by SoundOff. Version 5.0, issued December 18, 1985, added the SaveGame feature. I consider it to have a serious flaw that can lead to an impossible game end resolution if you are restarting a previously saved game. Version 5.1 was issued the very next day to correct that flaw. I had neglected to save the counters identifying where the next house could be built in each color group. There was no version 5.2 distributed. Version 5.3, dated December 22, 1985, became a little smarter during end of game routines when more than two players began the game. When just two players remained, the game learned that it didn't need to ask who you were selling to or buying from. Version 5.4 had very little distribution, but learned some new smarts in handling color group transactions. Version 5.5, issued March 3, 1986, got rid of all usage of DarkGray against Black in the game. Too many monitors just won't show DarkGray. Many people weren't seeing my name, my copyright, or the brief instruction line at the bottom of the opening screen! It also added a limited quit function. Version 5.6, issued April 11, 1986, corrected one rarely encountered grammatical error, "There are 1 units on ...", when purchasing or returning houses or hotels. Version 5.7, issued June 13, 1986, corrected an earlier failure to charge ten times the dice roll for a utility if the other utility is owned but mortgaged. A sharp-eyed player in Texas caught that one. It also added a net worth report for each player when the game was quit or saved before a true winner emerged. And, though Parker Brothers' rules are a bit vague, it changed the way play is handled after you roll doubles to get out of jail. Many of you had asked that a second turn not be allowed then, so that was cut out. Version 6.0 was issued November 1, 1986. It was a major enough revision to deserve a new number. It added two significant new features which had been requested by many users, and incorporated a few other changes that I felt were appropriate: -View the board is a new choice on the Doing Business menu, and has been The Most Frequently Requested Addition. Apparently a lot of you like to have a chance to see who is coming close to your property to help in making some property improvement decisions. This is a text-screen and thus can use all available colors. It gives the players' names by their present location, gives a count of houses or hotels on each property, and also includes the familiar Property Status display. -Property now may be traded for payment of rent in those situations where you have insufficient cash to pay the landlord and the landlord has insufficient cash to buy from you. This 'P' option appears on the Doing Business menu only when appropriate. -Audit the accounts is another new choice on the Doing Business menu. It gives the same net worth report that has appeared at the end of the game since version 5.7. (Mortgaged properties are calculated at half their face value for the audit. Be aware that Income Tax is figured on the full value of mortaged holdings. The government always gets its full share.) -The blue window appearing when you land on unowned property formerly allowed a Go on with game option in addition to Purchase, Auction, or do Business first. I found that some of my friends were too quick in pressing that G key, and the rules are quite specific that if the player does not wish to purchase that property it must be offered for auction. I can't imagine that someone in the game won't bid at least $1 for any property. So the Go on option has disappeared. -A chance to correct spelling or capitalization errors after entry of the player's names has been added. -The name of a previously SavedGame file may now be specified directly from the DOS prompt when starting the game. Version 6.0a, issued November 8, 1986, changed the MONOPOLY.COM initial program slightly so that it became unnecessary to have a statement in CONFIG.SYS for FILES=9 or more. This was giving a few people trouble. Version 6.1, issued December 6, 1986, added a count of houses and hotels on the ColorGroup menu used when you buy or return improvements. It also put that Go on with game option back on the Blue Window -- did I ever hear complaints! And that silly Go Back Three Spaces noise got a little classier. Version 6.2, issued January 27, 1987, changed the phrasing of the inquiry when trading Property for rent. It had been a bit confusing; you can agree on a value less than, equal to, or greater than the rent due. There were also some minor internal changes. Version 6.3, issued February 24, 1987 made only internal changes of which the player is unaware. Three special request editions are available from me for a $6 handling charge. -There is an eight-color edition of 5.3 for those of you with monitors that do not show the full sixteen colors. -There is a 'monochrome' edition of 5.4 that attempts to make everything more readable when played on most monochrome systems. There is tremendous variation in monochrome equipment though, and I can't guarantee you can read every screen decently. A color-graphics card is still required. As best I can determine from some problem reports, the Hercules type monochrome graphics cards apparently do not prove compatible with TurboPascal's extended graphics procedures. -There is an edition of 6.2 designed for blind players using a speech synthesizer connected to their computers. It adds a 'Listen to the Status' option which gives a 'verbal' report of the same sort of information usually provided by the 'View the board' function. My personal distribution of Monopoly previously has mostly been limited to CompuServe's IBMNEW and TRS80PRO forums plus my hometown's bulletin board, 9th & Main. Beginning with version 6.0 I will also provide major revisions to GEnie's IBM PC RoundTable and Delphi's Group Tandy. 9th & Main bulletin board serves as the primary support board for the game. It will always have the most recent game version, even if the changes are trivial, as well as the TurboPascal source files. You may call that board at 316 221-3276, 8N1, 3/12/2400 baud. You'll find it a friendly board, easy to get into, with full downloading privileges on the first call. I have been flabbergasted at the response the game has received. There have been well over a thousand downloads from CompuServe. The exact number becomes obscure as the Data Libraries get rearranged from time to time and the counts get reset to zero. Those CompuServe downloads have been shared over and over again. The game apparently appears also on hundreds of bulletin boards in the United States and is offered on information services other than CompuServe. And somehow it is being distributed in Eastern Asia and in Europe -- I have no idea how, I've just had thank you letters from there. Many of you have written or called or E-mailed me with your thanks, suggestions, and requests. Those communications are very much appreciated and keep my ego sufficiently stroked to continue making revisions. dpg February 24, 1987