- HOW TO PLAY AIRTAXI -

Quick instruction sheet:

                up

     left <-  (TAXI)  -> right

               down

                          button=landing gear up/down

First, wait for a customer to yell for you.  Then, lift
the taxi up (press forward), thrust over to the customer,
and land on the pad.  The customer gets in the taxi.
You can only have one passenger at a time.  The passenger
will say something like "number 2 please".  Carry the
passenger to the destination and land.  Do this with each
customer to proceed to the next level.

Taking off:

To take off, press up.  Do not try to drive off the edge
of a building or you will shear your undercarriage and the
taxi will explode.

Flight:

Resist gravity by tapping up.  Leave your landing gear off
during flight because the landing gear prohibits left and
right thrust.

Landing:

Landing is the most difficult part of airTaxi.  It may be
difficult at first but the talent will become acquired as
you play.  The easiest way to land is to position yourself
over the pad, lower your landing gear, then just let
yourself drop.  When you touchdown, the landing gear comes
up automatically, then you set down softly.  You do not
have to use your landing gear as long as you touch down
softly.  The more difficult way to land is to come in from
the side of the pad.  This is easy to do on pads 1 and 4
of the first level.  You have to leave your gear off for
this because horizontal speed will shear your gears and
destroy the taxi.  Pretend you're landing an airplane.
Approach low and slide in, but do not touch the corner in
anyway because your taxi will be destroyed.  If you have
too much vertical drop, you will explode also.

You may land on any flat surface, not just the pads.  Any
uneven ground will destroy your taxi!

Fuel:

You will need to refuel your taxi periodically.  Simply
land on a fuel pad.  Fuel costs money, though, so you are
provided with 500 cash units at the beginning of the game.
If you don't have money (or you are in the hole) you can't
buy fuel.  If you run out of fuel, you will lose thrust
power and your car will explode when it touches down (that
is, unless you land on a fuel pad with cash)!

Making money:

You can make money by taking people where they ask.  How
much they pay depends on how much they want to pay and is
reflected by their wealth and your service.  The color of
their clothes shows their wealth.  Red shirts pay up to
100, yellow to 150, and white to 300.  To get the full
amount you must take the person to their destination in
five seconds from when they appear, not counting the time
it takes them to get in your taxi.  If you take too long,
you will not be paid or thanked for your service.

Big money bonus:

Take the white-shirt people to their destination in less
than five seconds and you will get 1000 in cash (and hear
BIG MONEY).

Customer problems:

If you land pretty hard without your gear it may be okay
for the taxi but not for the passenger's behind.  If you
hear "Ouch!" then you will not be paid.

If you don't want to take a customer to their
destination, you may kick them out by sitting on the
wrong pad and hitting your gear button.  This is rude and
you will get fined a little, but it may save you from
death in strange situations.

Speaking of death, don't kill a passenger.  This results
in a huge fine and you may be placed in debt.  This is
shown in your status window by red surrounding your cash
value.  If you see a red 329, you are 329 cash units in
debt and you cannot buy fuel.

Other game aspects:

You will find many delightful quirks in the game when
competing with other players, like how passengers respond
to different taxis on the same pad, and things like taxi
to taxi courtesy.  You will enjoy playing airTaxi with
several players because you communicate with each other
your intentions so you don't crash.  Or you may play
"chicken" with someone when they tick you off.  airTaxi
is serious play for one or two, and crowding up with five
is an absolute riot!

There is a customer payment and fines screen after the
title screen when you begin the game that shows the ranges
of these for each customer class.  The more time you take,
the less you're paid, and the more you're fined!

Registered version:

If you haven't purchased the registered version, consider
it when you play.  Registration information is shown
after the customer relations screen.

Bug reports, author correspondence, shareware ($5 check,
cash, etc.) registration to:

David C. May
1931 West 5745 North
St. George, UT 84770-5959

E-Mail: David May <may_d@cc.dixie.edu>