PREMIER PICKS ------------- Version 1.2 Copyright ©1993 Written In AMOS By Tim Blacklock. What The Heck Is This Game All About Then? ------------------------------------------ Premier Picks is a card game based on God's Glorious Game, football, and in particular the FA Premier League. Any one of the 22 FA Premier teams can be selected to play in a season which can vary between 1 and 42 games. Each half of each game is made up of a series of 18 cards. Each card denotes a randomly selected piece of footballing action, there are 8 different sorts of card and their actions are listed below. 1. Substitute Card - This card will be replaced with another randomly chosen action card. 2. Goal Card - The one card that you are always on the look out for - pick this card to bury the ball into the back of the net. 3. Near Miss - The ball just goes the wrong side of the post, and your turn is over. 4,5. Half Time or Full Time - If you are in the first half and pick the Half Time card then get ready for 18 new playing cards to be dealt. The Full Time card heralds the end of the match. Also when you turn over one of these cards any un-turned goal cards will be highlighted by a white box - just so you can see how close you came to winning! 6. Free Kick - Pick this card and you get another go. 7. Foul - This card gives two goes to the opposition, unless they pick a foul card too! 8. Penalty - Get ready for some action. If you pick this card you will be given three seconds to frantically search for a goal card. If you do not find the goal card in the required time then you have put your shot wide - will your once loyal fans ever forgive you? Other Snippets Of Generally Useful Information ---------------------------------------------- The game is fully mouse controlled, just click on a card to turn it over and see what piece of footballing action you have unveiled. If your opponent is not a human one then the computer will take control, the opposition's skill varies between pathetic and unbeatable depending on their position in the league table. Each go alternates unless the card that has just been turned over says otherwise - a description of each card is shown at the bottom of the screen after it has been selected. The player currently in control is highlighted by their flashing football strip at the top of the screen. During any week of games just click the left mouse button to go through the results of the matches which do not have any human involvmemt. On the option screen at the beginning of Premier Picks there are a few elements of the game that can be changed. Thusly the following:- 1. Game Points - You can alter the amount of points for a Win, Draw or Defeat. The default values are 3,1 and 0 - but can be changed to any number between 0 and 5. 2. Games In A Season - This can be as many as the full league programme of 42 games, but you can just play one match in a season if you so wish. 3. CARD HELP - This is an IMPORTANT feature of Premier Picks. If this option is switched on you will get a random number selector at the beginning of each half of your match. Click the mouse to stop the flashing light on a number (after around 4 seconds it will stop automatically). The number shown denotes how many cards you will see being dealt face upwards before being turned over again. Try to remember where any useful cards (such as goal, penalty, half time etc.) were dealt for an added advantage. Premier Picks is a simple game to play but can get very exciting and very, I repeat very, frustrating. The quickest and best way of learning how to play Premier Picks is to press the key on the title screen. You will then see a demonstration of the game with two computer players. Once the match has finished you are returned back to the title screen - click the mouse to start a new season. Extra Information Which Is Jolly Useful If You Care To Read It -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. On the team selection screen you can alter any one of the 22 team names by pressing the key. 2. A full fixture list for the current season plus information on all team results, the venue for each game (Home or Away), the league position after each match (so that you can monitior you performance through the season) plus team ratings can be seen on the League Table page. Simply position the mouse pointer on any team and click the left mouse button. All the above information will be displayed, plus the selected teams next match will be highlighted. 3. The current season can be saved to disk or loaded back in by the press of a button. This means that you can embark on a full league programme of 42 games without being glued to your monitor for two hours. Press F1 to save the game, or F10 to load. The save option only works once a season is underway, the load option works on most screens except the results page. Both options do not work during an actual match or on the league table page. The best time to save or load a game is on the fixture list page just before you start a fresh week of games. When you are taken to the save/load screen you will see a box with a filename displayed. Click in this box to change the filename of the game that you want saved or loaded. Click on the Cancel box to leave this screen and return back to where you came from, or click the LOAD THIS GAME or SAVE THIS GAME box to access the disk. And Now A Word From Our Sponsor ------------------------------- If you think this game is worthy of more than ten minutes of your attention then you are obviously hooked. If you do become hooked then please do the following:- 1. Write me a letter full of wondorous comments such as, What A Great Game, Take My Money and My House, Send Me A Photo Now, Smashing Thighs. 2. Send me 5 of Her Majesty's new pounds (thats £5.00 - or more if you can spare it guv) to not only encourage me to create something even better, but also so that you can receive a possible update to Premier Picks and my super Dart Machine program and my just-above-average Mined Over Matter game. Cheques/PO payable to Tim Blacklock. 3. Put all this into one envelope (not forgetting your address) to: Tim Blacklock, 127 Bents Road, Ecclesall, Sheffield S11 9RH. England. 4. Stamp it and Post it. 5. Cheers 6. I think thats all - I've probably left something very important out of this doc. file but it escapes me presently. 7. Cheers Again and Byyyeeee - Tim Blacklock. 12.3.1993 8. PS 9. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the following person who inspired me to write Premier Picks. I recently sent off for a PD program entitled Soccer Cards which was a fairly basic game but led me to think of a way of turning that idea into something a tad more exciting. The author of Soccer Cards is one Stephen Corry who resides in deepest Australia. He didn't leave his address on the doc. file so I can't send him a copy of Premier Picks - but if he is reading this then he has obviously got a copy now. Thankyou for generating an idea which I have developed into Premier Picks, my gratitude abounds.