- NOTES- 1983 Timex Computer Corporation Waterbury, Conneticut 06725 FUN GOLF TIMEX SINCLAIR PERSONAL COLOR SOFTWARE FUN GOLF R&R Software 1983 Softsync Loading time: 1 minute Load name must be typed in lower case letters. FUN GOLF is a challenging simulated golf game for one or two players. You may choose a nine-hole or eighteen-hole course which will be "new" every time you play because the computer constructs each course by random selection from among the holes stored in its memory. The length and difficulty of each hole is reflected in the par score assigned to it and the player must advance toward the green while avoiding all the traps common to a wooded course - including roughs, bunkers and water hazards. Because of the realistic graphics and strategy of Fun Golf, practiced golfers find many of the approaches they employ on the fairway also keep their Fun Golf scores below par. For novices, Fun Golf provides an easy and entertaining introduction to the challenges and diversions of a game whose appeal seems mystifying only if you've never stood at the tee, measuring the distance to the first hole. TO LOAD: Press LOAD "golf", start the cassette player and press ENTER. The program loads in 1 minute. Turn off the recorder when the computer asks "Do you need instructions?" TO PLAY: If you want the computer to review the instructions for Fun Golf, type y ("yes"). To begin immediately, type n ("no") when the computer asks if you need instructions. Next, the computer asks what length of course you want to play. Press s for the short course (9 holes) or l for the long course (18 holes). When you've chosen a length, the computer welcomes you to the course and asks for the number of players. Fun Golf is designed for one or two players. After you've selected the number of players, the TS 2000 draws the first hole on the screen. Clear dark green is the fairway; the green is a shade lighter and the pin is in the hole. Dotted green areas are roughs and brown sections are sand traps. You'll aslo see water hazards in blue, and trees. The first player's ball flashes on the left side of the screen at the tee. (When both players have teed off - or one, if you're playing alone - the tee is marked by a "T". The hole number, par for the hole and distance from the tee to the pin are shown in the upper left-hand corner of the display screen. After drawing the hole, the computer asks Player 1 to begin by pressing ENTER. (Player 1 goes first on every hole, regardless of score.) TO SCORE: After pressing ENTER to begin, the computer asks you to choose a direction 0 - 12. It means zero to 12 o'clock - as if your display screen were the face of a clock. Direction is established from your point of view, not the ball's. If you want to move the ball straight from left to right across the screen, enter "3". If you want to move "south" of 3, but not quite as far as 4, you may enter a decimal direction - such as 3.4. (As guide to estimating decimal differences, remember there are 5 minutes between 3 and 4 on the face of the clock, so every "minute" represents 2/10 the distance between the numerals.) Type in the number you've decided on and press ENTER. Next the computer asks you to choose the strength of the swing 0-100. From the tee, you can usually enter 100 for your first swing, just as you can probably use your driver off the tee when you're at the country club. After that, experiment until you have a feel for the distance the various levels of strength represent on the screen. Watch the distance between the tee and the pin as it appears on the upper left of your screen. A 100-strength swing will make the ball travel "farther" along a 220-yard fairway than along one that's 500 yards. The computer will not accept decimal numbers on the strength scale, although it will on the direction scale. Type in the number you've decided on and press ENTER. You may change your mind about the direction you want to move in or the strength of your swing at any time before you press ENTER. The DELETE key functions in the normal way (press "Caps Shift" and "0"). After you've entered the direction and strength of your swing, your ball will fly across the screen and land. It continues to flash until your turn is over (when your ball will remain visible, but Player 2's ball will flash) and the computer tells you whether you've landed on the fairway, on the green, in the rough, in the water, in the trees or in a bunker. The process repeats, stroke by stroke, until both players have holed out. A scorecard on the screen tells you each player's score, over or under par, for this hole and for the course so far. The computer does not total strokes; it only reports your score in reference to par. You may want to keep your own running tally. When you've finished 9 or 18 holes, the computer asks if you want to play another game. Enter y or n. Since each new game begins with the series of questions at the start of the program, you may now change the number of players or the length of the course before going on. STRATEGY: the first thing to remember is the shortest distance between two points is not necessarily a straight line - at least if the two ppoints in question are the tee and the pin on the Fun Golf hole on your screen. At the country club, you can't tee off with your ball aimed in a direction 90 degrees off target, but you can in Fun Golf. If you decide the best way to avoid that water hazard right in the middle of the fairway is to strike off toward 12 o'clock (when the pin is at 3 o'clock) and then angle down toward 5 o'clock, go ahead and do. This may be an especially effective strategy when you're starting with Fun Golf and haven't yet developed a good sense for how far a swing that measures 70,80 or 100 on the strength scale will take your ball. Whether you're going to angle your way toward the pin or attack it straight on, it's a good idea to look carefully at the layout of the hole on your screen before you tee off. Even if you're not sure what approach you want to take, have a good idea of what you want to avoid. The trees will cause you more porblems than the water hazards, the bunkers or the roughs because the ball will ricochet unpredictably among the trees. If you're not careful, you may end up back at the tee, in the water or out of bounds costing you a penalty stroke. In the sand or in the rough, you'll discover that in Fun Golf, as on the fairway, you're more likely to be successful if you use a gentle stroke to chip your ball out than you will if you try to power it out. Basically, you'll find strategies which lead to success on the golf course will also be effective with Fun Golf - but with Fun Golf, you can't be hurt by a poor stance or a weak follow-through. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS: (see Chapter 4 of your instruction manual for detailed instructions.) 1. First listen to the tape so you will be familiar with its distinct sections. The tape has a period of silence at the beginning, followed by a high-pitched, screechy noise. This is the computer program. The program is recorded twice on the cassette in case one does not load. 2 Set the volume control on the cassette deck to about 3/4 of the maximum. If you have tone controls, set the bass to minimum and treble to maximum. If you have just one tone control, set it to HIGH or MAXIMUM. 3 Rewind the tape to the beginning. Connect the EAR jack on the computer to the EAR jack on the cassette deck recorder. Make sure the plugs are clean and securely in place. 4 To instruct the computer to accept the program you must press the LOAD command and type the name of the program in quotation marks. See the instructions or cassette for the correct loading name. 5 Start the cassette deck, allow a few seconds for it to get up to speed, then press ENTER during the silence before the program begins. 6 The border of the TV screen will alternate between pale blue (cyan) and red, durning the time the computer is searching for the program on the tape. 7 When the program has been found, the screen border will show a pattern of lines in the same shades of blue and red, and shortly the name of the program will appear on the screen. 8 Next, as the program itself is being loaded into the computer, the border pattern will become thinner, faster moving yellow and dark blue lines. 9 When the computer has finished loading the program, one of two things will happen: 1. Most commercial programs will begin running automatically, usually with a "title screen" or instructions to the user. (A title screen may tell you that the tape is still loading, if not, you should stop the tape immediately at this point so as to be in the proper position to load the next program if you wish.) or 2. The screen will be blank, except for a 0 OK, 0:1 in the lower left hand corner. This is a report code and means that the computer has successfully loaded the program. Stop the tape immediately. To execute the program, you press RUN and ENTER. This will start the program. SOME SUGGESTIONS 1. The volume at which the program is loaded is very important. Usually 3/4 maximum volume works best, but recorders vary and may require experimentation with the volume setting. If you have a technical background you can check the output level of your recorder's EAR/SPKR jack. It must be at least 4-volts peak-to-peak, although 5 to 6-volts peak-to-peak is best. 2. Clean and demagnitize the heads of the tape recorder. Your ears may not pick up the signal fluctuations due to magnetic flux on the tape heads, but the computer has a much more sensitive "ear". 3. The computer is very susceptible to outside interference. Working on a metal table or near electrical appliances should be avoided. 4. Occasionally, once a program has loaded, the video display will show instability. This can be corrected by adjusting the vertical hold on the television. WARRANTY There are no warranties which extend beyond the description on the face hereof. No other warranty, whether express or implied, including the warranty of merchantability, shall exist in connection with the sale of this product. In no event shall Timex be liable for any consequential, incidental or special damages.