BUMPERS is an exciting, one or two player game in which opponents race through a randomly generated maze, made even more challenging with walls that are invisible until the plays bump into them. One player starts at the upper left corner, the other at the lower right and the first to reach his opponent's starting point wins the game. There is only one correct path through each maze and the players must proceed cautiously since each dead end has a booby trap hidden in one of its three walls. Touching the booby trapped wall will zap you back to your starting point with an accompanying raspberry sound. These hidden booby traps work only once.
For loading instructions see side of cassette.
An exciting element of strategy is added with the ability to set additional booby traps. You can convert one side of any maze wall to a booby trap by first running into it, centring your joystick and then pressing the button. If you have done this correctly, the wall will begin to blink as you centre the joystick. When the button is pressed and a booby trap is set, the wall will disappear, and a tone is sounded to warn your opponent. Be careful, since the new booby trap can get you as well as your opponent! You can set a maximum of three booby traps after which your opponent must hit one, thus freeing it for use once again. Hitting one of your own booby traps does not free it in the above manner and will therefore reduce your supply by one each time it happens.
Since you're bound to meet your opponent sooner or later during play, you are equipped to 'bite' him by pressing your joystick button at the exact moment both players overlap - not before. Whoever hits the button first during this moment, zaps his opponent to a random location in the maze. HINT: It can be to your advantage to hit one of your own booby traps if your opponent is about to win, providing you with a quick return to your starting point so you may protect it using the 'bite' capability.
The program starts by requesting the number of players. Make your selection by moving the LEFT joystick to the right or left and pressing the button when the appropriate number is displayed. You will next be prompted for a maze size which is entered in the same manner. The horizontal and vertical dimensions are entered separately, so mazes of unusual size can be specified for additional variety. The winning strategy for a small maze is quite different than that for a large maze and you will have a lot of fun trying to master both.
If you have chosen the single player mode you will be asked to choose a skill level which varies from 1 (Easy) to 4 (Hard). The skill level determines how well the computer will play against you and at a level of four it will play very well indeed!
Press your joystick button to commence play. If the two player mode was selected, both players must press their buttons simultaneously. This fast machine language program will generate a maze as large as 13 x 15 in just a few seconds.
Pressing the SPACE BAR at any time during play will pause the game and pressing it a second time will allow the action to continue.
At the end of each game, the program will automatically draw in the walls that were still invisible, enabling you to study the entire maze in detail. Press your joystick button when you are ready to start the next game.
1 or 2 joysticks required.
Tandy Colour Computer 16K
Type "CLOADM". The game will start automatically.
© Copyright 1985 Microdeal Limited