Cadenza Bog (version 1.5, June 18, 1988)
Hardware Requirements
This program should run on any Atari ST computer with a monochrome
or color monitor. This program runs on color monitors in medium
resolution only (please see the Bugs section below).
Distribution of this Program
Since Cadenza Bog is public domain, you may freely distribute
copies of the program to other users, user groups, electronic
bulletin boards, etc.
Playing the Game
Bog is a word-finding game similar to the game of Boggle. The
game board is a 4 by 4 grid of letter cubes, for example:
-----------------
| A | C | D | T |
-----------------
| C | R | E | O |
-----------------
| V | B | I | O |
-----------------
| A | T | W | L |
-----------------
The player finds as many words as possible in the grid. Words
must be formed from adjacent cubes, and no cube can be used more
than once (a letter can be used more than once if it is on more
than one cube). A cube can have up to eight adjacent cubes: one
above, one below, one on the right, one on the left, and four
along the diagonals.
For example, in the above cube, the following words can be formed:
VAT
BAT
TAB
ABET (diagonally)
TOOL, etc.
In the above cube, the word DEED cannot be formed, because that
would involve using the E cube twice. Of course, TOOL can be
formed because it uses two different O letter cubes.
Running the Program
Bog uses a disk file named "bog_dict.txt". This file must be in
the same directory as Bog. "bog_dict.txt" contains the list of
words that the computer looks for in the grid. In this document,
the "bog_dict.txt" file will be called the dictionary.
Bog can be run from a write-protected disk.
After Bog is started, it first loads the dictionary into main
memory. After the file is loaded, you can begin to play - bring
the mouse over to the Start/Stop menu, and select the Start New
Game submenu.
At this point, the letter grid will be drawn, and you can begin
typing in the words that you find. After you type in each word,
press the RETURN key. When you've typed in all the words that
you can find, select the QUIT box with the mouse. Don't select
the QUIT box until you've pressed RETURN to enter the last word.
After you've quit, the computer will find as many words as it can.
After these words have been listed, you can play another game by
pressing the RETURN key, or you can quit playing by pressing the
UNDO key. When you're ready to quit the program, select the Quit
Program submenu.
Typing in Your Words
As you type in your words, a word will be rejected if it is too
short (less than 3 characters in length), or if it cannot be
legally formed, or if you've entered the same word previously.
You can edit the words as you type them in - the backspace and
left and right arrow keys can be used. To entirely erase a word,
press the ESC key.
When you enter a word that is not in the computer's dictionary,
you will be asked if the word is a real word. If you answer yes,
the word will be added to the computer's dictionary, and the
computer will be able to find the new word in later games.
Selecting the Letters for the Grid
Before each game, the letters in the grid are selected randomly,
but the probability that a given letter will be included on the
grid is proportional to the number of times that it is found in
the dictionary file.
Payment
If you like this program, please send $5.00 US to the following
address:
Eric Bergman-Terrell
Cadenza Software, Ltd.
1450 West 116th Avenue, #21
Westminster, CO 80234
U.S.A.
For $10.00 + $2.00 postage you may order a disk containing the
complete source code for this program, written in OSS Personal
Pascal version 2.0.
You may write to the same address to report bugs, request
additional information, suggest improvements in the program, etc.
If you want a reply, please include return postage (2 IRCs for
those outside the U.S.A.).
Bugs:
Since this program was developed on a monochrome system, there may
be some bugs when it is run on a color monitor. There may be some
problems using desk accessories while this program is running.
Limitations:
The computer only finds words of six characters or less. You can
type in words as long as eight characters.
The dictionary has only about 2400 words. If you have a larger
dictionary, you can use it instead:
1. Make sure that the file contains words 1 per line, with each
line ending with the LF (newline) character.
2. Name the file "bog_dict.txt" and store it in the same
directory with this program.
If you use Cadenza Software's SPELL spelling correction program,
you can use your "words.txt" file as a dictionary.
On 520ST computers, if you use many desk accessories and/or large
ramdisks, the program may not have enough memory to store the
dictionary.
Make sure that you have enough room on the disk to allow the
dictionary file to grow.
Enjoy the program!