Detonate Game
by Robert Templeman

A Multi-Player Board Game
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The object of Detonate is to set up a chain reaction on the board that will wipe out your opponent(s).

The rules are simple. Each player places a piece on the board with the mouse. If the board position was previously empty it will be filled by a square of that player's colour, containing one dot. If the player places a piece over one of his/her existing squares the number of dots in that square will go up by one.

If the number of dots in a square reaches its critical number, the square explodes and adds one dot onto each of its adjacent squares, setting up a chain reaction if the adjacent squares are almost critical. The colour of the adjacent squares also chenges to the colour of the exploding square - this is how you gain territory. A square's critical number is equal to the number of other squares which are adjacent to that square in the horizontal and vertical directions. Thus for the standard 10 by 10 grid, every square has a critical number of 4, but in user-designed screens (see below) each square can have a different critical number.
 
When a chain reaction has wiped out all except one player, the computer will inform you. If, however, a chain reaction is self-sustaining, clicking on Adjust will return you to the menu.

Designing a New Board
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When the game is run it confronts you with a menu and a 10 by 10 board. Clicking Adjust will toggle the mouse pointer between the board and the menu.

To design a board, double-click on Design. The menu will change, and to design a new board double-click on the Make option. Next enter the new board size (2-16) to create a new square board. To delete squares from this board press Select (which actually toggles whether squares are present), allowing you design custom boards. When you have finished simply click Adjust.

To set the number of players double-click on Players to increment the number of players (between 2 and 4).

The Play option lets you play this board and returns the menu to its original form. 

To save this board double-click on the Save option and enter a filename (the file is stored as B_[filename] inside the !Detonate directory.

To load a previously designed board double-click on the Load option and enter a filename; if it exists it is loaded.

Four boards are contained in !Detonate for you to try. Their names are wiggly, pretzel, diamond and aztec.

The Clear option lets you wipe the current board.

 RISC User 1993
