GAME for MS-DOS
Version 2.0.0, October 2026. Free to download, play and pass on.

GAME is a remake of "GAME", the tile puzzle IBM Japan shipped with the
PersonaWare software on the IBM PC110 palmtop in 1995. It plays by the
1995 rules and scoring, drawn in the artwork of the 2014 iPhone version.
PC110 owners may find there is a little more to it than that.


WHAT YOU NEED
-------------
* A 386 or later. A 486 or better if you want hints and "Watch GAME
  play" to come quickly.
* At least 4 MB of memory.
* A VGA screen. GAME shows 640 x 480 in 256 colours where the card has
  VESA (almost every SVGA card from the mid 1990s on), and otherwise in
  16 colours, which every VGA card has. Options says which it is using.
* MS-DOS 5 or later, PC DOS, FreeDOS, or DOSBox on a modern computer.
* A mouse and its DOS driver (MOUSE.COM or similar) if you want one.
  The keyboard alone plays everything.
* About 1 MB of disk space.

GAME has been tested in an emulated 486 (QEMU) running PC DOS, in both
256 and 16 colours. It has not yet been run on a real PC110. To see the
16-colour version on any PC, start it with:   GAME /16


THE FILES
---------
GAME.EXE      the game
GAME.DAT      its pictures
CWSDPMI.EXE   the DOS extender GAME runs under (see below)
CWSDPMI.DOC   the extender's documentation
README.TXT    this file

GAME keeps three small files of its own beside GAME.EXE:
GAME.CFG      your settings
GAME.HI       your score tables
GAME.RES      an unfinished game, brought back next time


INSTALLING ON A DOS PC
----------------------
1. Make a folder for GAME:        C:
                                  MD \GAME
2. Copy every file in this zip into C:\GAME (by floppy, CF card, or
   however you move files to your PC).
3. To play:                       CD \GAME
                                  GAME

Keep CWSDPMI.EXE in the same folder as GAME.EXE. If your mouse does not
move the pointer, load its driver first (for example C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM).


INSTALLING IN DOSBOX
--------------------
1. Unzip into a folder, for example GAME inside a folder called DOS in
   your home folder.
2. Start DOSBox and type:
       MOUNT C ~/DOS        (on Windows: MOUNT C C:\DOS)
       C:
       CD GAME
       GAME
3. For quicker hints, set "cycles=max" in the [cpu] section of the
   DOSBox configuration file.


HOW TO PLAY
-----------
The board is 9 rows of 19 tiles, as in 1995. Take groups of two or more
touching tiles of the same kind: side by side or one above the other, not
corner to corner. Tiles above fall into the gaps, and when a column is
emptied, the columns to its right close up. The game ends when no group
of two is left.

Scoring, as the 1995 original kept it:
* Every tile on the board costs 1 point, so a new game starts at -171.
* A group of n tiles scores (n - 2) x (n - 2), and its tiles stop
  costing you, so two tiles are worth 2, five are worth 14, ten 74.
* Clear every tile of a kind for a bonus: 100 for the first kind, then
  200, 400, 800 and 1600. The last kind to go empties the board.
* Undo takes back a move, as often as you like, for 10 points each.
* A potion turns one tile into a kind chosen at random, for 100 points.
  You have 3 a game. It can come out the same, and it cannot be undone.

The secret of a big score: choose one kind to keep and leave it alone.
Clear the others around it, pairs and all, then take the kept kind last,
once it has come together. Grabbing big groups early costs you the
bonuses.

A good score earns a place in the top 20, with your name, how many undos
it took and the date. A game in which you asked for a hint, or one that
GAME played, is not scored.


KEYS
----
Mouse         click a group to take it; right-click to undo
Arrow keys    move the cursor round the board
Enter, Space  take the group under the cursor
Backspace     undo (also PgUp or U)
F1            how to play
F5            new game
F6            replay the same board
F7            score tables
F8            potion: then choose the tile to change
F11           options: board size and sound
H             a hint: GAME rings a group and says which kind to keep
W             watch GAME play the board (any key stops it)
F12 or Esc    leave; an unfinished game comes back next time

The board can be 9 x 19, the original, or 9 x 16, from Options. Each
size has its own score table.


REMOVING GAME
-------------
Delete the GAME folder. GAME changes nothing else on your computer.


CREDITS
-------
The original "GAME" (1995): IBM Japan and Lios Systems, for PersonaWare
on the IBM PC110.
This version: Seamus Waldron, 2014 and 2026, with artwork by Will
Saunders (Studio Raygun) from the 2014 iPhone game.
Built with DJGPP. CWSDPMI is copyright Charles W. Sandmann and is
distributed unmodified. You have the right to its source code and to
updates: both are at http://www.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2misc/
(csdpmi7s.zip is the source, csdpmi7b.zip the programs).

GAME for phones, tablets and other computers: https://www.samegame.co.uk
Questions: support@samegame.co.uk
