                               SKID ROW

                               presents

                                RAMIFY 

                             USER'S MANUAL

CONTENTS

WELCOME .............................. 1
REQUIREMENTS ......................... 1
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ............... 1
GETTING STARTED ...................... 1
HOW TO PLAY .......................... 2
  Movement ........................... 3
  Captures ........................... 4
  Winning ............................ 5
  Strategy ........................... 5
  Options ............................ 5
MENUS ................................ 6
  Project ............................ 6
    About
    Save Settings
    Quit
  Setup .............................. 6
    Begin New Game
    Difficulty
    Number of Chips
    Select Layout
    Capture Mode
    Choose Opponent
    First Move
  Play ............................... 7
    Take Back Move
    Suggest a Move
    Count Display
    Extras
  Help ............................... 7
    Voice
    Log Game
    Iconify
  MANCALA ............................ 8

Page 1 \/

WELCOME

Thousands of years ago, in many ancient lands, royalty and common men
alike played games consisting of pits and using pebbles or jewels as
playing pieces.  Sometimes the games were played for high stakes, 
including rubies, sapphires, and slaves.  Ramify is based on these
Mancala games (see Pages 8 and 9).  We believe you will find it as
addictive as the kings and maharajahs of old found it, and we have 
modernized it for your computer.  In this version, you are playing for
megabytes (MB) of RAM (Random Access Memory) chips.

REQUIREMENTS

Ramify requires Kickstart 1.3 or higher and 512K of RAM.  It will
operate on the Amiga 500, 1000, 2000, 2500, or 3000.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

We assume you are familiar with the basic operation of your Amiga,
such as pull-down menus and use of the mouse (point, click, and
drag).  If any of these terms are unfamiliar to you, take a few minutes
to review the appropriate sections of your Amiga Owner's Manual.

GETTING STARTED

You may wish to copy the game onto your hard drive rather than using
the disk.  In either case, we highly recommend that you use a copy.
(See your Amiga Owner's Manual for instructions on creating a
backup disk.)  To create a copy on your hard disk drive, simply drag
the Ramify icon and the Ramify support drawer (RSupport) to a new
location.

We tried to use the most unobstrusive copy protection scheme.  It
will allow you to create the backup copy as recommended.  Ramify
is protected by a random password requester.  When requested by the
prompt, simply press Return.  This game was cracked by SKID ROW!
You will not always need to do this.  Ramify only requests it
occasionally.

Start your Amiga with Kickstart.  Ramify is provided with Amiga
DOS 1.3 installed, so it may be inserted at the Workbench prompt.
Open the Ramify Drawer and click on the Ramify icon to start
the game.

Page 2 \/

RAMIFY LAYOUTS

DIRECT (see Page2_DIRECT.IFF)

STATIC (see Page2_STATIC.IFF)

ALTERNATING (see Page2_ALTERNATING.IFF)

1-16  Territories.
17    Chip corrals.
18    Score displays.  Box also appears to indicate current player.
19    Count displays of territory contents (wherever cursor is located).
20    Capture mode and level of difficulty.  S = Standard, B = Blitz.
       Numbers 1 through 8 = difficulty, with 1 being easiest.

Page 3 \/

For you technical people, if you are starting from CLI, make the Ramify
root directory current (e.g. CD DF0:) and type Ramify.  Note that the
stack must be set to at least 10K in order to load Ramify (Stack 10000).

HOW TO PLAY

Although it is a simple game, most people need to play Ramify a few
times to understand it.  The basic concept it to capture your opponent's
chips.  Whoever collects the most chips wins.

The Alternating and Static versions of Ramify are much more complicated.
We suggest you gain experience with the Direct version, as described 
below, before attempting these.

Movement

Place the cursor over the territory you wish to select, and press the
left mouse button to begin a move from the territory.  A turn begins
by choosing any territory belonging to the player.  The entire contents
of the territory are then placed one at a time in each of the 
consecutive territories.  Placement is always clockwise from Territory
1.

In the Direct version, there are twelve territories: six red and six
blue.  The game begins with four chips in each territory.  Moves are
clockwise.  The starting player selects a territory, which sends the 
chips around the board, leaving one chip in each subsequent territory
until they run out.

Figure 1 (see Page3_Figure1.IFF)

Figure 2 (see Page3_Figure2.IFF)

Notice that, in Figure 2 above, Territory 1 (the selected square to
move chips from) is now empty, and Territories 2, 3, 4, and 5 each
have added one of the chips that used to be in Territory 1.

Page 4 \/

Ramify involves capturing two or three RAM chips from an opponent's
territory.  A player captures chips when the final placement ends
in an opponent's territory and its total contents are two or three
chips.  In other words, captures occur when the last chip of a move
lands in the opponent's territory, making that last territory's total 
chip count two or three.

Figure 3 (see Page4_Figure3.IFF)

Figure 4 (see Page4_Figure4.IFF)

In Figure 3, it is blue's turn to move.  Figure 4 shows the results
of moving the three chips from Territory 10.  One chip each landed
in Territories 11, 12, and 1.  Since Territory 1 contained two chips
(the move brought its contents up to three), blue captured those chips.

Multiple Captures

Additional captures are also possible.  A chain reaction occurs as
each prior territory contains two or three chips and still belongs to
the opponent.  This chain reaction continues until a territory is
reached that either a) does not contain two or three chips or b)
does not belong to the opponent.  All captured chips are removed 
from the playfield and are placed in the chip corral.

Figure 5 (see Page4_Figure5.IFF)

Figure 6 (see Page4_Figure6.IFF)

Page 5 \/

Figures 5 and 6 are a continuation of the game begun with Figures 3 and
4 above.  In Figure 6, the red player (on the right side) has moved
from Territory 3 and captured seven chips total (four existing chips
plus three from the move) from Blue's Territories 7, 8, and 9 (a
multiple territory chip capture).

In the capture mode of Blitz, territories as well as chips are captured.
Blitz is played the same as the standard option except for this
territorial capture change.  Both the standard and Blitz options are
available in Ramify's Alternating and Static versions, also.

Winning

The game continues until no chips remain in a player's squares (no
move is available for that player) or until more than half of the total
chips have been taken by one player.  The player with the most
captured chips is the winner!  If both players have the same amount
of captured chips, then the winner is the player who moved last.

Strategy

The key to winning is anticipating your opponent's moves.  The strategy
is to prevent captures in your own territories while setting up
captures in your opponent's territories.  Defensive starting
moves for the red player might be to move chips in Territory 1 first,
then to move the chips in Territory 2.  This would be better than
moving the chips in Territories 6 and then 5 because you would be
less likely to leave chips for your opponent to capture.

Remember the bonus chips: chips from preceding territories are also
yours, as long as territories are not interrupted by other territories
of more than three chips or less than two.

Options

All of these illustrations have used the default chip option of four
chips per territory.  If you want different challenges, try playing
with three or five chips instead of four.

All options are available through pull-down menus.  Please review
the menu options on the following pages to familiarize yourself
with Ramify's additional capabilities.

Page 6 \/

MENUS

Project

ABOUT: Provides incredibly important information.

SAVE SETTINGS: This allows you to save any changes you make to the
setup (described below) from your current settings.  All following
games will use these settings as new defaults (until you change your
setups again).

QUIT: Exits the game.

Setup

BEGIN NEW GAME: May be selected at any time.

DIFFICULTY: Number ranging from 1 to 8, representing the number of
moves the computer will look ahead to evaluate the situation.  
Selecting 1 gives the computer no defense because it does not consider
where chips are being left.  Selecting 8 causes the computer to look
four or more moves ahead on both offensive and defensive plays.
Due to the quantity of calculations required by a setting of 8,
the computer may take one-half hour for a starting move on a 68000-
based computer (Amiga 500, 1000, or 2000).

NUMBER OF CHIPS: Your options are three, four, or five chips.
Four is the default.

SELECT LAYOUT: The layouts are Direct (for Direct Current, the
circular game), Alternating (for Alternating Current, the Figure 8
game), and Static (for Static Electricity).

CAPTURE MODE:

Standard: This is the default version of chip captures (territories
cannot be captured).

Blitz: Territories as well as chips may be captured.

Page 7 \/

CHOOSE OPPONENT:

Computer: This is the default selection.  The computer responds
verbally too.

Human: This is for two people, with the mouse being shared for this
option.  The cursor will change orientation and color to indicate
the current player.

FIRST MOVE: Selects the player that will start.  The default is red
as the first player, with blue as the second player.

Play

Take Back Move: If the computer is your opponent, your last move is
cancelled.  If two people are playing, the last player's move will
be cancelled.

Suggest a Move: The computer will make its recommendation for your
next move.

Count Display: This turns the display count on or off.  On is the
default selection.  Off adds the dimension of your memory once a 
certain amount a chips build up in each territory.

Extras

Voice: On is the default.  Off is optional, and silences only the
voice.  The sound of chips falling in territories remains.

Help: Provides a basic review of the rules.

Log Game: Sends results of your game to the printer or to a file.
If the game has not been completed, selecting "Log Game" lists
the moves you have made so far in the current game.  If "to file"
is selected, a file requester will appear, allowing you to choose a
directory and name.  "To file" also creates an icon.  This allows
files to be printed later, whenever you want to, by clicking on the
icon.

Iconify: Sends the game to the background, providing an icon with
which to revive Ramify when you are finished with another application.
You cannot run Ramify again while an existing session is still in
the background.  Open this icon instead.

Page 8 \/

MORE ABOUT MANCALA GAMES

The Arabic meaning of mancala is "transfer game."

It is perhaps the oldest game known to man, with references from 3500
years ago.  It has even been suggested that the study of Mancala
may provide cultural enlightenment.

In the Koran, the "Book of Songs" refers to a game similar to
Mancala, which makes it one of the few prizes to survive the Dark
Ages.

People in the East as well as Africa have amazed visitors with their
versions of the game, sometimes considered impossible to understand.
One account describes experts blindfolded against several competitors.

Mancala is so widespread in Africa that it is considered that continents
national game.

Experts have suggested that children encouraged to play these types
of games develop computational skills and enhanced memory.

Although educators have only recently developed numbers games as a
means of teaching children, "primitive" tribes have been surprising
visitors with their computational skills through Mancala games 
for centuries.

While half the world has been enjoying them in various forms for
thousands of years, Western civilization has yet to take advantage
of Mancala's educational and entertainment value.

Now you can!

Page 9 \/

Other Mancala Games

Culture        Version(s)
-------        ----------
Abyssinia             Gabatta, Madji, or Mancal
Africa                Ban
Augola                Mbau
Bali                  Madjiwa
Benin                 Madji
Bongo                 Toee
Ceylon                Chanka
Damascus              La'b madjnuni (the crazy game)
Egypt                 Seega
Ethiopia              Gobeta
Gaboon River          Kale (similar to Ramify)
India                 Chongkak
Liberia               Poo or Kboo
Malaya                Dakon
Maldives               Naranj
Mashonaland           Meiser (denounced by Mohammed, but tolerated by
                      Mohammedans)
Mount Kilamanjaro     Ochi (Wa Chaga tribe)
Niam-Niam             Abangah
Nubia                 Mungala
Phillipines           Chuncajon or Chungeajon
Ruanda                Kabuguza
San Domingo           Wa-wee (St. Lucia)
Syria                 L'ab akila (the intelligent game)
                      L'ab hakima (the rational game) 
                      L'ab roseya (for children)
Uganda                Mueso
Vei                   Kpo (the sound made while playing)
Vietnam               O'lan (played by our soldiers)
Wadschagga            Bau
West Coast            Wari

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