Cosmopoly (Not Polyoptics) manual PDF?

[InfernalKeith]

Google, a forum search, and a trip to PixelPedant's site have turned up nothing. Can someone hit me with a PDF of the Cosmopoly manual if they have it laying around?  Thanks!

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Found this...

 

V1-4HELP:

      TI99-OPOLY by Ross Mudie.
 
   This program disk is available for
distribution under the FREEWARE concept.
   This disk may be copied and given
to anyone. The concept of FREEWARE as
detailed in the Newsletter of the TI
Sydney Users' Group (October 1985) is:
   If you intend to use the program then
  you should send payment to the author.
   The suggested payment is $10.
 
The author is:     Mr Ross Mudie,
                   47 Berowra Waters Rd,
                   Berowra. N.S.W. 2081.
                   AUSTRALIA.
 
  Please remember that software authors
require your encouragement to continue
to produce new software for your
computer.
  This help file contains the full
contents of the original game booklet
and is intended to be made up into an A5
size booklet.
 
  JOYSTICKS.
  To improve playing comfort, TI99-OPOLY
permits use of both joysticks in
addition to the keyboard whenever the
JS cursor is flashing.
 
 COMMAND LEVEL.
  When any player's name is visible on
the screen followed by "PRESS SPACE" the
following commands are available to any
player:
S..SAVE.........Save the game for later.
T..TRANSACTION..Build,mortgage,repay
     loans, sell buildings & properties.
V..VIEW.........View any property card.
                  -1-
              TI99-OPOLY
 
 
          TABLE OF CONTENTS.
 
                                Page.
 
 
 Computer Hardware requirement....3
 
 Introduction.....................3
 
 Loading the Game.................4
 
 Commencement of Play.............6
 
 Playing the Game.................9
 
    Audible Signals..............13
 
 Additional Features.............14
 
    View Mode....................14
 
    Transaction Mode.............14
 
    Save Mode....................18
 
 Going Into the Red..............19
 
 Strategy........................20
 
 Problems........................21
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  -2-
     TI99-OPOLY    by Ross Mudie
 
 1. COMPUTER REQUIREMENT.
    The following is the minimum
hardware requirement to use this
program: TI99/4A home computer, colour
TV or colour monitor, TI Extended BASIC
cartridge, 32K extension memory, disk
controller and one disk drive. Optional
use may be made of up to 2 joysticks.
 
 
 2. INTRODUCTION.
    This is a real estate trading game
written for the TI99/4A home computer.
The object of the game is to buy &
develop properties, collect rent and
build up an adequate bank balance to
support the player's activities.
 
 
    The game is suitable for 2 or 3
players. The game is over when all
players but one have gone bankrupt.
 Using joy sticks in addition to the key
board improves the speed and convenience
of play. The computer displays a special
cursor using the letters JS to advise
players when the joy sticks may be used.
 
    This document details the major
features of the game, however no attempt
is made to detail the many error
messages which are contained in the
program since they are self explanatory
when received.
 
 
 
 
 
                  -3-
 3. LOADING the GAME.
    The main program is written in
extended BASIC with assembly language
modules which are loaded by the load
program during set up. Data is
contained in 2 data files which are
automatically loaded when the program
runs. The LOAD program is provided to
automatically load & run on selection of
extended BASIC if the disk is in drive1.
    There are two optional methods of
loading the game.
 
    (a) When the master title screen is
visible insert the disk in drive 1, then
press any key as instructed. Press 2 for
EXTENDED BASIC and the LOAD program in
execution commences to load the assembly
modules, providing abbreviated instruct-
ions whilst each module loads.
 
    When the program is loaded there is
a long pause for extended basic prescan.
Data files then commence to load and
further abbreviated instructions are
given.
    The loading and running of the main
programs and the data files take
approximately 3 minutes & ten seconds
from the menu in the load program,
excluding loading of the data from a
previously saved game.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  -4-
    (b) Select extended BASIC without
the disk in the drive. When  * READY *
is displayed, type  CALL FILES(1)  then
press  ENTER . When the cursor returns
type  NEW  then press  ENTER . Place the
program disk in the drive and when the
cursor again returns type RUN"DSK1.LOAD"
and press  ENTER . If the disk is in
another drive then substitute the
appropiate number. The LOAD program
executes and proceeds as detailed in
3(a).  CALL FILES(1) frees additional
string space in the computer reducing
the number of delays caused by the
computer doing garbage collection of no
longer used temporary strings.
 
 It is essential that the LOAD program
is always run first to load the assembly
modules without which the main program
will fail with one of the following
error messages: SYNTAX ERROR IN 120
  or    SUBPROGRAM NOT FOUND IN 120
  or    SUBPROGRAM NOT FOUND IN 2430
 
 If a game has been finished and after
responding to the prompt:
 
         GAME FINISHED
         PLAY AGAIN Y N?
 
with a "N" another game is desired,
provided nothing has been done to cause
the loss of program from memory, then
just type RUN and press ENTER. Reloading
of the assembly modules will not be
required in this case however the
extended basic prescan will take 56
seconds before the screen colour
changes.
 
                  -5-
 4. COMMENCEMENT of PLAY.
 
    Once the program is ready you are
advised when the program disk may be
removed.
 
    If you wish to start a new game
press N in response to the prompt
"PLAY A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME Y N ?".
 
 (a) OLD GAME.
    To continue a previously saved game
press  Y then when prompted enter the
device & file name on which the
previously incomplete game data is
stored, eg: DSK1.OLDGAME . The device
name must match the device in which the
saved game disk is inserted and the file
name must match the file name which was
used when the game was saved. CS1 and
CS2 are not supported for this function.
 
 
    The prompt  DEL AFTER LOAD YN?  will
then appear. If it is desired to retain
the old game file for future use, eg. if
it is desired to continue from the same
point in a game more than once, then
press N. If however Y is pressed then
the previously saved game data file will
be DELETED after it is loaded. This
prevents disks becoming unnecessarily
cluttered by redundant game data files.
    If an old game is being continued
the property development, player symbols
& CASH will be shown at the positions
which existed when the game was saved.
 
 
 
 
                  -6-
 4. Commencement of Play (cont.)
 
 (b) NEW GAME
  If a new game is being commenced the
player names will now need to be
entered. The names must be not more than
6 letters in length. The players'
symbols, which will be used to show
where each player is on the board and
who owns what properties, will be the
first letter of each player's name. If
there is a case of players' symbols
being the same then the second or a
subsequent letter of one the player's
names will be used. The computer will
show the symbol allocated to each player
and will allocate the player order.
    If the new game routine is entered
by mistake then press ENTER without
entering any names to return to the
previous prompt.
 
 (c) JOYSTICKS.
    To reduce the need for all players
to constantly use the keyboard of the
computer for each move, both joysticks
may be used for 4 simple, frequently
used functions in addition to the
keyboard.
    These Joy Stick functions are:
 
 RIGHT for SPACE to initiate the dice
       routine, to move the player.
 
 UP    for Yes.
 
 DOWN  for No.
 
 LEFT  for ENTER (only when JS is
                  flashing).
 
                  -7-
 4. Commencement of play (cont.)
 
    When JS is flashing the computer is
indicating that the Joy Sticks may be
used in addition to the key board if
appropiate and secondly that the
computer will respond to a single key
press (without the ENTER key).
 
  If the square block cursor is flashing
then the computer may accept more than
one character (as appropiate to the game
situation) and the ENTER key must be
pressed to signify end of information.
 
  The ALPHA LOCK key must be UP to allow
the joystick UP to function. The key
board will give upper case characters
even when the alpha lock key is up, thus
it may be left up for the entire game.
 
  The message "PRESS SPACE TO CONTINUE"
will be displayed to allow all players
to become familiar with their code and
the order of play. After anyone presses
SPACE, (or joystick right), the player
codes are all placed on position 1 of
the "board" and the yellow background
shows the location of the currently
active player. Each player is given
$1500 "computer CASH" and the first
player's name is given followed by
"PRESS SPACE".
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  -8-
 5. PLAYING the GAME.
    To move, the nominated player should
press SPACE or push the joystick RIGHT.
The computer will "throw the dice" and
show each "throw" plus the throw total.
If a double is thrown this fact is
stored and the player will receive an
additional turn after the current move
is finalised. The result of each dice
throw is displayed on the bottom right
corner of the screen. If a double is
thrown the letter "D" will follow the
total dice value. If three successive
doubles are thrown the dice indicator
will display 0 and the unfortunate
player is destined for jail.
    On each move the player symbol and
the active player marker (yellow block)
move to the appropiate board position.
After a short pause the colour of the
current board position fills the centre
of the board. The property name and
reference number are now displayed.
 
  *If the property is vacant the message
"VACANT PROPERTY PRESS Y TO BUY OR N"
is followed by the purchase price.
 
  *If the player responds with Y (or
pushes the joystick UP) the price is
replaced with "PROPERTY BOUGHT", the
player symbol appears adjacent to the
property on the outside of the board and
the player's "CASH" is reduced
appropiately.
 
 
 
 
 
 
                  -9-
 5. Playing the Game (cont.)
 
   *If the player responds with N (or
pushes the joystick DOWN) the property
immediately goes up for auction.  The
AUCTION invites all players to press
their player code and acknowledges a
player by giving the player's name
followed by the words "ENTER BID". After
entering the amount bid press ENTER once
only. Other players may also bid by
giving their code as before. Any number
of bids may be made and when bidding has
ceased, by pressing ENTER in place of a
bidder's code (or joystick LEFT) the
computer will sell the property to the
highest bidder if the highest bid equals
or exceeds the reserve price. The
reserve price is a random percentage
between 30% and 60% of the normal
purchase price. A Bidder must have
sufficient cash on hand to cover the bid
else the bid will be disallowed. If two
bidders bid the same amount the later
bid will be increased by $1. Bids in
excess of available cash may result in
the auctioneer refusing to accept
further bids.
 
   *If the property is already owned
then the computer shows the amount of
rent, to whom the rent is paid and
adjusts the players' CASH accordingly.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                 -10-
 5. Playing the game (cont.)
 
   *If the property is Community Chest
or Chance a "card" is chosen at random
and the letter "C" will be displayed
after the dice information on the bottom
right corner of the screen. The "C" is
provided in case players do not realise
that a card was used which causes follow
on actions which over write the original
card screen. The computer then shows the
necessary card detail and carries out
the required functions. If a property is
offered for sale from a card but the
property is not purchased, there is no
auction since these are special deals.
Most of the "advance to" cards will
result in rent being paid if the
property is already owned or vacant
property may be purchased.
If a "Get Out of Jail Free" is picked up
then this is stored up for later use.
Once a card is used from it's card group
it is unavailable for reuse until all 16
cards from that group have been used.
The cards are chosen at random in their
respective groups and the order of
selection will be different each time
around.
 
   *If the property is 1-GO then $200 is
automatically credited. This credit
occurs as soon as the computer is aware
that the move will reach or pass
position 1 of the board to help a player
who is in the red, who moves whilst in
debt (see section 7 below). When ever
the $200 pay credit occurs a chime is
heard.
 
 
                 -11-
 5. Playing the Game (cont.)
 
   *If the property is 5-Income Tax Pay
10% or $200, tax is assessed on cash
only in excess of $9. The whole dollar
part of the tax only is taken and the
maximum tax payable each time is $200.
 
   *If the property is 11-Jail and is
reached by a normal move then no penalty
is payable.
 
   *If the property is 13-Electric
Company or 29-Water Works the rent is 4
times the dice throw if one Utility is
owned or 10 times the dice throw if both
Utilities are owned.
 
   *If the property is 21-"Free Parking"
then no rent is payable.
 
   *If the property is 31-"Go to jail,
do not pass go, no pay" the following
applies:
       When sent to jail if one or more
"Get Out of Jail Free" cards has been
previously picked up then the option is
given to use one card. If the card is
not used or the player does not have a
card then the option of paying a $50
fine is given. If the fine is not paid
then the player must throw a double at a
subsequent move to get out of jail. If a
double is thrown then the next automatic
throw will be the amount that the player
moves out of jail without penalty. If 3
doubles are thrown at this point then
the player is once again in jail. If the
player does not throw any doubles then
 
 
                  -12-
 5. Playing the game (cont).
 
on the third dice throw whilst in jail
the player is automatically fined $50
and thrown out of jail to the position
dictated by the dice total. If the $50
fine was paid then the player would move
out normally on the next move. If the
card or fine option is not accepted when
first offered, it is not offered again.
 
    AUDIBLE SIGNALS.
    The computer issues 5 audible
signals during the game which are BLIP,
BEEP, DING, DONG and GULP.
 BLIP is a short tone when the game
enters the single key (or JS) mode which
operates from the keyboard and for 4
functions from both joysticks.  BLIP is
also used to draw your attention to new
screens at game initialisation.
 BEEP is the normal input prompt which
can accept one or more characters from
the keyboard & requires the ENTER key to
to continue in the program. If you
attempt to continue with more characters
than the allowed number on a BEEP input
the last allowable character will be
replaced by the last character typed and
the computer will BEEP.
 DING is a single high chime which
occurs on receipt of a $200 pay credit
or when a double is thrown whilst in
jail.
 DONG is a low frequency sound and
usually occurs when you have done
something not allowed by the program. An
error message often accompanies a DONG.
DONG is also given if you elect to stay
 
 
                 -13-
 5. Playing the game (cont.)
 
in jail and fail to throw a double, you
you enter too large a number when
erecting or removing buildings or bid
more money than you have at auction. If
you over bid at auction then the bid
will be reduced to an insignificant
amount whilst the entry of an excessive
quantity of buildings will result in a
reduction of the quantity to the
maximum for the situation.
  GULP is heard when you visit either
tax department if tax is payable.
 
 
 6. ADDITIONAL MODES......V,T,S.
    When any player's name is on the
board followed by the words "PRESS
SPACE" access is possible to the View,
Transaction and Save modes for any
player by simply pressing the single
letter key for the required function.
 
   (a) V...VIEW MODE.
      View mode allows any player to
look at the property deed card for any
property in the game. This allows
players to find the property name,
purchase and rental prices in addition
to the building cost.
 
   (b) T...TRANSACTION MODE.
Transaction mode allows any player to
build houses or hotels, mortgage
properties or pay off mortgages, sell
buildings or properties. A common
feature in this mode is that if you
enter the wrong mode, by just pressing
 
 
                 -14-
 6(b) Transaction Mode (cont.)
 
ENTER without making any entry, you will
leave the mode without making any
change. If the square block cursor is
flashing press ENTER after keying in
your information, else if JS is flashing
a single key press only is required.
 
   (i) 1 BUILD 1 BLDG ...permits the
player to build one building on the
nominated property. The player must own
the whole colour group of properties,
without any mortgage on any property in
the set and the development must be even
across the colour group set. The player
is advised of the building cost and
given the option of making or refusing
the development. Railways and Utilities
can not be built on. The number of
houses on a property is shown adjacent
to the property and the owner's symbol.
e.g. A "3" indicates 3 houses, a "H"
indicates a hotel. There is no limit
on the total number of buildings
available to the game but there is a
site limit of one hotel per site.
 
   (ii) 2  BUILD>1 BLDG ...permits the
player to build a number of houses on a
colour group set with one transaction
buying & erecting the nominated number
of buildings in one operation. Each site
comprises 5 building plots which will
support up to 4 houses or 1 hotel. For
the PROPERTY REFERENCE NUMBER enter the
lowest number in the property group, in
the event of an uneven number of
 
 
 
                 -15-
 6(b) Transaction Mode (cont.)
 
buildings being erected on the set the
highest number of buildings will be on
the last property in the group, which
attracts the highest rental. Other
conditions on property development are
given in "i" BUILD 1 BLDG, above.
 
   (iii) 3 MORTGAGE ...permits the owner
of an undeveloped property to obtain a
loan from the bank equal to half the
normal purchase price of the property.
Before a property is mortgaged the
computer gives a quotation of the amount
available and permits the player to
accept or reject. When a property is
mortgaged a "M" is displayed adjacent to
the property and no rent is payable if
any other player lands on a mortgaged
site.
 
   (iv) 4 PAY MORTGAGE ...permits a
player to repay a loan to the bank with
10% interest. The pay out price is
quoted giving the player the option of
continuing with plans to pay out a
mortgage or to further defer payment.
When a mortgage is paid out the "M" is
removed and normal rental will again be
collected.
 
   (v) 5 SELL 1 BLDG ...permits a player
to sell an already erected building back
to the bank only. The bank will only pay
half of the original price for buildings
which must be removed evenly across a
colour group set. If 1 building is sold
from a property which has a hotel the
site development will be reduced to 4
houses etc.
                 -16-
 6(b) Transaction Mode (cont.)
 
   (vi) 6 SELL >1 BLDG ...permits a
player to sell any quantity from 1 to
the total development of a property set
in one transaction. This option reduces
the development evenly across the set,
however if it is desired to leave the
largest number of buildings on the last
and highest rent priced property in the
set then the PROPERTY REFERENCE NUMBER
entered should be the LAST property in
the set.
   (vii) 7 SELL SITE ...permits a player
to sell an individual site. The site and
any other property in the set must be
undeveloped. If the bank is the buyer
then the buyer code is 1 and the bank
will quote it's purchase price which
will be 90% of the original list
purchase price or 90% of the mortgage
value if the property is mortgaged,
regardless of what price was actually
paid for the property by the seller. If
the bank's quotation is not accepted
then the property is retained by the
seller. If the buyer is another player
then the seller and buyer should
negotiate an agreed price and then
complete the property and funds transfer
by pressing the appropiate buyer's code
and entering the agreed price which may
be in the range of $0 to $9999 per
transaction.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                 -17-
 6(b) Transaction Mode (cont.)
 
   (viii) 8 SELL SET ...permits a player
to sell a full colour set in one
transaction. This routine is not
applicable to railways or utilities. In
the event of one or more properties in
the set being mortgaged the bank will
adjust its offer accordingly. All other
conditions applying to selling a whole
set are given in (vii) 7 SELL SITE
above.
 
 6.(c) S...SAVE MODE.
      Save mode allows players to save a
partially completed game by pressing "S"
when any player's name followed by the
words "PRESS SPACE" is displayed in the
board. Place a suitable disk in the
appropiate drive then enter the save
device name period save file name, e.g.
DSK1.OLDGAME  .
 
     If the save game routine is entered
by mistake just press ENTER without
pressing any other key and the game will
return to where it left off.
     Error protection is provided in
case of incorrect entry of device or
file attribute to prevent loss of game
data.
     The cassette routines are not
permitted from this program.
 
 
     After a game has been saved options
are provided to play another game which
may be a completely new game or a
previously saved game or to end the
program.
 
                 -18-
 7. GOING INTO THE RED.
    If a player's payments exceed the
player's available cash the bank
advances an interest free loan to pay
the creditor the full amount owing. The
player's cash balance is shown as a
negative amount with the "-" sign
highlighted. The screen will go red and
after a short delay (to allow players to
read the current board information) a
message will advise the player to clear
the debt promptly. The player should
mortgage or sell as necessary to raise
the necessary funds. If a player goes
further into debt, even by only $1, that
player will be declared bankrupt which
results in removal from the game. A
player can still move when in the red
but this is not advisable, unless the
player has no more properties or is
about to pass go (another player getting
the Community Chest card "Collect $50
from each player" can be quite
devastating at a time like this).
    If more than one player is in the
red at one time then only the earliest
player (in order of the original moves
in the game) will be featured in the
warning message, however all affected
players will show a "-" cash amount and
any in this condition will be bankrupted
if they incur any further debt.
    Whilst the DELAY is in effect the
letters "DY" will be displayed in the
same position as the JS cursor. The
DELAY may be terminated by pressing and
releasing any key or the joystick.
    The RED screen feature and the
warning message may be disabled by
pressing <FCTN>1 (DEL) and enabled with
<FCTN>2 (INS) from the command line.
                 -19-
 8. STRATEGY.
    If a player does not buy a property
when it is offered then any player has
the opportunity to pick up a bargain. If
other players can't raise the reserve
then why not try to buy a property
cheaply at the auction even when you
want it yourself. It is even worth a bit
of speculation at this point by buying a
property cheap and selling it straight
back to the bank. Equally nasty strategy
is forcing the price up at auction by
bidding on an unwanted property, but be
careful that your bluff is not called &
you end up with an unwanted or over
priced property.
    If you don't have sufficient cash to
buy a property when one that you
particularly want is offered to you and
you don't want to risk loosing the
property at auction, then just buy the
property then after you go into the red
enter the Transaction mode and sell off
an unwanted property or raise a loan by
mortgaging a property.
    With Income Tax only assessed on the
cash on hand, tax can be considerably
reduced by holding onto real estate
rather than lots of money.
    By staying in jail when the game is
well advanced you aren't landing on
expensive properties whilst hopefully
your opponents are landing on yours and
you are collecting the rent, however
early in the game you need to be out on
the board enjoying every possible buying
opportunity.
 
 
 
 
                 -20-
 9. PROBLEMS.
    The following lists possible
problems which may be encountered in
using this game software.
 (a) Joy Stick UP will not function -
release ALPHA LOCK key to UP position.
 (b) Error message when attempting to
save a game - Check disk device name for
validity or file name which you are
trying to save to exists with write
protection or disk is full or write
protected.
 (c) Error message when attempting to
load a previously saved game - Check
disk device name for validity or old
game file name for validity. Check that
you have the correct disk. (A TI99-OPOLY
old game data file is a 7 sector disk
file in INTERNAL/FIXED 80 format).
 (d) Computer fails to respond to a key
press - wait for the prompt to appear on
the screen and the BLIP or BEEP sound
before pressing any key.
 (e) The game pauses part way through
a dice throw or when printing informat-
ion on the screen, or the DONG sound is
considerably extended - This is the
computer freeing redundant temporary
string space, see section 3(b) on page 5
for possible improvement on your next
game.
 (f) The program terminates whilst
commencing to run with one of the
following errors:  SYNTAX ERROR IN 120
  or       SUBPROGRAM NOT FOUND IN 120
  or       SUBPROGRAM NOT FOUND IN 2430
- Type RUN "DSK1.LOAD" and press ENTER,
then use menu option 1 to load the
required assembly modules.
 
TI99-OPOLY  Version 1.4  28th OCT 1985
                   -21-

 

OPOLY.ZIP

 

...hope it helps.

[+Schmitzi]

 

There is a small PDF in The CYC (I´m not sure if it is allowed to share...)

 

[ti99iuc]

Could be this one the right manual or Cosmopoly is different from TI99-Opoly?

 

TI99-OPOLY manual.pdf

[+Ksarul]

Cosmopoly is a different game with the same general concept. Here is the Cosmopoly manual. I thought I had it, and was able to locate it this afternoon. Now back to testing SAMS cards. . .

Cosmopoly_0001.pdf

[+pixelpedant]

Awesome.  Thanks for the scan, Jim! 

 

I've paginated/rotated/cropped/retouched/OCRed the manual as follows, and of course uploaded to my manuals site:

 

Cosmopoloy - Not Polyoptics - OCR.pdf

[InfernalKeith]

I'd sorted out almost all the gameplay through trial and error, but what they were trying to accomplish with the "rolling obstacles" was beyond me till I read this.  It's an interesting take on Monopoly but the lack of a one-player option kinda kills it, in my opinion.  I'm gonna play through some more and familiarize myself with it more, and maybe try to con someone into playing it with me.

[Toucan]

I've always wondered this, but what is the significance of the name Not Polyoptics? Obviously they are not polyoptic, but what is the meaning of that? Was always interested in the name of the company and if anyone knows why they chose that name.

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Dissociation?

[+pixelpedant]

56 minutes ago, Toucan said:

I've always wondered this, but what is the significance of the name Not Polyoptics? Obviously they are not polyoptic, but what is the meaning of that? Was always interested in the name of the company and if anyone knows why they chose that name.

If I recall correctly, it was effectively an in-joke.  "Polyoptics" was one of the names initially proposed, but as far as that choice of branding goes, they ended up being able to conclude on nothing save that "Polyoptics" was out of the question.  So they ended up with "Not Polyoptics". 

 

Found a citation to that effect, in a Chicago Newsletter:

[InfernalKeith]

My assumption as a kid seeing their cue-ball-head guy mascot in the ads was that he had zero eyes, therefore he had "not polyoptics."  Kind of a mental stretch but I was working with very little information at the time.