Scribble for the BBC Micro

Channel:

Highretrogamelord

Subscribers:

14,100

Published on June 5, 2019 4:29:55 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFgix_UtGk

Duration: 32:25

59 views

2

Came also out for:

---


Game description:

Scribble is a game for any number of players up to six, and has much in common with Scrabble, Lexicon and similar word games. The object is to make words, for which the computer awards points, the first player reaching a score of 200 points being the winner.

On his or her turn, the player may do one of three things: (a) shuffle the letter pool, (b) take a letter from the pool and add it to his hand, or (c) make a word from the letters in his hand. To shuffle the pool, the player simply presses RETURN. To take up a letter from the pool, the letter is typed. The computer removes the letter from the pool and adds it to those in the player's hand, then selects another letter for the pool. To play a word, the player types the whole word and presses RETURN. The computer checks that the word is possible from the letters in the hand, and if so, asks if any other player objects to the word or to its spelling. If all is well, the score is calculated and the letters are removed from the player's hand.

Please note very carefully that the score for a word depends upon (a) the individual values of the letters making up the word, (b) the length of the word, with longer words scoring heavily, and (c) the number of letters remaining in the hand; the more letters left unused, the greater the penalty. At the extreme, it is just possible to play a short word, have a lot of letters left over and so be awarded a negative score!

There are 'jokers' in the form of '*', which have no value but which may be used in place of any letter. To pick up such a joker, the '*' must be typed. On the other hand, to play a word containing a joker, the player does not include '*', but types the whole word as he or she wishes it to be. The computer first checks for normal letters and if one or more short, checks for jokers.

Before and after each player's move there is a timed delay for thought and observation, but players may move the game on swiftly by pressing RETURN. Finally, the number of times that each player may shuffle the letter pool is limited, dependent upon the number of players.