Copyright: Microforum Inc, 1994.


The Music Game Help Contents

INTRODUCTION AND RULES

Simple Overview

Object Of The Game

The Musical Categories

Free Move Cards

Question Cards

It Is Now The Next Players Turn

Bonus Point

Moves And Strategy

Winning The Game

A Special Note To Parents & Teachers

Mastercards

INTERACTING WITH  THE GAME

Starting The GameWelcome to the Music Game

Startup Options

Entering Player Information

Saving and Loading Games

The Game Board

Rolling The Dice

How To Answer the Questions

How To Use Free Move Cards

Playing Against the Computer

Audio

Full-Motion Video

Speed Issues

Single And Double Spin CD-ROM Drives


Simple Overview

Objective

The winner is the first player to move around the keyboard and arrive back at the Start/Finish corner.

The Game Board

Safety Zone

On the first seven (gray) keys, a player cannot be bumped (see switching).

Switching

Except in the Safety Zone, a player who lands on another players key bumps that player back to the key he came from (Only one player can occupy a key).

Colored Keys

There are four sets of colored keys.  When a player lands on one of these keys, s/he immediately moves (forward or backward) to the other key of the same colour.

Chance Corners

When a player lands on one of the 3 Chance Corners, s/he automatically receives a card from the Chance Pile and is appropriately moved FORWARDS or BACKWARDS.

Question Cards

The roll of the die determines which category (set) is used.

The cards in each of the 6 sets are numbered 1-72 for easy step-by-step learning.

The first card (01) in each set is a Free Move card and is shown and read aloud to all players.  The computer will form a stack of free move cards for each player.  The player who received the free move card can use it to buy a move later (strategy).

The second card (02) in each set is answered by the player.  The player then moves the number of keys indicated on the card and the die.  More Free Move buying cards appear every four or five cards in each set.  They are used as above.

Mastercards

There are 6 mastercards that correspond to the 6 question card Musical Categories.  They are used during the commencement of the game to provide further information (if necessary) to help players answer the questions.

Play

The game takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour to play, depending on the level of knowledge, or competitiveness or the number of the players.

About 5 to 12 cards will be used out of the 6 categories, therefore it will take about 15 to 20 times of playing the game before the complete cards (72) are used up.  This will be equivalent to about six months of music lessons!

A lot of competitive fun can be enjoyed by ANY combination of age groups or ANY level of musical knowledge.  EVERYONE can play together -- ANYONE can win.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Object Of The Game

The winner is the first player to go around the keyboard and arrive back at the Start/Finish corner. Each player moves his/her pawn on the white keys, colored keys (not black keys) and CHANCE Corners, after answering the questions in the 6 Musical Categories correctly.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


The Musical Categories

1. MUSICAL NOTES

Musical Notes have the letter names of the Musical Alphabet.  The Musical Alphabet is made up of the first 7 letters of the alphabet, which repeat over and over.

2. MUSICAL WORDS

Musical Sentences and Words help us to remember the names of the lines and spaces of the staffs.

3. MUSICAL MATH

Musical Math is made up of notes and rests with different time values.

Time Values show the length of notes or rests and are in beats.

4. MUSICAL SIGNS

Musical Signs are the language of music.

Notes show sound in music.

Rests show silence in music.

Time Signatures show time in music.

5. MUSICAL RHYTHM

Musical Rhythm is the way music moves and flows. It is like the ticking of a clock -- it has a steady beat.

Notes and rests make up rhythm.

6. MUSIC MAKERS

Instruments of the Orchestra belong to 4 different families: Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion.

Composers are musicians who write music.  Much of the Master Composers music written after 1700 is well known and often played today.


Free Move Cards

Each Musical Category begins with a FREE MOVE information CARD.  Each FREE MOVE CARD contains basic information, introducing the next 3 or 4 question cards.

FREE MOVE CARDS are kept for future use.

The FREE MOVE CARDS are found throughout each category, and are identified by the bottom line, i.e., MOVE 2 WHITE KEYS.

A player may collect as many FREE MOVE CARDS as possible and can use one or more added together to BUY the number of key moves required instead of rolling the die.

A player must decide whether or not to BUY BEFORE rolling the die.

A player cannot roll the die, answer the question and use FREE MOVE CARDS in the same turn.

When a player BUYS key moves, the computer forms a pile of used cards.

The number of white or colored keys (not black keys) or CHANCE Corners s/he may move or BUY, is shown at the bottom of the card.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Question Cards

In the same turn (after reading the FREE MOVE CARDs information), the player then reads the next question and attempts to answer it and the BONUS POINT question (if there is one).

If the player answers correctly, s/he is moved according to the number rolled (+Bonus Point).

A player does not roll again after answering a question correctly.

See Also

How To Answer The Questions

Moves and Strategy


It Is Now The Next Players Turn

The player may roll the die and answer a QUESTION CARD, or use FREE MOVE CARDS instead.  If the player answers a question correctly, s/he is moved ahead.  If free move cards are used, the player is advanced according to the number of free moves selected.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Bonus Point

A BONUS POINT question is sometimes presented after a QUESTION CARD.

A player must plan his/her moves carefully BEFORE deciding to answer both the category question and its BONUS POINT question. After attempting to answer the category question, and BEFORE checking the answer, the player either:

1.  Decides to try for the BONUS POINT also, or

2.  Purposely answers the BONUS POINT question wrongly, to avoid landing on an undesirable key (see STRATEGY), or

3.  Passes the BONUS POINT question on to the next player who may answer it for the BONUS POINT or may pass it on to the next player to answer etc., BEFORE the next roll of the die and normal order of play continues.

4.  Whichever player answers the BONUS POINT question correctly moves ahead 1 extra key.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Moves And Strategy

Only one pawn can occupy a key at one time, except when in the SAFETY ZONE.

SAFETY ZONE:  The first 7 gray keys (C to B) to the right of the START corner. This is the ONLY area where 2 or more players can occupy the same key.  This gives players a chance to get off to a good start.

Once a players instrument leaves the SAFETY ZONE, strategy becomes important:

Special Moves and Strategies

The Switch

Colored Keys

The Wave

Chance Corners

Free Move Cards

Winning The Game


The Switch

When a player lands on another players key (except in the SAFETY ZONE) s/he must ALWAYS switch keys.  THE SWITCH pushes a player back to the moving players starting position, and can happen on any key including the colored keys and CHANCE Corners.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Colored Keys

When a player lands on a colored key, s/he immediately jumps ahead or falls back to the other key of the SAME color.

If another player is already on that key, then THE SWITCH must take place.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


The Wave

When a player lands on another players key, a sequence of moves may happen. This wave reaction ALWAYS starts by THE SWITCH, followed by the particular situation that the switched player finds him/herself in:

e.g., Either s/he might, in turn, force another SWITCH, OR s/he might move back or ahead if landing on a colored key, OR s/he may get a CHANCE card and force more moves! (More than one player moves in a players turn.)

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Chance Corners

When a player lands on one of the 3 CHANCE corners, s/he automatically receives a card from the CHANCE pile and is appropriately moved FORWARDS or BACKWARDS.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


Winning The Game

To win the game, a player must roll the exact number of keys required to land on the FINISH corner. The player must roll the die and answer the corresponding category QUESTION CARD correctly OR s/he can BUY the move with one or more FREE MOVE CARDS.

See Also

Moves and Strategy


A Special Note To Parents & Teachers

THE MUSIC GAME is designed to support existing music texts and educational materials.

It is not necessary to know anything about music to play this game.

One of the great features of THE MUSIC GAME is that parents of children playing the game can now learn and participate as well as monitor their childs musical growth, without having any previous knowledge of music and perhaps even discover aptitudes or interests they or their child may have.

See Also

Mastercards


Mastercards

For each of the 6 Musical Categories there is a corresponding MASTERCARD.

These MASTERCARDS give the parent or teacher an excellent overview of what their child is learning, or can be used by the player who needs a little extra help.

Children can play this game on their own, with parents knowing that their childs musical education is being strongly reinforced with excellent supplementary learning tools, regardless of which musical instrument they are studying.


Starting The Game

When you start the game you are presented with a Startup Options dialog box.  You can use this dialog box to select one of three ways to start the game.

Brand New Game - Cards are Reset

This option starts a new game where all Question Cards are set to the first card.  The game will start after each player has entered their name(s).

New Game from Last Set of Cards

This will start a new game relative to the last set of Question Cards based on the last game played.  This means that if you were approximately half-way through the card stacks in the last game, the new games card stacks will be set accordingly.  Every time you exit The Music Game CD the computer will save the indexes for each set of cards.

Load Previous Game

This option allows you to restore a previously saved game from disk.  If you select this button a file dialog box will allow you to select a saved game file.  The game will start from where the game was saved.

See Also

Simple Overview

Saving And Loading Games


Welcome to the Music Game

This screen lets you to get straight into the music game or entertain you with Armchair Concerts or Instruments and Sounds.  Click your mouse over any of these three buttons:

Play The Game

This option will take you straight into the Music Game itself.

Armchair Concerts

This option takes you into a virtual theater where you can watch video concert footage of Oscar Peterson, Liona Boyd and the Canadian Brass!

Instruments and Sounds

This option allows you to audition the sounds of the instruments of the orchestra.

See Also

Simple Overview


Startup Options

The startup options dialog box is displayed when starting a new session of The Music Game.  The user can select options to enable/disable Audio, enable/disable full-motion video, select the number of players or choose to play against the computer.

Sound

Click the mouse over this box to enable or disable audio.  If the box contains the letter X, audio is enabled.

Video Playback

Click the mouse over this box to enable or disable Full-Motion Video.  If the box contains the letter X, full-motion video is enabled.

Play Against Computer

Click the mouse over this box to play against the computer.  If the box contains the letter X the computer opponent is enabled.  Only one player can play against the computer.

Select Number of Players

Click the mouse over the Up or Down arrows to increase or decrease the number of players in a game.  The minimum number of players is 2 and the maximum is 4.

See Also

Playing Against The Computer


Entering Player Information

 Use this dialog box to enter your name and select your musical instrument. Select any one of the musical instruments displayed in the Choose Your Instrument menu by clicking the mouse over an instrument name.  The instrument you choose is the one that you will hear when Answering Questions.  Your selection of musical instrument also determines which animated character will represent your pawn.

See Also

Game Questions With Audio


The Game Board

The first seven gray-colored keys represent the Safety Zone.   All remaining keys are white or Colored Keys.

Each corner contains a question mark that represents a Chance Corner.

The two gray boxes on the right of the game board contain information about the current player as well as a list of Free Move cards.

Question Cards and all other dialog boxes are displayed in the center of the game board.


Rolling The Dice

 This dialog box appears when it is time for your turn.  You have the option of rolling the dice, using Free Move cards or exiting the game.

NOTE:  If you have no free move cards, the Use Free Move Cards button will not appear.

See Also

Moves and Strategy

It Is Now The Next Players Turn


Saving and Loading Games

Whenever you quit The Music Game, you are asked if you want to save the game to disk.  If you answer Yes, the computer will save the current game status to disk.  The names and selected instruments of all players, as well as pawn positions, free move cards and card stack indexes are saved to disk.

The next time you start The Music Game CD you are given the option of loading a previously saved game from disk.

See Also

Starting The Game


How to Answer The Questions

To answer a question carefully read the question and type your answer inside the white box.  Click the OK button or press the Enter key when done.  Your spelling must be accurate since The Music Game will not correct your spelling!

If you answered correctly, the computer will applaud your answer and display the answer card with happy faces.  If you answered incorrectly, the computer will scold you and display the answer card with sad faces.

NOTE:  Some cards have a Bonus Point that the current player can answer or pass to the next player.  If a card has a Bonus Point, two buttons extra buttons are displayed.  The first button allows you to answer the Bonus Question, and the other button allows you to pass the Bonus Question to the next player.

See Also

Question Cards

Game Questions With Audio


How To Use Free Move Cards

 Whenever you decide to use one or more free move cards, this dialog box will be displayed.  The column on the left represents your available free move cards and the column on the right represents the free move cards that you have selected for the current turn.  Free move cards can be transferred from one column to the other.

To transfer a free move card from the left column to the right column, click the mouse over the Right pointing button.

To transfer a free move card from the right column to the left column, click the mouse over the Left pointing button.

Click your mouse over the Done button when you are done selecting free move cards.

See Also

Free Move Cards

Moves and Strategy


Playing Against The Computer

The Music Game CD has an option that allows you to play against the computer.  The computer will automatically play its moves for its turns.  There are three skill levels that the computer opponent can assume:

Beginner

The computer will not use any special moves and strategies such as free move cards, jumps or switches.  There is a 20% probability that the computer will not answer a question correctly.

Intermediate

The computer will use some special moves and strategies such as free move cards.  There is a 10% probability that the computer will incorrectly answer a question.

Expert

The computer will attempt to use all special moves and strategies such as free move cards, jumps and switches.  The computer will always correctly answer a question.

See Also

Startup Options

Moves And Strategy


Audio

When starting the game you have the option of enabling or disabling audio.  Sound effects occur during animations, switches, colored keys, chance corners and when answering questions.  If you disable the audio option, no sound effects will be heard during game play.

Game Questions With Audio

Some of the Music Games questions feature audible playback of the sheet music displayed on the question card.  For example, if the card displays the notes F, A, C and  E, the game will play those notes using the current players selected instrument (e.g., piano, guitar or violin).  If you want to hear the music again, press the Replay button.

Problems With Audio

If you do not hear any audio this is usually indicative of a problem with your audio driver or hardware.  You can troubleshoot most audio problems as follows:

1.  Make sure all audio cables are connected.

2.  If your audio card has a volume control set it to maximum.

3.  Re-install the Windows audio driver that came with your sound card.

If step 3 does not work, you may need to contact the manufacturer of your audio card to obtain the latest Windows drivers.

Please refer to your Sound Card manual for other suggestions.


Full-Motion Video

Full motion video clips are played at various times throughout the game.  On most MPC compatible systems the video quality should be acceptable.  If you do not see any video or experience problems, you can troubleshoot most problems as follows:

No Full Motion Video Whatsoever

In most cases this is a result of failing to install the runtime version of Microsoft Video for Windows that was included on The Music Game CD.  You can manually install the runtime version of Video for Windows by running the SETUP.EXE program located in the \WINVIDEO directory of The Music Game CD.

Video Playback Appears Slow or Choppy

In many cases, this is a result of using a relatively slow CPU such as a 386SX or 386DX (we recommend a 486SX-25 or higher).  Other factors include low memory (under 4 megabytes) and slow video drivers.  There are some solutions that you can attempt without changing your hardware.  In order to optimize video playback on your system you should:

1.  Make sure The Music Game CD is the only active Windows application.

2.  Switch your video driver to 256 colors at 640x480 resolution.

3.  If you are using DOS 6.0 or later, run the MEMMAKER.EXE program to maximize the amount of memory available to Windows.

4.  Add more RAM to your system.  4 megabytes is the practical minimum for multimedia applications, 8 megabytes or more is ideal.

Problems With Local Bus Video Cards

Some local bus video cards may experience problems when attempting to play video files in 256 color mode.  Symptoms include crashes and dropping to a DOS prompt.  Should these symptoms occur, the following solutions should work:

1.  Change your Windows video driver to 65 thousand color mode.

2.  Change your Windows video driver to 24 million color mode.

3.  Change the resolution of your Windows driver to 640x480 or 800x600.

Please consult the manual that was shipped with your local bus video card for further instructions.


Speed Issues

In many cases this is a result of using a relatively slow CPU such as a 386SX or 386DX (we recommend a 486SX-25 or higher).  Other factors include low memory (under 4 megabytes) and slow video drivers.  There are some solutions that you can attempt without changing your hardware.  In order to optimize performance on your system you can:

1.  Make sure The Music Game CD is the only active Windows application.

2.  Switch your video driver to 256 colors at 640x480 resolution.

3.  If you are using DOS 6.0 or later, run the MEMMAKER.EXE program to maximize the amount of memory available to Windows.

4.  Add more RAM to your system.  4 megabytes is the practical minimum for multimedia applications, 8 megabytes or more is ideal.

5.  Use the SMARTDRV.EXE Disk Caching program.

Some first generation CD-ROM drives are too slow for practical multimedia playback.  The suggested minimum CD-ROM specification is a sustained data transfer rate of 150 kilobytes-per-second (Single Spin) with an access time of 350 milliseconds or less.  Optimal performance will be achieved by using a double-spin CD-ROM drive.

See Also

Full-Motion Video

Single And Double Spin CD-ROM Drives


Single And Double Spin CD-ROM Drives

The Music Game allows you to select between Single and Double Spin CD-ROM drives for optimal video playback.   Selecting the Double Spin option will yield higher quality video playback.  Please select the CD-ROM drive type that is installed in your system.

Single Spin

Select this option if your CD-ROM drive has a data transfer rate of 150 kilobytes per second (150 KBS).  Many first generation CD-ROM drives are single spin.

Double Spin

Select this option if your CD-ROM drive has a data transfer rate of 300 kilobytes per second (300 KBS) or higher.  You should also select this option if your CD-ROM drive is Triple Spin (3x) or Quadruple Spin (4x).

Note:

If you are not sure which CD-ROM drive type is installed in your system, select the Single Spin option.

If the full-motion video playback appears to lose too many frames, restart The Music Game and select the Single Spin option.

See Also

Full-Motion Video

Speed Issues


Armchair Concerts

This screen puts you inside a virtual theater where you can watch actual concert footage of Oscar Peterson, Liona Boyd and the Canadian Brass.

To view a concert simply click your mouse over a musicians picture.  You can click your mouse over a musicians picture at anytime, even while a video is playing.

When you are done viewing the Armchair Concerts click the Return To Menu button.

See Also

Full-Motion Video

Speed Issues