Explore the World of Soft…ids, Adults, Educational/RocelcoInc-ExploreTheWorldOfSoftware-KidsAdultsEducational-Vol2-Shareware.iso/educate/disk044/ll.doc

Text File | 1987-04-01 | 25.8 KB | 726 lines

COPYRIGHT 1987 - Steven C. Hudgik
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED









            AMANDA'S LETTER LOTTO


                INTRODUCTION



    Computers came into our life about the same time as our first
    child, Amanda.  Eighteen months later Zakary was born.  As they
    grew they noticed daddy spending nearly every day working on a
    computer and they wanted to use a computer like daddy.  So, I went
    through the software stores and saw all kinds of wonderful games and        educational software - but nothing for very young children.

    What I wanted was something that would let an 18 month old bang
    on the keyboard and be entertained.  As he grew older, and his
    coordination improved, the software should teach him about letters,
    colors, using the keyboard and multiple key combinations.  Since
    I couldn't find anything I wrote Amanda's Letter Lotto.

    Amanda's Letter Lotto provides several levels of play.  For young
    toddlers (18-30 months) it allows then to push keys that change the
    colors and symbols on the screen and get the computer to make some
    sounds.  As your kids grow older they progress to locating specific
    keys and learning multiple key combinations.  At the most difficult
    level of play you need to correctly pick five secret letters to win
    Letter Lotto.  It works just like a miniature version of the Lotto
    games run by many states.

    In these instructions we'll describe the different ways Amanda's
    Letter Lotto can be used.  You can also invent your own games and we
    encourge you to play with and guide your kids so you can all have
    fun together.



    SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    Amanda's Letter Lotto is designed for use on the IBM PC, XT, AT and
    compatible computers.  A minimum of 196K and one disk drive is required.



    DISK SET UP

    Before using Amanad's Letter Lotto you should make a backup copy.
    We do not believe in using copy protection, especially since kids



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    software has a higher chance of becoming damaged.  We've also tried
    to price our software as reasonably as possible.  In return we ask
    that you be fair with us.  We can not continue to support or software
    or develop new software without the income we get from selling our
    software.  So, if you know someone who likes Amanda's Letter Lotto,
    then please ask them to contact us to purchase a copy.  Our address
    and phone number is:

         HomeCraft Computer Products
         P.O. Box 974
         Tualatin,    OR  97062
         [phone]

    To make a backup copy load your DOS System disk and type
    "DISKCOPY A: B:" at the A> prompt.    Put the Amanda's Letter Lotto
    disk in the "A" drive and a blank disk in the "B" drive.  If you
    only have one disk drive, you will be prompted to remove the "source"
    (the original Amanda's Letter Lotto disk) disk and replace it with the
    destination (blank) disk.


    BOOTING

    There are several ways that Amanda's Letter Lotto can be booted.

    You can boot your computer with your DOS System disk.  When the
    A> prompt appears remove your DOS System disk and put the Amanda's
    Letter Lotto disk into the "A" drive.  Type "LL" (for Letter Lotto)
    and push ENTER.

    You can also set up a disk so that Amanda's Letter Lotto will
    self boot.    First format a blank disk and copy the DOS System onto
    that disk by typing:

        FORMAT B:/S  <push ENTER>

    The /S indicates that you want the DOS System copied to the
    newly formatted disk.  Next put the Letter Lotto disk in the "A"
    drive (the blank formatted disk should still be in the "B" drive).
    Now copy all of the files from the Letter Lotto disk to the disk
    you just formatted by typing:

        COPY A:*.*=B:/V  <push ENTER>

    Take the disk out of the "B" drive and put it in the "A" disk
    drive.  When you push CTRL-ALT-DEL, to reboot your computer, DOS
    will load and then Amanda's Letter Lotto will load and run.  With
    the disk set up this way you can also start Amanda's Letter Lotto
    by putting the disk in the "A" drive, typing "LL" and pushing ENTER.


    GENERAL INFORMATION

    Throughout Amanda's Letter Lotto we'll be referring to the user
    (your child) as her.  We realise that your child could be either a



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    boy or girl, but saying "him or her" all of the time would be cumbersome.
    Since the game is named after my daughter Amanda, we'll use her.

    When using Amanda's Letter Lotto I encourage you to play with
    your child and cheer her on.  We'll describe various games that you
    can play, and although you can leave your child to play by herself
    (a welcome break for parents), also take some time to help her learn
    her colors and letters.


    STARTING THE GAME

    To start playing Amanda's Letter Lotto put the disk in the "A"
    drive, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys and then push the DEL key.
    This will reboot your computer and automatically start the game.

    Amanda's Letter Lotto can also be started, with the Letter Lotto
    disk in the "A" drive, by typing "LL" at the A> prompt and pushing ENTER.

    The copyright notice screen will appear.  To start play just push
    any key.  The character that you push will be printed on the screen.
    If you do not push a key, the copyright screen will eventually
    disappear and a prompt that says, "Push any key" will appear.  The
    amount of time the copyright notice stays on your screen will depend
    on the speed your computer runs at.

    You are now playing Amanda's Letter Lotto at the simplest level.
    Any key you push will be displayed as a large, bold character on the
    screen.  You can push either upper or lower case letters, numbers,
    symbols and pushing the control key and a letter key will put graphics
    characters on the screen.

    Each character is displayed on the screen in the same way your
    computer produces that character and the quality will vary among the
    different brands of computers.  On some computers the letters may look
    somewhat choppy and we can not guarantee the quality of the
    characters displayed.



    There are two key combinations that will not produce a character:

    Holding down the CTRL key and pushing the letter "X" will result in
    a blinking display.

    Holding down the CTRL key and pushing the letter "E" will result
    in your exiting the game and going to the Letter Lotto Menu.  This
    menu allows you to set the screen colors and switch to other, more
    complex games.

    My kids also find two other CTLR key combinations to be exciting.
    Holding down CTRL and pushing the letter "A" will display a happy face.
    Holding down CTRL and pushing "B" will display a happy face with the





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    colors reversed.  Amanda really gets excited about making a pink
    happy face.  Of course her favorite color is pink.


    MONOCHROME SUGGESTED GAMES

    A color display tends to hold a small child's attention much
    longer than monochrome, but if you do not have a color monitor
    there's still a lot you can do with Letter Lotto. Of course, all
    of these games can also be played in color.

    As you read through this list of games please remember that
    each requires progressively more skill and coordination.  Don't
    expect an 18 month old child to identify specific letters or push
    multiple keys.  However, if your 18 month old can do this, then I'd
    feel very proud.  All children develop at different rates so keep in
    mind that today your child may only be interested in pressing random
    keys and next week you'll be teaching him the alphebet.

    Also, I'd like to offer one hint for playing Amanda's Letter
    Lotto games.  When your child gets something right make a big deal
    about it.  Cheer. Clap your hands.    Throw a party!    Make a lot of
    noise!  Do it up just as you would if you team just scored the winning
    point in the third overtime of the title game.

    Let's describe a few games that can be played using the settings
    Amanda's Letters Lotto has when it first boots.


    GAME 1 - Keyboard Kaos

    This game is for kids who have not yet learned the alphebet or
    what letters look like.  Sit with your child at the computer and let
    her push whatever keys she wants.  You may need to push a few keys
    so she can see how to do it and what happens.  Kids like to feel
    they control something, and pushing a key (or a bunch of keys) and
    seeing a response on the screen makes them feel in control.

       By the way, I've had quite a few kids banging on my keyboard to
    test this software and none of them damaged the keyboard or computer.
    If your child wants to, you can let her push random keys and watch
    the changes on the screen.    Very young kids may get excited and start
    hitting the keys fairly hard.  Don't try to get them to push individual
    keys.  Let they play, freely.  If they start to get too violent with the
    keyboard, tell them to take it easy.  Show them that pushing keys gently
    will also get results.  However, don't expect little kids to be instant
    typists or even be interested in pushing individual keys.  Let then go
    ahead and push five, ten or all of the keys at one time.

    Amanda's Letter Lotto has been designed to handle a massive
    overload of keyboard input, so your child should be able to hit as
    many keys as she wants without upsetting anything.    However, if she
    should find a key combination that locks up the computer (these vary



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    with computer brand), just push CTRL-ALT-DEL or turn your computer
    off, wait a few seconds and turn it back on again.    Amanda's Letter
    Lotto will reboot and you'll be ready to start again.

    Just allowing your child to push bunches of random keys starts to
    teach her about the keyboard.  She learns that pushing keys produces
    a result on the screen.  With your help she'll also learn to push
    keys softly and one at a time.  Most importantly she learns to think
    of a computer as a friend and to feel comfortable using a computer.


    GAME 2 - Make A Pointer

    As your child becomes used to the keyboard you can start to teach
    her to push individual keys.  One way to do this is to first teach
    her to make a pointer (extending the index finger to point at something).
    This is something you can work on without being in front of your computer.

    Next sit down at the computer, have your child make a pointer and
    then guide the tip of her finger to a key and say, "Push a key."
    Depending on how exicitable she is, you may or may not get her to
    do this right away.  However, with some patience on your part, and
    as your child grows older, she'll eventually be able to do it.

    Also, when your child first learns to "make a pointer" and you
    help her push a few keys, she'll probably become impatient and revert
    to using all fingers to push bunches of keys.  It's to be expected,
    so let her have some fun for awhile and then come back to making a
    pointer and pushing individual keys.


    GAME 3 - The Name Game

    Once your child can push an individual key she can then learn
    to push specific keys.  A good way to start is with the first
    letter of your childs name.  For example, with Amanda I told her
    to "find the letter A for Amanda."    Then I'd guide her finger to
    the letter A.  It took going over it a few times, and some days
    she seemed to have forgotten everything we did the day before, but
    shortly she could find the letter A, which she called Amanda.

    Once your child can find the first letter in her name, introduce
    her to the first letters of the names of other people she knows.
    You can show her that D is for daddy, M is for mommy, and Z is for
    her brother Zak.  Little kids associate much better with the people
    in their lives (family, relatives and friends) than they do with
    objects.  Amanda was much more interested in learning that A stood
    for Amanda and B was her friend Brenda than she would be in learning
    that A is for Apple and B for Barn.

    After your child can identify five or six letters by peoples
    names, then you can move onto other letters.  Either let your child
    name some people and you point out the letter that name starts with,



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    or use the names of objects when you run out of people.

    These types of games teach your child that each letter is an
    individual symbol.    For example, kids can learn to sing their ABCs,
    but many times they just know it as the words to a song.  For example,
    most little kids think LMNOP is one letter because they are sung very
    quickly, all together in the "Now I Known My ABCs" song.  Having then
    pick out the individual letters on the keyboard teaches than that each
    is a separate, distinct symbol.


    GAME 4 - Robot Invaision

    Now you can move on to teaching your child how top push several
    keys to make some new things happen on the screen.    Start by having
    your child hold down the CTRL key with one finger and then push a
    letter.  This will produce a graphics character.  Amanda called these
    characters robots (although there are two happy faces, CTRL-A and
    CTRL-B and a few she thought looked like spiders).


    GAME 5 - Flash A Smile

    Another multiple key combination is to hold down the CTRL key and
    push the letter X.    This will cause the screen to display blinking
    characters.  Pushing CTRL-X again will switch the blinking off.
    Amanda liked to make blinking happy faces.



    USING COLOR

    These first five games can also be played in color.  Of course,
    with color they are many other games you can play.    We'll describe a
    few of these shortly, but first let's see how to get the color turned on.

    When you first boot up Amanda's Letter Lotto it will be operating
    in the monochrome mode.  Hold down the CTRL key and push the letter "E."
    This will display the Letter Lotto Menu.

    The first three items on the menu allow you to set Amanda's Letter
    Lotto for either color or monochrome operation.  Selections can be made
    from this menu by either pushing the function key (F Key) associated
    with the selection you want or by using the up/down cursor keys to
    move the scroll bar to the desired selection and then pushing the ENTER
    key.


    F1 - Multiple Colors

    The first choice on the Amanda's Letter Lotto Menu is usually the
    one kids find the most interesting.  Pushing F1 will set Amanda's
    Letter Lotto to change the background, character and border colors



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    on a random basis.    While playing the game these colors will change
    each time a key is pushed.


    F2 - Set Three Colors

    The second selection, F2, switches Amanda's Letter Lotto to the
    color mode and allows you to select three colors that will be used
    all of the time.  You can select the color of the character, the
    background color and the border color around the edge of the screen.
    This color setup is generally used if your child finds the changing
    colors to be a distraction or if your child is more interested in the
    changing colors than learning about letters.

    When you push F2 a menu will appear that allows you to select the
    background color.  Push the function key associated with the color you
    want to use.

    Next you can select the color of the characters.  Again push the
    function key associated with the color you want to use.  If the
    selected color is not compatible, for example if you select the same
    color for the character as you selected for they background, they
    will blend together when displayed.  You'll be returned to the menu
    to make another selection.

    The final menu is used to select the border color.

    After selecting three colors you'll be returned to the Letter
    Lotto Menu.  To play the game either push F8 or move the scroll bar to
    "F8 - Play Game" and push ENTER.




    GAMES WITH COLOR

    All of the games described for monochrome use can also be played
    in color.  In addition you can make up new games that use the colors
    displayed.    All of the following games are played with Amanda's
    Letter Lotto set to change colors randomly, selection F1 on the Letter
    Lotto Menu.


    GAME 6 - Rainbow

    The first game is basically the same as described for monochrome
    use.  Just let your child push random keys and watch the colors and
    characters change.    This game provides you with the opportunity to
    name the colors as they appear on the screen.  Generally children
    focus on the color of the character, so as each character appears
    name its color.  Of course, kids are all diffenent and it's impossible
    for me to predict what your child will focus on.  It she seems to be
    noticing the background color first, then name that color for her.



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    GAME 7 - Color Search

    Once your child can identify one specific color by name, then
    ask them to find that color.  Have them push keys, any keys, until
    that color appears.  When they correctly identify that color cheer
    like your team just won the superbowl.  Don't be afraid to get excited
    and make some noise.


    GAME 8 - My Special Letters

    Another game with colors is to have your child to find a specific
    letter or character that is also a specific color.    Amanda loved to
    find the letter "A" in her favorite color, pink.


    Let's go back to the Letter Lotto Menu and see what other
    functions are available.


    BLINKING ON / OFF

    If you should forget that CTRL-X is used to turn the blinking
    either on or off, you can go to the Letter Lotto Menu and push F4.


    CAPITAL LETTERS ON/OFF

    When you first start teaching your child the names of letters,
    or when playing some of the Amanda's Letter Lotto games, you may only
    want to have capital letters displayed.  Showing two shapes on the
    screen, a big A and a little "a" for example, and calling them by
    the same name, might be confusing for some kids.  However, you may
    have a kid that likes to push the SHIFT or CAPS LOCK keys.    To avoid
    problems you can push F5 and Amanda's Letter Lotto will only display
    upper case letters reguardless of what your child pushes.  Push F5
    again to switch back to using both upper and lower case letters.  The
    status of this function will be shown in brackets on the F5 - Capital
    Letters menu selection line.


    THE AWARD LETTERS

    The sixth selection on the Letter Lotto menu allows you to pick
    up to five award letters.  When your child picks a character you've
    selected as an award letter, she'll be rewarded with a short computer
    song.

    When you first push F6 a vertical line of six dots will appear.
    A scroll bar will be next to the top dot and the word EXIT will be
    next to the bottom dot.  The up/down cursor keys move the scroll bar
    up and down.  A character can be entered for each of the upper five



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    dots.  Just push the character you want and it will appear.
    Characters can be changed by putting the scroll bar on the character
    you want to eliminate and entering a new character or pushing the
    space bar to leave a blank.

    Any character on the keyboard can be entered including both
    upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and the graphics
    characters made by holding down the CTRL key and pushing a letter.
    However, keep in mind that if you enter a lower case letter as an
    award letter, your child will need to also push the same lower case
    letter in order to get the song to play.

    When you've entered all of the award letters you want to have
    (you can have fewer than five), move the scroll bar to the word EXIT
    and push ENTER.  The Letter Lotto menu will appear and you can then
    push F8 to play the game.  Now anytime your child pushes an award
    letter she'll be rewarded.  However, I still encourage you to cheer
    her on when she gets the right letters.


    GAME 8 - Go Get 'Em

    Having award letters adds a new dimension to having your child
    push specific letters or combinations of keys.  Pick the letters or
    characters you want your child to learn and set them as the award
    letters.  She then has to find the award letters.  You can either
    give her the name of each letter, or let her search for them on her own.


    GAME 9 - Big & Little

    A good game to play with the award letters is Big & Little Letters.
    Set the award letters so they are all either upper case or lower case.
    For discussion purposes we'll assume they are upper case.  Then play
    the game and have your child push one of the award letters but not
    the shift key.  Tell him the name of the letter, for example "Capital
     A."  Next hold down the shift key, or have your child hold the shift
    key and push the same letter.  This time the "award song" will play.
    Tell your child the name of this letter, for example say, "little A."
    Practice this a few times until your child learns that she needs to
    push the shift key in order to get the capital (big) letter and the
    award.


    GAME 10 - Learning To Write

    In spite of the predictions that electronic publishing would
    eliminate paper, a pencil used with a piece of paper remain as
    useful and popular as ever.  Amanada's Letter Lotto can help your
    child learn to use these tools.

    When you start to play any of the games have a pencil and some
    paper next to your computer.  As the letters appear on the screen



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    have your child copy them.    You can also have her look for a
    specific letter.  When that letter appears on the screen have her
    copy it on the paper.



THE LETTER LOTTO GAME (Games 11 and 12)

    The final selection on the Amanda's Letter Lotto Menu sets up
    the actual Lotto game.  Push F7 and five letters will be chosen at
    random.  When you start playing the game you'll then have 26 chances
    to find all five letters.  Since only upper case letters are selected,
    and there are 26 letters in the alphebet, you should be able to find
    all five just by pushing all the letters on the keyboard.  However,
    Amanda's Letter Lotto will compute a score based on the number of
    keystrokes it takes you to find all five letters.  The fewer key
    strokes you use, the higher your score will be.  Finding all five
    letters with five key strokes will result in a score of 100.  If you
    use 26 key strokes to find all five, or you can't find all five, you
    get a score of zero.

    Before you start playing Letter Lotto, you'll be asked whether
    or not you want your selections displayed.    If you push the letter Y
    (for Yes) at this prompt, your key strokes will be listed across the
    top of the screen as you make them.  If you push the letter N, you
    will need to remember the keys you've already pushed (making the
    game a little harder).

    When you begin playing Lotto the number of key strokes left will
    be displayed in the lower right corner of the screen.  Each time you
    select a correct letter the award tones will sound and that letter
    will be listed in the bottom center of the screen.

    If you should want to stop the game, before you use all of the
    available key strokes, just push the ESC key.

    That's all there is to playing Letter Lotto.  So, here's your
    chance to test your ESP before you buy your next Lotto ticket.  Of
    course, you'll need to get kids away from the computer first.


    FINISHED PLAYING

    When you are done playing Amanda's Letter Lotto you can return
    to the DOS A> prompt by going to the Letter Lotto Menu and pushing
    F10.


    LET'S PLAY THE GAME

    Now it's time for you and your kids to have some fun.  We've
    described a few games here.  Of course you can make up other games
    so feel free to use your imagination.



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       NOTICE     NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE    NOTICE     NOTICE    NOTICE

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    With some computers there are key stroke combinations that will "lock up"

    the operation of your computer.  These vary among different brands.  The

    Tandy 1000 series of computers, in particular, are very likely to have

    this problem when running Amanda's Letter Lotto.  (Tandy computers will

    lock up when running Tandy's own Deskmate Software).  If this should

    happen push the CTRL-ALT-DEL keys to reboot.  If this does not work, turn

    the power off and then on again.



    These problems only occur when random key combinations are pushed.    On

    some computers the problem is less if you are running the BASICA source

    code directly.  We have included the source code (LETTERS.BAS) for your

    use.  To run the source code first load BASICA.  Then, with the Amanda's

    Letter Lotto disk in the "A" drive, type: RUN "LETTERS"


    We encourage you to play Amanda's Letter Lotto with your children.  This

    will help them learn, they'll be gentler with your computer and you'll

    have fun together.





















m learn, they'll be gentler with your computer and you'll