POWERPLAY: THE GAME OF THE GODS



SPECTRUM LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

Powerplay is recorded on the A side of the cassette. Owners of 48K

machines type LOAD"" (ENTER). 128K owners select the LOADER option

from the power-up menu.

The question sets are recorded on the B side of the cassette so

follow the on screen prompts when the main game has loaded.

Recorded after the main game is Andy Severn's amazing 128K only

CD Demo. Load by selecting the LOADER option.



POWERPLAY, THE GAME

Each player starts the game with 4 warriors, and is tested on their

knowledge of the universe, the better a player responds the more

powerful his warriors become. The four grades of warrior are

HERCULES: the weakest, CYCLOPS: possesses the strength of many men,

MINOTAUR: a very powerful warrior, SATYR: the most evil and

powerful. These warriors will fight bravely for their masters until

only one player remains.



GETTING STARTED

Firstly you must select the desired control methods for Players 1-4.



The object of the game is to eliminate you opponents' pieces from

the arena.

The current player may cycle through his pieces by pressing up or

down. Having chosen a piece the player must press fire.

The player is then given a question. The squares in the arena are

divided into four colours corresponding to the following subject

areas:



(empty square) general knowledge

(lined square) sport and leisure

(cross-lined square) science and technology

(full square) history and geography



The question will appear at the base of the screen along with four

possible answers, the player may select an answer using the up,

down, left and right controls.

If the answer is correct, 'wisdom points' will be awarded to that

piece. The slower you answer the less points will be gained. If the

player answers incorrectly, or runs out of time, no points are

awarded ans play passes to the next player.

When a question has been correctly answered the player may move the

selected piece onto any neighbouring square using the following key

combinations:



Left: rotate anticlockwise

Right: rotate clockwise

Fire: jump



A piece may not be moved off the board or onto a square occupied by

a piece belonging to the same player. Moving onto a square occupied

by an opponent's piece will invoke a challenge.

Falling into a hole will cause you to disappear and then reappear on

any unoccupied hole.



MUTATION

If during the course of the game a piece accumulates a score of 25

wisdom points or more the option to mutate to a higher strength

level will be given. If mutation is desired, press FIRE.



CHALLENGES

To invoke a challenge, a player must try to move his warrior onto a

square already occupied by an opposing player. The challenge

sequence consists of two players competing against each other to

answer a question on a randomly selected subject.

When the question is presented each player must answer as quickly as

possible. The player answering first wins the challenge if the

correct answer is given. If neither player answers within the time

limit the challenger will lose the challenge.

The warrior belonging to the losing player will be mutated down one

level. If the losing player's piece is at the lowest strength level,

it will be eliminated from the game.



POWERPLAY CREDITS

Original design, code and graphics: The Arcana Software Design Team.

Spectrum Code & Loading Sequence: ANDY SEVERN

Sprites and Backdrops: COLIN SWINBOURNE





PLAYERS PRESENT

THE 'CD' DEMO (128K ONLY)

Andy Severn's CD demo bit in the middle.

1 BRAT ATTACK (TAMARA DUB MIX)

2 SHANGHAI KARATE (CHINA TOUR)

3 SHANGHAI KARATE (CELEBRATION OF A NATION)

4 SWORD SLAYER (SPARTACUS THEME)

5 JOE BLADE II (MUSCLE MIX)

6 JOE BLADE II (MAIN THEME)

7 DO OR DIE (JB2 SUB-GAME 1 MIX)

8 BRAIN ACHE (JB2 SUB-GAME 2 MIX)





Music by HOUSE MASTER MIKE BROWN

Performed by AY

Engineered by ANDY SEVERN

Art Direction & Graphic Design by JABBA

Original Concept and Production SIMON 'FAX' DANIELS

LICENSED FROM ARCANA SOFTWARE DESIGN

PRODUCED FOR PLAYERS SOFTWARE

BY RICHARD PAUL JONES

(C) 1988 PLAYERS



PLAYERS - Mercury House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston, Berks. RG7 4QW.