THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

SPECIAL DELIVERY: SANTA'S CHRISTMAS CHAOS

PUBLISHER
Sparklers (Creative Sparks budget)

AUTHOR
Dalali Software

YEAR
1984 (released 1985)

DESCRIPTION
A very poor arcade game designed to be bought by unsuspecting
parents. At least it only cost �1.99.

CONTROLS
Cursor keys (or use the Sinclair joystick keys).
Kempston, Sinclair and Fuller joysticks also supported.

INSTRUCTIONS
Control Santa's sleigh, picking up presents that fall from the
sky and avoiding obstacles. Drop them on the small houses, and
enter the big houses via the chimney (avoiding snow and
fireballs) in order to leave the presents by the tree. Use the
key to leave by the back door, being careful not to wake the
children, then go off collecting more presents.

INLAY CARD TEXT
[back cover]
It's the happy sound of Santa Claus on his merry way delivering
presents to all the excited children who have waited patiently
for this special night.

But what chaos as Santa awakens to find that he only has five
hours to deliver his presents and worst of all he hasn't enough
to go round.

Santa has enlisted the help of his helpers who are supplying
extra presents and you, to guide his sleigh through the sky
avoiding clouds and picking up presents as you go.

Then help guide Santa onto the roof tops, down the chimney and
then finally place the present underneath the christmas tree.

* Joystick control * Fast loading cassette

[inside]
SPECIAL DELIVERY
It's Christmas Eve and Santa has overslept. His alarm clock has
failed to wake him up and now he is in all sorts of trouble.

He only has five hours before all the children wake up to deliver
his gifts, and he does not have enough presents to give to all
the eager children.

All of a sudden he has a great idea! His helpers will help him
by dropping presents from the clouds where they live. So off he
whizzes on his sleigh drawn by his loyal reindeer to make his
special delivery.

Help Santa to collect the presents and land safely on the roofs
of the houses to deliver his gifts to ensure all the children
have a Happy Christmas.

GETTING STARTED
1 Before switching on the Spectrum, connect the joystick
(Sinclair, Kempston, AGF/Protek or Fuller) if this is to be used.

2 Connect the television to the computer and switch the
television ON.

3 Connect the cassette recorder to the computer and switch the
cassette recorder ON.

4 Place the cassette in the recorder and rewind to the
beginning.

5 Check that the EAR lead is connected correctly and that the
volume level of the cassette recorder is set correctly.

6 Type LOAD"" (do not leave a space between the quotes), then
press ENTER.

7 Press PLAY on the tape recorder..

8 When the program has finished loading, press STOP on the
cassette recorder.

9 If the program does not load successfully, try adjusting the
volume setting of the tape recorder and repeat the above from
step 3. If the problem persists, refer to chapter 6 of the
Spectrum Introduction Manual.

CONTROLS
Press the fire button to change the skill level which is shown
by the target number.

Move the joystick to start the game. Santa is moved up, down,
left and right in the normal way.

RULES
1 Santa must collect presents which are dropped by his helpers
in the sky.

2 Obstacles such as clouds and mountains must be avoided. If
Santa does collide with a mountain, cloud or other obstacle, he
will lose a present from his sleigh.

3 If Santa's sleigh is hit by a lightning bolt then he will lose
an hour.

4 Presents dropped by the Red Devil must also be avoided as
these will cause one of Santa's presents to be lost.

5 The object of the first phase is to collect, into Santa's bag,
as many or more presents than the target number.

6 If Santa fails to do this he will not have the chance to drop
all of the presents down the chimneys of the large houses.
Instead he will have to drop presents down the chimneys of the
small houses until his bag is empty.

7 If Santa collects enough presents (that is equal or greater
than the target) then he will be able to visit one of the large
houses. He must land safely on the roof.

8 Once Santa is on the roof he gets off his sleigh and climbs
down the chimney. Now he must avoid the fireballs coming up the
chimney and the snowballs travelling down. If Santa fails to
avoid these hazards then he loses one hour.

9 If Santa reaches the bottom of the chimney he must then place
the presents in his bag under the Christmas tree. Then he must
pick up the key, find the back door and make a quick exit. He
must avoid coming into contact with the sleep-walking children,
who would wake immediately. If this happens then Santa loses
another hour.

10 Moving the joystick left and right will move Santa from side
to side across the floor. To go up and down the ladders, move the
joystick up or down accordingly.

CHEATS

SEQUELS/PREQUELS
None.

SCORES RECEIVED

URLs

GENERAL FACTS

NOTES
The back cover blurb promised a 'fast loading cassette', but
unless you forced your tape recorder to run faster than usual,
it loaded at normal speed.