M A S T E R S P Y
                  
    *****************************************************************
    *                                                               *
    *  An intriguing game of reasoning and skill for all who love   *
    *  a real challenge. Pit your wits against a most devious and   *
    *  ruthless enemy, do not be fooled by his comic disguise, he   *
    *  is a master of his craft - a MASTERSPY.                      *
    *                                                               *
    *****************************************************************
 
Congratulations! You have attained the highest rank in the 
Secret Service - SPYMASTER GENERAL.

You are responsible for directing the activities of four highly professional 
and fearless agents in their adventures deep inside enemy territory. Use them 
wisely and they will reward you well. 

However, on taking up your post you learn the most closely guarded secret of 
all - you have in your team a MOLE, a cunning and treacherous agent whose true 
loyalty is to your enemies.

Your duty is clear, you must first rescue your three faithful agents, then 
unmask and imprison the evil mole. 
But it won't be easy, you must not allow any agent to be imprisoned until you 
have identified the mole, you must not allow the mole to escape, and you must 
avoid the many dangers that will confront you. 
To make matters worse, the mole has already been hard at work sowing the seeds 
of your downfall. 


The details of your assignment are as follows:-

You have under your control four secret agents - RUBBER GUTS, HAIR BRAIN,
NOSY FERRET and FLASH HARRY. 
Each has been allocated to one of four hostile domains - POTHOLES, STEPPING 
STONES, SNAKES AND LADDERS and THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY, each consisting of 
many interconnected screens. 
You control only one agent at a time, and to change agents you must first 
return your agent to their SAFE HOUSE at the centre where they all meet. 

Somewhere in each domain are two doors and two tickets. These are easy to 
recognise by the letters 'D' and 'T' alternating with the item in question. 
The doors lead to various forms of transport and freedom, but to escape your 
agent must hold the ticket that matches the concealed transport, otherwise he 
will be recognised and imprisoned. 
Unfortunately the mole has alerted his friends to your activities and traps 
have been set. 
Only one of the two doors in each domain is in fact genuine, if your agent 
enters the wrong one then he will be imprisoned regardless of the ticket held. 
Even more unfortunately, the ticket your agent needs in order to escape lies 
in one of the other three domains! 

When the agents meet at the centre any ticket held is passed to the agent you 
choose to control. 
If while holding a ticket you allow an agent to take a new one, then the first 
ticket returns to its original position - only one ticket can be held at any 
one time.

To help you in your task are three sources of information - TELEPHONES, 
LETTERS and RADIOS, distributed throughout all four domains. 
Each will give your agent a single clue, but because of the mole's corrupting 
influence only one of the three sources tells the truth. The other two always 
tell lies. You have to discover which is which. 
To 'continue' after being given a clue press key 'C'. You are advised to write 
down the clues for reference, although the full sequence can be repeated at
any time by pressing key 'I' (for Information), followed by key 'C' to display 
each successive clue. 


Further difficulties are to be overcome in each of the domains:-

   In POTHOLES (12 screens) the ground is very unstable, so much so that when 
   your agent passes through a narrow gap between two caves a rock-fall occurs 
   and fills in the gap!
   If a screen edge gap has already been filled in an adjacent screen then 
   your agent will be unable to pass into it. Similarly when your agent has 
   passed through one of the external entrances to the domain it disappears to 
   prevent its re-use.

   In STEPPING STONES (16 screens) the stones are all loose, such that 
   stepping off one causes it to sink out of sight. The presence or absence of 
   stones in adjacent screens is indicated by the appearance of the stone 
   edges. If the edge is linked to the screen border then your agent can step 
   over into the next screen, but if the edge is not so linked then there is 
   no passage across it. 
   As for POTHOLES when an external entrance to the domain is used it 
   disappears to prevent its re-use.

   In SNAKES AND LADDERS (12 screens) snakes will be slid down and ladders 
   climbed if your agent touches the head or foot respectively. 
   Small pointers indicate paths into adjacent screens. 

   THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY (20 screens) consists of four sets of railway 
   lines, numbered 1 to 4. To travel on one of these lines your agent needs a 
   travel permit of the correct number, obtainable from an appropriately 
   numbered machine. 
   Barriers and turnstiles restrict movement between platforms, but turnstiles 
   allow permit holders of the numbers shown to pass freely. 
   When a permit is held all the corresponding trains have their doors wide 
   open and can be entered to travel to other stations.
   
   In both SNAKES AND LADDERS and THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY the external 
   entrances to the domain remain open at all times.

To 'take' any of the above items - tickets, travel permits and trains, or to 
'transport' your agent through one of the doors, position your agent directly 
over the item in question then press key 'T'.

TO TAKE A TICKET OR TO USE A DOOR HOWEVER IT MUST ALREADY HAVE BEEN MENTIONED 
IN ONE OF THE CLUES - GUESSING IS FIRMLY DISCOURAGED!


Special care is needed to avoid falling foul of the inhabitants of each 
domain:-

   In POTHOLES hungry and ill-natured demons rise in search of juicy souls to 
   devour! If any catch your agent then one of your six lives is lost. 
   Demons that have filled themselves float back down and are harmless. 
   In fact if your agent is able to touch a rising demon during the brief 
   period when another is falling past it then it will be caught off-guard, 
   will promptly vanish, and you will be awarded a point for skill.

   In STEPPING STONES your agent must watch out for the crocodiles - being 
   eaten costs a life!  It is possible to confuse a crocodile though and gain 
   a point if your agent can touch one whilst a frog is sitting on the same 
   stone. Be quick though, the frog is likely to leap off at any instant.

   The SNAKES AND LADDERS domain is the haunt of some very dangerous bees - a 
   sting will cost you a life.  However if your agent is quick enough to 
   collide with a bee immediately after climbing a ladder or sliding down a 
   snake then the bee will be blown away and a skill point will be gained. 

   As you might expect the UNDERGROUND RAILWAY is full of bustling people, all 
   hurrying for their trains with no thought for others. If one bumps into 
   your agent then a life is lost. Every now and again though the travellers 
   must stop for a brief rest. If your agent can bump one whilst resting then 
   a point is gained.

   For every eight points gained an extra life is awarded so they are well 
   worth collecting.


Movement of agents in the four directions can be controlled by the cursor 
keys or by a joystick that provides cursor key signals (as on the AMSTRAD PC), 
or alternatively by the the following keys:-

                 'Q' for UP
                 'A' for DOWN
                 'N' for LEFT
                 'M' for RIGHT

These alternatives might be found more comfortable, two fingers of the left 
hand controlling up/down movement and two fingers of the right hand 
controlling left/right movement.

Other key facilities are as follows:-

    'O' alternately switches 'On' and 'Off' the sound.

    'S' aIÆ%'└┴─'├ BD9╧êNIe tdƒƒçRp╚N to a disk in the default drive.
        Follow the directions given to select the required filename extension 
        (the name is always SPYSAVE with a selected extension number from 000 
        to 255). Reloading is permitted when the 'Lose' screen is displayed. 
 
    'R' allows you to 'Resign' (in disgrace!) - hold the key down for 2 
        seconds.

    'D' gives 'Details' of your agent's current location when in one of the 
        domains, and displays also your remaining lives, your skill level, the 
        number of clues collected, your agent's name, and the ticket held if 
        any.

    'T' as already mentioned allows your agent to 'Take' a ticket, a travel 
        permit, a train, or to 'Transport' your agent through a door. In each 
        case position your agent directly over the object in question before 
        pressing the key. HOWEVER PLEASE NOTE THAT TO TAKE A TICKET OR TO USE 
        A DOOR IT MUST ALREADY HAVE BEEN MENTIONED IN ONE OF THE CLUES.

    'C' allows the game to 'Continue' after a clue has been given.

    'I' gives repeat 'Information' in the form of the complete sequence of
        all clues in their original order. Press 'C' to display each clue.

    'H' returns you to MSDOS - hold the key down for 2 seconds

At the start you are given the option of a 'Practice' game. Here the hazardous 
inhabitants of each domain can be ignored, allowing you to concentrate without 
distraction on your strategy. The penalty however is that if your agent 
becomes trapped in a dead end there is no way out except resignation. In a 
practice game the 'LIVES' display is omitted and the skill level remains fixed
at zero. 

If you manage to unmask the fiendish mole then you will be rewarded by a 
diploma to mark your achievement. Four classes are identified, Class 1 for 
success without the need to reload a saved game, Class 2 for success with one 
or more reloads, and Classes 3 and 4 similar but for practice games. 
You are invited to enter your name on the diploma as proof of your success, 
and to save the display to disk for re-display whenever you wish. The saved 
display will have the filename 'DIPLOMA' (no extension), and can be 
reloaded by entering the command 'DIPLOMA' (thereby running the program 
DIPLOMA.COM - make sure both program and file are on the same disk!) The 
display will remain until the 'Return' key is pressed.
The display can be dumped to an appropriate printer using the GRAPHICS command 
(see your MS-DOS manual) prior to loading the saved diploma.

NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS !!

Between successive games everything changes! Your agents are likely to be 
allocated to different domains; the informers change places; their clues are 
different; even the type that tells the truth is likely to be different.
The mole will probably be a different agent; the doors and tickets will be in 
different places; and whether or not they are genuine will also have changed.
Only the nature of the domains themselves and their inhabitants remain the 
same.

******       Good Luck - You are certainly going to need it        ******

If you need help or have mastered all these challenges then send for your 
MASTERSPY PACK. This comprises a disk with strategy advice; extra clues and 
hints; game versions with many more challenges, more lives, and different 
speeds (to suit fast and slow machines); and a wide choice of saved games at 
varying stages of completion. Also provided will be large detailed drawings of 
each domain and safe passage diagrams. 

Send Three Pounds & Ninety Pence (inc P & P) (If outside UK please 
send Five Pounds & Fifty Pence) to :-ALBERT BALL, 190 SLAG LANE, LOWTON, 
WARRINGTON, WA3 2EZ