THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

SPACED OUT

PUBLISHER
Firebird

AUTHORS
John Gibson and Steven Cain

YEAR
1987

DESCRIPTION
An excellent budget puzzle game - a simple idea nicely executed,
in which the level of difficulty adjusts to your skill.

CONTROLS
Keys (left, right, up, down, fire, pause) redefinable.
Kempston, Fuller and cursor joysticks supported;
Sinclair joystick may be used by redefining keys.

INSTRUCTIONS
Your aim is to get from the bottom left to the top right
incurring less penalty points than the handicap for that game -
but your penalty in one game becomes your handicap in the next,
so in effect you must play better each time. You move across the
board according to the roll of two dice, but you cannot move off
the board or across a 'nasty'. To move, press FIRE to roll the
dice, move the cursor to the number of spaces (the roll of the
die) that you want to move and press FIRE, then move the cursor
to the direction you want to move in and press FIRE (or vice
versa - direction then number). Finally, move the cursor to the
central diamond and press FIRE. You can move so that you land on
a 'nasty', which is then 'spaced out' and removed from the board.
If you cannot move, use the bottom right icon to say that you are
'spaced out' - you get 500 penalty points and one more 'nasty'
appears. After your move, the nasties move around in an attempt
to block your path.

INLAY CARD TEXT
[back cover]
Tread carefully and you may 'space out' a computer. A game
requiring stealth and strategy.

[this is translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
and Danish]

Joystick or keyboard

[inside]
SPACED OUT
(C) 1987 JOHN GIBSON & STEVEN CAIN

THE GAME
To while away the hours in deep space while the robo boys look
after the herds of Cybernetically Operated Wagons (COWS), Cowboys
tend to get SPACED OUT quite frequently. The aim of the game is
to get from the bottom left hand corner of their holographic
screen to the top right hand corner without getting SPACED OUT
by the army of NASTIES designed to make their life a little more
difficult! Not only will you have to dodge the NASTIES but you
will have to watch the penalty points.

LOADING
 1. Connect a suitable cassette player to your Spectrum according
to the User Manual. THEN FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 3,4 AND 5 BELOW.
SPECTRUM 4/8/128 and PLUS 2 OWNERS
 2. Put the 48/128 and Plus 2 systems into 48K mode.
 3. Place the rewound cassette into the cassette player.
 4. Type LOAD "" on your Spectrum and press ENTER.
 5. Press PLAY on the cassette player.
 NOTE: Full loading instructions can be found in your Spectrum
Manual.

PLAYING THE GAME
SPACED OUT is a game that can be played with either a Joystick
connected to your Spectrum or with definable keys.  Select the
size of the play area by increasing or decreasing its size. Push
FIRE to select the required area. Similarly, the number of
opponents can be increased or decreased and set by pushing the
FIRE button.  The screen will then prompt you to push the FIRE
button again and you're ready to get SPACED OUT.  Push FIRE to
roll the dice which indicate the number of dots you must move
vertically and horizontally, but when a double is thrown 2 moves
must be made.  Move left and right and select the direction and
number by pushing FIRE. You cannot move ACROSS an opponent but
you can move TO a square occupied by an opponent. This means that
the opponent is SPACED OUT and removed. When the move is
completed it is the opponent's turn. If they succeed in boxing
you in, you're SPACED OUT and they move again and gain another
NASTY.

PENALTY POINTS
There are 4 ways of incurring Penalty Points.
 1. Time penalties
If you run out of time you will lose your remaining moves, incur
600 Penalty Points and another NASTY will appear. Time penalties
are also incurred after the first 15 seconds (25 if a double is
thrown).
 2. Opponent Penalty
When a NASTY is removed during a move, 100 Penalty Points are
scored.
 3. Spaced Out Penalty
If you are boxed in you'll score 400 Penalty Points. Tell the
computer that you're SPACED OUT by selecting the icon at the
bottom right of the screen.
 4. Throw Penalty
When you have used your allotted 20 moves, 100 Penalty Points are
incurred for every extra move.

Remember that the penalties scored in the game will be the
HANDICAP in the rematch. If you exceed the Handicap with
penalties in the rematch... YOU LOSE!

CHEATS

SEQUELS/PREQUELS
None.

SCORES RECEIVED

URLs

GENERAL FACTS

NOTES