chase -- Command

Highly amusing video game
/usr/games/chase [ -c ] [ speed ]

chase  is a  COHERENT version  of  a popular  video game.   It runs  on the
console  with input  from  the console  keyboard.  chase  assumes that  the
system console  is a  monochrome display adapter  unless you select  the -c
color-display option.

To  accomodate different  computer system  speeds  and different  levels of
skill, chase prompts the user to  type a speed when the game begins.  Press
<return> to try out the game  with the default speed of ten; typing a
higher number  makes the game slower,  a lower number makes  it faster.  If
you can  play at speed  zero on a  fast computer system, you  play too many
video  games.  If  you know  the  speed you  want, you  can enter  it  as a
command-line  argument.   If you  see  the boss  coming,  quit by  pressing
<ctrl-C>.

The Rules

The player  (represented by a blinking shaded  rectangle) attempts to evade
four  ``ghosts''  (represented  by  shaded  rectangles with  arrows)  while
erasing dots from the playing-board maze.

At the beginning of a game,  the four ghosts are in the ghost box above the
center of  the maze and  the player is  below it.  The maze  is filled with
dots,  including four  blinking diamonds called  power pellets.  The ghosts
emerge from  the ghost box  and chase the  player.  The console  arrow keys
move the  player left,  right, up,  or down through  the maze.   Typing `0'
stops the player.  The player continues to move in the same direction until
a wall  of the maze  stops him, you type  a `0', or you  type another arrow
key.

When the player eats a power  pellet, he acquires super power and can chase
the  ghosts briefly;  the ghosts  change color while  the player  has super
power.  If  the player  catches a  ghost, he scores  a bonus and  the ghost
returns to the  ghost box temporarily.  Once a player  eats all the dots on
the board, the game continues at the next level.

The upper left corner of the  screen displays a score and the current board
level.  Each  dot the  player eats  scores ten points.   The first  ghost a
player eats while he has super power scores 200 points, the second 400, the
third 800, and the fourth 1,600.  At certain times during the game, a bonus
letter appears below the ghost box; the player scores 100 points for eating
the bonus letter  on level `A', 300 on level  `B', 500 on level `C', and so
on.

The lower  left corner of the  screen displays the number  of extra players
remaining in the current game (initally two).  Another bonus player appears
every 10,000  points, to a maximum  of three extra players.   The game ends
when the ghosts eat the last player.

See Also

commands

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness