

DOCUMENTS TO SPORTS ADVENTURE 



                  INTRODUCING SPORTS ADVENTURE
    Get acquainted with the software and the ideas behind it.



                         GETTING STARTED
     Find out everything you need to know to install and start
                        Sports Adventure.



                      YOUR FIRST ADVENTURE
Learn how to travel through time and space in Sports Adventure.



                          GAMES TO PLAY
Try out these brain teasers and games of challenge for one ormore players.


Experience sights and sounds


Sports Adventure shares the same "engine" as  Knowledge Adventure,
our first product. While Knowledge Adventure is filled with sights,
sounds, and information about art, science, literature,
architecture, music, nature, and other arenas of knowledge, Sports
Adventure is completely packed with entertaining and exciting
sports stories that will appeal to sports fans and would-be sports
fans of every description. Both products use a new method of
compression of images and text to give you hundreds of photos and
illustrations with links among them without requiring a CD-ROM
drive.

Discover connections

Sports Adventure illuminates the links that connect the many
exciting events in the history of sports.  You'll be inspired to
discover new connections between sports stories as your own
interests lead you to select a date from the timeline, a place on
the map, or a sports category to explore. You'll see all sports in
a new light as you encounter the stories of great success and
agonizing failure, of stunning individual achievements and
thrilling team

Introducing Knowledge Adventure 1

victories, plus the human interest stories and historical
contributions of famous sports figures.

Look up sports facts

Sports Adventure also acts as an "instant" reference tool that
allows you to look up any word, name, place, or event and read
about it's impact. You'll find trivia, history, statistics-and more
ways than ever to enjoy sports.

For ages 7 to 70

Sports Adventure can be approached on many different levels, @nd it
is truly for all ages. Since it includes the history of sports from
the beginnings of baseball through today, and even beyond, both
young and old are fascinated by the story. It is ideal for a parent
and child, or a grandparent and child, to enjoy together.

Introducing Knowledge Adventure 2

To run Sports Adventure you will need the following:

What do I need?

An EGA or VGA monitor.

A hard disk with approximately 7.5 megabytes of disk space free.
When completely installed, Sports Adventure will take up only about
six megabytes of disk space.

Approximately 340 kilobytes of available RAM.

A mouse is recommended; however, the software can be run using the
keyboard alone.

A printer (optional) so that you can print Sports Adventure text
files; any printer that can accept ASCII text directly from your
computer port will work.

A sound device (optional) so that you can hear high-quality
digitized sounds; for example: the Sound Blaster Card, the Disney
Sound Source, or the Covox Speech Thing booster speaker system.

The original Sports Adventure program diskettes in the size you
need.

Getting Started

The Sports Adventure disks are provided ln two sizes: 5.25-inch 1.2
megabyte floppies and 3.5-inch 720 kilobyte floppies. If you need
5.25-inch 360 kilobyte floppies, please call or write to request
them from Knowledge Adventure, Inc., 4502 Dyer Street, La
Crescenta, CA 91214, (800) 542-4240.

How do I install the files?

Follow these steps to install the Sports Adventure files on your
hard disk:
1.  Insert Disk 1 into a floppy disk drive and log onto that drive. 
For example, if your floppy disk drive is A: type:

a: and press Enter

install and press Enter

installation is complete.

The Install program will create a directory (named SA, or any name
you specify) on your hard disk and will copy all of the program
files to subdirectories within this directory. Store your original
Sports Adventure diskettes in a safe place.

Be sure to install the software needed to operate your mouse if you
plan to use one with Sports Adventure. See the documentation that
came with your mouse to learn how.

To start Sports Adventure, follow these steps:

HOW do I begin?

Change to the directory where the program was installed. For
example, to switch to the C:\SA directory, type:

C: and press Enter
cd\sa and press Enter

sa and press Enter

If you want to be able to start Sports Adventure from any directory
on your hard disk, edit the DOS PATH= statement in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the directory that contains the Sports
Adventure program files. See your DOS manual for more information
about the PATH command.

Getting Started 5

This section explains the purpose of each of the twelve buttons
across the top of the screen, how to use the text and picture
windows and timeline and globe, and summarizes the various ways of
traveling through Sports Adventure.



Ready for takeoff?


There is no "right" way to play with Adventure. You decide when,
where, and how you want to travel from screen to screen. Just
remember-you're on an adventure, so you may not always end up where
you thought you were going!

Adventure, see page 3 of this book for instructions. For the latest
information about Sports Adventure that does not appear in this
book, type readme and press Enter from the SA directory.

for keyboard users: If you do not have a mouse, use the arrow keys
on your keyboard to move the pointer around on the screen and press
Enter in place of clicking the mouse button. You can also press Tab
to move the pointer to each button on the screen in turn; press
Shift-Tab to cycle backward through the buttons. If the picture
window contains a dialog box, pressing Tab or Shift-Tab will move
the pointer only to those buttons in the dialog box.

for mouse users: Always use the left mouse button to click on items
on the Sports Adventure screen unless otherwise noted.

When you are ready to start your adventure, your screen should look
similar to the one on the next page.

Your First Adventure 7


Does this picture do anything?

The largest part of the Sports Adventure screen is the picture
window. The text in the window to its left goes along with the
picture.

Click on a picture. When a particular item in the picture window
interests you, click on it to see whether there is a travel button
in that slot, If there is, the screen will change as you travel to
a time and place that is related in some way to the object you
clicked on. If there is no travel button in the spot you selected,
nothing will happen. Try clicking on a different area of the
picture.

How does the text window work? 

Click on the up and down arrow buttons at the bottom of the text
window to scroll the window so you can read all the text. The text
will scroll as long as you hold down the mouse button, and will
stop when you release the mouse button.

for keyboard users: Press Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-Pg Dn to scroll the
text window up or down one page.

Search the index. When you are especially interested in a
particular word in the text window, click on that word. The text
window will change to display an index of words used in Sports
Adventure, and the screens in which they appear, with the cursor on
the word you chose. You can move forward and backward in the index
and click on the name of the screen you want to travel to. See
"Look up a topic" under "What about these other buttons?" below for
hints on getting around in the index quickly.

While you are viewing the index, you can click on the Retrace
button (see page 12 for more information) or press Esc at any time
to restore the text window to its normal display.

The timeline below the picture window changes to "reflect the date
of the screen you are viewing every time you travel to a different
year.

What does the timeline do?

Travel through time. When you want to travel to a specific time,
click anywhere on the timeline below the picture. The screen will
change as you travel to the event that is nearest in time to the
spot you selected. If you want to move just one screen forward or
backward in time, click once on the right or left arrowheads at
either end of the timeline. You can also pick up the slider by
holding down the mouse button and dragging it to any other year.

for keyboard users: Press + and - to move forward and backward on
the timeline one screen at a time.

The globe window above the text window changes to reflect the
location of the screen you are viewing every time you travel to a
new place on the earth.

How do I Us the globe window?


Pick a destination. When you want to travel to a specific area on
the earth, click anywhere in the globe window. The screen will
change as you travel to the place that is nearest geographically to
the spot you selected.

Zoom in and out. When you want to move closer to or further from
the earth, click anywhere on the slider bar below the globe window
or on the right or left arrowheads at either end of the bar. The
scale

Your First Adventure  9

of the globe window will appear in the box above the slider bar:
from 100 miles across to 100,000 light years across. You can also
pick up the slider by holding down the mouse button and dragging it
to any other position on the bar.

for keyboard users: Press PgDn to move down closer to the earth.
Press PgUp to move up away from the earth.

Spin the earth. You can rotate the globe to get to a place on the
opposite side by clicking on one of the arrow buttons below the
window.

Fly around the world. You can also rotate the globe by placing the
pointer at any spot on the globe except the very center, then
pressing and holding down the mouse button. A green line will
appear with an arrowhead at the spot you clicked on and the globe
will begin rotating toward the tail of the arrow. When you let go
of the mouse button, the screen will change as you travel to the
place that is nearest to the arrowhead. To increase the rotation
rate, increase the length of the arrow (up to the edge of the
earth). To decrease the rotation rate, shorten the arrow.

If you use the above method to "fly around the world" but press and
hold the right mouse button instead of the left, the screen will
not change when you release the button. This is a good way to
rotate the globe to find a general area before pinpointing the spot
you want to travel to with an additional click.

for keyboard users: Hold down Shift as you press the up, down,
left, or right arrow key to rotate the globe up, down, left, or
right by set intervals.

What does this button do?

Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Tennis/Golf, Boxing,
Olympics

The first seven buttons at the top left of the screen are known as
"category buttons." Each stands for a different sports category:
Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Tennis/Golf, Boxing,
Olympics. By clicking on one or a combination of these buttons you
can limit your travels to screens in the category or categories you
choose.

There are two ways to use the category buttons:

Quick pick. Click on any category button using the left mouse
button to travel immediately to the next screen in history that
relates to that category. For example, if the timeline is at the
year 1900 and you click on the Baseball category button, you will
travel to the first screen about baseball that is dated later than
1900.

Sticky click. Click on one or more category buttons using the right
mouse button to make the category "stick." A red border will appear
around the button when you do this for the first time. To deselect
that category, use the right mouse button to click on it again.
Whenever any category buttons have a red border around them, your
travels via the timeline and globe window will be limited to
screens within those categories. Even when you have selected a
category by this method, you can still travel to a screen in a
different category using the "quick pick" method above.


for keyboard users: Press Ctrl-Enter while the pointer is on a
category button to lock or unlock that category.

Making all the categories sticky is not the same as having no
sticky categories.  Selecting all the categories means that
miscellaneous screens are excluded from your travels; selecting
none of the categories means that you can travel to screens in all
categories, including miscellaneous ones.


Your First Adventure 11

What about these other buttons?


When you want to go back to the time and place you visited last,
click on the Retrace button. Each time, you click on it you'll
travel back one more screen. After traveling backward one or more
screens, you can move forward in the "history" of your travels by
clicking on the Retrace button using the right mouse button.

for keyboard users: Press Backspace to travel back to previous
screens you visited. Press Ctrl-Backspace to move forward again in
your "travel history."

Click on the Question Mark button when you want to do one of the
following:

Get help. Click on the "Help" sign or the librarian in the library
picture to get help using Sports Adventure.

Play the quiz game. Click on the game board in the library picture
to start the Sports Adventure quiz game. See "Games to Play," page
15 of this book for more information.

Look up a topic. Click on any drawer of the card catalog in the
library picture. The text window will change to display an index of
words used in Sports Adventure, and the screens in which they
appear, with the cursor on the first word that begins with the
letter you chose. You can move forward and backward in the index
and click on the name of a screen you want to travel to.

To move forward or backward in the index for the letter you chose,
use the left mouse button to click on the up and down arrow buttons
below the text window. To scroll quickly to the next word in the
index that has a different second letter, use the right mouse
button to click on the down arrow button below the text window. For
example, if the word at the top of the text window is "Abbott,"
using the right mouse button to click on the down arrow

Your First Adventure 12

button will scroll the window so that the first word in the index
that begins with "ac" is at the top of the window. Similarly, you
can scroll backward in the index to get to the first previous word
that has a different second letter by clicking on the up arrow
button with the right mouse button. If you decide not to travel to
a new screen by clicking on a title in the index, click on the
Retrace button or press Esc to return the text window to its
previous display.

for keyboard users: With the index displayed in the text window,
press Ctrl-Enter while the pointer is on the down or up button at
the bottom of the window to scroll forward to the next word that
has a different second letter or backward to the first previous
word that has a different second letter. In other words, Ctrl-Enter
has the same effect as clicking on the right mouse button in this
situation.

Clicking on the Sound button will play the sounds, if any,
associated with the current screen. You may be able to hear some
sounds from your PC speaker, but the quality of sound will be much
higher if you have a sound device as part of your hardware.
Clicking on the Print button will send the entire current text file
to the printer. Sports Adventure works with any printer that can
accept ASCII text directly from the computer port.

for keyboard users: Press Ctrl-PrtScr to print the contents of the
text window.

Clicking on the Stop button will give you the choice to end your
Sports Adventure session or change your mind and continue playing.

for keyboard users: Press Alt-X to exit from Sports Adventure.

Your First Adventure 13

How many ways can I travel?

These are all of the ways to travel through Sports Adventure.

To travel to:              Click:

A new place                Anywhere on the globe.

A different time           Anywhere on the timeline.

A screen that is           Anywhere in the picture
related in some way        window.
to the current screen

Where you were             On the Retrace button.
before

The next screen in         On one of the category
history within a           buttons.

specific category

A screen about a           On the Question Mark
specific topic             button and select an index
                           drawer, or click on any
                           word in the text window.

Happy Traveling!

Your First Adventure  14


Ready for even more fun with Sports Adventure?  Try these games on
your own or with friends.

Sports Adventure Quiz


When you want to test your knowledge and speed, try a Sports
Adventure quiz question:

1  Click on the Question Mark button

2 Click on the game board in the library picture

3 Select the level of difficulty for the question you will receive.
 


After reading the question, try to travel to the screen that
answers it using as few clicks as possible.

If you need a hint, go back to the Quiz screen again by clicking on
the Question Mark button and then the game board. Sports Adventure
will keep track of your score; each click will post you points.
When you reach the correct screen, you'll hear the victory tone!

To stop playing the quiz game at any time before you have reached
the correct screen, click on the Question Mark button, then on the
game board and then on the Stop button on the quiz screen.

Keep score. Try to reach the correct screen with the lowest
possible score. The more clicks it takes the more points you'll
have. Write down your score

Games to Play 15

after you reach the correct screen and try to beat that score next
time.

Beat the clock. Try playing the quiz game against the clock. Start
a stop watch at the same time that you click on the game board in
the library. Stop the watch when you reach the correct screen.
Write down how long it took you to reach the screen and try to do
it even faster next time.

For one player identify the picture. Tape a dark piece of paper or
cardboard over the text window and try to recognize what the slide
is about from the picture alone. You may want to select a single
category to test your knowledge. For example, click on the
Basketball button repeatedly and try to name the player or team
picture.

Figure out the connection. Click on parts of the picture in the
picture window and try to figure out why Sports Adventure takes you
to the place it does. For example, if you click on the basketball
that Michael Jordan is dribbling, where does it take you? Why?

For two players, one computer

Find that screen. Challenge your opponent to find a certain picture
while you time her. For example: "Can you find the picture of Joe
Montana?" Then it's her turn to name a picture for you to find. The
one who finds the picture fastest wins.

Time machine.  Take turns pretending you are traveling in a time
machine. Click anywhere on the timeline and imagine you have
traveled back in time and have become one of the athletes you are
reading about. Describe to the other player what it feels like
to be that person at that particular time. Or pretend you are a
sports announcer and narrate the event described on the screen.

For multiple players with their own computers.

Quiz race. Play the Sports Adventure quiz game against one or more
players at other computers.  Make sure you are all at the same
screen when you start. Take turns selecting a quiz question and
reading it out loud.

Follow the leader. Divide the players into teams of two per
computer. Have someone who is not playing write down the name of a
picture and show it to one player on each team. That player then
describes to his partner how to get to the picture using only these
words: 'up," "down," "right," "left," "click". Race against other
teams or against the clock.

Games to Play 17

APPENDIX:  COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS

This appendix will answer may of your questions about Sports
Adventure and help you solve problems you may have.  See the README
file for information about Sports Adventure that is even more
recent than this guide.




If you do not find the answer to your question here, write it down
and fax it to Knowledge Adventure, Inc. at (818) 542-4205. We will
answer your question promptly by fax, or you can call us at (818)
542-4200.

My disk compression program indicates that I have enough disk
space, but Sports Adventure will not install completely. Why not?

Programs such as Stacker that compress your files on the hard disk
may indicate that you have enough disk space to install Sports
Adventure completely when you really do not. These programs report
on your disk space based on how much they are usually able to
compress your files. The files Sports Adventure copies to your hard
disk are already compressed and your disk compression program will
not be able to compress them further to give you more space. Try to
move or remove any files you don't need in order to make room for
Sports Adventure.

Appendix: Commonly-Asked Questions  19
I was not able to install Sports Adventure completely because of
low disk space. Will I still be able to use the program?

Yes. You will notice, however, that at times Sports Adventure does
not appear to respond when you click on an icon or one of the other
"travel button" areas. This happens because the program is looking
for a particular screen that isn't there. Just click again, or try
clicking on another area, and the program will respond.

Will Sports Adventure work with Microsoft Windows or DESQview?

Sports Adventure will run under both Windows and DESQview. Because
of conflicts with certain aspects of those operating environments,
however, sound output may be limited. In Windows Enhanced Mode and
in DESQview, you will only get sound output by using a Sound
Blaster(r) card. ln Windows Enhanced mode, be sure to add the line
DMA BUFFER SIZE=050 (or a higher value) in the "386 enhanced"
section of the SYSTEM.INI file to allow the Sound Blaster to work
correctly. In Windows Standard mode, all types of sound output will
work fine. For Windows users, we have also included an SA.PIF file
that is optimized for using Sports Adventure under Windows (Windows
will use it automatically).

I can use the keyboard with Sports Adventure, but my mouse doesn't
work. What's wrong?

You must run the software that drives your mouse before you start
Sports Adventure. If your mouse works within Microsoft Windows,
that does not necessarily mean that your mouse driver has been run.
See the manual that came with your mouse to learn how to run the
mouse driver from the DOS prompt. You may want to add a line to
your

20 Appendix: Commonly-Asked Questions

AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file that will run your mouse driver
whenever you start your computer.

using certain memory-resident programs. What should I do?

Sports Adventure requires approximately 340 kilobytes of RAM in
order to run. Even when there is adequate total RAM to run the
program, there may be conflicts with other programs occupying
memory. If you experience difficulty in running Sports Adventure
under these circumstances, please remove other programs from memory
before starting Sports Adventure.

Adventure makes, but I can't seem to click on the Sound button.
What's wrong?

Not every screen has sounds available for you to hear. The Sound
button will appear gray if there are no sounds available.

When I click on the Sound button I hear either no sound, or very
soft sounds from my PC speaker. Why?

The PC speaker was not designed to play sounds, only tones. For
improved sound, you need a speaker and circuitry designed for that
purpose. There are a number of products that can play back the
sounds in Sports Adventure with very good fidelity, including the
Sound Blaster Card, the Disney Sound Source, and the Covox Speech
Thing booster speaker system. In addition, most of the new MPC, or
Multimedia Personal Computers have this capability.

Appendix: Commonly-Asked Questions 21


I purchased a sound device after installing Sports Adventure. How
do I get the software to recognize my new piece of hardware?

Run the Sports Adventure Install program again, starting with Disk
1 . Answer all the questions about your equipment, including your
new sound device to update your Sports Adventure configuration file
to take advantage of the sound device. When the Install program
asks you to insert Disk 2, press Ctrl-Break to exit from Install.

Can I print pictures?

Not yet. We are working on printer drivers that will make the color
images look good on a number of black and white printers. Many of
the images will be printable with these printer drivers, although
some will not because of copyright restrictions.

Why do I get strange characters when I print
some files?

Your printer is replacing accented characters with other characters
because it doesn't have the IBM extended character set. If your
printer has an IBM emulation mode, you can switch to that mode so
that accented characters will print correctly. Check your printer
manual for the switch settings that will activate this mode.

How can I research a specific topic in Sports Adventure?

You can search for a key word in the Sports Adventure index and
then select a screen to view. To get to the index, click on a word
in the text window that interests you or click on the Question Mark
button and then on a drawer of the card catalog.

Appendix: Commonly-Asked Questions 22

Can I edit or add to the files in Sports Adventure?

Yes and no. The text files, images, links (connections between
screens) and sounds are connected intricately to the Sports
Adventure "engine"-the @ore of the software which displays all the
information and allows you to navigate through the product. The
ability to modify the text and links, or create your own entire
adventures or titles will be possible with a special authoring
tool. Please let us know if you are interested in this product.

How can I find out about add-on modules to Sports Adventure?

Return your registration card to Knowledge Adventure Inc. and we
will keep you informed about new products and add-on modules as
they become available. And you can get one of these add-on modules
for free just by registering with us so that we know where to send
it!

Will there be future versions of Sports Adventure with higher
resolution images and more in-depth text?

Yes. We are working on VGA and SuperVGA versions of Sports
Adventure. These will allow high-resolution, photographic-quality
images with very high detail. We are also working on a CD-ROM
version that will have much more depth on all the subjects that is
made possible by the storage capacity of the CD-ROM. Be sure to
return your registration card so that you will hear about these
when they become available to you at a special savings.

Appendix: Commonly-Asked Questions 23


 
