
                           ************************
                           *      P O P ' E M     *
                           ************************

                        a game written by Johan Peitz
  			      art by Johan Peitz
                     brought to you by Free Lunch Design

                                  (c) 2001


GENERAL

Welcome to POP'EM! This game is completly free. You may play it as much 
as you like without paying a single buck. In exchange for playing it, 
you are instead asked for a small favour. You are encouraged to send any 
comments you might have about this game. If you like it or not or if you 
have any suggestions.


DISTRIBUTING

POP'EM is freeware, anybody may (and should) play it. Therefore, you are 
encouraged to distribute this game (in it's original form) like crazy. 
Upload to every website and bbs you know, give a copy to all your friends, 
etc.. However, this game may not be included in a compilation or any other 
kind of commercial package without the permission from the author. See 
contact near the end of this document.
  

DESCRIPTION

POP'EM is a puzzle game for 1 player. The object of the game is to arrange
pieces of the board in clusters according to color and shape. The pieces
can then be removed from the board. Removing more pieces in one go
accumulates a higher score. Gameplay is accopmaied by soothing music,
suitable sound effects and graphical effects.


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

      * Pentium
      * 8 MB RAM
      * VGA-card/display
      * SB combatible soundcard  (optional)


INSTALLING AND STARTING THE GAME

Since you read this text I assume that you have managed to pack the game
up into a suitable directory. If not, locate POPEMINS.EXE and run it. 
Follow the instructions on screen. When done, locate POPEM.EXE and click 
it to start the game. After a short introduction, the game will start.


PLAYING

The screen has 3 buttons, NEW GAME, OPTIONS and QUIT. They do things
according to their names. At the OPTIONS-screne you can setup sound and
music volumes, choose themes and game modes.

Playing the game is pretty straight forward. The goal is to get as much
score as possible. Use the mouse to select clusters of pieces with the same
look. You can only select them if there are at least two of them. They will
start to vibrate to signal that you have selected them. To remove them,
simply click them again. If you want to cancel your selection, click
somewhere else.

The more blocks you remove in one go, the more points you receive. The
score you get is calculated by the following formula:

        score = (marked_blocks - 1) * (marked_blocks + 1)

This means that removing to red balls and then two more scores a lot less
than removing them all four in one go.

If you manage to clear the entire board, you get an additional 250 points.


GAME MODES

There are 4 different modes to play this game. You can change mode between
and in the beginning af games.

Traditional:    The blocks on the screen are the only ones you get. Blocks
                with nothing under them will fall down. Columns will move to
                the right to fill gaps between them.

Continuos:      Same as Traditional but with the exception that removing
                columns will cause new blocks to appear from the left.

Shifter:        Same as Traditional but with the exception that gravity pulls
                from the right as well. Blocks will stack into the bottom-
                right corner.

Megashifter:    Combinations of Continuos and Shifter.


THEMES

There are a few assorted themes available. Changing the theme will only
affect the look of the blocks, not the gameplay. You can change theme
from the OPTIONS-menu.


TROUBLESHOOTING / FAQ

There really shouldn't be any troubles starting and/or playing this game,
but should problems arise, look here:

Q: The game crashes upon start. How do I get it to work?
A: POP'EM moght not work under some windows installations. Download the
   DOS executable from the Free Lunch Design website and put it among
   the other files. Use it instead.


AUTHORS & CONTACT

    POP'EM was written and designed by Johan Peitz. Johan Peitz
    also draw the graphics.

    If you have comments, bug reports, or just want to ask something
    you can contact me by e-mail.

      E-Mail: d98peitz@dtek.chalmers.se

    You can also visit Free Lunch Design on the web.

      http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d98peitz/fld


DISCLAIMER
                  
I do not accept responsibility for any effects, adverse or otherwise, 
that this software may have on you, your computer, your sanity, your 
dog, or anything else that you can think of. Use it at your own risk. 
I have, however, never experienced any trouble with it.



                                - The End-

