The Game Screen
There are six parts to the screen, your panel -Your Letters + Score- this is where you consider you letters and analyze your options. The six letters with a yellow background are your standard letters, the six letters with a purple background are the swap letters, these can be rotated so you can move each letter into the box next to your letters making it easier to find a word. This letter can be added to your set of six letters by clicking the '+' button, now all seven letters can be rotated so the main six may include the letter from the swap box, you may only do this once per go. You may also swap a letter by clicking on the yellow box first then on the swap letter you wish to use, this adds the swap letter to your six letters, you can use this method when you can see a word you want to make and do not wish to rotate using the swap letter. The panel headed -My Letters + Score- is where you can keep track of how the computer is doing. The next panel -Swap Letters- Shows the six letters available (one of the letters is next to your six letters) to both you and the computer, these can be rotated using the appropriate button. Looking at the -The Words- box you will see that you have been given a start with the three words and when you are ready you can buy letters by clicking on the letter you want to buy, make a guess (this costs nothing if you are wrong) or give in. You are also shown what the next words bonus score is in the -Bonus Box- and a list of the words used so far in the -Used Words- list. If the computer telling you that it has jumbled the letters gets on your nerves un-tick the box -Show Responses-.
The Start Of The Game
When the program starts the computer picks 3 from a database of over 9000 words all of which are 6 letters long, the letters are then jumbled up and the letters are distributed between you, the computer and the swap box. The title bar of the screen tells you what level the computer is playing on and how many words the computer found that can be made using the three words it has chosen. The idea of the game is to score as many points as you can so that you can buy letters from the -Buy Letters- box, just click on the letter you want to buy, you must have a least 100 points. Whenever you get a word that has not already been used you score 50 points plus whatever is in the bonus box. The value of bonus box increases geometrically, that is every time a question is answered the value of the bonus box is doubled, so the more words that are found the more valuable the bonus becomes.
The Play
The game always starts with you, the turn then passes to the computer, when the first word is found the bonus is set to 10. When it is your turn you have a few tools at your disposal which you can use to make finding words easier, you can mix the letters in the yellow boxes, these are your letters, you can rotate them left or right or you can Lay Out A Word, click on the button and your letters will be transferred into the temporary boxes above, just click on each letter in turn to place them back in the yellow boxes in the order you want them in. You have three options on your go, you can pass, submit a word (the computer verifies your word*) or jumble, the computer has the same options. The play progress until either you buy enough letters to work out what the words are or the computer has enough points to win the game. You enter your guess at the three words, in the appropriate boxes, finding the three words does not automatically mean you win as your score is doubled but if your score (after doubling) does not beat the computers score you still lose. You will be told if the scores are drawn. NOTE: You cannot resign and win, if you resign you automatically lose the game.
* The word database is in the root of c:\ and if you wish to add words just open the file Lexicon.txt, add the word or words and save the file.
To install in Windows XP ; Copy the file Lexisix2.exe to your hard drive and click on the Vbrun60sp5.exe to install the VB6 runtime files, create a short cut to Lexisix.exe on your desktop by right clicking and putting the shortcut on your desktop the program should now run when you double click the short cut. The file Lexicon.txt should be in the root directory (Folder) of C:\. So you should copy the file and paste it into the root of C:\.