Excalibur electronic 915-3 Games User Manual


 
To show all legal moves for a
selected piece, press the
OPTION button until HELP is
displayed. Press the MOVE >
key to turn on the option. The
display will show HELP. Exit
OPTION mode by pressing
ON/CLEAR.
3.11 Displaying threats
King Arthur will tell you when
there is a serious threat by dis-
playing the “!” sign. (See also
Section 5.4.) When this hap-
pens, you can push the THREAT
key, and King Arthur will flash
the threatening move.
3.12 Peeking into King
Arthur’s brain on higher
levels
At levels 6 and above, you can
actually see what King Arthur is
“thinking.” Press OPTION until
InFO” is displayed. Turn this
option on by pressing > or <.
Exit OPTION mode by pressing
ON/CLEAR.
When turned on, this option
will display the score, depth of
search (number of moves King
Arthur is “thinking ahead”), best
move he is considering, and
clock times. These will be dis-
played while the computer is
thinking at its higher levels.
3.13 Replaying
a variation
This feature is used best when
playing without the physical
pieces (See 3.5, above.) When
you want to take back a whole
series of moves, press AUTO
then TAKEBACK. King Arthur
will take back all moves in his
memory. If you change your
mind, you can replay the entire
string of moves by immediately
pressing MOVE. (When
“rPLAY” is no longer shown on
the display, the last move of the
variation has been reached.)
3.14 Practicing
blindfold chess
Very good players sometimes
amaze people by playing with-
out looking at the pieces and
board. King Arthur gives you a
chance to test yourself at this
feat. To use this option, clear the
large playing board of pieces.
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3.7 Changing levels
of play
You can change levels by
pressing the LEVEL key to
increase the level one at a time.
Pressing the > key increases the
level by 10. Pressing the < key
decreases the level by 10. (See
chapter 7 for a full explanation
of levels.)
3.8 Display options
You have quite a choice of
information that King Arthur
will display for you. All of these
options are made available by
pressing the OPTION key until
they are displayed. Then press >
to turn these options on or off.
Press the CLEAR key to exit
OPTION.
Displaying total game
time used:
Your King Arthur normally
shows the time taken for each
move. With the “TotAL
option,
you can instead choose to have
the total game time displayed.
Displaying
the position score:
Your display normally shows
the number of the current move.
If instead you want to display
the piece-score of your current
position to see quickly who’s
ahead in material, turn on the
“SCORE” option. The score
option totals the following val-
ues: Pawns—1, Knights—3,
Bishops—3, Rooks—5, and
Queen—9.
3.9 Forcing King Arthur
to move immediately
To interrupt King Arthur
while he’s thinking and make
him move immediately, press the
MOVE key. King Arthur will
make the best move he’s found
so far. This feature can be very
useful on higher levels, when
King Arthur may take a while
thinking about his moves.
3.3 Getting Hints
If you don’t know which move
to make, or you simply want to
see what King Arthur would rec-
ommend, press HINT, and the
display will show you the move
King Arthur believes to be best.
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