CrossCraze is a crossword game for one to four players. Compete with friends or
against the computer by placing letters on a board to form interlocking words.
Special features include:
New improved graphics and sound effects.
3 game types: "Standard", "Tile Stacking" and "Point Stealing".
Internet and LAN multiplayer support - meet players from around the world!
Massive 730,000 word vocabulary including English and 9 foreign languages.
4 fiendishly clever levels of Artificial Intelligence.
50 different board layouts.
Easy to use drag-and-drop interface.
Choose from three game types: "Standard" play, where new letters must be placed next to
existing ones (eg. you might change DOG to DOGS); "Tile Stacking", where new letters can also
be placed on top of old ones (eg. change DOG to DIG); and "Point Stealing", where you can
use previously placed tiles to snatch points from your opponents.
The 185,000 word English vocabulary is split into US, UK and International spellings.
You can also play in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish or Norwegian.
See the history page for a full list of new features introduced in version 2.
The demo version of CrossCraze will expire after 60 minutes play. It has just one board design and does not include the strongest computer opponent, the Master AI, which has a vocabulary six times larger than the other players. Download the full version today for just $19.95 (US Dollars) and get all this:
We accept many different payment methods and currencies, including US Dollars, Euros and UK Pounds. Please see our On-Line Order Page for further details and CD-ROM orders.
CrossCraze will not run unless you have an up-to-date copy of Microsoft DirectX installed.
DirectX is a free add-on for Windows which enables games to make full use of your PC's
multimedia capabilities. Most PCs come with DirectX pre-installed, but if you encounter
any problems, please try downloading the latest version, either via Windows Update
or from the DirectX Homepage (to check which
version you currently have, click the Windows "Start" button, select "Run" and type dxdiag.exe).
4. Troubleshooting
If you encounter any problems running CrossCraze, please refer to our Support Page.
5. Game Rules
At the start of play, all the tiles are held in the Tile Bank.
The total number of tiles is determined by the size of the board.
Each tile is marked with a letter and its value. Bonus squares on
the board are marked as follows: a flashing star indicates a Start
Square; 2L and 3L indicate Double and Triple Letter Squares; 2W and
3W indicate Double and Triple Word Squares; and an X indicates an
Extra Turn Square.
Each player is randomly allocated 8 tiles from the Bank.
Players take turns to move tiles from their rack (where they
store their tiles) to the board to form new words. The tiles
must be placed in a straight line without leaving any empty
squares between them. At least one of the new tiles must be
on a start square or adjacent to an existing tile.
If "Tile Stacking" has been enabled, then new tiles can
also be placed on top of existing tiles so long as they
represent different letters (eg. you could change DIG to DOG).
Words must be at least two letters long and can be formed
either horizontally (left to right) or vertically (top to
bottom), but not diagonally or backwards.
All words found in a standard dictionary are allowed except
for prefixes, suffixes and abbreviations, or words that are
only spelt with hyphens, apostrophes or capital letters.
Plurals (eg. CATS, DOGS), verb forms (eg. WALKS, WALKED),
comparatives (eg. DARKER) and superlatives (eg. WIDEST) are
also permitted. Note: capitalized German nouns ARE allowed.
Moves are scored by adding up the tile values for all the new
words formed. If a tile is placed on an empty Double or Triple Letter
Square then that tile's value is multiplied accordingly.
Similarly, the scores for all words covering a Double or
Triple Word Square are also multiplied. Start Squares have
the same effect as Double Word Squares.
Players can earn a 50 point bonus by placing all 8 tiles at once.
If "Point Stealing" has been enabled, all tiles on the board are automatically
marked to indicate which player "owns" them (ie. who used them last).
When new words are formed using tiles "owned" by another player, the scores
for those tiles are deducted from their owner's score (if "Tile Stacking" is off,
then the amount deducted is doubled).
If "Penalize Invalid Words" has been enabled and a player attempts
to play a word which does not exist, then the value of that move will be
deducted from their score and they must take their turn again.
After each turn, the rack is refilled with tiles randomly drawn from the Bank.
If a tile was placed on an Extra Turn Square, the player gets
to place another word. Otherwise, it becomes the next player's turn.
Instead of placing tiles on the board, players can choose to
pass or to swap tiles on their rack with tiles from the Bank.
The game ends when both the Bank and a player's rack is empty,
or when all players have passed twice. The value of any tiles
remaining on a player's rack are deducted from that player's
score.
The winner is the player with the highest score.
6. Starting A Game
To begin a game, click the "Start Game" button on the Main Menu.
This will take you to the Board Selection screen where you choose
which board layout you wish to use (note: the full game has fifty
different layouts, but the demo only includes Board 1).
You select a board by clicking on its number and then pressing
the button marked with a green tick.
Next, you select which players will participate in the game and
whether they will be human or computer-controlled. The weakest
computer opponent is the Novice AI (Artificial Intelligence) and
the strongest is the Master AI. If you want, you can also give
your players names - just type them into the boxes provided.
On the same screen, you can select which language you want to use,
whether you want players to be penalized for playing
invalid words, whether you want to use a timer, and whether you want to allow
Tile Stacking and Point Stealing.
Once you have chosen your players and rules, press the tick button to begin play.
7. Playing The Game
The information panel in the top-left of the game screen shows
each player's score, along with their last move and the points
awarded for that move. You can click the green "Player Moves"
button to toggle this to display "Player Racks" instead.
Beneath the player information, is another panel showing how many
tiles are left in the Tile Bank. By clicking the green "Tiles Remaining"
button, you can change this display to show "Tile Totals" (how many
tiles were in the Bank at the start of play) and "Tile Scores" (how
much each tile is worth). You can also click on a letter to highlight
all the corresponding tiles on the board (useful if you need to find
a U to match your Q).
Moving a tile from your rack to the board is simply a matter of
clicking on it once with your mouse to pick it up, dragging it to
the desired position on the board and clicking again to drop it.
Once you have formed a possible word, CrossCraze will calculate
its score and display it in the bottom-right corner. When you
have finished placing your tiles, just press the "Play" button.
Note: if Point Stealing is enabled, both the
points you are awarded for a move and the points deducted from your
opponents are displayed. For example, let's assume there are three
players, where you as Player 1 have just placed a word worth 19 points,
which costs Player 2 nothing, but loses Player 3 12 points:
the score for that move will be shown as [19 0 -12].
You can organize your rack either by dragging and dropping tiles,
or by using one of the following keyboard shortcuts: F5 to
sort the tiles alphabetically; F6 to separate vowels
from the consonants; or F7 to randomly shuffle the tiles.
You can also use F8 to toggle automatic rack sorting on and off.
If you want to exchange tiles on your rack with tiles from the
Bank, just click the "Swap" button, select the tiles you want to
exchange and press "Done". Alternatively, if you just want to pass,
press "Swap", then "Pass" without selecting any tiles.
To exit the game at any time, just click the "Resign" button.
8. Network Games
It is now possible to play CrossCraze with opponents on your Local Area Network (LAN) or
anywhere on the internet. Just select "Network Game" on the Main Menu, then choose your
connection method and say whether you want to "host" or "join" the game. The host player
selects the board, the rules and the number of participants, then starts the game. Other
players can then join that game.
There are two ways to connect over the internet. The easiest is via one of our
CrossCraze servers where you can meet other players from around the world.
If the servers are busy, the other way is via a direct PC-to-PC link. This is
a little trickier as the host must send their IP Address to
the other players in advance.
When searching for opponents, you may occasionally see games marked in red.
These are games which other players have already unsuccessfully tried to join
(eg. because the host is behind a firewall). You can still try to join them
yourself, but you might want to concentrate on other games instead.
Hint: If you have arranged to meet a particular person on one of the CrossCraze servers,
we recommend you agree a password so your game will not be visible to other players.
If you can't find an opponent on the CrossCraze servers, you might want to try the
CrossCraze Player Directory.
This is a free, web-based service, where players advertise for opponents.
When you begin a net game, you will notice a few changes. Firstly, there is a chat
window in the bottom-left of the screen where you can send messages to other players.
Secondly, the "Load", "Save", "Undo", "Info", "Options" and "Hint" buttons are not
available during network games. Finally, to ensure no player has an unfair advantage,
only the standard vocabulary lists can be used.
If you have trouble connecting to network games, please refer to our
Support Page.
WHAT IS MY IP ADDRESS?
When you host a direct PC-to-PC internet game, you must tell your
opponents your "IP Address" so they can find you. This usually
comprises four numbers separated by full stops (eg. 217.34.128.7).
Your IP Address will change every time you connect to the internet,
so you must remain on-line while sending it to the other players.
You could do this via a separate phone line, by email or via an
instant messaging service.
CrossCraze will display your IP Address on the last screen before
commencing the actual game, or you can get it before running CrossCraze
here: www.ortsoftware.com/ip.html
9. The Default Vocabulary
CrossCraze's vocabulary lists have been compiled from many different sources.
Sadly, there is no definitive guide to any language so it's inevitable that
there will be some disagreements as to which words should be allowed.
All languages contain many obscure, archaic and unlikely looking words
(eg. "AA" is a type of lava) which expert crossword game players love to
exploit, but if you don't think they should be allowed, just don't play
them. Only the Master AI uses the really obscure words so if you don't
want the computer to play them either, just select an easier opponent.
If someone does play a word you don't like, press the "Undo" button and
the program will ask if you want to ban it from future use. Similarly,
if you attempt to play a word which the computer doesn't know, it will
ask if you want to allow it anyway. Just say yes to add it to the vocabulary.
You can edit the words you've added and banned via the Options Menu.
CrossCraze supports US, UK and International English, as
well as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish,
Finnish and Norwegian. The game's English vocabulary has been extensively
tested and is considered very solid. Admittedly, a few of the foreign
languages may be slightly less reliable, but you can always add or ban
words as you go along or even substitute your own vocabulary.
Note that even if you select US English, you may still encounter some
UK spellings, and vice versa. Many UK spellings such as "colour" appear
in US dictionaries too as they are so common and similarly, "color" can
be found in many UK dictionaries. If you want to reduce the number of
these "foreign" spellings being played by the computer, don't select the
Master AI as the easier opponents rarely use them.
The vocabulary does include some lewd, offensive and derogatory
terms which are commonly found in dictionaries - like it or not
these are a part of our language. Where possible, these words have
been isolated to prevent the computer from playing them itself, but
human players are free to use them if they wish.
If you want a rough idea of the sheer number of bizarre words in the
English language, we recommend you buy one of the word list books
designed specifically for crossword game players - you will find
these in the games section of most good bookshops.
10. Installing Your Own Vocabulary
Owners of the Full Version can replace the standard
vocabulary with their own. First, make sure you have run the game at least once.
Then, create a new file called VOCAB.LST. It must be a plain text file
(not a word-processor document) with one word per line. Only letters from the
English alphabet are allowed, along with Æ, Ø, Ä, Ö, Ü, Å, Ñ and Ç.
All lower case letters will be automatically capitalized.
Word order is unimportant.
Next, find the game's data folder. If you are using Windows XP or earlier, this will be
the same as where you installed the game - usually:
C:\Program Files\CrossCraze2
In Windows Vista or later, find the folder by typing the following into the address field of Windows Explorer:
%PROGRAMDATA%\ORT Software\CrossCraze2
Copy VOCAB.LST into the subfolder matching the language of your word list.
Remember to select your replacement vocabulary before starting a game.
If you have installed, say, your own French vocabulary, it will be listed as
"My French" and the standard French vocab will be called simply "French".
11. Frequently Asked Questions
WHY DO THE COMPUTER PLAYERS CHEAT?
They don't. Our aim was to produce a fun game, not an unbeatable
opponent, so programming the game to cheat would have been entirely
counter-productive. Please refer to the Vocabulary Section
before assuming the game is making up words - there really are a huge number
of obscure and unlikely looking words in the world!
WHAT DO THESE WEIRD SCORES MEAN?
You're probably referring to the new scoring system
for Point Stealing games.
HOW CAN I PAUSE THE GAME?
Press the Pause key on your keyboard.
HOW CAN I PASS?
Press the "Swap" button, then without selecting any tiles, press "Pass".
HOW CAN I SEE MY TILES WHEN IT'S NOT MY TURN?
Click the green "Player Moves" button - the information panel immediately
below will change to show the letters available on each player's rack.
HOW CAN I EXIT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME?
Just click the "Resign" button.
HOW CAN I MINIMIZE THE GAME?
Hold down the left Alt key while you press the Tab key.
THE SPINNING PLANETS DISTRACT ME - WHAT CAN I DO?
Go to the Options Screen and deselect "Use Animated Board".
HOW CAN I RESET *ALL* THE HIGH-SCORE TABLES?
Delete the HISCORES.DAT file from the CrossCraze folder.
WHY AREN'T THERE ANY BLANK TILES?
Because this is CrossCraze and CrossCraze doesn't have blanks.
CAN I CONFIGURE CROSSCRAZE LIKE A CERTAIN FAMOUS BOARD GAME?
No - their lawyers are bigger than our lawyers so instead we've
designed CrossCraze to be an enjoyable game in its own right.
12. Special Options
Certain aspects of the program's behaviour can be modified using the following switches:
-HINTOFF : used to disable the "Hint" feature (if you don't trust yourself not to cheat).
-SILENT : used to disable all the game's music and sound effects (only
necessary if you are getting sound-related errors which cannot be resolved by other means -
otherwise you should just use the game's volume control to mute the sound).
-REDFONTOFF : used to modify the game's colour scheme (it has been reported
that the red font does not display well on some projector screens).
-FRAMERATE : used to speed up or slow down the game's graphics. This switch must be
followed by a frames-per-second value between 25 and 100 (the default frame rate is 46).
-PORT : used to change the port used by network games. This should only
be necessary in extremely rare circumstances where there is a conflict with another
application using the same port. The switch must be followed by a port number between
1024 and 65535. All players participating in the game must set the same port number.
Program switches can be applied as follows:
Right-click on the CrossCraze icon that you usually use to launch
the game (either on the Windows Desktop or on the Windows Start Menu).
Select "Properties" from the pop-up menu that appears.
Click at the end of whatever appears in the "Target" field and
add a space, followed by your switches (make sure your additions appear
outside any quotation marks already present). Here are three examples:
Click "OK", then use the same CrossCraze icon to launch the game.
13. Contact Addresses
Most questions are answered on our website at www.ortsoftware.com, but if you
still require assistance, please use email
if possible as it's easier for us and quicker and cheaper for you.
If you don't have email, you can write to:
ORT Software
2A Berceau Walk
Watford WD17 3BL
UNITED KINGDOM
PLEASE DO NOT PHONE THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
14. Credits
DESIGN, PROGRAMMING & ARTWORK:
Owen Thomas
PRIMARY PLAY-TESTERS:
Merete Hertzum
Åsa Lindblom
Ian Thomas
Julie Uldam
