Rules of the Game

The object is to make as many words as possible by following a continuous path through adjacent letters in the rack. (Diagonal counts as adjacent.) The path need not be straight, but each letter in the path can only be used once. Only words of 4 or more letters may be used. If one can form several words by the addition of suffixes, all the words will score. For instance, if you find "RATE," "RATES," and "RATED" in the rack, you may include them all in your list. Each round is usually 3 minutes long.

At the end of the round, word duplications between players are crossed out and do not score. The remaining words are scored as follows:

Letters: 4 5 6 7 8+

Points: 1 2 3 5 11

Installing and Running this program

This program requires Microsoft Windows version 3.0 or later.

There are 3 files used for the game: BAGO.EXE, the main program; BAGO.DIC, a dictionary of words in ASCII format; and BAGO.HLP, the help file you are now reading. Copy all 3 files to a directory, then run BAGO.EXE. You'll probably want to create a program item for BAGO, using the program manager.

To start a round, click on the hourglass window.

Next, just start typing any words you find (see the rules), following each by a return. The words will appear on your list.

If you are using a mouse, you may click on the letter cubes directly. If you accidentally click the wrong letter, just click on it again, and it will be unselected.

The enter button can be used to end your words.

At the end of the round, BAGO disqualifies duplicate and illegal words between your list and its own with the following codes:

(space) Computer also found this word

" You listed this word more than once.

< Your word is less than 4 letters.

? Your word does not appear in the rack. Check again.

- This is not a word.

The remaining words are scored as described under Rules of the game.

If you win the game, BAGO will put up a congratulations window. Click on the window (or type any key) to make it go away.

Note: use the button if you wish to end the round immediately.

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