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Phrase search: 20Q.zip

Year search: 2008
Judge: Digital Prawn [Official Site]

20 Questions
Author	Steve(spt)
Filename	20Q.zip
Year	2008
Position	41
Format	Jupiter ACE
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Description	To load the program type load 20Q go in your ACE emulator (EightyOne for example works fine). 20 questions are all you have to logically deduce the secret hidden by the computer. All questions are answered with a simple yes or no. How the computer works out the answers, I am currently unsure. At a glance we can only assume that it is some advanced AI technique in natural language processing :) . My knowledge of FORTH is very limited so far, suffice it to say that my first line of attack in understanding the program by typing vlist resulted in the program being executed, rather than the dictionary being listed. So don't bother trying that one folks! But in any case, within the game you must type carefully as the delete key behaves differently than expected. Also, the program will helpfully append a question mark onto the end of your question, so no need to type that in. The downloadable zipfile contains tap, wav and ACE snapshot versions.
Comments	The main question is how this program works internally? Certain words seem to generate a positive response whereas most words give a negative answer. I never did get around to examining the FORTH source to?reveal the?complex machinations or otherwise under the bonnet on this one. How intelligent can a Jupiter ACE become? Nevertheless, the game is undoubtedly crap, and I give it a good score, because the author kindly bailed me out when I had a rather silly looking ACE arcade page with only a single game in it! Again, this will go down as only one of two crap games for the Jupiter ACE submitted to the CGC, since as we all know it is not actually a Sinclair machine. Certainly it is a Sinclair derivative, although one which went down its own development path, thanks to FORTH! Will ACE games ever be allowed in the CGC again? I don't honestly know, but it was good to have them on board in this experimental CSSCGC 2008! Since I played this game, I was introduced to another web based 20 questions game. This made me realise that this submission is like that web game, but with human and CPU roles amusingly reversed. The only secret I have found so far in this program is that the delete key doesn't work - so watch out for that and type carefully!