## Description

_Dr. Mysto The Mindreader_ is a single player, brain training, game only the
‘brain’ being trained is the computer’s and not the player’s. It is similar to
Animal Vegetable Mineral game which itself is based on a “Twenty Questions”
which is both a parlour game and a UK radio show of old, centred on answering
Yes or No to series of questions.

Dr Mysto is a program with five brains, namely databases for specific
categories, each of which has a limited vocabulary. It asks the player to
think of a word in that category and then it tries, by a series of Yes/No
questions to guess the answer. If it gets the answer wrong it will ask ‘How
can I tell the difference between my answer and your word?’ to which the
player responds with a question the program could have asked. This is then
filed and the program builds up an ever increasing library of words and
questions that distinguish between them.
For example: in the countries category the player’s country was Zimbabwe. Dr
Mysto asked:

* Is it in the Western hemisphere? Answer No
* Is It In The Northern Hemisphere? Answer No
* Is it in Africa? Answer Yes
* Is It North Of Nigeria? Answer No
* I Think I know this, Is it South Africa? Am I right? Answer No
* I know I am close, Please tell me your word. Answer Zimbabwe
* Type a question that will help me tell ZIMBABWE from SOUTH AFRICA. Answer ‘Is it landlocked?’
* Does ‘Is it landlocked?’ describe Zimbabwe? Answer Yes
Return to the ‘Think of a word’ prompt.

There are five categories that Dr. Mysto comes pre-programmed with, Countries,
US Presidents, US States, Words, and Xtra –a blank database the player can
set up for themselves. There are optional sound effects and game controls with
mouse/keyboard combination.

Dr. Mysto The Mindreader