Code Name: Sector (1977)

The computer game of submarine pursuit

• Use a real computer to track an unseen sub.
• Be in command of the combat information center.
• Plot you ship's course on a nautical chart.
• Avoid costly collisions.
• Aim and fire torpedoes at the sub.
• Miss the target and the sub retaliates.

The board game where you match wits with a computer

Decades ago -- when computers were first developed -- a computer would cost over a million dollars and would fill an entire room. Now, after extensive research with a leading electronics company, Parker Brothers brings you a powerful computer designed strictly for family fun. The CODE NAME: SECTOR computer is capable of making thousands of calculations per second. Its solid-state memory keeps track of players positions at all times. And its logic circuitry instantly detects collisions, counter-attacks, misfires, and hits. A combat information center contains all the controls needed to navigate within range of the sub and fire. An electronic readout, made up of light-emitting diodes, automatically displays information supplied by the computer. The computer works with you as you track down an enemy sub on a nautical chart. Being the first to sink it isn't easy. With over 3000 possible underwater locations, the sub is unlikely to be in the same place twice.

• An electronic display provides players with complete combat information during the course of the game.
• A ship's direction is shown on a lighted compass.
• A steering capability allows players to change course from left or right to close in on the sub.
• A pair of speed controls allow destroyers to travel at 9 different speeds.
• An evasive sub option makes the game more challenging for experienced players.
• A programmed learning sequence teaches the play quickly and easily.
• A sonar control area is used to determine range information and to aim and fire torpedoes.

The game comes compete with:

• Computer console
• Nautical playing/plotting surface
• Marking crayons (4 total)
• Crayon sharpener
• Parallel rule
• Replica submarines for scoring (8 total)
• Reusable erasing cloth

9 VOLT BATTERY NOT INCLUDED. ALKALINE BATTERY RECOMMENDED FOR BEST RESULTS.

This game requires a 9 V battery.

The players are destroyers chasing after a computer-run submarine. The players plot the movements of their ships and the sub using crayons on the erasable board. Although the players co-operate, the winner is the one to actually sink the sub. The computer knows all about the ships (their movements are entered in to it) and the sub, but the players initially only know the sub's range by taking sonar readings. In this game, a sonar reading constitutes a square (not a circle!) centered on a ship (range is measured diagonally+vertically or diagonally+horizontally but never horizontally+vertically).

The sub moves at a steady speed and direction each time a player takes a turn. The sequence goes like this:

a) Ship 1 gets and plots a sonar reading.
b) Ship 1 moves and plots its movement.
c) Ship 1 gets and plots another sonar reading.
d) Sub moves one square.
e) Ship 2 gets and plots a sonar reading.

and so on. After a few turns, the sub's position and heading should become known from studying the sonar readings plotted on the board. However, its depth is as yet unknown -- for it can be at any one of three possible values. Now each player gets to aim and fire depth charges in addition to moving (if within 2 squares of the sub). This is done without telling the other players the result, so each player must discover the depth on his or her own. The sub may fire back at the ship, knocking it off course. Hitting the sub ends the game.