A Rubik's Clockż Emulator

                       written in MegaMax C

                                by 

                         Robert M. Lowrey

                         (GEnie: R.LOWREY)


                            March 1989


If you haven't noticed, good old Rubik (of Rubik's Cube fame) has 
come up with another dastardly device to frustrate people the 
world over.  It's called "Rubik's Clock" and it's a "device" with
two faces with 9 "clocks" on each side, 4 buttons and 4 "wheels" 
that you can move to move various combinations of clocks on both 
sides of the device, depending on which wheel is turned and the 
positions of the buttons.  The object of all this is to get all 
clocks on BOTH sides to point to 12 (the "clocks" are really dials 
and only have 1 "hand")  all at the same time.  It's even harder 
than it sounds.

You should be able to buy one at a toy or discount store for about 
$12.  (At least you can in Kansas...)

One constant frustration when playing with a Rubik's Clock is the 
fact that "clocks" on BOTH sides are moving when you move wheels; 
you are constantly flipping the thing over to check what is going 
on the other side.  Enter the "Rubik's Clock Emulator".  This GEM 
program emulates what the Rubik's Clock does in software.  Sort of 
a "device digitization", if I can coin a new term.  One main 
difference (improvement) is the fact that you can see BOTH "sides" 
at the same time and watch the movement of the "clocks" as you 
fiddle with the buttons and turn the "wheels".  

Please note that it will help you if you have a Rubik's Clock or 
have at least played with one.  You'll better understand what is 
going on with the program.  Trust me, it may not make sense, but 
it is what a real Rubik's Clock does!  

Program operation is simple: just be sure RCLOCK.PRG & RCLOCK.RSC 
are in the same folder and double-click on RCLOCK.PRG.  You'll 
then be presented with the main dialog box and you can take it 
from there.  RCLOCK runs in high & medium res and will run in low 
res but the dialog box is too big for the screen so about all you 
can do is press <RETURN> and exit the program.  Click on the 
"INFO" box and get a short explaination of wheel & button 
functions.  

Note that if you have a real Rubik's Clock, you can click on the 
"clocks" in the matrices and set the emulator clocks to yours and 
try out different moves from different positions.

That's about it.  Send any comments, complaints, questions & 
suggestions to R.LOWREY on GEnie.

Robert M. Lowrey
March 16, 1989