How to play Master Builder online
- Walk left and right, climb the ladder: arrow keys
- Jump: hold up together with left or right (a diagonal)
- Take bricks from a store: stand in front of the store and push towards it
- Lay a brick: hold Space and press the arrow key for the direction you want it placed
- Pick up a wrongly placed brick: hold Space and press up
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose Game 1 or Game 2: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
Gameplay
You are a builder in the town of Spectraville. Each level starts with the buildingās plan on screen for five seconds. Then you fetch bricks from the stores, lay them in the right places and use the magic ladder to reach the upper floors. When the building matches the plan, climb to the top of the ladder and keep pushing up until a helicopter lifts you away. If the building is wrong, you lose a chance.
Three hazards cost you one of your four chances: the Spectradog, which you must jump over; the naughty kid, who steals the ladder if you are on it; and lightning near the top of the building.
There are two games. In Game 1 your supply of bricks is limited; in Game 2 your time is. You only score for buildings built correctly, and you also get a bonus based on the bricks or time you have left.
| Building | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. City Hall | 1,000 |
| 2. Catholic Church | 2,000 |
| 3. Commercial Centre | 3,000 |
| 4. History Museum | 4,000 |
| 5. Memorial Building | 5,000 |
Your final score earns a title: Trainee Builder below 1,000 points, then Diploma Builder, Degree Builder from 10,000, and Master Builder from 100,000.
Tips
- Use the demo mode. Before you press Reset, the game shows blueprints on screen. Watching them is a free way to get to know the shapes.
- Memorise by rows. Remember how wide each floor is and where the gaps are, rather than single bricks.
- Fix mistakes before you call the helicopter. Picking up a wrong brick is free; a wrong building costs a chance.
- Get off the ladder as soon as the kid appears.
- Donāt linger at the top, where the lightning strikes.
About Master Builder
Spectravideo, which began as Spectravision, was a distributor that hired outside developers to write its 2600 games, and no programmer is credited for Master Builder. The game is rare today. In Europe it was also sold as Super Baumeister (āBaumeisterā is German for master builder), and the mail-order firm Quelle sold its own PAL version in Germany. AtariMania lists further titles for the same game, including Skyscraper and Der flinke Architekt.
