Tax Avoiders (c) Copyright 1982 INSTRUCTION BOOK -- INSTRUCTIONS ------------ OBJECT: The goal of the player is to become a millionaire, after taxes, in one year. As in real life, there are obstructions to your progress, bureaucratic levels to go through and obstacles to overcome such as governmental red tape, bad investments that lose money, taxes and IRS audits. THE CHARACTERS: #### ^^^ John Q - The Overtaxed Player ^^^^ ^^^ ^ %%%%% % %%%| _ |% %%%%%% ### ##### # # # # # ## ## # # .###### ######### Eggie #### # The IRS Agent ##### ###### Waggie .#######.# The CPA #'#######' ###### Toodles ######. The Investment Advisor ### # # ## These identities are all parts of the same character. Their movements are not controlled by the player. He is constantly persuing John Q. John Q. is controlled by the joy stick and moves in all directions; left, right, up and down. The Fire Button causes him to jump over or through adversaries. THE SYMBOLS # # 1) Income $. ####### You must obtain the dollars to earn income. ## # # # ## # # ####### # # # ## # # # ######## # # .##### 2) Governmental Red Tape. ____ # Failure to avoid the red tape during the income screen # ### costs you $2,000 each time. ##### # ## ## ### ####### ##### 3) Portfolio. # # (screen 2) ############# You must put investments into your portfolio to shelter ############# income and obtain any capital gain. ############# ############# ############# GENERAL PLAY The year is divided into 635 days, 12 months and 4 seasons. During each season there are two screens, an income screen and an investment/shelter screen. During the income screen, you must accumulate as much income "$" as possible while avoiding the costly governmental red tape. To reach the various bureaucratic levels, you must catch the elevator in the center of the screen. This takes you to the various levels, slowly like normal governmental action. Approximately half way through the season, you are switched to the second screen which allows you to obtain varoius Tax Sheltered Investments. Here, you are being pursued by a character who is consistently moving into and out of the private enterprise system and governmental employment. This is symbolized by color changes; black, pink and green. In the black mode he is Eggie, an IRS Revenue Agent trying to chatch you for audit. When caught, you are audited and ALWAYS lose. You are then taxed at the maximum rate of 50% and sent back to work in the income screen. There are no appeals to tax court. In the pink mode he is Waggie, a CPA who is soliciting your business. If he catches you, or you go to him, he charges you $1,000. You will find his fee, though expensive, is worth paying because he will always provide a more valuable Tax Sheltered Investment than the one previously available. In the green mode he is Toodles, a Registered Investment Advisor who can help you maximize your income by providing the best Tax Sheltered Investment available. When green, it is to your benefit to catch him. Depending on the amount of time left before your taxes are due (the end of the season) it may or may not be beneficial to wait for the IRS Agent to become the Investment Advisor. At the end of the season your taxes are collected through automatic quarterly withholding. The amount of tax collected depends on which Tax Sheltered Investment you have in your portfolio. You are then sent back to work (screen 1) to earn more income. INVESTMENTS There are seven different investments and each has different tax shelter benefits. Some also provide you with capital gains while others do not. There is a 50/50 chance that any investment will make or lose money. Good investments earn $1,000 per day in addition to any capital gain. Bad investments lose $1,000 per day but still can provide the capital gain. This is separate from and does not affect their ability to shelter income at the end of the season. The Tax Sheltered Investments Are: ######### OIL DERRICK ##. .## Oil And Gas Development # ### # ##' '## ######### ##. .## # ### # ##' '## ######### ##. .## # ### # # # # SUN # # # Solar Energy # # # ### ######### ### # # # # # # # # # ##### TRAIN CABOOSE ########### Railroad Containers # # # ########### #### #### %%%% GLASS FLASK %% Research & Development %% %% -------------------Atari 2600 Instructions Archive-------------------