Pass-Words Help Doc. Note: PowerPoint macros must be enabled before playing for more see help information below

Transcription

1 Pass-Words Help Doc Note: PowerPoint macros must be enabled before playing for more see help information below Setting Macros in PowerPoint The Pass-Words Game uses macros to automate many different game functions in PowerPoint. The Pass-Words Game will operate with PowerPoint version 2010 or later. To begin, determine the version of PowerPoint you have (2010, 2013 or 2016). POWERPOINT 2010, 2013, 2016 Important: When you change your macro settings in the Trust Center, they are changed only for the Office program that you are currently using. The macro settings are not changed for all your Office programs. To enable macros, open PowerPoint and follow the below steps: 1. Click the File tab. 2. Click Options. 3. Click Trust Center, and then click Trust Center Settings. 4. In the Trust Center, click Macro Settings. 5. Select Disable all macros with notification (pictured below) 6. Click OK. To check if your macros have been enabled, open the Pass-Words Game in PowerPoint and click on the Open Game Setup button on the Pass-Words menu (shown below). If the Game Setup popup does not appear, your macros have not been enabled. In some organizations, the IT system administrator might have changed the default settings to prevent unauthorized personnel from changing macro settings. If this seems to be the case,

2 check with your IT department. In most instances, they will be able to enable PowerPoint macros so that your Pass-Words Game functions properly. Now that your macro settings have been set to Disable all macros with notification, each time you open the Pass-Words Game, PowerPoint will first check, then ask if you want to Enable Macros (see popup below). CLICK ENABLE MACROS. Click to enable PowerPoint Protected View WHAT IS PROTECTED VIEW? Protected View is a special Read Only mode to protect files opened or saved over the Internet. These files can always be opened to edit or play by clicking Enable or Edit Anyway. Here is a link to a page that fully describes Protected View and how to turn it off. Here is a link to video that explains the process. About Pass-Words: Pass-Words is a fun and engaging team builder, training or icebreaker game. We ve designed the game to allow you to play it in several different ways which we will explain later in this Help document. In general, however, a game consists of a Pass-Word round in which teams take turns, giving and receiving clues to guess a hidden word, and a Lightning round, in which only one team gets to increase their score by guessing as many words as possible in a short (30 second to 2 minutes) time period. The host can have teams continue playing multiple games (consisting of Pass-Words & Lightning rounds), with all games played being totaled for an overall score and final game winner (Again a Pass-Words round + a Lightning round = One Game and a grand total of all games played determines the winning team). Let s begin by reviewing the game setup and explaining some of the terrific features found in the Pass-Words game. There are two ways to access the game setup, one while in PowerPoint edit mode (below) and the other while in Presentation mode (right). In Edit Mode In Presentation Mode

3 While in edit mode the setup can be accessed from the ribbon bar as shown above. You ll note we ve placed a new tab on your PowerPoint ribbon bar next to the HOME tab. The setup can also be accessed from Presentation mode (like when you re using PowerPoint to present a slide presentation) (shown above right). To open the setup menu from Presentation mode you ll first click on the green MENU button found on the Pass-Words round screen itself (Pictured on pg. 6). Before we get to the Pass-Words round screen however, let s take a good look at the setup screen (shown below). GAME SETUP: The setup includes three different tabs; Game Rules, Game Setup and Game Graphics. Let s begin with the tab in the middle, Game Setup tab (shown above). There are edit boxes for up to 15 player names found on the Game Setup tab. One of these can be used for the team name itself. If you only had six players per team you would type in those six names and leave the edit boxes below blank. You can play the game by rotating players who will give and receive word clues. Alternatively, you can play by having the entire team first discuss and then provide their best word clues to a single team player. We ll see this in action when we discuss playing the Pass-Words and Lightning round below. Importing Word Lists: We ve provided several different word lists that can easily be imported into the game. To

4 import any of these word lists all you need to do is to click the Set/Change word list path/filename button on the Setup. If the Word List files have been kept in the same directory as the game itself (This occurs automatically when first installed), the game will automatically open to that directory (shown above). Click PASS-WORDS Text Files and select any word (text format) file. You can also purchase additional word files from Training-Games.com. In the setup, you can select how you want words from these lists presented, sequentially or randomly (shown above on setup). You can also develop your own word lists and import them into the game (Note: Any Microsoft Word file can be saved as a text file by selecting Plain Text in the Save as Type dropdown box when attempting to configure word lists as text files for importing- shown right.) Alternatively, you could paste or create your list in the default Windows text editor called WordPad. Format for Creating Your Own Lists: We ve included several sample wordlists (text files) that you can use to play the game. These are easily imported into the Pass-Words game. As far as developing your own lists, the format of each word file is quite simple as well, but it is important you format correctly for the import to work as designed. Basically, all words in your list must be entered in sequence with only a carriage return separating each word. Thus, you type in an initial word, hit ENTER, and type a second word, hit ENTER and then a third word and so on. It does not matter how many words you enter; the game will accept them all and display them in the game either sequentially or randomly depending on your preference. Do not leave any blank lines between words in the text file. Now that you know you can create your own word lists, you may be interested in drawing your Pass-Words word lists from your own training program. For example, imagine you just completed a program on Good Customer Service. You might create a word list text file using words like, Listen, Communicate, Positive, Smile, Understanding etc. Adjusting Scores: Occasionally you may find it necessary to adjust a Pass-Words game score. To the right we ve shown a section of the Game Setup. The left top section entitled Adjust Pass-Words Scores is designated for adjustments on Pass-Words round only. Remember this is when both teams are playing and trying to earn a pre-set point value and then move to the Lightning round. The section below this Adjust Scoreboard Scores is designed to allow you to adjust the overall or total game points earned by either team during play. You ll note that here you can also adjust the number of complete games (Pass-Words and Lightning round = a Game).

5 Adjusting a score for the Lightning round is done on the Lightning round screen itself. Clicking the plus/minus sign will add/deduct three points from the Lightning round score. Playing Options: Pass-Words can be played in several different ways. For example, when playing the Pass-Words round you can have the clue giver and/or the clue receiver rotate with every new word. Alternatively, you can allow either the clue giver or clue receiver to remain the same person throughout the round. In addition, you can designate the clue giver as the entire team (Select Red/Blue Team by clicking through inputted Player Names). In this way, the team can first discuss their next clue prior to giving it to the clue receiver. Finally, you can also elect to Hide All Player Names (shown left). The game host can then select the clue giver and clue receiver while the game is being played (A fun icebreaker?). Any of these Ways to Play can be configured in the setup by checking/unchecking the Playing Options shown left. Points Needed to Win the Game: A Pass-Words round is won by one team or player accumulating a preset number of points. Here in the setup, the game host can set that point amount anywhere from 10 to 50 points. Lightning Round Timer Duration: On the setup screen, you ll see a section entitled Lightning Round Timers. Here you ll set the Lightning round timer for 30 sec., 1 minute, or 2 minutes. You ll also note you have a choice of using a Macro Timer or a Custom Animated Timer. A Macro Timer allows you to PAUSE the timer and re-started it as needed. This might be helpful if an Invalid clue is given and you wish to explain the point deduction. The Animated Timer is best selected when using a computer that may be slightly slow or you simply like this timer more. We use quite a few high-end graphics in the game, and although they are great to look at, they are also large and can serve to slow the operation of the game. In most cases this will not be a problem. Regardless we wanted to offer this as an alternative. There are however some operational differences dependent upon your timer selection. Macro Timer: After selecting the Macro Timer (30 sec/1 min/2min) on the Lightning round screen itself you ll see a button which reads Open Timer (right). Clicking this this button causes our automatic timer to popup (shown below). This timer can be started, paused,

6 stopped, closed and closed and automatically move you to the game s scoreboard. Just click the Start button to begin the countdown (shown below). Custom Animated Timer: Choosing this timer from the setup places a Start Timer button on the Lightning round screen (right). When this button is clicked it starts an animated clock timer which now appears on the Lightning round screen for 30 seconds, 1 minute or 2minutes. Here a look at the Lightning round screen with the Custom Animated Timer (shown below). Lastly on the Game Setup there are two yellow buttons at the bottom of the tab, Delete All Current and Previous Game Scores and Exit Game Setup. After making changing in the Setup, you re ready to play, but may first want to ensure old game scores have been deleted. Exit Game Setup, closes the Setup popup, and returns you to the game screens.

7 GAME RULES TAB: Displays general rules for playing the game and can be used to explain the rules to your audience (shown below). Note: These game rules are also editable and provide copy/paste functionality. GAME GRAPHICS TAB: We wanted to make the Pass-Words game very customizable and at the same time offer our customers

8 some very top-notch graphics to enhance the game. Let s look at the Game Graphics tab to see how we did! The first selection (Set Background Color) allows you to choose virtually any color background you d like. Using the Red, Green, and Blue color sliders (shown above) you can create any possible background color. Many organizations like to use their own company or organizational colors. Because you re working in PowerPoint it is also easy to bring in additional graphics and logos as well. Here s (below) a look at the games Pass-Words screen using the default color shown above. The identical background is also placed on the Lightning round and Scoreboard screens. However, you may like a more graphically enhanced background for your game, or to use different backgrounds for different training programs. In this regard, you may wish to import any of the graphical background we ve created for your Pass-Words studio. When you click the Import Graphical Image as Background button you can choose from a wide array of backgrounds we ve provided. Here s a look at a few of them.

9 We ve placed a folder entitled Pass-Words Background Files in the same file directory as the game itself. This file contains both animated and static backgrounds. If you keep this folder on your computer in the same directory as the game, you will be immediately brought to the background files by simply clicking on the Import Graphical Image as Background button. This is also of course, where the files appear when initially installing the game. You are not limited to the color and graphically enhanced backgrounds we provide. In fact, you can use as a background any GIF, JPEG, or PNG file you have on your computer. Import these files into the game in the same way using the Import Graphical Image as Background button. The game will configure your graphics file to fit. We also sell additional Background Graphics at Finally, on the Game Graphics tab there is a section entitled Shapes: Sizes & Locations. The various Pass- Words screen contain several different graphics which you can move around or resize. Examples might be the images of players or the game moderator and his podium. This section, after making size/location changes, allows you to save those changes, restore saved changes and reset all images to their original size and location. HOWEVER, WE DO RECOMMEND NOT DELETING THESE IMAGES. Once deleted they will be difficult to retrieve. That said however, we always recommend working from a copy of the original game. In other words, when you first install the game, open it and do a SAVE AS, to create your working copy. Then if you should accidentally delete images, you can return to the original file with all images intact. Now that we ve talked about setting up the game, let s look at the game itself and see how it is played! Starting a New Game: On the MENU found in the top right corner of all screens you can select Start New Game. A popup appears and asks if you wish to clear ALL scores and start a completely new game or if you want to retain total scores from prior games and begin a new Pass-Word and Lightning round. In this manner both the overall scores from prior games and the number of prior games played are retained on the scoreboard (see scoreboard below).

10 The Pass-Words round (shown above): As previously explained, the Pass-Word round is one in which teams take turns, giving and receiving clues to guess a hidden word. They are trying to accumulate enough points to win the round and move to the Lightning round. This will usually involve a team having their players guess several words during the round to win (Pass-Words round screen shown below). Let s explain in detail how the Pass-Words round is played. First, the game has selected players from each team to compete. One player will give clues and the other will get clues to guess the word. Note the two icons on the bottom center of the screen (with player names on either side). One is shown speaking (giving clues) while the other is blindfolded (receiving clues). The two players (red & blue team) adjacent to the blindfold icon are indeed, receiving clues while the other two players will give word clues. Word clues are typically one-word clues. Your receiving players don t need to be blindfolded, but will turn their backs away from the screen so as not to see the word when first

11 revealed. The game selects a starting team (Note: clicking on any of the 4 players depicted on the screen will change the Next up to play team. Click to change team turn When players are ready, the host will click the Show Next Word button. Note as well, appearing on the edge of the desk, the game has selected a team to give the first clue. Let s use the above screen and imagine the Blue Team is first to go, and the first word revealed is EMPEROR. Blue Team Player 15 gives his/her first word clue; KING. Player 11 on the Blue Team guesses MONARCH. This represents a Missed Try, and the host clicks on the Missed Try button that will effectively reduce the potential round points from 10 to 9. Now the game indicated it is the Red Team s turn, and Player 4 give his/her clue; ROYAL. Player 7 from the Red Team call out EMPEROR. The Red Team has guessed the word, the host clicks the Red Score Points button and the team receives 9 points. The game continues until one team earns a pre-set number of points. Recall from the Game Setup that the host can select this number anywhere from 10 to 50 points. Before we continue we want to mention a few operational features. 1. The host might consider allowing a person from the audience (even one of the players) to operate the game. Using one or more remote (wireless) mice plugged into USB slots in the presenting computer can allow several people to operate the game simultaneously. This will effectively free up the host, making it easier to act as the games MC. 2. Clicking on any one of the buttons on screen will advance that buttons function. In other words, if I clicked on the Blue Team s Player 15 button, it would advance to the next player in the sequence of players. The same is true if the host clicked on the Show Next Word or Missed Try button. 3. Keep in mind if a scoring error is made, you can simply move to the setup to adjust a Pass-Words game score for either team. Continuing with the game, the Red Team has just scored 9 points. When the Red Team s Score Points button was clicked several other things occurred. First, a new word is simultaneously advanced but is hidden under the Show Next Word button. Secondly, the Blue Team is now selected (shown on edge of desk) to get the next word. In addition, if the game has been set to advance either the clue giver or receiver or both, new players are introduced from both the Red and Blue Teams. Now players assume positions as the next word is introduced. The word is Knowledgeable. Since the Red Team scored last time, the Blue Team is up. A clue is given and it is a Missed Try. It s the Red Team s turn. The Red player s clue is Knowingly. Immediately the Blue Team members object and for good reason! The clue contains a form of the word Knowledgeable and is thus an Invalid Clue. The Red Team is penalized when the Invalid Clue button is clicked. There score is deducted by 5 points (1/2 the max round potential pts.) and stands now at 4 pts. They also lose their turn, and a new word is introduced to both teams. Let s imagine that the host has preset the Pass-Words round to be over when one team reaches 25 points. The game continues back and forth until the Blue Team earns 26 points, one more than is needed to win the Pass-Words round. It looks like the Blue Team will be automatically sent to the Lightning round

12 to earn even more total points (see above popup message). THE LIGHTNING ROUND: Above we are looking at the Lightning round. The Blue Team has already guessed two words for 6 points (3 points are awarded per word). The game has been set so that each time a new word is introduced, the clue giver but not the clue receiver changes. Player 1 will be guessing all the words throughout this Lightning round. Although you can set the game for the clue giver to automatically change, we thought it would be somewhat difficult to have the clue receiver physically get positioned for each new word introduced (Note: By clicking on the Player Name button you can however manually advance to the next player in sequence). The Lightning round can be played for 30 seconds, one or two minutes as determined by the game host. There are two methods for timing the Lightning round. Clicking on the Open Timer button brings up the game timer shown below. This (Macro) timer can be set for 30 seconds, one or two minutes (in the game setup). It can be paused or stopped by the host as needed and closed to move you to the game s Scoreboard as well. The number of countdown minutes is configured within the game setup as explained above. If, for example, the clock has been set for one minute, when the Open Timer button (on the Lightning round screen) is clicked the above clock timer appears. Now clicking on Start will begin the one-minute countdown.

13 During this time, the clue giver will continue to provide one-word clues as the clue receiver attempts to guess the word. Once a word is guessed, the Score Points button is clicked to give the team 3 additional points and a new word is automatically shown to the clue giver. The game continues until the one-minute time expires. The Scoreboard button found under the host s on-screen podium is then clicked to move us to the games Scoreboard. Before we go there however, let s look at two other methods for timing the Lightning round. We ve found in rare cases and on slower computers (those with 4 GB of Random Access Memory or less) the Custom Animated versus the Macro timer works best. Selecting the Custom Animated Timer in the Setup makes two on screen changes. 1. A gold and round countdown clock appears, and 2. The Open Timer button now reads Start Timer. Click Start Timer button to begin the countdown. Again, as the clock counts down and words are guessed, the Score Points button is clicked adding three points to the team score with each click. Finally, if you really wanted to use the Macro Timer, perhaps due to the Pause function, you could do the following. After clicking the Start Timer button, and then Start on the timer itself, when a word is guessed, simply click to Pause the timer, then click Score Points and finally re - Start the timer to continue playing. Let s now move on to the Game s Scoreboard to add together not only the points from the current game (Pass-Words round + Lightning round for each team), but also combining this game s points with any prior games played. To the left you see the game scoreboard (Note: we ve imported in another new background). The scoreboard is currently zeroed out. Points have not yet been totaled for the Pass- Words round and the Lightning round. To do so all we need to do is click the Post Game Scores button When clicked several things occur. First scores for both teams are totaled. In the figure shown right, the Red Team won the Pass-Words round, got to play the lightning round and now lead after game # one 42 to 20. The game host now can choose to either Continue Playing or click the

14 Game Over button. If continuing to play the scores (42 to 20) are retained, and we are returned to the Pass-Word screen to play another Pass-Words and Lightning round. After playing, all scores will be again combined, and the host will again decide to continue or end play. You ll note that after clicking the Post Game Scores button, the button itself disappears and is replaced by the Continue Playing and Game Over buttons. Extra Word Lists/Backgrounds: When you purchase the Pass-Words game we provide you with a selection of importable and formatted word lists (Text file format), as well as selection of importable animated and static background graphics. You may, if you wish, purchase additional importable and formatted word lists (Text file format) as well as selection of importable animated and static background graphics from our website for a small price. Thank you for choosing this great team builder and icebreaker Pass-Words Game. Contact us a support@training-games.com with any additional questions or comments. We love hearing from our customers.