Tuesday, November 30, 2010

How to use the Buncolator app

We hope Buncolator is user-friendly, and we've worked hard to make it that way! Just in case, here are some good, ol' fashioned, step-by-step directions for utilizing your favorite new app!

1. Once you have downloaded Buncolator from Itunes, you will see an icon that opens the app from your Iphone home screen. This icon is a small yellowish box with a pink "B."

2. Once you open the app by tapping the Buncolator icon, you will be greeted with Buncolator's introductory screens while the app loads. This will only take a few short seconds.

3. After the app loads, you will see a three-part screen with retro images and the options "Start," "Share," and "Free." You will also be greeted by the audio clip of "Buncolator!" Tapping the "Start" box will launch Buncolator and allow you to start keeping score! "Share" and "Free" will give you options including sharing this app with friends (and we thank you in advance!) and connecting straight to our blog.

4. Once you have tapped the "Start" box to begin keeping score, you will be presented with a two-column screen containing one column with pink accents and one column with blue accents. Each column will be titled with a team name - we hope that you enjoy the 1950's-centered team name pairings that we came up! To begin keeping score, simply touch the column of the team who rolls first. When a player on that team gains points, just tap the corresponding button, either 1, 2, 5 (baby bunco!) or 21 (bunco!). Continue adding to that player's team score as that player's luck continues. Once that player's turn is completed, just tap the other column to begin keeping score for the other team. It's that simple!

Helpful hints and other fun facts:

- When a team achieves the 21 points needed for Bunco, either by rolling Bunco or by cumulatively attaining 21 points, the app won't let this slip by you - you will hear the audio clip "Bunco!"
- If you inadvertently tap the wrong scoring button, let's say, 5 instead of 2, no problem! Immediately tapping the gray "Oops" button will delete the most-recent point(s) entered, and you can then tap the button that correctly matches the point or point combination rolled. You will hear the sound of an eraser scritch-scratching when you employ this handy button!
- If your Bunco game takes a pause - let's say for a talk or snack break - and you don't use your Buncolator for a few minutes, you will hear the faint noise of snoring coming from your app. Just a little something we thought was fun!
- To easily remember who's on which team, i.e. the pink team or the blue team, we recommend that the player keeping score picks their favorite color of the two and consistently remains on that color's team. For example, Lindsay's favorite color is pink, so she and her partner are always on the pink team if Lindsay is keeping score. This way, recalling which player is on which team is never an issue!

We hope these tips and hints prove helpful! Happy playing!