Item description:

Ghost House War is a game for up to four players with many different modes of play. The basic goal of the game is to be the last player standing, and to accomplish this goal you must jump on your opponents' heads to kill them. There's a fiendish array of items you can use to help you kill your opponents, as well. In addition, there are several variations on this basic gameplay mechanic which you can try, such as Bone Chicken, Graverobbers, and so on. Plus, for those who enjoy customization, there are several aspects of the game which you can tweak to your liking through the Options menus!

This section of the manual explains how to navigate the game's menus, and contains a short explanation of Tournaments and Tours as well. Please note that all of the controls listed in this section are defaults, and can be reconfigured if you like.

The Main Menu
From this menu, you can access everything else in the game.

Start will take you to the Match Type Menu (see below).
Players allows you to change players between Player (human), Bot (computer), and None. You can't have less than two players active at any one time.
Options takes you to the Options menu. For more information, check its section towards the end of this manual.
Controls lets you configure the players' control schemes to your liking. For more info, check the Controls section of this manual.
Exit causes the game to exit.
Match Type Menu
From this screen, you can choose which type of match you'd like to play.

You can change the type of match by selecting the Match option and pressing Enter.
(If you're using a joystick, press Jump to lock in your selection.)
The match choices available are Single Game, Tournament, Tour, and the new World Map mode.
Once the Match option has been selected, you can choose the type of match with Left and Right.
After you've decided on a match type, select Start and press Enter (or Jump using a joystick) to go to the Team and Character Selection Menu.
Team and Character Selection
From this screen, you can configure who is using which character and is on which team.

You can select what character you'd like to be, out of all the skins you have on your machine, with Up and Down.
You can select what team you want to be on with Left and Right.
If you want to have the game select a skin for you at random, press Up and Down together (or if using a joystick, press the Random button).
If you want to have a different random skin at the beginning of each match, without being able to see it beforehand, press Left and Right together (or with a joystick, press the Fast-Scroll and Random buttons together), which will change your skin into a flashing letter R.
Press your Turbo key to lock in your selection, unless you're Player 1, who uses Enter. (If you're using a joystick, press Jump to lock in your selection, no matter which player you are.)
After all players have locked in, you can press Enter on this screen to start your selected match type.
Single Game Menu
From this menu, you can select your game mode, select the map you wish to use, change various mode settings, and tag your maps for easy selection. (When playing a Tour or World Map, all options on this screen, besides Start, are disabled.)

Start starts the game.
Mode allows you to change game modes. For info on these, please refer to the Game Modes section of this manual.
Lives/Kills/Time/Etc. allows you to change the current game mode's basic parameter (i.e. the game length).
Map allows you to change the map you want to use. You can press Left or Right to pick another map, or hold Left Shift and press Left or Right to go forward or backward 10 maps at a time. You can also repeatedly press a letter or a number to cycle through maps whose names start with it, or quickly type in part of a map's name to search for it.
Filters allows you to select maps that only meet certain criteria. You can select one or more categories (such as whether or not the map contains moving platforms) and the game will only give you maps that meet all the criteria established. The bottom category, Simple, can be used as a custom filter by selecting the green question mark icon, which will give you a thumbnail view (see below) of all the maps. From there, maps can be toggled on (signified by a little coin) and off.
Thumbs allows you to view many maps at once with a "thumbnail"-style view. To view other pages, scroll up or down off the screen, or hold Left Shift and press Up or Down.
Playing the Game
The main goal of the game is to stomp on your opponents' heads to kill them, although depending on the map you're playing on, you may be able to kill them in other ways, such as with items. There may also be additional rules or a different way of winning, depending on the mode you are playing; for information on these, you can check the Game Modes section of this manual. For information on the controls you'll be using to play the game, check out the section on Controls, below. And to learn about the different items and map elements you can use to turn the tables on your opponents, take a look at the Items and Special Blocks sections, towards the middle of the manual.

Tournaments, Tours, and World Maps
In a Tournament, players play games until one player has amassed a certain number of wins. The number of the Tournament determines how many wins are required (so, if you pick Tournament 4, you have to win four times). Each time a player wins, they will receive an icon on the scoreboard (first picture, above). This icon will be representative of the mode played.

In a Tour, players play a series of predetermined games ("tour stops"). At the end of each game, players receive points based on how well they placed, and icons will be displayed on the scoreboard (second picture, above) to show just how each player placed in that round. Tours can be created by making a text file in the game's Tours subdirectory, following the correct format (check out simple.txt for more info). It is possible to designate how valuable each individual tour stop is (this information is displayed along the top of the scoreboard - see the screenshot), as well as which tour stops grant a bonus item to the winner.

In a World Map, a random player is given control of the board to start. Players navigate the map and play predetermined games to compete for the best score. To check and/or play a game on the map, press Turbo on the game's tile. (Enter for Player 1.) The screen preceding a game shows the name of the Map Stop, map, mode, and goal. Also shown are any items rewarded after the game and the point value for the Map Stop. The winner of the game gains control of the board. Items gained from Mushroom Houses, game rewards, etc., can be accessed by pressing Use Item. To use an item in your inventory, select it and press Turbo.

For a list of the World Map items, take a look at the Items and Special Blocks section towards the middle of the manual. Mushroom Houses can be found on many World Maps, so make good use of them! Each Mushroom House can hold up to five items to choose from. The items may be in order, or they may be random, depending on how it's set up in the world's txt file. To open a chest, simply stand in front of it and press Turbo.

In addition to predetermined games and Mushroom Houses, there are vehicle tiles, which move after every game or Mushroom House. Upon landing on one, it will automatically start the game set to it. In some maps, there are bridges that rise and lower with each game, blocking players from travelling across. There are also warp pipes that can be used to travel. Along with those, there are locked doors, which can be opened with a key obtained through one of the games on the map. The World Map match ends when the game marked "End Stage" has been played. There can be more than one of these per map.

At the end of a Tournament, or after every game within the Tournament if that option is set (see the Options section towards the end of this manual), the winner will get a chance to spin the bonus wheel to acquire an item that they can use in the next game or games. However, in Tours, the bonus wheel will only appear in places where the tour's creator designates it, regardless of any current settings. Tour stops with this opportunity are represented on the scoreboard as small winged yellow boxes.

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