From the inlay:
The Guard must protect the ammunition. The Saboteur must blow it up. Neither want to die. Choose which role to play in these two exciting games of strategy.
User Summary:
Saboteur was an early game by the legendary Don Priestly (Trap Door, Popeye). The core of the game is similar whether you play the Saboteur or the Guard. The screen represents a top-down view of a warehouse, filled with 200 boxes of ammunition represented by Xs. The guard is represented by an *, and the Saboteur is represented by an S. The aim of the Saboteur is to place a charge such that a chain reaction is caused, blowing up as many boxes of ammunition as possible.
When playing the Guard, the objective is to stop the Saboteur reaching the prime location which will blow up the most boxes. You are armed only with a truncheon, which prevents the Saboteur entering a 5x5 box centred on the Guard. The Guard gets enough time to make 20 moves before the Saboteur starts moving. There are therefore two options - move so that the Saboteur is blocked from moving, or try to identify where the ideal location for the Saboteur to plant his charge is, and guard that location. Points are scored if the Saboteur is prevented from reaching his ideal location, points are lost for every box which is destroyed and a large number of points are lost if the Guard is caught in an explosion (though he is not killed). After each run by the Saboteur, new boxes are added. The game repeats until the Saboteur has made more than 250 moves.
When playing as the Saboteur, you get 40 moves to go and place the charge, then 10 further moves to retreat to a safe distance before it explodes. Points are scored for every box destroyed. Large numbers of points are scored for catching the Guard in an explosion. Large numbers of points are lost if the Saboteur is blown up. Destroyed boxes are replaced after each charge explodes and the game repeats as the Saboteur attempts to place his 10 charges. However in this game, the Guard is much more deadly. He is now armed with a rifle, and if there is ever an unobstructed horizontal or vertical path between the Guard and the Saboteur, then the Saboteur will be shot and killed instantly (no matter how many charges he still has available).
The inlay indicates that a ZX81 with 16K memory is required. As with many ZX81 games, the inlay includes instructions for POKEs which alter the game. In this case, the speed can be altered, as can the number of ammunition boxes in each of the games.