Celebrity Calamity is a game where you become the financial manager for three up-and-coming celebrities who spend beyond their means. The game has four main screens:

• A job choice screen
• A income collection and item grabbing screen
• A purchasing/payment screen
• A scoring screen

Playing the game

To play the game you'll need to use your mouse and the left/right arrow keys.

Job Choice Screen

On the job choice screen, you'll see your progress managing each celebrity's finances as you get new jobs. As the celebrity manager, you'll need to pick a gig for the celebrity every few rounds. These gigs will allow these up-and-coming stars to earn money on the road to stardom. You will see the approximate amount of money you can earn for each job before making a choice.

Income collection and item grabbing screen

On the income collection and item grabbing screen, you'll need to collect celebrity earnings, grab items she/he wants, and avoid items she/he has not requested you buy. You are Tom Foolery, the stick figure. Use the left and right arrow keys to move Tom around the screen catching money as it falls and collecting/avoiding items. The celebrity has a checking account and as you collect money, you'll see the account rise in the upper right corner of the screen. If the account doesn't stay positive, neither will the celebrity. You'll see the items the celebrity wants each round in the upper part of the screen. Once you grab an item you have to purchase it, so move wisely.

Purchasing/Payment Screen

On the purchasing/payment screen you can use a debit card and/or a credit card to purchase the items collected. Like the real-world, the debit card draws money directly out of the checking account each time it is used, but the debit card has a daily limit of $2000. The celebrity has also signed up for a credit card. Just like the real world, this credit cards let you buy something now and pay later. Don't forget that credit cards will incur finance charges if you don't pay them off every round. Over time, those can really add up! Decide how much of your credit card to pay off by using the Credit Card Payment slider. Using the mouse, you slide the handle to the left and right. If you pay less than the minimum, you'll get a late payment penalty!

Scoring Screen

The final screen is the scoring screen. This is a good time to remind you of the celebrity Happiness Meter. The Meter has four states: Happy, Content, Anxious, and Angry. If you go into debt, incur finance charges, collect fees, or don't pick up the items she/he wants, the celebrity will become anxious or angry. And if the celebrity stays angry for too long, you'll be fired! In addition, this screen shows the Career Ladder. The happier you keep the celebrity, the faster you will move up from Coffee Fetcher to Executive Partner.

Celebrity Calamity also has in-game help if you get stuck. Good luck and have fun!