A funny story about Seven Cities of Gold. My friend and I both had a copy, no manual. The "food" counter showed how many days left before starvation. I was a calculated number based on how many soldiers and food units you had.

My friend showed me how to get more food. Just stand in a village and let the natives attack. The food counter would rise. I had to explain it to him that is was rising because his soldier count was decreasing. Once he realized that, he had to restart.