# this try/except block handles accessing a high score
try:  # this attempts to open a file
    with open('score.dat', 'rb') as file:  # opens score.dat to read
        highScore = pickle.load(file)  # set highScore to the loaded file
except:  # if there is no score.dat file, then this creates one. Without this except, the program would crash.
    with open('score.dat', 'wb') as file:  # opens score.dat to write
        pickle.dump(highScore, file)  # put the highScore (which is 0 if this runs) in the pickle file