The Ball Game manual
T H E B A L L G A M E Typed by SIDEWINDER/LSD. 22 January 1992 Another Golden oldie doc. MENU OPTIONS ============ F1 - HUMANS: Adjusts the number of human players 1-4. F2 - OPPONENTS: Adjusts the number of computer players 0-3. F3 - POSITIONS: Change which of the elements you control. F4 - INPUTS: Mouse, joystick, or keyboard (default is mouse). F5 - DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Very easy to ludicrous. F6 - TIMER: On or off - note human players may let the timer run out and not move on their turn, this is widely regarded as a cunning plan, but carries the penalty of losing 1 teleport. F7 - SFX: Turns the game sound on or off. F8 - DEMO: The computer-only show, we suggest playing the game is more fun. F9 - START PLAY: The option you've been waiting for, this lets you play the Ball Game. F10 - LANGUAGES: Cycles between English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. THE BOARD AND HOW TO WIN ======================== The play arena is an 8x8 square consisting of three types of platform each of which have a points value: Plain: 1 Green: 2 Cream: 4 Surrounding the board are the player's information boxes. These are divided into two sections, the right hand window reminds you of the remaining teleports, remember if you run out of teleports you are out of The Ball Game. The left hand window will show you the score, count the time and tell you the other pieces of information e.g. who won the level. YOUR CHARACTER ============== You control an element either Earth, Fire, Air or Water. THE OBJECTIVE The winner is the player who has the greatest point value of balls remaining, not necessarily the greatest number of balls. The winner is decided when all the players teleport off the board, the computer will then count each players point score, (press fire to skip the count sequence). A bonus of an additional teleport is given to the winner of each level and for each time you score a thousand points (generous to a fault in this game). OVERALL OBJECTIVE ================= There is no final goal to the Ball Game so the winner is the player with the most points when all the players are out of the game. CONTROL MODES AND STARTING THE GAME Once you select start game you will be presented with one final option screen, this allows you to select your starting level between 0 and 90, the higher the level the more holes in the board. MOUSE: Right mouse button cycles through available moves. Left button selects the move. JOYSTICK: Left/right cycles through available moves. Fire button selects the move. KEYBOARD: Spacebar cycles through available moves. Return selects the move. If you wish to exit the game press F10. HOW TO MOVE =========== Now that you know how to select a move, you need to know what you can actually do. you have three basic moves. WALKING Selecting a square next to the one you are standing on will cause your element to walk to the new location. This will create a ball of your colour on the previous square, it is also the only way to totally create a new ball. JUMPING Selecting a location two squares away will cause your element to jump to that location. Your element will then turn all balls on the surrounding location to your colour. You can jump other other elements and balls and gaps in the board. TELEPORT Selecting the location you are standing on will cause the player to be taken to random location on the board. You will only reappear if there is a location that has a free adjacent location i.e. not occupied by a ball or another player. If all spaces are occupied and you teleport then you will be out of that level. Note: If, at the end of the level there are no physical or beneficial moves to be made you should teleport out - there is nothing to be gained by letting the timer run-on continuously (apart from losing one teleport after another). There may come a stage at the end of the level where both you and the computer are taking it in turns to jump into the same square thereby turning all the balls on the surrounding locations your respective colours. The computer has a low level of patience and will eventually get bored and teleport out - hopefully! End.