SLAMBALL DOCUMENTS
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SCENARIO
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Click 3, 2, 1, Whooooosh.....! 

Heads up! Careful now slide down easy. Left...not enough English. Pull...that's it... Pull more...perfect... Now body armor ON! 

CRASH... BOING... BOING... CRUNCH... BOING... 300 points not bad! But you know you'll have to do better... Pull right more...more... Oh NO!... ARMOR ON...drop target...slaaaam...too late... 

After you've played at pinball and thought you had it down! Experience SLAMBALL. The arcade game where you are the pinball! No room for mistakes, no time for thought, just awesome action as you frantically hold on to survive. 


INTRODUCTION 
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Great pinball - and lots more. All the bumpers, roll-overs and targets your heart desires, and four sets of flippers to shoot the ball back to the top - if you're quick. What's more, you have complete ball control - the first ever in computer pinball - and a "tilt" feature. Up and down scrolling over four full screens so you can track the ball - and the action. Two people can play at once - one controls the ball and tilt, the other handles the flippers. All the bells, whistles, gongs and surprises make Slamball the best computer pinball game ever. 


SLAMBALL 
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Some years ago (just after the video revolution, when people switched from pool halls to arcades for entertainment) a pinball machine was moved into a videoarcade. Inside this machine lived Mr. Slamball, a pinball who liked nothing better than to bounce about in his mechanical playland. He would run and jump headfirst into the targets, careening off the bumpers and banks just to see how long he could keep himself in motion. Then he would be catapulted (lightning quick) from the cannon once again for another merry round of movement. Again and again he would jump and bounce, sail and glide - for as long as he could get people to play him. His only concern in the world was figuring out how to get someone to keep coming to him for fun so he could remain constantly in motion. 

This never was much of a problem for Mr. Slamball. At least not until recently. But now, everyone only wants to play videogames! More and more, it seemed, Mr. Slamball found himself waiting anxiously for a round of fun and merriment - for someone to put a coin in his slot so he could begin the bouncing he loved so much. But as time went by, these occasions became fewer and fewer. He felt listless and bored, alone, forgotten and neglected. Finally, Mr. Slamball's situation became so desperate and his loneliness so great that he sank into the depths of depression over his predicament. He longed to be happy again. He wished he could find a way to compete and eventually triumph in the new world of electronic fantastics. 

One day as he sat forlorn and dejected, a brilliant idea occured to him: Why not find a videogame and take it over? Not only would he be bouncing and sailing once again, but he would be able to do things that were never possible with a mechanical pinball machine! Why hadn't he thought of this before, he wondered, as he felt a surge of energy for the first time in many weeks. He felt alive again, and smiled like never before. Barely able to contain his excitement, he carefully plotted his attack, mapping his coup d'etat. 

Mr. Slamball can't remember happier days or more elated bumps and bounces than he's enjoying now! He flies blissfully with the vertical smooth scrolling, windowing through the four different playing screens. He sails and glides endlessly. And you know what? Mr. Slamball is so popular that he is never left alone anymore - he is the happiest pinball alive! 


HOW TO PLAY 
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When Slamball has loaded and the title page is on the screen, use the keys on the right-hand side of the keyboard to start the game, and select the number of balls and players. 

[F1] - Pauses the game during play but has no function on the title page. Pushing this key will freeze the ball on the screen. Any joystick movement will resume play. 

[F3] - Functions on the title page only. Allows you to select 3 or 5 balls. 

[F5] - Functions on the title page only. Allows you to select 1 or 2 players. 

[F7] - Starts the game. During game play, [F7] will abort the game and return you to the title page. The fire button on the joystick will also start the game. 


JOYSTICK (ONE PLAYER) 
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If there is only one player, the joystick must be plugged into Port 2. 
       1 
       I
       I
 2-----+-----3 
       I
       I
       4 
With the fire button released: 
Direction 1: Has no effect. 
Direction 2: Moves the left flippers. 
Direction 3: Moves the right flippers. 
Direction 4: Moves both sets of flippers. 

With the fire button pressed: 
Direction 1: Has no effect. 
Direction 2: Pulses the ball to the left. 
Direction 3: Pulses the ball to the right. 
Direction 4: Has no effect. 


JOYSTICK (TWO PLAYERS) 
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The player with the joystick in Port 2 controls the flippers and the player with the joystick in Port 1 controls the ball motion. The fire button has no effect on either joystick. 


SHOOTING THE CANNON 
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The cannon loads automatically and the ball is ready to fire on to the playing field. Use the joystick directions 1 and 4 to position the cannon backplate and set the amount of propellant charge. The fire button launches the ball. Pressing the fire button when the backplate is flush against the cannon automatically fires the ball with the maximum charge. 
With two players, Player 1 controls the cannon. 


ACCUMULATING POINTS 
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There are four sequential levels of playing difficulty. 

TARGETS: 200 points each. 
You must knock down all targets once to complete one playing level and move on to the next one. Targets are arranged inbanks. A bank resets from solid to hollow targets once all targets in the bank have been knocked down. In the scoreline, the "T#" shows how many solidtargets have to be hit to complete the level. 

FLOATING BUMPERS: Score bonus points (amount depends on the level of play) and engage the score multiplier. 
Knocking down a bank of targets releasesthe floating bumpers. 
The floating bumpers have to be hit before they collide with any part of the playfield and disintegrate. If this happens, no points are scored. 

RUBBERBAND KICK BUMPERS: 10 points each. 

ROUND POP BUMPERS: 100 points each. 

ROLLOVERS: 50 points each. 


SCORE MULTIPLIER 
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Each time you hit one of the floating bumpers, the score multiplier is changed from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3, from 3 to 4, or from 4 to 1 again. Anything hit for points will have its point value multiplied by the score multiplier currently in effect. 


SCORING 
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Your score is calculated as a running total during gameplay. Upon completion of current level of play, the bonus is tallied based on the number of balls chosen at the start of the game (3 or 5). 

5 Ball Game = current score + number of balls left at completion of level x level completed x 1000. 

3 Ball Game = current score + number of balls left at completion of level x level completed x 2500. 


HORIZONTAL JOSTLE 
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Propelling the ball in a horizontal direction gives a pulse addition to the velocity. There is a forced wait between the pulses. The length of the wait is determined by the level of game play. 

There is a fixed number of horizontal jostle pulses. The number (along with a random addition) depends on the current game level. The allowable number of horizontal pulses is reset if the ball returns to the cannon barrel. When the maximum number of jostle pulses is exceeded, the machine is TILTED and the ball in play is lost. 


STRATEGY HINTS 
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You can use your horizontal jostle with the flippers to increase your score or save a ball. With the joystick, move the ball into the flippers and release the fire button and the flippers will move. This maneuver will switch ball movement between the flippers and horizontal jostle. 

The "T" in the score line indicates how many targets must be hit before you can advance to the next level. Sometimes there are targets up at the top of the playfield that need to be dropped. To get at them, use the openings in the cannon chute to drop the ball back into the cannon. You can then fire the ball back up to the top of the playfield. This also resets the number of horizontal pulses. 

To jump to a higher set of flippers/targets, hit the ball and hold the flippers up to allow the ball to pass through. 

Don't forget that the Score Multiplier sequences 1-2-3-4-1. When it is a 4, be sure to avoid the Floating Bumpers. Otherwise, the entire sequence restarts at 1. 


CREDITS 
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Written by Stephen C. Biggs. 
Copyright 1984 by Synapse Software Corporation. 
