                      T H E   B A L L   G A M E

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.