From: rains@dms.UUCP (Lyle Rains) Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade Subject: KLAX lesson 1 Date: 6 Sep 91 18:58:51 GMT Organization: Atari Games Inc., Milpitas, CA This is the first of 3 lessons on playing KLAX from Atari Games. This lesson will cover some KLAX basics, and the following two will contain some advanced stategies and techiniques. ,' / /\ \ `. ,' / / \ \ `. <----- RAMP (usually seen with tiles ,' / / \ \ `. flipping down its 5 lanes) -------------------- [a] [b] === <----- PADDLE (with 2 stacked tiles) | | | [b]| |[a] [b] [c] [a]| <---- BIN (shown with an assortment |[d] [a] [c] [d]| of tiles in its 5 columns) |[a] [c] [c] [a] [d]| +-------------------+ FIG 1. Basic KLAX Playfield KLAX is a color matching game of tic-tack-tiles. The basic playfield contains a bin which can hold 5 columns of 5 tiles. The player uses a joystick to control a platform (paddle) on which he must catch colored tiles which are flipping off of the end of a 5-lane ramp. Up to 5 tiles can be stacked on the paddle. Pushing a button will drop the top tile from the paddle stack onto one of the columns in the bin. The game is played in successive levels with a stated objective for each level. The objective is to survive each level (so what's new?). The basic gameplay requires the player to build the columns within the bin in such a way that he creates 3-in-a-row combinations of tiles with the same color. A matching 3-in-a-row is called a "KLAX." A KLAX may be in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction. You may also make KLAXs (KLAXi?) of four or five tiles for more points. A 4-KLAX counts as 2 KLAXs, and a 5-KLAX counts as 3 KLAXs. Simple, no? Oh, yes ... when you get a KLAX, the tiles involved in the KLAX will disappear, and any tiles which were piled on top will drop down in the columns. This is good, because there are only 25 spaces in the bin and you need to get rid of tiles to stay alive (fill up the bin - you're dead). On the other hand, dropping tiles can rearrange patterns you had carefully set up, so you need to plan ahead. Besides filling up the bin, the other (and most common) way to end your game is to fumble too many tiles falling off the end of the ramp. You can just plain miss 'em, or you can have a full (5 tile) paddle and be unable to catch another one. The maximum number of drops varies depending on how many levels you jump at level select screens. The range is three to five drops. In practice, you tend to lose drops in bunches (getting flustered), so it's not clear that 5 drops is bunches better than 3 (although it's certainly no worse). The various levels have different objectives. Some require a certain number of KLAXs to advance. Some require a number of points. Some only count DIAGONAL KLAXs toward completion, and some simply require "surviving" a certain number of tiles. Congratulations! You have just completed KLAX bootcamp. You can test your new found knowledge at a game room near you. Advanced training begins in the next lesson. -- wmm -/@-@\- Lyle Rains <-- motcsd!dms!rains or lrains@netcom.com ( (_) ) Atari Games <-- "Tube hits for two-bits" \_o_/ Milpitas, CA <-- With convenient parking in lots 237 and 880.