REACTOR
GAME PLAY AND SCORING

HOW TO PLAY
The game activity starts with the player's ship contained within the heart of a
nuclear reactor. The player moves his ship using a track ball, and has the use of
a rapid-fire energy button and a decoy button to protect himself.

During the game play, the core expands as the enemy particles attempt to destroy the
player's ship by deflecting it against the kill wall. Simultaneously, the player must
destroy the enemy particles by using his ship to deflect them against the kill wall.
Pushing the energy button (located on the control panel) when the player's ship is
in contact with an enemy particle, will increase the force applied to both the
player's ship and enemy particle. When the decoy button is pushed, a decoy will
emerge from the player's ship. The decoy will remain stationary at the point where
the ship was located when the button was pushed. The decoy confuses the enemy so that
they attack the decoy instead of the player.  The decoy cannot be destroyed and
should be placed in one of three positions:

     1. Next to a kill wall.
     2. In front of the control rods.
     3. Inside the entrance to the bonus chambers.

In doing so, the enemy particles will be lured into a position which will allow the
player to:
     
     1. Destroy them against a kill wall.
     2. Destroy the control rods.
     3. Trap them in the bonus chamber.

Knocking down either set of control rods, with enemy particles, will reduce the size
of the core. Knocking down both sets of control rods will add an extra decoy. After
every 15,000 points, the player earns one extra ship. (Dependent on switches #7 and #8.)

While the enemy particles are in the bonus chambers, they will deflect off one
another and the walls. As they are deflected off the walls, bonus is scored. To
achieve maximum bonus, the player must use the ENERGY button to hold the enemy
particles in the bonus chamber as long as possible.  The player earns 15 points
per bounce during the early rounds and 15+ per bounce as the game progresses. On
each round, point values per bounce increase.

As the play progresses, the reactor core continually grows in size, which
decreases the usable playfield.

During the early rounds the core is a rectangular shape which expands outward
forcing the player closer to the dangerous kill walls. The player can shrink the
core by destroying either set of control rods, or killing the total amount of
enemies "TO GO" for each round.

In later rounds the rectangular expanding core is replaced with an expanding and
swirling vortex.

Unlike the rectangular core, the vortex is deadly to the player. As it enlarges,
it will draw the player to its center and destroy him. A skillful player can get
out of the vortex even after it has caught him by moving his ship in a clockwise
direction.  The ideal game play is a balance of using the decoys and bounce chambers
to accumulate large bonus points, extra ships and using the control rods to gain
extra decoys.

ROUND PROGRESSIONS
Commencing with set three, the outer kill walls become invisible and remain that
way for the rest of the game. In set five and on (round 33), set four repeats
itself, but the enemy particles gain more speed and mass, and are harder to kill.
The control rods in each set for the rest of the game will be nine.


CONTROL PANEL INSTRUCTIONS TACTICS
* Track Ball controls player movements.
* Lure enemies close to outer wall for easier hits.
* Bounce enemies into outer wall to destroy them.
* Place decoy by outer wall for easier hits.
* Player will be destroyed by touching outer wall.
* Place decoy inside bonus chamber for big bonus,
* Completing one target bank shrinks core. And be careful!
* Completing both target banks wins one extra decoy.
* Knock enemy into bonus chamber for bonus points.
* Place decoy by target banks to earn more bonus and shrink core.
* Use early rounds to build up decoy reserves for later rounds.
* Use ENERGY for more power to repel enemy.
* Use DECOY to distract enemy
* TO GO indicates number of enemies left in round.