PBS Bowling for Intellivision

 BOWLING

Intellivision Cartridge Instructions

(For 1 to 4 Players)

At these electronic "lanes" you pick your ball weight according to your own

bowling style, set the amount of alley slickness, then you're "up"!  Aim your

ball carefully and select the amount of curve and loft and go for the pocket!

Strike!  This is a game of high precision that will test your skill to the

limit.  Regulation 10-frame bowling or "Pick-up Spare" for practice with the

tough set-ups.  Ready?  There's a big fanfare if you beat 200!

OBJECT OF THE GAME

One to four players control an electronic bowler to knock down as many pins as

possible.  Standard Bowling Scoring:  a strike (all pins on first ball) gives

you 10 pins plus pins on following 2 balls, a spare (all pins knocked down in

two attempts) gives you 10 pins plus pins on following ball.  In Pick-Up Spares,

bowler faces 10 frames of spare setups randomly presented from 32 possibilities;

scoring according to difficulty.

EXAMINE YOUR CONTROLS

ALL KEYS

Set slickness, bowling hand, ball weight

KEYS NO. 5 AND 6

Select game

LEFT BUTTONS

Move bowler at starting line

TOP RIGHT BUTTON

Loft ball

BOTTOM RIGHT BUTTON

Aim, then release ball

DISC

Set amount of curve and pick up ball

GET READY TO BOWL

1. Press Disc.  You see: "SELECT GAME:".

2. Press 5 for standard Bowling game  (see below).  Press 6 for Pick-up Spares

game (see page 10).  Press ENTER.  You see: "# BOWLERS".

3. Press 1 to 4, to indicate number of players.  Then press ENTER.  You see:

"SLICKNESS".

4. Press 0 to 10 (0 is slowest alley, with maximum curve; 10 is fastest alley &

most difficult).  Then press ENTER.  You see: "BALL WEIGHT".

5. Press one of these numbers to set the weight of your ball (heavier weights

give you more pin action; lighter weights give you more ball deflection).

0: 7 lbs.

1: 8 lbs.

2: 9 lbs.

3:10 lbs.

4:11 lbs.

5:12 lbs.

6:13 lbs.

7:14 lbs.

8:15 lbs.

9:16 lbs.

Then press ENTER.  You see: "BOWLER HAND".

6. Press Key 8 for LEFT; press Key 9 for RIGHT.  Left-handed bowling makes ball

curve to the right.  Right-handed bowling makes ball curve to the left.

Press ENTER.

Repeat ball weight and bowler hand entries until all players have been included.

You see the alley.

Ball color indicates active bowler.

Scoreboard numbers color indicates bowler score being displayed.

Bowler No. 1: Red

Bowler No. 2: Lt. Green

Bowler No. 3: Blue

Bowler No. 4: Dk. Green

GAME 1: BOWLING

Once your bowler is "up" (his ball has arrived at the end of the Ball Return):

you hear a Gong.

1. Pick up the ball, by pressing the DISC.

2. Use the buttons on the LEFT SIDE of your Hand Controller to position bowler

at starting line.

3. Press the LOWER RIGHT side button.  IMPORTANT: Once you've depressed this

button, KEEP pressing it, until you are ready to release the ball.  Watch the

white "spotter ball" which sweeps repeatedly across the alley.  It indicates the

spot your ball will cross, approximately 1/3 of the distance to the head pin.

4. When the "spotter ball" reaches the location you want your ball to cross,

RELEASE THE LOWER RIGHT BUTTON.  Your bowler will start to move toward the foul

line to release the ball.

5. BEFORE the ball leaves your bowler's hand, set the amount of curve by

pressing one spot on the edge of the Direction Disc.  You might want to press

the Disc more than once, to adjust the amount of curve.  Each time you do, you

will hear a click.  The computer just uses the last curve amount you indicate

before the bowler reaches the foul line.

IF YOU DON'T PRESS THE DIRECTION DISC while the bowler is making his approach to

the foul line, the computer will put in a random curve (or straight ball) for

you.  If you let the computer decide how much curve to put on the ball, your

roll could go slightly to the left or right.  If you release the ball so it goes

over the middle spotting arrow and then you don't press the Disc, you'll

probably knock down some pins, but how many will depend on luck.  To get high

bowling scores, YOU should control the curve.

6. This step is completely optional, and should be used only when you want a

very sharp breaking curve when the ball is at the far end of the alley:

AFTER your bowler has started the approach, and AFTER the figure's arm has begun

its downward swing, press the upper right button on the side of the Hand

Controller: LOFT.  In the brief time span between the descent of your bowler's

arm and ball release, the LATER you press the LOFT button, the more pronounced

the final curve of the ball will be.

The LOFT adjustment is useful in picking up some difficult splits, when you want

the ball to hit pins on both sides of the alley.

GAME 2: PICK UP SPARES

When you select the Pick-Up Spares game, you have the chance to practice you

accuracy on 32 randomly occurring "leaves." You will get 2 chances to knock down

all the pins. Unlike the regular Bowling game, if you miss any pins with your

first ball, they will be reset before you roll your second ball. If more than

one player is bowling in the Pick-Up Spares game, each contestant will have the

same arrangement of pins each turn.

Pick-Up Spares is a good way to practice your bowling accuracy and increase your

skill. There are 32 possible Spare setups.  Each one has a scoring value, as

shown below. The more difficult setups will give you a higher score. Although

some situations are hard to pick-up, every one CAN be "made":

Pin numbers:

7  8  9  10

  4  5  6

    2  3

      1

Leaves and points:

7-10: 1st ball 30, 2nd ball 15

4-6-7-10: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

5-7: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

7: 1st ball 8, 2nd ball 4

1-5-8-9: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

2-10: 1st ball 18, 2nd ball 9

3-9-10: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

6-7-8-10: 1st ball 30, 2nd ball 15

3-6-10: 1st ball 10, 2nd ball 5

5-10: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

1-6-10: 1st ball 14, 2nd ball 7

2-8: 1st ball: 12, 2nd ball 8

1-2-8: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

3-10: 1st ball 15, 2nd ball 7

9-10: 1st ball 13, 2nd ball 6

4-7-9: 1st ball 16, 2nd ball 8

6-7-10: 1st ball 18, 2nd ball 9

3-5-6-9-10: 1st ball 13, 2nd ball 6

4-6-7-8-10: 1st ball 30, 2nd ball 15

1-4-5-7-8: 1st ball 15, 2nd ball 7

1-3-6-8-10: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

8-10: 1st ball 25, 2nd ball 12

5-8: 1st ball 10, 2nd ball 5

3-7: 1st ball 18, 2nd ball 9

1-2-4-7-8: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

2-4-5: 1st ball 11, 2nd ball 5

1-3-5-6: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

4-6: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

5-6-10: 1st ball 14, 2nd ball 7

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9: 1st ball 20, 2nd ball 10

10: 1st ball 8, 2nd ball 4

1-2-3-5-6-10: 1st ball 12, 2nd ball 6

An excellent score for Pick-up Spares is 75 -- and if you make it you'll get the

Victory fanfare, courtesy of P.I. Tchaikovsky!

BOWLING AND PICK-UP SPARES

As soon as the ball is released and crosses the spotter marks, the scene shifts

to show you a down-the-valley view.

As the ball rolls, you can see the "holes" turning over and over.  Their

location will show you which way the ball is curving, if any (on a straight

ball, the holes will appear to turn over in the middle).

As soon as the ball gets to the shaded area at the end of the alley, the picture

goes into slow motion so you can see how the pins are moving...

After a couple of seconds (so there is enough time for tumbling pins to move

around and possibly knock down some still-standing pins), the sweep appears and

clears the alley for the next ball.

NOTE: When the ball rolls just behind a pin, it APPEARS to be passing in front

of the top of the pin. This is a characteristic of the computer graphics that

display a moving object in this game. Then you hear the ball coming back, and

see it re-appear at the ball return.  You also see the scoreboard, which shows

the score for the bowler who is "up".

If more than one bowler is playing, you can see anyone's score by pressing the

key for that player's color.  The bowling ball will continue to appear in the

color of the bowler who is "up".  The scoreboard shows 5 frames at a time.  If

you want to see the first half of the frame during the later part of the game,

press 0.  To switch back to the 2nd five frames, just press that key again.

After the 10th frame has been completed by all players, the 6th through 10th

frame scores for all players will be seen.  To see the first half of the scores,

press 0.  Press it again to see the second 5 frames.

In the 10th frame, if a bowler gets a spare or strike, a whistle blows to remind

all players of the one or two extra balls to which that bowler is entitled.

SUMMARY OF BOWLING BALL CONTROLS

1. Press DISC to pick up ball.

2. Press UPPER or LOWER LEFT SIDE BUTTONS to move bowler at starting line.

3. Hold in LOWER RIGHT SIDE BUTTON when aim is where you want it.

4. Press DISC to set curve, then press UPPER RIGHT SIDE BUTTON, if extra break

desired at far end of alley.

WINNING TIPS

* Intellivision Bowling simulates the normal ball-curving action of the real

game: if you are bowling right-handed, the ball will curve to the left--if left-

handed, the ball will curve to the right.

Bear that in mind when you decide where to start your bowler. You will knock

down more pins when your ball curves into the pocket between the head pin and

the #2 or #3 pin. If you visualize the whole length of the alley this way, you

should try for this kind of ball movement.

* Bear in mind that your bowler's approach from the starting line to the foul

line is STRAIGHT, so your aim depends completely on when you release the lower

right button. The white "spotter ball" determines the direction of your roll

one-third of the way down the alley. Any change in the ball's direction after it

passes over that location depends on the amount of curve you set with the DISC.

* There are, as you know, several variables to control. As you try to adjust

your aiming and curve to find the best combination, ALTER ONE VARIABLE AT A

TIME. The pre-game variables (alley slickness and ball weight) also have

definite effects, and if you find the right combination of spotting (aiming) and

curve, it may not work on a different alley condition or with a lighter or

heavier ball. When you discover the best combination of variables, stick with

it. Then you can refine you timing and placement and work on getting some really

good scores.

SOUND EFFECTS

GONG -- Ball is at the ball return.

CLICK -- Ball picked up by bowler; bowler moves along starting line one

increment; curve set by pressing DISC (LISTEN FOR THIS ONE TO BE SURE YOU SET

THE CURVE BEFORE BALL RELEASE!)

KNOCK -- Impact of ball striking pins and pins striking each other.

RUMBLE -- Ball going down alley and being returned.

CHEER -- A strike!

WHISTLE -- In the 10th frame, the same bowler has another ball.

MUSIC FANFARE -- A 200-or-better BOWLING score (75 in PICK-UP SPARES)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c)1980, 1998 Intellivision Productions, Inc.