THE GAME OF SNOOKER In the summer of 1875 at the Ootacamund Club, Nilgiris, India, Colonel Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., invented a game that was a mixture of 'pyramids', 'blackpool' and billiards; thus was born Snooker. It was another ten years before the game came to England, where it was warmly welcomed and soon began to be played in clubs and homes, all over the British Isles. The rise in popularity of the game was confirmed, when in 1927, the World Professional Championships were instituted. It was not, however, until 1955, that the first official world record break of 147, was achieved by Joe Davis, O.B.E. in a match against Willie Smith in London. Amazing as a 147 break is, it is not the highest that can be achieved! Should your opponent commit a foul when all 15 reds are still on the table, you may nominate a colour as a red and can go on, in theory at least, to a break of 155. In 1976, Alex Higgins became the first ever player to achieve the '16 red' clearance with a break of 146. It is therefore with a great sense of pride, that AMSOFT and GEM SOFTWARE present to you, SNOOKER for the CPC464. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Reset computer by holding down CTRL,SHIFT and ESC keys together in that order. Place cassette into the Datacorder. Rewind tape to beginning then press STOP/EJECT once. Press CTRL and small ENTER keys simultaneously then press PLAY followed by any key. This program will take about 5 minutes to load. AMSOFT JY1 Joystick compatible. THE RUDIMENTS OF SNOOKER If you are familiar with Snooker, you can skip this section. The game of Snooker is played on a baize covered slate table having raised cushioned sides. The object of the game is to score points, by knocking coloured ivory balls into the pockets of the corners or half-way along the table's sides. There are eight different colour balls, 15 red balls arranged in a triangular shape near one end of the table, one each of green, brown and yellow placed near the other end, a blue ball placed in the exact centre, a pink ball at the point of the red ball trangle, a black ball that goes just behind the reds and lastly, a white ball that sits within a 'D' shape drawn on the baize where the green, brown and yellow are. The player must strike the white ball, such that it first hits a red ball. If that ball, or any other red ball, goes into a pocket, the player scores one point. If no red goes into a pocket, play passes to your opponent. If a red is 'potted', the player must then select a ball of another colour and by striking the white ball against this selected ball, attempt to send the selected ball into a pocket. If successful, the potted colour is replaced on its original spot on the table and the player must then try to pot another red ball, continuing in this way until failing to pot the desired ball, or committing a foul, or until all reds are cleared from the table - in which case, the player must attempt to pot the colours in the points sequence shown below. A foul is committed should a player fail to hit the desired ball, or, in the case of a red, any red. It is also a foul if any ball, induding the white, is potted by mistake. A foul incurs a penalty of four points, or, the value of the ball struck, whichever is the greater. Please note: The above is only a very incomplete extract from the rules of Snooker. The player is referred to the booklet of 'RULES OF THE GAME OF SNOOKER' published by The Billiards and Snooker Control Council. The value of the various balls is as follows:- POINTS COLOURS 4 Brown 1 Red 5 Blue 2 Yellow 6 Pink 3 Green 7 Black PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS Option Selection Before going to the table, you will be asked to specify whelher you want to play a 6, 10, or 15 red ball game. You will then be asked if you wish a practice game. 'Yes' gives a one-player practice game, 'No' two-players. The next question is whether or not you want numbered balls. The provision of numbered balls is for two reasons; the first being to facilitate ball colour recognition on a monochrome display; the second being for those people unfamiliar with the game, as the ball numbering corresponds to its respective score and to the order in which the balls must be potted. If you choose a two-player game, you will finally be asked whether or not you want to use two joysticks. If you do not choose to use two joysticks, then each player must make use of the cursor control keys, or Joystick #1 in turn. Should you choose a practice/one-player game, you will be able to use either joystick #1 or the cursor control keys. AT THE TABLE At the commencement of play, the first player will be asked to 'Position the Cue Ball'. This is done by using the joystick or cursor keys to move the white cue ball to the desired position within the 'D'. When the cue ball is placed correctly, press either your joystick 'Fire' button, or the 'Copy' key. You will have to use this procedure, should you accidently pot the cue ball at any time during play. You must now set up your shot: the first thing to do is to set the direction you want the cue ball to go in. You will be asked to 'Set Direction', a flashing dot will appear in the cue ball. Using your joystick or the cursor keys, move this dot to the position you want, then press the 'Copy' key or your joystick 'Fire' button. Note: this dot represents the centre of the cue ball, when the cue ball is struck, it will travel directly towards this dot. The word 'Force' will now appear above the table, use the up and down cursor keys, or the joystick to increase or decrease the length of the white line that appears. The length of this line represents the strength. When set press 'Copy' or 'Fire'. Next, the word 'Spins' will appear above 'Force'. As before, use the left and right controls to adjust the length of the lines that appear for Left/Right Hand Side. The lines representing Top/Back Spin are controlled by the up and down cursor keys, or up and down on the joystick. The colours and relative positions of the lines are:- Back Spin (green) - Top Spin (red) Left Hand Side (yellow) - Right Hand Side (blue) The length of a line shows the amount of that spin applied to the shot. You are now ready to take your shot. Press the 'Copy' key or your joystick 'Fire' button and the cue ball will be struck according to your chosen settings. Each ball that is 'potted' will be displayed above the table. If no balls are posted, then play will be passed to your opponent, if two players, or you will be asked to 'Set Direction' for your next practice shot. If, however, a ball was potted, you must press 'Copy' or 'Fire' to clear the potted balls from the display before proceeding. If a ball was potted and there was no foul, you will be asked to 'Select Colour'. Selecting a colour is achieved by moving a flashing dot, just as you did to set direction. As the dot moves over a ball, the colour name will be displayed. When the desired colour name is displayed, press your 'Copy' key, or your joystick 'Fire' button. You will now move on to the 'Set Direction' prompt and can proceed as before. The score for Player 1 is shown on the top line of the scoreboard, with Player 1's 'twenties' being shown on the left. Player 2's score is shown on the bottom line and on the right. In a practice/one player game, the second player's score is used to show penalty points, arising from foul shots. A player's turn is indicated by a flashing red triangle against the player's 'twenties' score. If a foul has been commited, by your opponent, you may if you so choose, press the 'F' key, to pass the play back to your opponent. If during set up of a shot, you realise that you have made a mistake, you can press the 'DEL' key. This will take you to the 'Set Direction' or, 'Select Colour' prompt as applicable. Pressing the 'CTRL' and 'A' keys simultaneously, will abort the game and return you to the title screen. You must then press any key to start a new game. At the end of a game, the best break for each player will be displayed. You will then go to the title screen. This concludes the instructions for SNOOKER, we hope you enjoy playing the game and wish you 'Happy Potting'. © COPYRIGHT GEM SOFTWARE