Rules
A level always began with three red segments attached to the creature's head. Eating any red balls with only these segments attached would not cause the animal to grow. Eating any other colored ball caused it to attach as a segment to the tail end of the creature, as did eating a red ball with segments of any other color already on the animal.
A player could clear segments off the animal by attaching three balls of the same color to its tail. This could be done by simply eating three of the same color in a row, or by eating one or two of one color, eating three of another (clearing them), then eating a third (or a second and a third) of the original color. The importance of shortening the body was twofold: a longer creature ran a more dangerous risk of running into itself and dying immediately; also, if a player cleared the board while the character's body was too long (indicated by a number in the corner of the screen), the player failed (lost a life) and had to restart the level.
Read more about this topic: Space Ball (game)
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“The values by which we are to survive are not rules for just and unjust conduct, but are those deeper illuminations in whose light justice and injustice, good and evil, means and ends are seen in fearful sharpness of outline.”
—Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974)
“In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes,... it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s history.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“Although none of the rules for becoming more alive is valid, it is healthy to keep on formulating them.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)