Pool

v1.14

Copyright (c) Giles Goddard

26/03/2000

 

 

Introduction

This application is a realistic Pool simulation for the Palm range of PDAs. The object of the game is to pocket alternate spot/stripe balls then finally the 8 ball in as few shots as possible.

At the start of the game you may choose between 2 types of games.

1 Player

This is similar to standard 8-Ball Pool, the idea of this game is to pocket the 8-Ball in as few shots as possible. After pocketing one type of ball you then try and pocket the other type until only the 8-Ball remains. A 3 point (shot) penalty is given to you if you pocket the wrong type ball, pocket the white or if the first ball hit is not the correct type. The game is void if you pocket the 8-Ball before pocketing the remaining balls.

2 Player

This is basically the same as standard 8-Ball. The game starts by one player breaking, the two players then take it turns until a ball is pocketed, the first ball pocketed (stripe or spot) is then used by that player. A player wins by pocketing all her balls followed by the 8-ball.

A 'Spare' ball is awarded to the otherside if the white ball is pocketed, the wrong type of ball is pocketed or the first ball hit is not the correct type.

If the 8-Ball is pocketed before the rest of the player's balls, then she looses the game.

2 Player IR

This is the same as 2 Player except using the Infrared port on 2 machines. To connect the 2 Palms together, line them up so that the Infrared ports are pointing at each other, press Start on both game select windows, wait until the connection is established, then press Start again. If Pool is unable to find any other devices, you may return to the game select screen at any time by pressing Cancel.

When both machines have started the game, Player 1 is the first to start (the first person to connect is Player 1). Players may then take their shots whenever the white-ball indicator at the bottom right of the screen is displayed. You may need to move the machines around to restablish the connection.

The IR game buffers one shot at a time, this means that a player may take her shot whilst pointing away from the other player and then during or after the shot, re-align the machines to transmit the shot. (Useful if you don't want to make it look like you're playing a game during some boring meeting.)

NB. Please make sure that both machines have the same version of Pool.

Installation

To install Pool simply click on the Pool.prc file, when you next do a HotSync it will automatically be installed.

Controls

To play Pool, simply tap the sylus on the white ball, drag the cue around until your shot is lined up, then lift the stylus to take your shot.

To change the position of where the cue hits the white ball, tap on the small icon on the bottom right of the screen. This will allow you to add top and side spin to your shot.

To help line up your shot, you may rotate the table around using the cursor keys.

If at any point the white ball is pocketed, the next player will be asked to place it someone on the table. You will not be allowed to place it ontop of any other balls or too near the cushions and until the first ball is pocketed, the white ball may not be placed in front of the head string.

Options

You may restart a game at any point by selecting New Game from the menu, this will end your current game.

If you cannot hear any sound then it is probably because you have the Game Sound Preferences option set to Off.

Note: Turning off Game Sound will improve the speed of the game.

The speed of the table and strength of the cushions may be adjusted from the Preferences menu option, when playing 2 Player IR, Player 1's settings are used for the game. During the game either player may change the settings of the game and the other player will receive the settings after being notified of the change.

Registration

The demo version of Pool allows unlimited use of the 2 Player IR mode, however it allows only 2 full games of 1 Player and standard 2 Player to be played, after that, a maximum of 5 balls can only be played in a game.

If you would like to play the full version and would also like to play future versions of Pool, please register it. Your support is very much appreciated.

The full game can be activated by purchasing a private registration key from:

http://www.palmgear.com

Once you have received your key, enter it into the game by selecting the Registration screen from the Menu.

Important Note:

Please make sure that you reproduce the key exactly as you received it and be especially careful of some fonts that make 1 (one) look very similiar to l (small L), or 0 (zero) look like O (capital o) etc.

If you are in doubt or are having problems registering your code, try viewing the code with a different Font such as Courier.

 

Credits

Designed and programmed by Giles Goddard

Copyright (c) Giles Goddard 2000. All rights Reserved.

Please visit http://pdaBusiness.com for other great Palm products and contact information.

Features to be implemented

A Note About Ball Size. And Why It Matters So Much.

Please remember that Pool for the Palm Pilot has its limitations, one of them being screen size. The balls are currently 9-pixels wide, the next size down would be 7-pixels. 7-pixel balls look very, very small on the Palm screen and to quote a famous Japanese lady; 'it would be like pushing bogies/boogers around a pool table.'

The other problem with 7-pixel sized balls is that it is almost impossible to judge, let alone hit the ball at an angle. One of the most fun parts of Pool is figuring out what angle the ball will travel. So basically, without resorting to a table bigger than the screen, the current proportions of table/ball size are the most playable. (IMO)

Release Log

v1.14

v1.13

v1.12

v1.11

v1.10

v1.03

v1.02

v1.01

v1.0

 

Disclaimer

As with any application, your Pilot's data is at risk from being damaged or totally deleted while using Pool. The Author(s) nor 3Com or any associated company take no responsibility should any damage, loss of data or fatality occur to you (the user), your Palm Pilot (or emulator), your PC or any device, appliance or living being in the near vicinity of you or your Pilot at the time of using Pool, reading this manual or at any other point after using this software.

That should cover it.

Thankyou.

Have Fun..