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Program Name:  Pinball-83
Version:       1.0
Platform:      TI-83 (PLUS) BASIC
               SOS and Bill Nagel's Aurora & AShell83 Compatible
Program Size:  2378 bytes
Release Date:  December 8, 1999 - First Public Release
Author:        Mark Fairpo
Author E-mail: fairpo@breathemail.net
Description:   A pinball game that features redefining its keys, and Cows
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1- Setup Instructions
__________________________________

Send PINBALL.83G to the Cowculator.
Run PROGPINB or run Aurora and click PINB.
If you are not using Aurora delete ICONPINB.


2- Pinball's Origins Through History
__________________________________

"Lots of recent Bally/Williams games have cows in them. The reason is
 unbeknownst to the pinball public, though. Data East caught on to this, and
 a cow is featured in one of their games." - The rec.games.pinball Dyna-FAQ

The origins of pinball are intertwined throughout history like a big
metaphorical plant, except for the bits before the game was invented, which
are relatively plant-free.

It starts like this: In 1666, Isaac Newton discovered gravity. Before then,
everything was floating around like mad. Pebbles, donkeys, buildings and just
about everything else had to be tied down to avoid floating off into the sky
and eventually off the edge of the world (which was still flat, as no-one had
built a ladder big enough to spot the overall roundness of things yet).

Then one day, a lonely apple decided it had had enough. It was a balmy Autumn
night with some insane Summer clouds hanging in the air, and the apple was
the last one on the tree.

"I'll show them", thought the apple, whose name was Cliff. "They all think
I'm going to snap off here and float off into nowhere, but I've got other
ideas." This was true, and those ideas will be explained in a moment.

Meanwhile, Isaac Newton was resting at the bottom of the tree after drinking
too much gin. He knew to tie himself to a sturdy root to avoid floating off
and waking up in Belgium or something, so he was perfectly safe.

"If only I could discover or invent something," thought Isaac, "then I could
become Sir Isaac and be famous historically. At the moment, I'm only famous
locally for my tuna and cheese pasta bake." Even that had gone downhill since
Isaac ran out of tuna and cheese and been forced to use cardboard and string.

About 15 meters above, the apple was appling its last. It had realised, you
see, that the whole business of floating around was a waste of time as you
could never find where you'd left something in the morning, but had come up
with a plan. He would float, yes, but float downwards rather hard and
quickly, his path to the ground being blocked by Isaac Newton's head.

"Blimey." thought Isaac, "An apple has landed on my head. That gives me an
idea. I could build a sort of table with flippers and a drain at the bottom,
and you could drop a silver ball in the top which rattles around on bumpers
and things, and you have to keep the ball from going down the drain at the
bottom, and I could call it Pin-Ball!"

Unfortunately, Isaac went back indoors and drank some more gin, waking up the
next morning with a raging hangover and no memory of the previous day. He
felt he should have had an invention or discovery of some kind to show
everybody by now though, so he cobbled together some stuff about 'gravity'
and how it keeps things on the ground. Everyone loved it for years to come.

Cliff, meanwhile, didn't have such a nice time. He got eaten by a passing
horse and his core spat back into the garden he came from. In a bit of a
happy ending though, his seeds grew into a big healthy apple tree whose roots
were able to trip Sir Isaac Newton up for the rest of his days.

So the concept of Pinball had popped out for a bit. You can't keep a good
idea down, however, and it resurfaced again in 1931.

Alan 'Animal Juggler' McGhee was a popular circus strongman at the time who
juggled livestock for a living. Documents from the time record 'a man with a
fearsome moustache who would keep twelve rhinos and a cow airborne at the
same time'. He was practising outdoors one day when Peter 'Leave Barrels of
Hay Dotted Around For No Reason' Bilgerat was doing the thing which had
earned him a very specific nickname. McGhee was merrily juggling away, when
he accidentally dropped his one and only cow, called Beryl, with some force.
Beryl bounded off the ground and did several ricochets off Bilgerat's various
barrels before coming to rest on a passing bearded lady.

"You know," said Bilgerat, "if that cow was a steel ball, and my barrels of
hay were bumpers that gave you points, we'd have a highly successful game
here." He would have too, and would have made $millions if Beryl hadn't sold
the idea to the world to gain fame and fortune first.

And that's how Pinball came about, and it has remained virtually the same
ever since (apart from the addition of flippers to bat the ball with).

Here are some quotes that have already been said about Pinball-83:

"I literally couldn't live without it" - the recipient of a new steel lung,
 who has also just received a copy of Pinball-83.

"When my man/duck creature is brought to life, all the fools who doubted
 me will PAY! Muhahahahaha! And after that I can play this quite superb
 Pinball game." - Dr. Ralph Derrickkson, a mad scientist.

"This is the voice of the Mysterons. Pinball is very good." - The Mysterons.

"Actually, I'm more of a Pong man myself." - Mark Fairpo, the author.

So, stick Pinball-83 onto your funny calculator and waste some valuable time
in exams so that you fail, get a dead-end career and have plenty of time to
play more Pinball!


3- Welcome to Pinball-83
__________________________________

Thanks for picking up Pinball-83, which is distributed free of charge.
Pinball-83 is a rewrite of the TI-85 BASIC game Pinball v1.01 by SolSkink
@aol.com to celebrate Beryl, and with some improvements, noticeably
redefining its keys, gameplay, and Cows.

Each "O" bumper scores 100 points, and your highest score is saved. Its
original keys are Left and Right for the flippers, Down launches the ball
into play, and [ENTER] pauses play, press [ENTER] to continue. The four arrow
(or cursor) keys auto repeat when held, which makes playing easier.

Pinball-83 resulted from my exploration of pinball on the TI-83. I rewrote
the TI-85 Program with complete interaction, putting program readability
(particularly consistency) before ugly optimization's in speed or size.

NOTE: PROGRAMS LIKE PINBALL-83 CAN APPEAR TO SLOW DOWN WHEN EITHER YOUR LINK
      CABLE IS INSERTED, OR AVAILABLE RAM MEMORY OR BATTERIES BECOME LOW.

I wish to thank SolSkink for their original 1997 program and ideas, and Steve
Clappison for his revelation on pinball's history (previous).

Question: How do I find the Cow?  stniop dnasuoht eno yrevE :A


4- Support
__________________________________

If you like or dislike Pinball-83, please e-mail me your comments, or any
other feedback. Please feel free to edit Pinball-83, just e-mail me your
revised copy (so that I can incorporate the updates into the next version).
If anyone has SolSkink's current e-mail address please pass it to me.

Internet e-mail:
     fairpo@breathemail.net

You can always find the latest version of Pinball-83 at:
     <http://www.ticalc.org>


5- Legal Stuff
__________________________________

GREAT CARE HAS BEEN TAKEN TO ENSURE PINBALL-83 OPERATES AS IT SHOULD.
PINBALL-83 IS PROVIDED "AS IS", BY USING PINBALL-83, YOU AGREE TO USE IT AT
YOUR OWN RISK. ALL RIGHTS REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF SOLSKINK.


     He was willing to be born in a dark, filthy, place, willing to grow to
     manhood in a miserable town named Nazareth and be a carpenter builder,
     willing to be put to death when only 33 years of age. Jesus said,
     "For this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness
     to the truth." He gave us his truth so that his joy might be in us.
     (John 18:37, 15:11)
                        "The best gift in the world was wrapped in a manger."

     May God be with you in the (apparent) turn of the Millennia.


PLEASE DO NOT SEPARATE THIS DOCUMENT FROM PINBALL-83!
