OVERVIEW
The player moves a trap around a circular playing field with the task of catching moving objects before they cross the field bounds.
TRAP
The trap is the device controlled by the player. It is always centred at the bottom of the screen.
It can move only left or right, always at the same distance from the field center (the field will rotate accordingly).
OBJECTS
The objects move from the center of the field towards its bounds in straight line. Their initial direction is unpredictable. There are four different kinds of object, each with its own color and speed; while colors depend on the theme, speeds are fixed as follows: slow, normal, fast and swift.
The objects are shot by a generator placed at the center of the field.
(Reading the following part is not necessary to play.)
Fairness policy adopted by the generator:
When an object has not crossed the field bounds yet, it is said to be "alive". If the center of an object passes through the beams between the trap sides, the object is caught. Catches, besides giving points: increment an internal counter that, when certain thresholds are reached, enhances the trap with additional features called "extras"; increase the limit of misses allowed - every 5 catches, the limit, which starts from a base value of 10, is augmented by 1.
When an object goes beyond the reach of the trap (shortly after passing the field bounds), it is definitely missed. When a miss occurs, the limit is decreased by 1 and the counter is reduced by 1/3 (and, consequently, the extras whose threshold is above the new counter value are lost). The game ends when the limit is 0 and an object is missed.
EXTRAS
The following table gives the details about the extras.
extra | kind | threshold(s) | what it does / how it works |
pointer | automatic | 5 | marks the furthest object with a special symbol |
speed-up | automatic | 10 | increases the trap speed |
expansion | automatic | 15, 30, 50 | makes the trap wider |
inverter | targeted | 20 | inverts the movement of the furthest object; each object can be inverted only once; inverted objects are marked with a special symbol |
laser | targeted single-use | 25 | destroys the furthest object; overrides the inverter |
freezer | targeted | 40 | halts the furthest object at its current position as long as the button is kept down; objects, while frozen, are not affected by other extras; frozen objects are visually connected to the trap with a beam |
decelerator | global single-use | 60 | halves the speed of all the alive objects; each object can be decelerated only once; decelerated objects are marked with a special symbol |
kickback | global single-use | 75 | makes all the alive objects rescuable: when a rescuable object goes out of bounds, it is automatically saved and sent back along the opposite direction; each object can be made rescuable only once; each object is rescued only once; both rescuable and rescued objects are marked with special symbols; overrides the decelerator |
nuke | global single-use | 95 | destroys all the alive objects; overrides the kickback |
magnet | global single-use | 120 | attracts all the alive objects to the trap until they are automatically caught; magnetized objects are not affected by other extras; magnetized objects are visually connected to the trap with beams; overrides the nuke |
Additional information:
As time passes by, the level increases making the game more and more difficult.
The level is represented by two numbers, a major value and a minor value. The minor value goes from 0 up to 99: as it goes up, the time interval between two consecutive shots by the generator will become shorter and shorter; when it reaches 100, it restarts from 0 and the major value is increased by one. The major value affects the speed of objects (the higher the level, the faster the objects) and the internal margin the trap is given to reach objects (the higher the level, the smaller the margin).
POINTS
Points are awarded when catching objects. The points assigned for a catch are directly proportional to the speed of the object, the current level, the current extras counter and the chosen difficulty.