ATARI� 2600� Game Manual KLAX� Atari Corporation is unable to guarantee the acuracy of printed materials after the date of publication and disclaims liability for changes, errors or omissions. Reproduction of this document or of any portion of it's content is not allowed without the specific written consent of Atari Corporarion. Atari, the Atari logo, 2600 and 7800 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. Copyright � 1990 Tengen Inc. All rights reserved. Klax is a trademark of Atari Games Corporation, licensed to Tengen. Original game by Mark Stephen Pierce and Dave Akers. ATARI� Copyright � 1990, Atari Corporation Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 All rights reserved Tic-Tac-Tiles! You've selected your level, and now the colored tiles start to tumble down the ramp. you zoom your paddle back and forth to catch the tiles and flip them into the bins to create rows of same colored tiles, The rows can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal, and three or more tiles ina row create a Klax. Sounds Easy, right? It is, until the tiles speed up and tumble down the ramp so fast you can barely keep up! Faster and faster , your paddle becomes a blur as you struggle to keep up with the pace. Will you ace the wave or are you destined to fail? Either way, you'll find yourself quickly addicted to the good klean fun of tic-tac-KLAX! Getting Started Klax is a fast-paced game of concentration, skill and chance. Follow the steps listed below to start the game: 1. With your 2600 (or 7800�) game system switched off, insert the Klax cartridge into the cartridge slot as described in your owner's manual. 2. Connect a controller to the left controller port. 3. Switch on your TV and 2600 (or 7800) game console. the Klax title screen appears. 4. Press the fire button once to bypass the title screen. The Wave Select screen displays. Press left or right on the joystick to move the Klax Hand. When the Klax Hand points to the desired skill level, press the fire button to select that skill level and display the Wave Description screen. Optional Game Controls To enhance play, the following optional game controls allow you to pause and restart the game:

Playing the Game The object of the game is to accurately place colored tiles that tumble faster and faster down the ramp. To earn points and to progress from level to level, you must place the tiles in vertical, horizontal, or diagonal patterns called Klaxs. Three or more same colored tiles in a row is a Klax. The colored tiles advance down the ramp toward a paddle that you control with the joystick. You must move the paddle back and forth in the paddle slide to catch the tumbling tiles as they arrive at the bottom of the ramp. Move the paddle by pushing the joystick right or left. The tiles fall onto the paddle. You can stack a maximum of five tiles on your paddle at a time. To form Klaxs you must flip tiles into five bins below the paddle slide. To flip a tile from the paddle into a bin, position the paddle over the desired bin and press the fir button. The top tile on your paddle flips into the bin. Each time you make a Klax the entire Klax highlights and disappears from the bins. That gives you more room to place more tiles. You receive points for every Klax you complete. If you plan ahead and create more complex Klaxs, you earn more points. You also receive points for empty spaces left in the bins and for any tiles left on the ramp when you complete a wave. Use wild tiles (which count as any color) to complete especially complex Klaxs. Wild tiles flash multiple colors in turn as they tumble down the ramp. You can also make the tiles come down the ramp more quickly. Just pull the joystick toward you to increase the speed of the tiles. If you don't want a particular tile on your paddle anymore, or you want to rearrange the tiles on your paddle, push forward on the joystick to flip the top tile back up the ramp. but be careful! You don't want too many tiles on the ramp at one time. If your paddle is full, or you don't get to a tile in tile,the tile falls into a deadly drop zone. You don't want that on your consience, do you? And if too many tiles fall into the drop zone abyss, it's the end of the game. Each of the 100 Klax waves has an objective. The objective is displayed before you begin each level. On some waves you must archieve a certain number of horizontal or diagonal Klaxs. Some waves require you to survive a number of tiles any way you can, placing the tiles quickly to make Klaxs and freeing up space in the bins for the tumbeling tiles. Still other waves require you to earn a certain number of points. Tiles move faster and faster and you become more and more frantic to place them before they fall into the drop zone. The game ends if you fill up all 25 spaces in the bins before you have completed the level objective, or if you let too many tiles fall of the ramp. If you fail to successfully complete a wave, you will be given the choice of continuing or starting over. Move the joystick up or down to move the arrow next to your selection, and press the fire button. Starting over returns you to the Title screen. continuing allows you to try the level again. Screen Score your current score. Wave Number the current wave. Drop Meter shows the number of drops that will cause the game to end. When you drop a tile, one Drop Meter space is filled in. The game ends when all empty spaces in the drop meter are filled. All drop meter spaces are cleared when you get a warp wave or restart the game. If you successfully complete a wave with some of the Drop Meter slots filled, those slots remain filled when you begin the next wave. Paddle moves from side to side in the paddle slide and catches tiles, flips them into the bins or back up the ramps. Tile Ramp the ramp that the tiles tumble down. Loading Bins receive the tiles flipped from the paddle. Wave Objective Status the number of Klaxs, tiles, or points needed to complete the wave. Waves A wave is a level to be completed. Every wave has itsown wave objective that you must complete to progress to the next wave. Warp screens appear between some waves. When you reach a warp screen, the Wave Selection screen displays. From the Wave Selection screen you can choose to either continue with the next wave, or warp ahead to a higher wave. Wave Selection Screen On a warp screen, the Wave Selection screen appears and allows you to choose between three wave levels. Two of the choices are higher wave levels than the level just completed. See below for an example of a Wave Selection screen. Wave Number is the number of the wave to which you can warp. Drops Per Game is the number of tiles that can fall into the drop zone. If that number of tiles falls into the drop zone the game ends. The number of tiles you can drop is represented on the drop meter. (See Drop Meter.) Bonus Points lists the number of bonus points you will receive when you successfully complete that warp wave. the higher the wave, the higher the number of bonus points you will receive. Wave Objectives There are five types of wave objectives, each more difficult to achieve as you progress to higher wave levels. On some waves the tiles tumble down the ramp more quickly. On others there are more tile colors (up to a maximum of eight different colors). And on higher wave levels you must create a greater number of Klaxs to achieve your objective. For example, a Klax Wave requires you to create a number of Klaxs to complete the wave. You need to create 3 Klaxs to win the level 1 Klax Wave, but the level 6 Klax Wave requires 10 Klaxs to win. Another way waves become more difficult is an increas in the number of tiles on the ramp at one time. You receive points for every Klaxs you create, no matter what the wave objective is. But only those Klaxs that match the wave objective will count toward completing the wave. The following is a list of all wave types: Klax Wave requires a number of Klaxs to complete the level. All Klaxs types count toward completing the wave objective. Four and five tile Klaxs always count as more than one Klaxs. See Scoring. Diagonal Wave requires anumber of diagonal Klaxs to complete the wave objective. The more complex the diagonal, the greater the number of points received. Horizontal Wave requires a number of horizontal Klaxs to complete the wave objective. Points Wave requires a number of points to be earned to complete the wave objective. You can create any type of Klaxsto earn points, but only the more complex Klaxs will earn points fast enough for you to successfully complete the wave. Tile Wave requires you to survive a number of tiles. Every tile that either lands on your paddle or falls of the end of a ramp counts as one tile. But if you want to meet your wave objective, you must create Klaxs to free up bin space to place more tiles.You can place the tiles in any type of Klaxs, but you will probably want to keep it simple when the tiles start tumbling down the ramp more quickly. Strategy Try for complex Klaxs on lower level waves to increase your score. Go for chain reactions and simultaneous Klaxs. Don't throw too many tiles back up onto the ramp. You can get into trouble very quickly! Try for more complex Klaxs on Points Waves. Get the big points quickly - you probably will not be able to complete the level with simple, vertical Klaxs. Sometimes simple Klaxs work best. Don't get cocky on a high level Tile Wave, or you will end up with five full bins and a bunch of tiles with nowhere to go. Use wild tiles to complete multiple Klaxs. Scoring During game play you receive points for the Klaxs you create. When you complete a wave, any of the following bonus points earned will be added to your score: points for the empty spaces left in the loading bins, all tiles left on the ramp when you complete a wave, and any warp bonus points that apply to the wave. Sometimes placing a tile will result in a multiple Klax. For example, you could complete both a vertical and a diagonal Klax with the placement of a single key tile. If this occurs, you receive multiple Klax bonus points in addition to the points for each Klax. Multiple Klaxs are also worth more than one Klax towards the completion of certain waves. Vertical Klax 3 tiles..... 50 points.....1 Klax 4 tiles.....1,000 points.....2 Klaxs 5 tiles.....1,500 points.....3 Klaxs Horizontal Klax 3 tiles..... 100 points.....1 Klax 4 tiles..... 500 points.....2 Klaxs 5 tiles.....1,000 points.....3 Klaxs Diagonal Klax 3 tiles..... 500 points.....1 Klax 4 tiles.....1,000 points.....2 Klaxs 5 tiles.....1,500 points.....3 Klaxs To create a four tile vertical Klax, place two tiles of the same color in one bin. Then place a tile of a second color in that same bin, and finally two more of the first color. Now make the middle tile disappear by involving it in a horizontal or diagonal Klax. You can also create four tile vertical Klaxs by stacking tiles very quickly while another Klaxs is being scored. ATARI� Copyright � 1990, Atari Corporation Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 All rights reserved