Copyright: 8-Ball Slots Copyright ®1998, Ultisoft, Inc.


CONTENTS
8-Ball Slots

     Copyright ©1998, Ultisoft, Inc.

Introduction

Game Instructions

Placing a Bet

Spinning

Borrowing Credits

Payoffs

Loading and Saving Games

Game Options/Settings

Background

Music

Sound

Spin Speed

Troubleshooting

Design Credits


Introduction

8-BALL SLOTS is a nine-wheel, eight-payline slot machine game.  It includes a bonus feature which allows you to win a progressive bonus pool as well as a "WILD 8-BALL" symbol which can win you a large bonus prize.  The game allows you to set your own backgrounds, music and sounds (or use those included).

If your computer supports resolutions over 640X480, the game has slot wheels larger than any other game made for Windows.  In any resolution you can click the maximize button in the upper-right portion of the window to casue the game to take up your entire screen.  The graphics will grow proportionately to fill-up the screen.

As of January 1998, Ultisoft, the makers of 8-Ball Slots, has 17 different slot machine games.  The shareware (trial) versions of any can be downloaded from our Internet site at:

     http://www.ultisoft.com


Game Instructions

Before spinning, you must place a bet.  You can bet from 1 to 8 coins on each of the eight paylines (up to 64 total).  The payoffs for a winning line are based on the coins bet on that line, not the total coins bet on all lines.  Click the MAX BET button to bet the maximum 64 coins.  To see the payoffs look at the payoff chart (click on the PAYOFFS button).

There two kinds of bonuses in the game.  The WILD 8-BALL SYMBOL can only appear on the center square.  It will appear approximately once every 20 spins.  When you get the Wild 8-Ball, all eight squares surrounding it will become normal 8-Ball symbols, and you must pick one of the eight.  Six of the 8-Balls have a prize behind them (two have a cue ball which means you scratched and get no bonus prize).  The Wild 8-Ball symbol is also wild, so it will help you win on the normal slot screen after the bonus round.

The progressive bonus pool continually increases whenever the program is running--much like the progressive bonus slot games in casinos.  The progressive bonus pool starts at 5,000 credits and continually increases until it is won.  The only way to win the bonus pool is to get three of the "BILLIARD RACK" symbols on any of the paylines.  You must be betting the maximum 64 coins to win the bonus pool.  The BILLIARD RACK symbols are not wild, so they are only useful for winning the bonus pool jackpot.

Look at the box on the right-hand side of the screen labeled "PAYLINES."  This shows the amount bet on each payline (in red).  After a spin, you can look at this box to see which lines won (in blue).

PLEASE NOTE--the first payline is the center line.  The second is the top line.  The third is the bottom line.  The fourth line runs from the upper-left square to the lower-left square.  The fifth line runs from the upper-middle square to the lower-middle square.  The sixth line runs from the upper-right square to the lower-right square.  The seventh is diagonal from the top left to the bottom right.  The eighth payline runs diagonally from the bottom left to the top right symbol.

Click on the PAYOFF CHART button to see all the payoffs for this game.  The payoffs are based upon the current bet amount.  Select BET AMOUNT from under the OPTIONS menu to change the bet amount (coin value).


BET
Placing a Bet

Placing a bet is done by clicking on the BET 1, BET 8 or MAX BET button.  You must place a bet before spinning the slot machine wheels, however, once you place a bet and spin, you can continue betting the same amount by just clicking on the spin button.

You can bet from 1 to 64 coins per spin.  There are eight paylines, and the coins you bet are distributed to an alternating line each time you bet one more coin.  If you bet the maximum 64 coins, than each payline will have 8 coins bet on it.  Payoffs for winning lines are based on the coins per line (not the total number of coins bet on all lines).

You must bet 64 (maximum) coins to have a chance to win the progressive bonus pool jackpot.


Spinning

To spin the slot wheels, click on the SPIN button.  Before spinning, you must place your bet.  However, after placing a bet and spinning, you can continue to spin at the same wager amount by continuing to click on the SPIN button.


BORROW
Borrowing Credits

You can borrow as many credits as you need or want.  To borrow credits, choose the amount to borrow by first selecting BORROW from under the OPTIONS menu.  You can continue to borrow by the available increments until you have borrow as much as you want.

You can also pay back credits that you borrowed.  This is a good way to see exactly how much money you have made.

*Note*

Your starting credits are considered borrowed.


Payoffs

To see the payoffs click the PAYOFF CHART button.  The payoffs are based on the coins you bet.

One thing to keep in mind is that payoffs are based on the amount (coins times coin value) bet on the winning payline, not the total amount wagered on all paylines.  For example if you bet 64 coins, you are wagering 8 coins per line.  The payoff for a winning line would be based on the 8 coins bet on that line, not on the 64 coins bet overall.


Loading and Saving Games

To load game, or to save the current game, select OPEN (or SAVE) from under the FILE menu.

This will bring up a new screen.  Select the game you wish to load (or the "Game Slot" that you wish to save the current game to).

When you quit the program, the current game is automatically saved, so you can resume it the next time you run the program.  Each time you run the 8-BALL SLOTS program, the game will start where you left-off last time you played.  If you do not wish to continue that game, you can select NEW GAME under the FILE menu, or you can load another saved game.


Background

You can change the background colors of the game.  You can select either a tiled bitmap (wallpaper) graphic or a solid background color.

Just select BACKGROUND from under the OPTIONS menu.  Then select either TILED or SOLID.  If you select tiled, then you will be able to browse your directories for your choice of a background patern.  There should be several choices in your WINDOWS directory as well as a couple of choices in the directory containing the 8-BALL SLOTS files.

If you select a solid background, just click on the color you want from the choices that appear, and then click on OK.

PLEASE NOTE:  For best results use the default .BMP file or a solid color background.  16 color backgrounds should also be okay.  However, 256+ color backgrounds will most likely cause palette conflicts with the slot symbols which are 256 colors.  If this happens, just choose another background (no harm done).


Music

If your computer is equipped with a sound card which supports MIDI, then you have the option of having music play in the background while you are playing the game.

To turn music on, select MUSIC from under the OPTIONS menu.  Then click on ON.  This will place a check mark next to the word On, and music should start playing.

To change the music selections, click on CHANGE MIDs.  This item is found by selecting OPTIONS and then MUSIC.

Changing Music Selections

After you bring up the Music window, you have the option of selecting up to eight MIDI songs.  You select a song by clicking on one of the CHANGE buttons.  This will bring up a standard Windows Open File dialog.  You can use it to navigate your directories.  Only MIDI songs will be displayed in the file area of the open dialog.  A MIDI song has a file extention of .MID or .RMI.

You can preview a selected song by clicking the PREVIEW button.

There is a check box before each song slot.  If the song is checked, it will be included in the playlist.  The program will play each song in order, and then it will return to the top of the playlist and continue playing each song in order.


Sound

You can toggle the sound on and off by selecting SOUND from under the OPTIONS menu.  When sound is on, then there will be a check mark next to "On."

You can also set sound on or off for several individual sounds and groups of sounds.  You can set the bonus sound, spin sound, stop sound, coin sound, credit sound, lose sound, power up, power down, and win sound.

You can change many of these sound to suit your own tastes.  Select Change WAVs under the OPTIONS/SOUNDS menu.  This will bring up a window which will allow you to replace many of the game's default sounds using WAV files on your computer.

THE SOUNDS

Bonus Sound--A sound that plays when you win the progressive bonus pool.

Losing Sound--A sound which plays on a losing spin.

Winning Sound--A sound which plays when you have a winning spin.

Scratch Sound--A sound which plays when pick a losing 8-Ball in the bonus round.

Wild Ball Sound--A sound which plays when you get a Wild 8-Ball.

Spin Sound--A sound that plays when the slot wheels are spinning.  This sound adds some realism, but you should turn it off if it causes the wheels to spin too slowly on your machine.

Stop Sound--This sound plays as each spinning wheel comes to a stop.

Coin Sound--This sound plays each time a coin is deposited.

Credit Sound--On a winning spin, this sound is played while the credits you won are counted off.


SPEED
Spin Speed

This controls how fast the wheeels spin.  To change the speed setting, select SPIN SPEEN from under the OPTIONS menu.


Troubleshooting

It spins too slow.  How can I speed up the spinning?

There are a number of things that cause the spinning to be too slow on your system.  First check the SPEED setting under the OPTIONS menu.  Make sure it is set to FAST.  Make sure the window state is set to normal (not maximized) if running with the window maximized runs too slow.

How does the autospin feature work?

To set this feature on, you must first place a bet.  If you have already spun, then the last wager will be used during the "autospins."  To enabled this feature, select AUTOSPIN from the main menu.  You will be asked whether you would like the game to pause when you go to the treasure chest screen.  You can either have the game pause when it's time to select a treasure chest, or you can select a treasure chest  to be used each time you go to the Bonus screen.  If you have the game pause, you can choose the button you want manually.

I am having another problem that I would your help with.

Please email us at: support@ultisoft.com

If you need to call our tech support staff, please call between 9am and 5pm Pacific time, Moday through Friday.  Our tech support line is 1-541-857-9229.


DESIGN
Design Credits

•	Programming:       Mike Comish

•	Graphics Design:  Mark Comish

•	Game Concept:    Mark Comish, Mike Comish