Extreme Petankki
----------------

Designed and programmed by Tuomas
Korppi. This is a free program in
the sense of GNU GPL.

Hold down the corresponding number
keys to scroll into some of the
chapters shown below. Press arrow
keys to scroll freely. Hold down
right mouse button to return to the
game.

1. The rules of Petankki
2. How to use this program
3. Controls
4. Tactics
5. Story
$
1. The rules of Petankki
------------------------

In petankki two teams compete in
tactics and accuracy by throwing
balls as close to the target ball
as possible.

The spot where the target ball
lay after the previous round is
the throwing place in the next
round. The team that won the
previous round throws the target
ball. After that both teams throw
their supply of normal balls in
turns.
$
A team is in throwing turn if

* The opposing team's ball is
  closest to the target ball

  or

* the opposing team has run out of
  balls.

* The team that threw the target
  ball throws also the first normal
  ball.
$
Balls are allowed to hit previously
thrown balls (including the target
ball) and move them. The next ball
will be thrown no sooner than every
ball has ceased to move.

Each player has three balls. Each
team has one or two players, so the
team has three or six balls.
$
After both teams have thrown all
their balls, the score is computed.
The team whose ball is closest to
the target ball wins and gets
points. The distance of the losing
team's best ball from the target
ball is called the best loser.
The winning team gets one point for
each ball whose distance from the
target ball is smaller than the best
loser.

Match is won by getting 13 points.
$
2. How to use this program
--------------------------

When you execute the program, the
game starts. The teams are indicated
by colours, one is blue and the
other is red. Target ball is white
and the balls of the red and blue
team are red and blue, respectively.

The colour of the aiming device
indicates the team whose turn it is
to throw a ball. You aim and throw
the ball with the mouse. After the
ball has been thrown, you see the
movement of the ball, and after
every ball has stopped, the next
ball will be thrown.
$
When the round ends the program
counts score and sets up the next
round automatically. The balls that
earn points are marked with blinking
boxes.
$
3. Controls
-----------

Mouse movement

   Move the aiming device. The
   direction of the aiming device
   from the ball to be thrown
   indicates the direction where
   the ball is thrown, and the
   distance of the aiming device
   from the ball indicates the power
   of throw.

Left mouse button

   Throw the ball

Arrow keys

   Scroll the screen.
$
Right mouse button

   Scroll the screen into a good
   position, "good" guessed by the
   program.

h

   Scroll to this help

Space

   Show the numbers of balls left
   for each players and the score.
   The balls that would earn points
   if the score were computed at the
   time of pressing space are marked
   with blinking boxes.
$
Esc

   Quit

F1

   Switch to the 3 balls per team
   -mode. (Default)

F2

   Switch to the 6 balls per team
   -mode.
$
f

   Force a new throw. The new throw
   is intialized automatically when
   all balls have stopped, so there
   really should not be a need to
   use this key. However, I am not
   quite sure whether the
   stop-recognizing algorithm
   is foolproof, so this function is
   included.

1-5

   Scroll to a particular chapter in
   this help.
$
4. Tactics
-----------

There are five basic things that you
can do with your balls. Namely, you
can throw your ball so that

a It stops close to the target ball
b It hits your ball and pushes it
  closer to the target ball
c It hits your opponent's ball and
  pushes it farther from the target
  ball
d It hits the target ball and pushes
  it farther from your opponet's balls
e It hits the target ball and pushes
  it closer to your balls
$
Only (c) and some cases of (d)
usually require high throwing power.
Hitting the target ball with high
power makes the round usually
a matter of luck, but if your
opponent has her balls in a good
position, it may be advisable.

The first balls of a round usually
try to accomplish (a). It is
important that your ball stops a
centimeter of two in front of the
target ball. This way it blocks the
route from opponent's balls, and she
must hit your ball away. 
$
When trying to accomplish (a) the
most difficult thing is usually to
estimate the power of throwing. If
there are your own balls in front
of the target ball, you can try (b),
because hitting balls usually slows
down the balls and makes estimating
the power easier.
$
Tactics of blocking routes from the
opponent to the target ball and
hitting opponent's balls are
particularly important when the
throwing distance is small. In this
case it's relatively easy to hit
balls, and the relative size of balls
to the overall position is big. When
the throwing distance is big, it's
often best just try to throw your
ball close to the target ball. Also
six balls per team -mode increases
the significance of blocking and
hitting throws, since the block is
effective longer and one failed hit is
not so fatal.
$
In this game the balls move a lot. If
your first ball lands next to the
target ball, you can be certain that
you will not get points with that
ball. Either your ball or the target
ball will be pushed away by your
opponent. Usually, it's the couple of
last balls that earn points. However,
this does not mean that the first
balls are insignificant. The team
throws whose ball is not closest to
the target ball, and it may take a
couple of balls from the opponent to
win your good first ball. This means
that you're having more balls left
than your opponent, and consequently
you'll probably throw the last balls
of the game, the ones that earn
points.
$
5. Story
--------

After ten of years of diplomatic
 negotiations, the Star Alliance
is about to make the first visit
 to the legendary planet of
Savolaiset. Savolaiset is a race
of highly developed and cultural
individuals having highly
developed technology, and the
Star Alliance has great
expectations concerning the
exchange of technological
innovations.
$
Savolaiset are perfect except for
one shortcoming: They are always
late. During the tens of years of
diplomacy via ansibel, no single
time did their messages arrive in
time. Actually a new sanitarium
had to be built next to the
ansibel center of the Star
Alliance, so that diplomats who
had experienced a nervous breakdown
while waiting could get therapy.
$
You were chosen to be the team that
makes the first visit to Savolaiset. 
You let your spaceship orbit the
Planet of Savolaiset and teleport
your team onto the surface of the
planet, to the appointed location
of contact.  As you arrive, you
notice that no-one is waiting for
you. The welcome team of Savolaiset
is of course late.
$
You wait several hours in
surroundings that do not make sense
to you. The surface of the planet
seems to be divided into orderly
squares of different kinds of soil,
and each square is packed with
objects that resemble each others,
but do not have any resemblance to
the objects with the adjacent
squares. All objects are obviously
made by intelligent beings, yet you
have no idea about their purpose,
and you don't see any living
creatures except for your own team.
$
You wonder what are the rows of shiny
white pillars in the west. Is it a
Cosmic Stonehenge? Or why is there a
deep pit in front of you, surrounded 
by four mirror-looking surfaces?
While you wonder, you remember the
lessons at the Star Academy. They
told you that totally
incompeherensible things are the
surest sign of the presence of an
intellect that is above the level
of humans.
$
Finally a member of your team
proposes that you could play a game
to pass time. He digs into his
knapsack and produces a set of balls
of different colours. He tells that
they are the playing equipment for
Petankki, a game from his home planet
G-4-U-1. He explains the rules, and
you realize that it resembles very
closely an ancient game from the
Earth, petanque, but with one
exception: The balls are not thrown
in the air but rolled along
the surface of the ground. 
$
The rest of your team is not too
excited about the idea of playing
ball in the strange surroundings of
Savolaiset. "For example, what would
happen if one of the balls hit those
rotating blades in the south", says
the purser. "No-one knows, and
that's exactly what makes the game
so interesting", protests the
G-4-U-1'an.
$
After hours and hours of waiting,
the team gets more and more anxious, 
the anxiety caused partially by the
extraordinary surroundings, partially
by ordinary idleness. Finally the
captain of the team orders that
something must be done to cheer
everyone up. So you decide to have a
game of Petankki...
$
...after ten hours of intensive play,
you realize that during the game you
have wandered very far from the
meeting place. You have seen many
wonders of the Planet of Savolaiset,
even though you have thought only
about how they would affect the game.
You start thinking that you're lost
and you should try to find your way
back. Anyway, you decide to have one 
more game.
$
When the target ball has been thrown
and you're throwing your first red
ball, a representative of Savolaiset
appears suddenly with an interested
look in his face. He wants to know
what you're doing, and the
G-4-U-1'ian explains the game for
him. The representative of Savolaiset
seems very enthusiastic. He asks a
couple of questions about the minor
details of rules, and G-4-U-1'ian
answers them diligently. After that
you see a broad smile on the alien
face, as the representative of
Savolaiset exclaims: "What a
wonderful pastime! Thank you for
introducing it to us. In return we
will reveal you the secret of our
new Turbo-Mega-Ultra hyperspace
drive."

