INSTRUCTIONS Popcorn, peanuts, hot dogs -the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd -a runner heading for home in a race against an outfielder's accurate arm — now that warm weather is here the main topic of conversation is the national pastime, baseball. Batter Up! is a one-player baseball simulation for the C-64 which will sharpen your batting eye against a clever computerized pitcher. The game features a split-screen playing field, joystick control, and an optional printing routine for making hard copies of lineups and batting averages. The game is written entirely in BASIC with numerous REM statements, so you can see what's going on with the program. GETTING STARTED Type in and save a copy of the program, then RUN it. The screen will prompt you for the name of your team. Next, the screen will ask you for a name for the computer team. Pressing the return key at either prompt will name the team, with the default name Pittsburgh for you and New York for the computer. The screen will then show you your batting order with the player's batting average next to his name. The batting averages are different each time the game is played. You then have the option of making a hard copy of the lineup and averages (on a 1525 or equivalent printer). The playing field is drawn next. A split screen is used, with a batter on the left and an overhead view of the stadium on the right. The effect is that of watching a game on TV with one camera behind the catcher and another camera on the roof of the stadium. You are the visiting team and thus bat first. A bell will sound when the pitcher is ready to throw a pitch. The pitcher will go into his windup and throw the ball toward home plate. You have the choice of either taking the pitch or swinging at the ball by pressing the fire button on a joystick in Port 2. The computer pitcher throws five different pitches. The ones outside the strike zone cannot be hit. When you hit the ball any number of things can happen, just as in real baseball. The player's batting average has a lot to do with it. For example, a player batting .340 has a better chance of hitting a home run than a player batting .180, but the .180 hitter will still occasionally drive one out of the park. The game plays just like regular baseball, with one exception-if a player is walked, then any other runner on the basepaths moves up one base. Thus, a walk is the same as a single. The balls, strikes, outs, and inning are displayed on a small scoreboard on the left of the screen. The score, batter, and batting average are displayed on the large scoreboard on the right of the screen. The runners currently on the bases are represented by X's on the bases on which they are standing. The result of your hitting the ball is displayed on the right of the screen. After your team makes three outs, the computer's results for that inning are displayed and it is your turn to bat again in the top of the next inning. The computer may score from 0 to 3 runs in each inning. Since the computer is the home team, the computer gets "last bat." After nine innings, the game is over. STRATEGY When first playing the game you should take some pitches so that you can see what the pitcher is capable of throwing. After a while you will be able to differentiate between the various pitches and will be able to see a strike coming. Sometimes you will have a powerhouse team with high averages, and will probably want to swing away. In other games you might have a team with low averages, and you may want to take more pitches. Usually, you will have a lineup with a mixture of batting averages and you will want to manage accordingly. The game moves along fairly fast; you will have to make quick decisions. In this game you have to be the batter and the manager. Now, the only remaining question is this - Are the Mets going to repeat, or are the Pirates going all the way?