Hit The Ice! What a night for a hockey game! After weeks of intensive training on the ice, you're finally at the face-off, waiting for the starting whistle. As the puck slides across the smooth, icy surface, you take it at center ice, managing to break over the blue line to your opponent's right. Whoooossh. What reflexes! What speed! The spray of the ice on your face momentarily blinds you, but you continue to skate furiously, weaving towards the opposing goal. You can feel your challenger's hot breath on the back of your neck, as the distance between you grows smaller and smaller. But before he can manage to steal the puck, you swing your stick and whack -- it's a slapshot! The point is yours! Get three goals in a game, and it's a hat trick! Getting Started Plug a joystick into the left joystick port for one player and another into the right joystick port for two players. The left joystick controls the blue player and goalie, and the right joystick controls the red player and goalie. To select a one- or two-player game, press [F5]. For a one-player game, continue to press [F1] or press [F7] to select the novice, normal or expert game level. In the novice game level, your computer-opponent's reflexes are slower. Press [F1] to start the game. If you wait a few moments before starting the game, a brief game demonstration will appear on the screen. Press [F7] in the middle of a game to pause the game. Playing The Game The game takes place on an ice hockey rink. As in a real hockey game, you want to score more goals than your opponent does. To do so, you'll grab the puck (or steal it away from your opponent), skate until you see an opening, and then, using your stick, hit the puck past the goalie, into your opponent's goal. On the defense, your goalie must block your opponent's attempts to hit the puck into your goal. You control both your player and goalie with the joystick handle. Move the joystick handle up, down, right, or left to move your player. As your player skates up and down, your goalie moves in the same direction but more quickly. Each game lasts three minutes. At the start of the game, you and your opponent face off inside a large, yellow circle in the middle of the rink. At the sound of the serve whistle, the puck slides onto the ice from either the top or bottom of the rink. To steal the puck, maneuver your player until his stick touches the puck. To hit the puck into a goal, press either joystick fire button. The puck is hit in the direction the joystick handle is facing. After either player scores a point, a goal whistle sounds and all action freezes. Then the serve whistle will sound, and you'll face off once again with a new puck. Playing Tips Don't forget your goalie! If your opponent nears your goal, move the joystick handle up or down so your goalie can block the puck. If you bump into your opponent, you'll bounce off each other. However, if your sticks get locked together, you can break the lock by moving past each other. Whenever you let go of the joystick, you'll automatically face the opposing goal. That way you won't accidentally push the puck into your goal and give your opponent a free point! Scoring The scoreboard is at the top of the screen. The clock counts down from the serve whistle. You'll win points each time you successfully hit the puck through the opposing goal. The scoreboard also displays the number of "saves" (when a goalie blocks the puck), but saves don't earn you points. Whoever has the highest number of points at the end of three minutes wins the game. If the game is tied at the end of three minutes, the game goes into overtime, giving you another 60 seconds of game play. If the tie is broken during overtime, the game ends with one side declared the winner.