Arkanoid(3)

NAME

Arkanoid - MicroEmacs version of the bat and ball wall game

SYNOPSIS

Arkanoid

DESCRIPTION

Knock down the wall of bricks with the ball, keeping the ball in play with the bat along the bottom of the screen. Clear every brick and the next wall is loaded. Let the last ball fall past the bat and a life is lost; lose them all and the game is over.

The bat is steered with the cursor keys or with the mouse, whichever was used last. Where the ball strikes the bat decides where it goes - a hit out towards either end sends the ball away at a shallow angle, a hit near the middle sends it back steeply. The speed is the same whichever part of the bat is used.

There are eight walls, which repeat once all eight have been cleared. The ball starts a little faster on each new level and creeps faster still the longer a single wall takes, so the later levels are considerably quicker than the early ones. The current speed is shown on the status line.

Bricks drawn as solid blocks cannot be destroyed and are not counted; they simply deflect the ball. White bricks take two hits, darkening after the first. Every other brick takes one hit.

A brick scores between 60 and 110 points depending on its colour; a white brick scores 50 for the first hit and 100 for the second. A good capsule is worth 200 and a bad one 25. Clearing the wall scores 500 times the level number.

CAPSULES

Destroying a brick sometimes releases a capsule which drifts down the screen. Catch it with the bat to collect it. Capsules stack: a second D splits every ball again, a second E widens the bat further, a second M or G adds to the time remaining, and E and R wind the bat back and forth against each other. Everything collected lasts until the ball is lost or the wall is cleared.

The good capsules are:

E


Expand the bat.

C


Catch - the ball sticks to the bat until space is pressed.

L


Laser bat - space fires.

S


Slow the ball down.

D


Split every ball in play into three.

P


An extra life.

M


Mega ball - smashes straight through the wall without bouncing.

G


A guard along the floor, for a while.

T


Twin bat - two shorter bats with a gap down the middle.

B


Break out of the level immediately. Rare.

The bad capsules are all drawn in red:

R


Reduce the bat.

F


Speed the ball up.

V


Reverse the bat controls, for a while.

KEYS

The keys used to control Arkanoid are:

left or right


Move the bat.

mouse


The bat will follow your column position of the mouse.

space


Launch the ball, release a held ball, or fire the laser.

button 1


The same as space.

p


Pause the game.

? or h


Show the key help.

>


Skip the level, for those who want to see the end.

q or C-g


Quit the game.

NOTES

Arkanoid is a macro defined in arkanoid.emf.

The game uses whatever room the window gives it and adjusts if the window is resized while playing. If the window is too small to lay out a wall the game declines to start and says so on the message line.

SEE ALSO

Games, Balls(3), Metris(3).

Ref: Arkanoid(3) File: m3mac110.3 Date: 2026/08/25

(c) Copyright JASSPA 2026