---

The Basics

The RoboNuts game area looks something like this:

You are the mad scientist, surrounded by evil robots who are determined to exterminate you. You can move into any square which has a direction triangle in it. Squares that are tinted red surrounding robots indicate areas which they may occupy in their next move, that are therefore unsafe.

In this picture, you have only two possible moves:

During your flight from crazed machinery, robots may collide with each other, resulting in a pile of trash which is deadly to other robots. You may use this to your benefit. If you can eliminate all robots in the area, you advance to the next level, which will be even more difficult.

If you have eliminated enough robots to be worthy of recording the fact, you will have the opportunity to add your name to the list of famous Mad Scientists. You can also view the high scores at any time by choosing High Scores from the RoboNuts menu.

---

The Arsenal

Eventually, you'll maneuver into a position with no moves that would not cause instant, painful death. In this situation you have several tools at your disposal, as indicated by the icons to the left of the game area. You can activate the powerups (if they are available to you) by clicking the appropriate icon, by using the associated keyboard shortcut, or by choosing the appropriate menu item from the Game menu.

• Teleporter
  Shortcut: Command-T
  The teleporter allows you to jump away from a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, it teleports you to a random location on the board, so you could very well teleport to your own demise!
  
• Zapper
  Shortcut: Command-Z
  The zapper emits a pulse of energy that will disintegrate all the robots that are immediately adjacent to you. Take care, though, because all the other robots will still move towards you!
  
• Super Teleporter
  Shortcut: Command-Shift-T
  The super teleporter is an advanced version of the teleporter, which has a targeting system. When activated, you will see a crosshair as you move the mouse over the game area, and when you click the mouse you will be transported to that point, ensuring a safe teleportation.
  
• Super Zapper
  Shortcut: Command-Shift-Z
  The super zapper works just like the regular zapper, except that it emits a more powerful pulse with a greater range, disintegrating all the robots within 2 squares of your location.
  

During the game, you have unlimited use of the Teleporter. You will accumulate 1 Zapper at the beginning of each level, and in later levels additional Zappers, Super Teleporters, and Super Zappers will appear on the game grid. If you can maneuver to one of these items, you will pick it up for use against the RoboNuts.

---

Preferences

Game Panel

You can customize your RoboNuts experience by choosing Preferences from the RoboNuts menu. This will bring up the preferences dialog. You can customize the gameplay in the Game panel:

• Game Size
  You can choose from various sizes for your game board. Note that the "Large" game board requires your display to be at least 1280x1024.
• Game Type
  You can choose between the normal "Super RoboNuts" game play, or the old-style "Classic" gameplay, in which you only have access to the Teleporter and Zapper powerups.

Note that these settings will not affect the current game in progress. They will take effect the next time you start a new game.

Display Panel

The Display panel allows you to customize the appearance of the game window:

• Theme
  Allows you to choose from the "Classic" or "Outer Space" theme, which alters the overall appearance of the game window.
• Show Guide Markers
  This option allows you to turn on or off the display of guide markers which appear on the grid emanating from your location. These markers can be useful in planning your strategy.
• Show Dangerous Tiles
  This option allows you to turn on or off the display of tiles which are "dangerous". These are tiles that are adjacent to a RoboNut into which it might move on the next move.
• Show Arrows
  This option allows you to turn on or off the display of the arrow markers which indicate in which directions you can safely move.

Update Panel

The Update panel allows you to control when and how the application will check for software updates. It also shows you the last time RoboNuts checked for a software update. The software update feature requires a connection to the internet.

You can check for updates to RoboNuts in the following manners:

• Manually
  Check for updates only when you click the Check Now button, or by choosing Check For Updates from the RoboNuts menu.
• When Launching
  Check for software updates every time it is launched.
• Daily
  Check for software updates when launching, but not more than once a day.
• Weekly
  Check for software updates when launching, but not more than once a week.