LINES BALLS 98

Very cute and strict version of the game Lines Balls 98. Strict not because the rules are particularly strict, no, but simply because there is nothing superfluous in the game: no unnecessary animation and special effects. Dark gray 9x9 game board, soft balls of several colors, score and hint. The last one shows which balls will fall out on the field in the next turn. The score increases after each line is removed, and each ball that disappears is awarded two points.

The scoring principle is similar to the good old Lines 98. In the 90s of the last century, it was a very popular game, and was released even under one of the oldest MSDOS operating systems. In modern times, of course, there are many analogues, but this version is the simplest and easiest. Light in terms of size. The game loads quickly due to its small size: its files together take up only 115 kilobytes, which is very small by modern gaming standards.

Let's talk about the rules of the game. However, if you are already familiar with them or are generally a professional in the game Lines 98, then you can safely skip this explanation and start playing right away. So, the rules. As mentioned above, there is a game board, which is a square table with a size of 9 by 9 cells. Each cell is a small square. There are 81 of them in the table. At the beginning of the game, the table is empty, and three starting balls fall into it. The colors of the balls and their places in the table in this and all subsequent cases are random.

The player's task is to make lines (rows) of balls of the same color. A line made up of five or more balls disappears from the field, which brings the player points (2 for each ball that disappears). Lines of balls can be built both horizontally, vertically and diagonally. A player can only move one ball in one turn. Moreover, if after the move there is not a single line ready to be deleted in the table, three balls of any color appear in random three empty cells of the table. Their colors (but not their positions) are shown in the tooltip to the right of the table.

There is another caveat in the rules. When moving a ball, the player first selects it, and then clicks on the empty cell where he wants to move the ball. So, if there is no passage to this cell, then the ball will not go there. It is not difficult to determine whether the passage is clear. To do this, you just need to imagine the future trajectory of the ball's movement to the target cell, given that the transition is possible only cell by cell vertically or horizontally. The ball doesn't pass diagonally.

Beginners in the game are advised not to get carried away with collecting several blanks of future lines at once. We recommend that you limit yourself to two or three. The fact is that new balls fall out much faster than the player who is carried away by the process expects, often closing the passages to the lined-up chains, and often their blanks themselves. Clearing the rubble requires additional moves, for which a lot of new balls will appear on the playing field. In the end, the table overflows so much that it is impossible to make the next move. The game ends when all the cells of the table are occupied by balls.

We wish you a pleasant, thoughtful and productive holiday with the beautiful logic game Lines balls 98.