Rotactical

The game

In Rotactical you have to master different levels by managing to blow up all the ball bearings in a level.

Starting the game

If you are playing Rotactical for the first time, simply click on the start button to start the game. This automatically starts you at level 1.
Rotactical has 100 different levels. After each level you complete you will receive a password. If you have already solved a few levels, you can enter the password you received in the line at the top and then start again at the corresponding level. After pressing the Enter key, the level number appears and you can start by clicking on Start.

Playfield

< span>Depending on the level, the playing field shows different ball bearings, each of which has four free spaces. The ball bearings are usually connected by yellow tubes.

The running bar is located above the playing field. At the start of a level it is green. Depending on the level, you have a certain time per ball within which the ball must be brought from the track at the top into a ball bearing. When this time comes to an end, the color bar changes to yellow, orange, red and then black. As soon as the bar begins to turn black, a vertical yellow line runs along the bar from the right. If this line reaches the left end, you lose a life. The number of lives left is shown by the green dots. At the beginning you have three lives.
The number of points achieved so far is shown on the left above the bar, and on the right the total time remaining for the current level. The color of the next ball is displayed at the top right.

Gameplay

The aim of each level is to use all the ball bearings available blow up and reach the next level. A bearing is exploded if it contains four balls of the same color (see below for exceptions).

The ball bearings are rotated with the right mouse button. To move a ball out of a bearing onto the yellow rails, click on it with the left mouse button. However, it is important to note that no more than four balls can be in motion at the same time in the playing field. As long as this is the case, no balls can leave the bearings and balls can only be picked up from the running bar directly into bearings.

A ball must be placed in a bearing as long as the track does not turn completely black. Sometimes the ball has several runs to do this, but sometimes you have to put it into a warehouse on the first run.

If you don't complete a level, you lose a life and are allowed to try the same level again. If you have lost all lives, the game ends.

Game elements

Color changer

When passing through color converters, the colors of the balls are changed. There are random color converters that change the color arbitrarily (left picture) and those that give all balls the same color (for example, blue or green in the right picture).

Transporters

Spheres can be teleported across the playing field via transporters. There are different combinations of inputs and outputs. The colors show which inputs and outputs belong together. Transporters carry balls of any color.

Simple Transporters

Simple Transporters have exactly one input and exactly one output. The left image shows an input, the right an output.

Combined inputs and outputs

The input one transporter can also be the exit of another transporter at the same time. You can see this by the colored circle on the corner of the transporter. The picture shows the entrance of the gray transporter and the exit of the yellow transporter.

Transporter with multiple entrances

Several entrances can also be assigned to one transporter exit. At the exit shown, the balls land from the green, yellow, blue and white entrances.

Transporter with multiple exits

< span>These transporters have one entrance, but multiple exits. You can switch between the outputs by clicking on the input. The currently active output is marked with a colored dot (the right one in the picture).

Color requester

Here Only balls of the required color get through. In this example, only green balls are allowed through.

Obstacles

The obstacles described below do not have to be at the beginning of a level to be available. They can also only appear in the middle. If a traffic light and a combination are required at the same time, the combination must be fulfilled first.

Traffic lights

Here According to the traffic light display, the ball bearings must be blown up in the specified color order before the remaining ball bearings also burst. So here you would first have to burst a green camp, then a pink one and finally a red camp. The traffic light not only applies to the ball bearing it is next to, but to all bearings in the level!

Combinations

Here it is important to first form a required combination within any ball bearing before other bearings can burst. The bearing with the combination only bursts when the balls are in the correct position (turn!).

One-way rails

Here the balls only run on the rails in the direction of the arrow. Moving against the direction of the arrow is not possible.

Ratings

There is a certain number of points for each level. There are also bonus points for the remaining time. For every 500,000 points you get an extra life.

End of the game

The game ends as soon as you have lost all your lives.