Rattler Race is a puzzle

Computer puzzle game

Puzzle video games are a genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles to be solved can test many problem solving skills including logic, strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion....

 video game, created in 1991

1991 in video gaming

-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....

 by Christopher Lee Fraley, based largely on the 1970s game simply called Snake

Snake (video game)

Snake is a video game that originated during the late 1970s in arcades and has maintained popularity since then, becoming something of a classic...

. It was distributed with the Microsoft Entertainment Pack

Microsoft Entertainment Pack

The original Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack is a collection of simply-designed 16-bit computer games for Windows. These games were somewhat unusual for the time, in that they would not run under MS-DOS. Many of the games were later released in the Best of Windows Entertainment Pack...

, which was included with early Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 systems. The player takes on the role of a hungry snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

, who must eat all the apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s in each level, whilst avoiding the hazards.

Levels

There are 30 levels

Level (computer and video games)

A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...

 of increasing difficulty. The player can begin at any level by using the level selection window, which shows a simple preview of the layout. When the level is created, a timer is started and apples appear in random places. When all the apples are eaten, the player's snake exits through a hole to complete the level. Four factors affect the difficulty of each level.

Enemy snakes make navigating around the level harder, because running into them will kill the player's snake. The player can select the number of enemy snakes, from zero to three. If an enemy snake reaches the open exit hole before the player, the hole closes and the level restarts.

Walls will kill the snake, if it runs into them. Careful planning of routes (to avoid running into walls) is necessary at higher levels when the snake has grown in size.

Bouncing ball

Ball

A ball is a round, usually spherical but sometimes ovoid, object with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling...

s are lethal if they hit the head of a snake. They will harmlessly bounce off the bodies of the snakes and walls of the levels. The player can select the number of balls that appear in the game, from zero to three.

Timer freezes appear sporadically, which will temporarily pause the timer to allow the player to get more points.

Score

The score

Score (gaming)

In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...

 can be increased by completing levels and eating apples. The player can also gain points by trapping and killing an enemy snake, which is done by forcing the enemy snake into a dead end. The enemy snakes can reduce the players score by eating the apples.

Gold apples will randomly appear, which are worth more points than regular apples. However, if an enemy snake eats a gold apple, the player loses more points. If the player has selected enemy snakes, balls or both to appear in the level, additional points are rewarded for some actions.

If the timer is active, the player gets more points for eating apples and completing the level.

The player begins with three lives. An extra life is given each time the player gets to a score ending in 50, such as 50, 250 or 550.

Difficulty level

The player can select a difficulty level

Difficulty level

In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...

 from Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced to Expert. This determines the speed of the game and affects the amounts of points gained from certain actions. The game's settings are stored in the following file: C:\Windows\EntPack.ini (Entertainment Pack). One nice feature is being able to change the size of the playing screen by changing the value of "Size" to "1".

External links

• [ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/deskapps/games/public/AAS/Ratarc.exe Rattler Race] at Microsoft
  Microsoft
  Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
  
  's Public FTP server
• vbrun100, the necessary file that is not included in the Microsoft link.