Cameltry/Walkthrough



Once you have inserted your coin into the cabinet of Taito Corporation's 1989 arcade game Cameltry and pressed the Start Button, it will proceed to the course selection screen shown above from which you get ten seconds to select either the Training Course (also 6 rounds), Beginner Course (6 rounds), Expert Course (8 rounds), or Special Course (10 rounds) by turning the rotary controller left or right to select a course, then pressing the Jump Button to confirm your choice; the first round of your chosen course will then start, with a time of either 35, 40, 50 or 60 seconds (depending on how the cabinet is set). You will then have to turn the rotary controller (or "paddle", as the game refers to it in its attract mode demonstration sequence) left or right in order to rotate the maze anticlockwise or clockwise and direct the ball towards the goal point while destroying blocks (if present) and bouncing off pinball-style bumpers (again, if present) for extra points and time (but avoiding "cross" wall tiles which will incur a two- or five-second time penalty when hit, and if hit when you have less than one of those time amounts remaining, can end up costing you the game!) - and, if the ball should get stuck in a dead-end, you can use the Jump Button to get out of it (you can also do this if you want to speed it up). Once the ball has reached the goal point, your lap time will get displayed on the screen (if it was less than the preset one the text "A NEW RECORD" will be displayed next to it, but because Taito's F2 games do not utilize NVRAM it'll be reset when the cabinet is turned off); you will now receive a "Time Bonus" of your remaining time multiplied by the current round's number x 100, and your remaining time shall get extended by 20-45 seconds (determined by which course you selected) for the next round. Also, if the ball reaches any goal point with over 60 seconds remaining, you shall receive a 1000-point bonus (indicated by a character from an earlier Taito game, such as Tiki the kiwi from 1988's The NewZealand Story, holding up a sign that has the number "1000" on it) - but if it reaches it with under 10 seconds remaining, a slot machine will appear (except on the Special Course) and the three numbers its reels stop on will be added to your time as bonus time.

Also, if the ball reaches any goal point with a time for which all three numbers are the same (such as 11.1 or 22.2), you will receive a secret bonus; it is also worth noting that if you hold down the Start Button while on the course selection screen (unless you choose the Training Course), the appearance of the ball shall be altered. You can also press and hold the Jump Button during the ending sequence (again, unless you chose the Training Course) to see the game's credits - and finally, if you are using MAME to play the game, you can push 9 after starting the game to cause a "SERVICE SWITCH ERROR" message to appear, then push 1 thrice, 9 again and 1 for a fourth time to cause the text "ROUND SELECT ON!" to appear. The game will then proceed to the start screen, with two credits; once you have pressed either Start Button, the text "ROUND SELECT" will appear on the screen with "ROUND 1" below it. You can then turn the rotary controller left or right (to decrease or increase the round number), then push the Jump Button to begin the currently selected one - and Rounds 1-6 are the Training Course, while Rounds 7-12 are the Beginner Course, Rounds 13-20 are the Expert Course, and Rounds 21-30 are the Special Course. However, novice players are advised to start at the Training Course then work their way up from it.