This help section contains six parts:
Whether you are playing alone (against your phone) or against one or more human players, your paddle will always appear on the left or right side of your screen. This is true for all players; every player will see his paddle on the left or right side of her screen. You may not care whether your paddle is on the left or right. You can, however, decide which side of screen (left or right) you wish to defend.
Normally, the paddle you control will be the one on the left side of your screen. If you prefer to see your paddle on the right side of your screen enter SETUP and set DEFEND to RIGHT SIDE .
As you play Bongo you will notice that the speed of the ball can vary. Part of the variation is random: every time a new point begins Bongo picks a starting speed that varies randomly within some range. The ball may also speed up or slow down a bit depending on which part of the paddle the ball strikes (more on this in the next section).
You can, however, increase or decrease the overall speed of the ball by entering SETUP and changing the value of BALL DELAY. Lower values for BALL DELAY will increase the speed of the ball, and higher values will decrease the speed. You should start with a BALL DELAY of 40 - 60. If you find the ball moves too fast for enjoyable play, reduce the value of BALL DELAY. As your skill at Bongo increases you may wish to reduce the value of BALL DELAY. Also, practicing (alone against the phone) with a reduced BALL DELAY is a great way to improve your skills for play against human opponents.
Please note that in multi-player games the BALL DELAY of the Leader will be adopted by all Followers.
In Bongo, when the ball collides with a paddle it always bounces off, but the angle at which it bounces away depends on where it strikes the paddle.
Your paddle appears flat, but it behaves as if it is curved (convex).
If the ball strikes the paddle at (or very near) its center it will bounce away at the same angle at which it struck the paddle
(see Path A in the diagram).
If the ball strikes closer to the top or bottom of the paddle it bounces away at a different angle
(see Path B and Path C in the diagram).
Please note that in multi-player games the PADDLE SIZE of the Leader will be adopted by all Followers to ensures a fair game.
When you hold down a navigation key the paddle will keep moving in the direction you select. When you press a navigation key—and immediately release it—the paddle should move only one step. If you find that a single press causes the paddle to move two or more steps your paddle is too sensitive. You can enter SETUP and adjust the value of PADDLE SENSITIVITY. Lower values make the paddle less sensitive, and higher values make it more sensitive.
When you press a navigation key your paddle will move:
UP move the paddle up LEFT move the paddle up by a smaller amount DOWN move the paddle down RIGHT move the paddle down by a smaller amount
You can adjust how far the paddle moves when you press the navigation keys. To adjust movement for the UP and DOWN keys enter SETUP and adjust the value of PADDLE SENSITIVITY (BIG). Larger values will cause larger paddle movements, and smaller values will cause smaller movements. To adjust movment for the LEFT and RIGHT keys enter SETUP and adjust the value of PADDLE SENSITIVITY (SMALL). Again, larger values will cause larger paddle movements, and smaller values will cause smaller movements.
Playing alone (solo) against the computer is fun, and it's also great practice for playing against your friends. You can adjust the skill level of the computer by entering SETUP and setting COMPUTER SKILL to a value from 0 to 5. At levels 0 and 1 it is very easy to score against the computer. At level 5 it is almost impossible.
With the computer's skill level set at 3 or higher, the trick to scoring is to get the ball moving at a steep angle–so it can outrun the computer's paddle. The way to increase the angle of the ball's motion is to hit it nearer the top or bottom of the paddle (rather than near the middle).
Recall the paddle contact diagram (reproduced on the right). If the ball is moving toward the top of the screen, and you strike the ball somewhere in the top third of your paddle (Path C), you will increase the angle of the ball's motion (toward the top). On the other hand, if you strike that same ball (while it's moving upward) with the bottom third of your paddle (Path B) you will decrease the angle of the ball's motion. So you see, you can increase or decrease the angle of the ball's motion by striking the ball near the top or bottom of your paddle.
You can sharpen your reflexes and judgement by increasing the speed of the ball when you play solo (as described in Ball Speed section above. If you can play reasonably well against the computer at ball speeds below 30, humans won't stand a chance against you!
Bongo comes configured to play an 11 point game, and the winner must win by at least 2 points. So, in a two-player game, if both players have 10 points, then one player will have to score at least 12 points to win (must win by 2). Of course, if players keep trading points the 11 point game can eventually turn into a 20 or more point game.
You can change the number of points in the game by entering SETUP and setting POINTS IN GAME to any value up to 50. You can also make the game sudden death (don't need to win by 2) by entering SETUP and setting MUST WIN BY 2 to No.
Please note that in multi-player games the POINTS IN GAME and MUST WIN BY 2 values of the Leader will be adopted by all Followers.