Royal Flush for the Macintosh

What is Royal Flush

Royal Flush is a pinball simulation game, that very accurately mimics the classic "Royal Flush" machine (Gottlieb, 1976).

System requirements

• Macintosh (or compatible) with 25 MHz 68020 processor or better (PowerPC recommended)
• 3600 K available internal memory
• About 3.5 Mb free disk space
• Monitor size 640 x 400 pixels (832 x 624 or more recommended)
• Monitor capable of displaying 256 colors (or shades of gray)
• System 6.0.7 or higher (system 7.x or higher recommended)
• Sound manager 3.0 or higher
• External speakers recommended

Note that if the available internal memory is less than 3300K, but not less than 2800K, the game will run, but sound effects will be disabled.

Features

• Accurate simulation of the classic Royal Flush machine, including sound effects
• Customize settings like incline, tilt sensitivity, flipper power and more
• 3-ball or 5-ball play
• Top ten list of high scores
• Custom settings can be saved in a file and restored later on (along with the top ten list)
• Top ten can be saved as a printable text document
• Magnet mode allows to draw the ball around and explore the game
• Nudging vertical or 45° sideways
• Game play with either keyboard or mouse
• Custom settings for keyboard control
• Demo mode

How to install Royal Flush

1. Download the archive file "RoyalFlush.sit" (1.2 Mb).
2. Unpack the contents of the downloaded file with StuffIt Expander, which you can download here. If you already have Stuffit Expander installed, unpacking will probably start automatically after download.
3. The unpacked items are an application program, some examples of user setting files, and a "Read Me" file. Double-click the application program to start playing.
4. (Optionally) Read the "Read Me". It contains useful information.

Note that if you are upgrading from a previous version, your high scores and current settings will be preserved and automatically used in the new version.

Hint for first-time use

After starting the program, the menu bar will disappear to allow full screen access to the game. Don't be alarmed! You can make the menu bar reappear by simply moving the mouse into the topmost area of the screen. More instructions for use can be found in the Read Me file that comes with the product.

High Score Contest

The game has a tournament mode, which sets the machine in a configuration based on the original Gottlieb factory defaults. Tournament settings are identical for every installed Royal Flush, and therefore allow for a fair competition. Scores obtained in tournament mode can be submitted for the high score competition using the high score entry form. The top ten of all times is published in the high scores list.

What's new in version 1.2

Version 1.2 is a maintenance release; no new features have been added. The following bugs have been solved:

• On the iMac, computer keyboard and mouse input appeared to be disabled after playing one game. This was caused by the different bus architecture (USB versus ADB). The incompatible code has been rewritten. As a side effect, nudging the machine with the mouse now has a greater effect than it had before. So beware of "Tilt" when you were used to play the game with the mouse in previous versions!
• Users of the Kensington Trackball and Kensington Thinking Mouse have reported some annoying incompatibilities. These problems have been solved.
• Under some circumstances the control bar was not hidden correctly. This has been fixed.
• When a free game was awarded as the result of getting a "special" or a matching end digit, an "insert coin" sound was played. This is not like the real machine, so this sound has been removed. Now only the characteristic "knock" sound is heard.

What's new in version 1.1

Version 1.1 is mainly a maintenance release, solving a number of problems and adding a few minor features.

The following bugs have been solved:

• On a Powerbook G3 it was impossible to enter your name after obtaining a high score. This type of keyboard is now fully supported by Royal Flush.
• "Sometimes" the ball appeared to have an enormous weight, and the plunger had not enough power to even launch the ball into the game. This does not happen anymore.
• The "control strip" it is now correctly shown and hidden, along with showing and hiding the menu bar.
• It has been reported that on some Macintosh models the program ran out of memory. This has been solved by increasing the memory requirements from 3300K to 3600K, which appears to cover the worst case on any model.
• Under rare circumstances the "Quit" command was grayed out. This has been solved: the Quit command now is always available.

Two minor features have been added in version 1.1:

• The Tournament High Scores screen now supports copying of the high score and magic code to the clipboard. Use this to more easily fill out the tournament entry form.
• The user is no longer asked for confirmation when switching the screen to 256 color mode. The switch now occurs automatically. Switching to another program or quitting Royal Flush restores the screen to its original color mode.

Known problems and solutions

• IF Royal Flush crashes (which is very rare indeed) NEVER end the program with Alt-Command-Esc. If you do, the program WILL terminate, but the system is bound to crash sooner or later. Instead reboot the computer with Control-Command-Power key.

If you notice any problem or weird behavior in Royal Flush, I would appreciate if you let me know by E-mail. Please describe your problem as accurate as possible, to give me the opportunity to solve it. I don't have the resources to test Royal Flush on every type of Macintosh, so in order to maintain the quality of the product, I depend on this kind of feedback. Of course, if you don't encounter any problems, and think the product is great, you are also welcome to let me know ;-)

More information

Read the "Read Me" file to learn more about the Royal Flush program. For a game strategy guide, check out The Tower of Pin. If Royal Flush does not run fast enough on your machine, read the technical note on game speed.

Is Royal Flush free?

Royal Flush for the Macintosh is shareware. Try it for free, and if you like it, make a shareware donation. Enjoy.

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