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Introduction
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Poly-Play was a game machine produced in East Germany, and, as far as I know,
was never released elsewhere. It contained 8 small games. The cabinet itself
had a joystick and one small button. I have taken it upon myself to educate you
on this unpopular,
mediocre, barely comprehensible set of games.
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Basic Translations
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If you’re like me, you don’t know any German. So I’ve translated some of the
basic words used in the games with the help of Altavista’s Babel Fish.
Rekord=Scores
Punkte=Point
Zeit=Time (as in timer)
Simple, yes? With these obstacles out of the way, we can move on to the actual
games.
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Hirschjagd
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Title Translation: Deer Hunt
Other Translations:
Treffer=Hit
Schuss=Shot
You take the role of a hunter, walking around a plain spotted with trees,
trying to kill deer. Deer will appear on screen, one after the other. You have
10 bullets (a.k.a. Schuss) to use to kill them. Every time you miss a shot or
go too long without shooting a deer (15 seconds), you lose one more bullet.
Every time you hit a deer successfully, you get one more point on your Treffer
count, and another comes out.
Tips: Try to stay in close range before firing. The deers’ movements are jerky
and unpredictable, and they can pull a “Balloon Fight” on you, walking off the
left side of the screen and appearing on the right.
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Hase Und Wolf
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Title Translation: Hare and wolf
Other Translations:
Hasen=Hare
A badly done Pac-Man rip-off. Who can resist? You play the part of a
dismembered rabbit head, being chased a gaping, dismembered wolf head. You
start with three lives(listed as Hasen), and collect dots in a maze. In place
of the power dots that allowed Pac-Man to eat his enemies, there are scroll
looking things that will cause your pursuer to go into an uncontrollable
seizure, going back and forth in a small area. When you finally collect all the
dots, you start the level over, but with two wolves chasing you.
Repeat, repeat, and repeat.
Point Values:
Dot=1
Scroll=5
Yellow Thing=7
Tips: Keep a good distance from the wolves. It’s hard to make turns unless
you’re in a corner, and you’ll need a little time to make it.
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Abfahrtslauf
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Title Translation: Departure Run
Other Translations:
Torweite=Gate Width
Ziel=A Goal
Steuerknueppel=Control Stick
Ja=Yes
Nein=No
When you first boot up this game, you’ll be presented with a screen with a
selectable option. It says “Control Stick” with arrows pointing to the words
“Yes” and “No”. I don’t know what this does, but if you select “Yes”, it will
start at a slightly easier
difficulty.
The game is based on skiing. Get down the hills through all the gates until you
reach the goal. I don’t know how points are determined, But I expect it has to
do with speed. The width of the gates you need to pass through changes each
time you run a lap. It
goes like this (each distance in meters): 6, 3, 1.4, .6. There may be smaller
gates, But I haven’t been able to pass the .6 lap.
Tips: Even when you don’t need to move sideways, do some turning. The more you
turn, the slower you go, and without the turning, you can get going so fast
that you can’t register how to react to the movement on the screen.
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Schmetterlinge
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Title Translation: Butterflies
The idea of this game is to catch butterflies in your net. You have two minutes
to get all of them that you can.
Scores:
Solid colors:10
Colors with other colors:20
Striped:40
Pixely:60
Tips: Come at the butterflies from above. It’s easier to net them that way.
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Schiessbude
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Title translation: (Altavista has failed me...)
Other Translations:
Munition=Ammunition
Your can make you little gun thing scroll back and forth, so you can shoot the
targets. The ducks are worth 1 point, the balloons 2, and the flowers 3. There
is some sort of multiplier involved, but I really don’t get it...You start with
64 bullets to clear away all
the targets. Occasionally, the ducks will start flying down. When they get to
the bottom, they’ll take away eight of your bullets.
Tips: Try to establish a rhythm so you can get all the targets in a line. It’ll
be far simpler.
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Autorennen
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Title Translation: Motorrace
This is a two car race on a strange track. There are two walls that
occasionally switch positions to add some variety to the track. You only have
100 seconds to finish the race, so hurry up.
Tips: Always hug the inside lane. Not only does this lower the amount of time
spent turning, but the computer always hugs the lane too. If you get ahead of
him, you can keep him behind you at all times. Also, maybe it’s just me, but it
seems you move
faster when you go diagonally. Try to incorporate this.
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Merkspiel
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Title Translation: Noticing play
Other Translations:
Who cares? It doesn’t matter anyhow.
Ever played Simon, that game with the four lights? This is like that. You have
six shapes to choose from. You start with a three shape pattern, and then one
more shape is added on.
Tips: Have a good memory.
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Wasserrorhbruch
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Title Translation: Once again, Altavista isn’t helpful.
Raindrops fall from the ceiling. You catch them in a bucket to prevent
flooding. When the bucket gets full, go all the way up the stairs and empty it
with the button. You get 5 points for every drop caught and another 3 for every
drop you dump out of the bucket.
Tips: Only empty the bucket when you have to. It’ll waste less time.
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Ya Wanna Play?
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If you’re interested in this game, you’re in luck. The ROM of this game is one
of the few that you can download legally. Look for MAME’s official site to
download it.
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Copywrite
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This guide is copywrite 2003 Zach Adams (a.k.a. Chao of Time). If you would
like to use it, please ask permission first. As of now, only ww.gamefaqs.com is
granted
permission to use this.
