
                              THE NUCLEON STORY
                              --- ------- -----

Usually, it's just another day at the local nuclear power plant. But today,
in addition to wattage, it's also pumping out Rads at an unbelievable rate.
Some mischievous new nightshift hires have built up nuclear piles from fuel
cells, and an overload seems inevitable.  Donning a radiation suit, you enter
the reactor core. Can you deal with unstable fuel cells, problem employees,
and--even worse--total meltdown? It's time to NUCLEON!


                                  THE OBJECT
                                  --- ------

You must bring the nuclear piles down to a non-critical level of at least 10
cells before your time expires or before you've made all possible moves.


                                  HOW TO PLAY
                                  --- -- ----

Your goal is to decay as many fuel cells in the nuclear pile as possible.
When you throw the fuel cell you hold, a variety of things can happen,
depending on what that cell is and what cell it strikes.

When an ordinary fuel cell strikes a wall it always returns to you. If it
strikes a cell with an identical symbol on it, it will cause that cell to
decay and will continue in that direction until it strikes a cell with a
different symbol or a wall.  After a thrown cell has caused an identical fuel
cell to decay, it will decay upon impact with a cell bearing a different
symbol. That different cell will return to you.  If a thrown fuel cell first
hits a cell bearing a differing symbol it simply returns to you.

One type of fuel cell does not act like the others.  It has a lightning bolt
symbol on it and works sort of like a wild card.  It will decay any other
lighting bolt cells or will allow you to pick up any of the other types of
cells (it decays upon impact). You start each level with one of these cells
in hand. Some may also be in the nuclear pile you are tying to clear. Rather
that decaying these useful cells, it is a good idea to leave them until no
other moves are possible so you can use them to pick up other types of fuel
cells.

You may throw cells that strike the nuclear pile from the side or from the
top as indicated by an arrow pointing to a pile. Notice how the arrow moves
when you do to show where a thrown fuel cell will go.

In higher levels, those pesky workers who caused this nuclear problem will
appear and cause trouble. If you don't plan your moves well, they may toss a
fuel cell right back at you.

Meltdown occurs if you exhaust all moves or run out of time and more than 10
fuel cells remain in the nuclear pile.


                                   CONTROLS
                                   --------

                     UP ARROW   -> Moves you UP
                     DOWN ARROW -> Moves you DOWN
                     <SPACE>    -> THROWS the fuel cell you
                                   hold at the nuclear pile
                     <F1>       -> Brings up this HELP text
                     <F6>       -> PAUSES game play
                     <F7>       -> CLEARS high scores
                     <F8>       -> Starts a NEW GAME
                     <ESC>      -> EXITS to DOS

The <ESC> key also allows you to back out of the current level you are in.
For example, if the game is paused, <ESC> will exit the paused state and
resume game play.  Also, the <ESC> key allows you to back out of <F4>,
<F6> and <F8>.


                                    SCORING
                                    -------

Points are awarded for each fuel cell successfully decayed in a throw, and
the more cells decayed in a single throw, the more you score.

                             First cell  ->  100
                             Second cell ->  200
                             Third cell  ->  400
                             Fourth cell ->  800
                             Fifth cell  -> 1600
                             Sixth cell  -> 3200

Points are also awarded at the end of each successfully completed level based
on the time remaining. Additionally, if you successfully remove all fuel
cells, you will be rewared by a bonus for all fuels cells decayed in the game
so far.

                                  GOOD LUCK!
                                  ---- -----
