Oils Well
arcade, collect'em up game for Commodore 64, 1983
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You're rich!...maybe. Geologists have
just located one of the largest oil
deposits in North America, on your land!
But you have to get it out of the ground
before you can spend it.
The other oil barons are jealous, and
they would do anything to sabotage your
operation. They have planted oozies and
land mines in your oil fields to wreck
your drilling equipment. Don't let them
cheat you out of your millions!
CONTROLS
Joystick
Use joystick to select playing speed;
Regular, Unleaded or Premium.
Use joystick to drill any direction.
Press button to retract drill bit.
Press [F7] to pause game.
HOW TO PLAY OIL'S WELL
Your gusher came in, but hasn't made you
a millionaire. Not yet, anyway.
The competition is giving you trouble.
Every time you start drilling, an oozie
attacks your pipe and eats right through
it. Or your drill sets off an
underground land mine someone (and we
know who, don't we?) has planted in your
oil fields. If you can't avoid these
hazards you may have to shut down!
As you gather in all those precious oil
pellets, watch for extra-rich deposits
of high grade oil. Lap up that liquid
gold, like gleaming goblets of golden
nectar.
In the deepest, darkest caverns below
you will find an occasional deposit of
petromin. While this rare mineral is
flowing up your pipe it creates a force
field which slows down those oozies,
giving you a chance to mine some of
those deeply buried oil pellets.
Be careful though - the land mines are
not affected by petromins.
As you mine each of your eight oil
fields, construction workers are busy
overhead building a refinery. Clear out
all the fields and your refinery will be
finished. You can sell your refined oil,
and live on Easy Street for the rest of
your life!
What are you waiting for? Your first
fortune is only minutes away!
THE PLAYERS
POINTS
Drill Bit You get 3 to start
with, and another for
every 10,000 points.
Each has a lifespan
of 990 ticks.
Land Mines Your drill bit will
detonate these, but
they won't hurt your
pipe.
Oil Pellets Gobble up every one 10
of these to advance
to the next field.
Petromins Special oil nuggets
that slow down the
oozies.
Oozies These will destroy 20-170
your pipe, but your
drill bit will
devour them (points
increase as you dig
deeper).
Goblets Your drill bit can 1000
mine these super-rich
deposits; they pass
harmlessly through
your pipe.
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)