How to play Madballs on Mac

Game summary

On the planet Orb live a gang of notorious Madballs who decide what is passed through parliament. They have no leader, and this is where a ball simply known as Dust Brain comes in. It is his quest to persuade the other Madballs on the planet to join him in his quest for power, and he does this by bumping them off the multi-directionally scrolling platforms. Once a Madball has been persuaded, it appears in a tube at the bottom of the screen. When a Madball ends up in the tube, Dust Brain must find the 'downtube' exit so that he can pursue other Madballs. While searching for other Madballs, Dust Brain encounters many obstacles that include trampolines, springboards, catapults, ramps, pyramids, and oil slicks; and these obstacles can either help or hinder Dust Brain. Each platform has its own dustbin, and if Dust Brain bounces over this, he changes into a Madball already in the tube. Also, he will make contact with three bureaucrats who will make his task harder, but they can also be pushed of the edge of platforms, giving Dust Brain plenty of time to bounce around before the bureaucrats have the chance to resurrect themselves. Each Madball has its own speed and strength, and it can be difficult for a strong Madball to fall off a platform. Each of them also have their own energy source, which include cabbages, fish heads, bones, and Coke. When eight Madballs have been persuaded, this tube is full. When the active Madball falls off the platform, another one takes its place. When the last Madball in the tube falls off the platform, his quest for power has failed.
First released: Dec 1987

Play Madballs on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Madballs on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Madballs installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Madballs like you would on any PC.
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