How to play Thunderball on Mac
Game summary
For a normal ball action game, press 1, 2, 3 or 4 on the alpha-numeric keyboard for one, two, three or four players. For a slow motion game, press 5 for one player, press 6 for two players, press 7 for three players and press 8 for four players.
Players 1 and 3 take turns using the right hand control unit. Players 2 and 4 alternate using the left hand control unit.
To shoot, pull the joy stick back and release. The longer you hold the joy stick back, the greater the velocity of the ball. Audio beeps will indicate holding time.
Push the action button to activate the flippers. Push the joy stick to the left to shift the flipper coverage to the left. Push right to shift flipper coverage to the right.
Your game score will be automatically displayed at the far left of the scoreboard. Your bonus score will be displayed at the right side of the scoreboard. The bonus will automatically be added to you score at the end of each ball. The scoreboard will automatically show each player's score during the turn.
8,9 Roving Rebounds
No effect on score.
1,2,3,4 Backfield Bonus Bumpers
4000 points each, disappear when hit.
6,7,10,11,12,13 Thumper Bumpers
100 points unless red, 500 points when red.
5 Bonus Box
Scores randomly between 720 and 1350 each time hit.
Bonus
Bonus score is added to main score at end of each ball
When bonus exceeds 5000 points, it is added to main score immediately; the bonus indicator is reset to 0 and the Backfield Bumpers 1, 2, 3 & 4 are restored and play continues.
The winner is the player with the highest score for five balls. The scoreboard will automatically review each player's score at the end of the game.
To play again, push RESET and then press the appropriate number on the alpha-numeric keyboard.
First released: Feb 1979
Play Thunderball on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)
The easiest way to play Thunderball 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).
Thunderball 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 Thunderball like you would on any PC.
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