Reactoid

The latest breakthrough in nuclear power is broken. It's the network, of course. In the dazzling future of the late 1990's, the world's first fusion reactor is online: energy particles are shooting out of emission tubes toward the energy posts... and missing. As each one passes the posts and strikes another tube on the opposite side of the core, the reactor moves one step closer to meltdown. The reflectoid is there; that's the solid energy deflection device which bounces the particles into the posts. It's supposed be remotely controlled by a sophisticated network of computers, but tonight it has to be controlled by you!

Reactoid gives you a top-down view of the reactor core, the heart of Professor Albert Arnstein's experimental and top-secret power station. Twenty-four energy posts are at the center, surrounded by twenty particle emission tubes, any one of which could emit the next energy particle. You generate kilowatts (your score) by deflecting the particle into a post as it passes one. There's only one chance to get it right; after the first bounce off the reflectoid, the particle will just pass through it on a second attempt. If seven of those particles find their way to another emission tube, whether by shooting across the core undeflected or by your inept deflection, meltdown is reached. On the other hand, if you deflect particles into all of the posts, lighting them, you survive the round and are rewarded with a fresh start and two particles shooting across the core at a time. For each round you survive, the particles on the screen and the kilowatt multiplier increase. Three meltdowns and you're done, unless you've picked up a spare reflectoid along the way.