Doubloon Trouble
INSTRUCTION BOOKLET
Thank you for selecting DOUBLOON TROUBLE for your GameLad system. Please read this instruction booklet carefully and follow the correct operating procedures of your new coin-pusher game.
STORY
At the end of a rotting seaside pier stands one last arcade machine, and it still takes players. Inside, atop a hoard of stolen gold, sits GRIMSBY, a pirate doubloon with three hundred years of bad attitude. Cursed to live as the very treasure he plundered, Grimsby has spent centuries running a rigged coin pusher, and no bucko has ever walked away rich.
Now, it's your turn. Drop your coins, work the machine, and push Grimsby's hoard into your tray before he steals it back. Beat the target every round and you earn a shot at the scurvy dog himself.
They say a golden idol is hidden somewhere inside the machine and that Grimsby's curse is bound to it. That's just scuttlebutt. Probably.
CONTROLS
| KEY | ACTION |
| Left/Right or A/D | Slide the coin chute |
| Down or S | Give force to a held coin. Hold longer to throw it farther |
| Up or W | Stash the current coin on the shelf, or swap it |
| Z or J | Drop the held coin (while holding DOWN for distance!) |
| X or K | Bite the held coin to test it. Costs one tooth. |
| C or L | Shake the machine. Careful, don't get caught! |
| Enter or Space | Pause |
PLAYING THE GAME
Each round you get a bag of coins and a goal. Shoot coins down the chute, let the bar sweep the piles forward and fill your tray to the goal before you're out of coins.
Between rounds, visit the prize counter for your a choice of one of three rewards!
Clear seven rounds and you face the final challenge: GRIMSBY HIMSELF!
MACHINE MECHANICS
WE ALL KNOW HOW COIN PUSHERS WORK, RIGHT?
The bar sweeps back and forth. Coins dropped in front of it of it get shoved towards your tray. A coin dropped on or behind the bar is a lost cause. Time your drops or hold DOWN to launch them further.
Coins that fall off the gaps on the bottom left and right are gone, they belong to Grimsby now. Aim for the middle of the pile, or better yet, aim for where the most coins are.
POWERING UP
Hold DOWN to power up, then hold the Z Button to hurl the coin instead of dropping it. The longer the hold, the further the throw.
THE STASH
Press UP to stash the current coin or swap the stashed coin back into play. Use it to save a heavier coin (or a special coin) for a primed pile, or to shelve a suspected fake for the end.
CASCADES
Land three coins in the tray within quick succession and the machine rings up a cascade bonus.
THE TILT METER
Press C to shake the machine and try to cheat the pile. Every shake fills the tilt meter, but each shake raises Grimsby's suspicious, so the meter fills faster and faster. Leave it alone and it'll cool back down.
Fill it to the top and the machine freezes, you forfeit the coin, and Grimsby plunders FIVE of your gold. Get greedier he'll rot some of the gold in the pile into worthless pyrite.
TEETH AND BITING
You have three teeth every round. Press the X Button to bite the coin in the chute and test it. If it's fools gold, you can pick any coin you like as its replacement. Bite real gold and you've wasted a tooth. Out of teeth? Then you're on your own, matey.
SPOTTING A FAKE
Watch the big coin in the side panel of what's in the chute. True gold has a particular shine and sound, fools gold a different one.
GRIMSBY
The old doubloon sits in the pile trying to sabotage you. Push Grimsby into the tray and he pays out a fat bonus... but he never pays without taking something back. A curse follows you into the next round, every time.
THE COINS
GOLD: The genuine article. Worth one doubloon in the tray. The pile is full of it, and it's all yours if the game goes well.
TARNISHED: Dirty and heavier, but still gold. Worth one doubloon. Its extra weight gives the pile a bigger shove.
FOOLS GOLD: Worth nothing, and it looks nearly identical to gold. Bite it with the X Button to reveal it as false and you can get any coin as a replacement, or just drop it anyway, it'll still push coins at least.
CURSED: Grimsby's signature move. It lands in your tray and drags a doubloon down with it. Shove it out a side gap instead of your tray if you can!
LEAD: A fat, heavy coin worth one doubloon. It drops like an anchor and pushes the whole pile forward.
SPLIT PENNY: A doubloon stamped badly. The moment it hits the board it snaps into two gold coins.
BOTTLECAP: Light as a feather and bouncy as the poop deck. Worth one doubloon.
TOOTH COIN: An old sailor's molar minted into a coin. Worth no gold, but replenishes a tooth if you land it in your tray.
POWDER KEG: A tiny keg with a lit fuse. It lands, sizzles, and explodes pretty quickly, launching everything nearby.
TAR PENNY: Coated in tar, this coin makes others cling to it. Push the penny in and the whole clump comes along with it.
PUFFER: That's not a coin! It swells up every few moments and shoves its neighbors around.
GOLDEN IDOL: Scuttlebutt for sure. Get back to swabbing the deck!
THE PRIZE COUNTER
One free prize per visit. Trinkets are yours for the whole run. Provisions only work for the next round.
TRINKETS
RUBBER BUMPERS: Blocks one coin from escaping on the each side gap. Comes back every round.
LUCKY TOOTH: Two extra bites added to your coinpurse.
LEAD COIN: Two lead slugs added to the pouch.
SPLIT PENNY: Two split pennies added to your wallet.
OILED GEARS: The pusher bar moves 25 percent faster.
PARROT:Squawks at fake coins in the chute, and at Grimsby whenever he tries something.
GROG: The tilt meter recovers twice as fast, and the machine ignores one shake.
CURSED COMPASS: Grimsby pays out double when pushed into the tray, but his curses last two rounds.
DEEP POCKETS: Three extra coins in every pouch.
CASCADE BELL: Cascades start after only two quick landings instead of three.
PROVISIONS
POWDER PACK: Two powder kegs in the next pouch.
TAR BUCKET: Two tar pennies in the next coinpurse.
SPARE DENTURES: Two extra teeth next round.
BAG O GOLD: Four extra gold in the next bag.
THE SIEVE: Lucky you! There's no fake coins next round.
HOLY WATER: If there's a curse next round, this cleanses it instead.
GRIMSBY'S CURSES
Push Grimsby into the tray and earn more doubloons! But, he curses the machine for the next round!
LISTING SHIP: The whole deck sways side to side. Good luck hitting the pile now!
BARNACLES: Coins stick fast to the pusher bar and ride it backwards a bit.
FOOLS FORTUNE: One in three coins in your pouch is fools gold. It's worse than scurvy.
DAVYS TOLL: The machine steals every fourth coin you drop, straight to the Davy Jones' Locker.
MIDAS ROT: Any coin Grimsby brushes against rots into a cursed coin. Avoid him or knock him in quickly!
SEA LEGS: The chute sways on its own, making aiming harder.
Credits
Early Gameboy font made by Jimmy Campbell.
Made in Godot.
Music made with BeepBox.
Sounds made with jsfxr.
Take down Grimsby! Good luck, matey!
Download
Development log
- Release and Updates7 days ago
Comments
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Quite intresting. The game could benefit from a more gradual introduction of the mechanics - currently you are hit with pretty much a wall of text, which makes the game less approchable.
Cool game. Sound and effect is great. A lot of mechanics. Addictive :)
Nice colors, the itch page looks phenomenal :)
The game itself is pretty cool, I like that tilting is encouraged, you can cash in so much money quite quickly. Nice work!
This game is really cool. I love the curse mechanic. Congrats.
Nice work!
Thanks! I think it's a neat little game for sure. It was fun working with so many limitations.
Yeah, the limitations were definitely interesting. I love the colors you went with; the theme is very fitting. You definitely put some thought into it for sure. Fun little game! Gave you a follow the last game jam cause your work really good!