How to Play Last Call

Introduction
For a comprehensive guide to playing the Last Call  Demo refer to the HTML documentation in the Help folder. CLICK HERE to read the full HTML format in your browser now.

The release version of the game on CD includes documentation in HTML, PDF, and Rich Text formats.

Updates to the documentation, plus game tips and much more are available on the Last Call web site (http//www.lastcallgame.com). 

Trouble-Shooting
Please consult the Troubleshooting section of the Read-Me file or go to http//www.lastcallgame.com before contacting technical support at support@ssi.teksupport.com or by telephoning 1-303-739-4020.

Playing The Game

The Goal of the Game
The goal of Last Call is to earn tips. To earn tips, you must mix drinks quickly and accurately, as well as deal with your customers. Drinks range in difficulty from the no-brainer vodka shot, to the Alabama Slammer. Last Call features twenty patrons, each with distinct personalities and quirks. As with life, there are other more subtle goals. These will become more apparent as you play and enjoy Last Call.

These are the options available from the main menu screen

1.	New Game - start a new game
2.	Drink Specials*  - practice mode for mixing drinks
3.	Free Shots* - practice mode for learning the location of bar items
4.	Load Game* - retrieve a saved game
5.	Options - configure user preferences
6.	High Scores - show the high score chart
7.	Help - leads to this screen
8.	Last Call Cats - credits
9.	Last Call Online - launches your browser and sends you to http//www.lastcallgame.com
10. Quit - exits the program
* Feature is disabled in the demo version of the game.

To start a new game

1.	Choose "New Game" from the main menu
2.	Enter your name and select a gender
3.	Hit the "Play Game" button to continue
4.	Read the instructions and click forward to reach the bar interface

Serving Drinks in the Bar

Use the buttons at the bottom of the bar interface to interact with the active customer, as indicated by the red dot on the bar. To make a different customer active, click on him/her or use the Tab, 1, 2, or 3 keys.

A typical drink-mixing sequence is as follows

1.	Click the ID button to check a customer's ID. Don't serve liquor to anyone under 21 years of age.

2.	Take a customer's order using the Take Order button. 

3.	Open the Recipe Book using the Recipe Book button. The blue "Recipes" tab in the Recipe Book gives instructions on making the active customer's drink.

4.	The ingredient list for each Recipe summarizes the ingredients you'll need. Be sure to read the recipe's text instructions following the ingredient list! The text instructions tells you which glass to use, whether to shake or stir the drink, and much more not shown in the ingredient list. 

5.	Glasses are on the left side beneath the bar top. You can not pour anything into a glass until the glass is placed on the bar top.  You can not "unpour" a liquid if you pour too much. Small mistakes won't matter much. If necessary, use the "Empty" button to empty the glass and remove it from the bar top. The button also empties the mixing vessels (see below).

6.	Almost all drinks require ice, and ice is always added to a vessel before other ingredients. If required, ice will be mentioned in the recipe's text description even though it is never shown in the ingredient list. This is typical of most bar books. (The ice scoop is in the ice bin to the left of the orange juice and above the Tip Register.)

7.	The shaker, mixing glass, and blender (the "mixing vessels") remain under the bar until you are ready to pour their contents into a glass. The shaker and mixing glass have built in strainers. If called for by the recipe, pour ingredients into a mixing vessel first, then strain (pour) into a glass on the bar top.

8. When you're done mixing the drink, hit the Serve button to serve it to the active customer. (We can't "guess" when the drink is ready! Even if the glass is full, you might still want to stir it, or add a garnish, or even empty it to start over.)

NOTE Until you earn your first tip, the customers will wait indefinitely for you to serve them before leaving. After you've earned your first tip, the customers will leave when they get too impatient. Before leaving, they'll grab the glass and drink whatever is in it, even if you are not done mixing it! (You might earn a bad tip, but at least you can earn some tip for your partial effort.). Regardless, hit the Serve button when you are ready to serve a drink instead of waiting for the customer to grab the drink automatically. This will maximize your tips because you earn higher tips for serving the customers before they become impatient.

For a full description of the all the tools, see the Help file located in the Help folder.

Using the Tools and Pouring

It takes a few minutes of practice to become proficient at using the various tools. There are many keyboard shortcuts that can save you time once you become an expert. Here are the basics

1.	To pick up an item, click the mouse once. The item will follow along with the cursor until you drop it by clicking again. Holding down the mouse for an extended time will bring up additional options for the bottles, the soda gun, and the lemons and limes. Generally though, you'll want to click the mouse button once to pick an item up.

2.	To place a glass on the bar, pick up a glass from under the bar, move the mouse to the bar top, then click on the bar top near the customer you wish to serve. The glass will snap to the location of the nearest patron automatically. Use the Empty button to remove a glass from the bar top.

3.	Ingredients can be poured into the mixing vessels below the bar or into glasses on the bar top. You can't pour into glasses until you place them on the bar, but you can't place the mixing vessels on the bar. The pour spout is treated as the bottle's "hot spot" similar to the tip of an arrow cursor. A bottle tilts slightly when its pour spout is close enough to a vessel to be poured. Click and HOLD to tilt the bottle upside down and pour. Hold the mouse down until done pouring. Bottles have pour spouts that always pour at a constant rate no matter how much the bottle is tilted.

4.	The Pour Meter (which looks like a clock and is in the upper right corner by default) shows how much you have poured of the current ingredient. The yellow "contents list", adjacent to the Pour Meter, updates to show the contents of any vessel that you move the mouse over.
 
5.	To return an item to its original place in the bar, press the space bar, or click mouse button somewhere the object can't be used. There is no need to manually place each item back in the bar. For example, clicking with a bottle on the bar top will return the bottle to its original location. If you drop something accidentally, use the space bar to pick it up again. 

6.	If you hear a beep, you may be trying to pour into a glass that is already full, or you may be trying to perform an action at an invalid time. For example, you can't serve a drink until you've taken the customer's order and you can't flirt with someone who is in the process of being bounced. Try again later.

Recipe Book and Help

The recipes and contextual help are available in the Recipe Book, a small, moveable window accessible via the Recipe book or Help buttons.

1.	The blue "Recipes" tab shows the current drinks on order. 

2.	The red "A-Z" tab shows an alphabetical list of recipes.

3.	The yellow Help tab provides contextual help plus details on any bar item you move the cursor over.

4.	Helpful "rollover tool tips" show the name of each item as you move the mouse over it. Turn them on and off using the "h" key. 

5.	See the Options screen, accessible from both the Main Menu and the bar interface, for additional configurable items such as the volume and whether to display helpful tips.

For a full description of the Recipe Book and Help options, see the Help file located in the Help folder.

Drink Evaluation

Remember, Last Call is a true bartending "sim" (simulation). You can do just about anything you'd like with the various ingredients and tools. You can mix anything you want in any vessel, although it won't always earn you a very good tip. Drinks are not evaluated until you serve them to the customer. You are always evaluated on the basis of the customer's order, so making a great martini won't get you a good tip if the customer ordered a beer. Keep in mind that our recipes may vary slightly from the proportions or ingredients you may be used to. Recipes are always judged against the recipe as shown in our recipe book, so if you want a good tip you should check what the recipe calls for (for example, we chill our vodka shots and add a lime wedge to our tequila shots. You'll lose points for omitting those sorts of extras.)

Interacting with Customers
To set the vibe, call up the JUKE BOX. Make a selection from the listed tracks, and set the volume.

CHARMING and flirting with customers is a big part of bartending. Depending on the customerÕs sexual persuasion, their satisfaction level, and their level of impatience, your attempts to charm may be successful, or they may falter. To charm a customer, click on the Smiley Face.

Everyone likes a FREE DRINK. Most bars allow the bartender to ÒcompÓ customers. A ÒcompÓ is a free drink.  At Last Call, your are allowed a certain number of drink tickets for each level. Hand out too many, and the cost of the drink is deducted from your total tips. To hand out a drink ticket, click on the Drink Ticket button. 

The heart-shaped button in the lower right corner is your TOUGH LOVE button. Tough Love calls Arbus, Last CallÕs trusted bouncer.  Arbus shows the active customer to the door. Bouncing customers is fun, so we let you bounce customers without consequences. In a real bar, you will get slapped with a lawsuit if you arenÕt careful. So, bounce to your hearts content, but remember, give Arbus a rest occasionally.

Keyboard Shortcuts
There are so many keyboard shortcuts available that it will make your eyes water (or your mouth water if you like that sort of thing). The following tables list the most commonly used shortcuts. Consult the detailed Help file for additional shortcuts.

Tools

SPACE	Drop Item or pick up last item	
I	Ice Scoop	
M	Mixing Spoon	
D	Dry Vermouth	
E	Remove active glass	
Y	Empty mixing vessels	
N	Remove garnish	
V	Vodka	
Shift-X	Alternate liquor menu	

Soda Gun

J	Open Soda Gun Close-up	
C	Cola	
G	Ginger Ale	
L	Lemon-Lime soda	
S	Soda Water	
T	Tonic	
W	Water	
X	Sour Mix	

Volume

+	Volume up	
-	Volume down	
0	Mute	
4 - 9	Softest - Loudest	

Button Bar and Patrons

1, 2, 3	Make patron 1, 2, or 3 active	
Tab	Make next patron (to left) active	
Shift-I
or Ctrl-I	Check ID	
F	Flirt / Charm	
O	Take Order	
R	Open or Close Recipe Book	
Ctrl-S	Serve Drink	
Drink Ticket Button	Drink Ticket	
A	Bounce	

Windows

P	Toggles Pour Meter and Contents List
?	Toggle Help Window
H	Toggles rollover Òtool tipsÓ
R	Toggle Recipe Book

Pouring and Animation

\	Speed up animation	
|	Slow down animation	
Esc	Quit or Pause game	
` (quote)	Speed up pouring	
~ (tilde)	Slow down pouring	
!	Toggles between pouring smoothly and pouring in even increments