SOMEWHERE IN AN AMUSEMENT PARK NAMED “ADVENTURELAND” …
The park patrons hear a countless number of crashes and explosions. Most of them freeze in terror, while some others scream and run, clutching the prizes they’ve earned from playing redemption games. After a short time, a thick gaseous haze encroaches upon the entire park which panics nearly everyone in sight. Before they heard the crashes, a few people who saw what they thought were UFOs, dismissed them as a feature of the amusement park and continued having fun. They have no idea what is about to go down.
THE PLAYER
I’ve got to get out of here! I must be having hallucinations … I’m hearing loud sounds from everywhere and I think I saw some UFOs crashing. There’s green gas everywhere and now I just realized I’m talking to myself. I’m leaving! I didn’t even get to trade in my tickets for that giant novelty pink elephant with the park’s logo that I wanted for no good reason.
The Player starts running toward a far-away exit when there is a sudden rumble underneath their feet. With that as their only warning, a hole opens up and a small building rises briskly out of it, The force sends them to the ground. The Player looks up to see a huge sign saying “ATOMIC SHOP” and inside the building, there is what looks like a robotic man in a spacesuit. He looks quite sullen and weary.
[???]
Hey, did I just hear you say you had tickets to spend? I might be able to help you with that, or whatever.
THE PLAYER
WHAT?! What the — ?! Where did you come from — OK, I know where you came from. I just saw the earth open and you rise up from the ground right in front of me!
[???]
Well, that’s not really where I came from … Look, let me run it down for you. You are being invaded. Well, not you specifically. I didn’t know you existed until just now. But, your planet is being taken over by us.
THE PLAYER
Us? You and what army?! (I can’t believe I just said that. I’m going to regret that. I know I saw UFOs crash, and I still said that out loud. OK, here we go…)
[???]
THAT army!
THE PLAYER
Who is THAT?!
[???]
That is (ahem) Villainous Alien Invader NED and his newly acquired zombie army. I … kind of work for him, I guess.
THE PLAYER
Wait … Aliens? And ZOMBIES?! Zombies are real now?! And you guess you work for him? Do you work for him or not?
[???]
I do, technically, but that’s only because he abducted me some time ago and sent me to his minions. They did experiments on me, added, subtracted and added other parts to me. I barely remember who I was before their experiments, though. They found out I’m able to fix things they break, so I’m their Mechanic. I really do not care whether he wins or not.
THE PLAYER
OK, well it looks like I’m trapped here, so running isn’t going to work. I might as well go down fighting.
THE MECHANIC
I could help you, or whatever. I built this Atomic Shop way before the invasion was supposed to start. I was going to use it to start a business after NED took over. I’ve got lots of stuff I could sell you, if you give me some of those tickets you’ve got there.
THE PLAYER
You want my tickets? Why do you — you know what fine. Do you have any weapons?
THE MECHANIC
Weapons? Sort of … I’d call them “enhancements”. In the time I’ve been hiding out here, I’ve seen that they work in their own weird ways . Using them wisely might help you regain control of the Adventureland and fight back.
THE PLAYER
Show me what you have … I don’t suppose you’ve got a giant novelty pink elephant with the park’s logo on it.
THE MECHANIC
Here’s the first item up for sale …
This item will increase The Player’s Bonus multiplier by 1. 
When the Player has selected this item with the Pinbar, it will look like this.
THE PLAYER
What’s this for?
THE MECHANIC
It’s supposed to increase your bonus points. I think that you understand what bonus points are. I’ve seen people just like you playing the arcade and pinball games they have here at the park, talking about how high their bonus points were to their friends. The little number in the upper-right corner there means it will cost you 10* of your tickets to buy this from me.
THE PLAYER
Yes, but how does that help me now? Yes, I like to score more points when I play games. But, those are GAMES. This is REAL!
THE MECHANIC
The game of “real life” is the biggest game there is. Plus, getting more points means you are doing a good job fighting against NED and the zombies. I’ve heard that getting enough points in this park will give you an extra life, or extra chances or something. That’s gotta be relevant, I guess.
THE PLAYER
That doesn’t make any sense at all! … But, in the last few minutes, I’ve learned that UFOs, aliens and zombies exist as well as life on other planets. So, I guess I’m in a state of mind to accept that gaming logic could possibly work in real life now. My brain is fried, I’m delirious and zombies are coming right for us anyway so why not?
THE MECHANIC
I’m glad to see you are making sense of this apparent nonsense.
THE PLAYER
So does that mean I’m the protagonist in this whole story, or whatever it is we’ve started here?
THE MECHANIC
The protagonist?
THE PLAYER
You know, the main character … or even the hero … maybe.
THE MECHANIC
Well, not really, no. There’s a certain Martian Princess named Angela who … uh … well, let’s just say she didn’t appreciate that NED was about to invade another planet. So she boarded NED’s ship and decided to do something about it. That’s when the fight started … and the spaceships started falling. You might meet her later, if you both are still alive.
*Note: Atomic Shop item prices are subject to change.
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