From publishing magazine
"Prisonball" is a two-player action game that combines the best elements from two classic computer games, Pong and Breakout. The object of the game is simple—knock out as many bricks as you can in the allotted time. Type in Prisonball from the listing for your computer; then save a copy of the program before you try to run it. Every version of the game is similar, so be sure to read the general game rules before referring to the specific notes for your computer.
Break To The Center
The game begins by displaying five colored walls running vertically down the center of the screen. Each player controls two paddles located at the left and right sides of the screen. Three balls appear at a random location and start bouncing around the screen. When a ball is on your side of the screen, move one of your paddles into its path to deflect the ball toward the walls. You can only hit a ball when it's moving toward your paddles (away from the interior walls). Balls travelling from the opposite direction go right through your paddles. If you happen to miss a ball, it wraps around the screen and appears on the other side, giving your opponent a chance to score.
At the beginning of the game, all three balls are a neutral color. Each time you hit a ball, it changes to the color of your paddle. You score whenever a ball of your color hits one of the five interior
walls. The score depends on which wall you hit. The center wall is the hardest to reach, so it yields the most points. The two intermediate walls are worth less than the center wall. The outermost walls are easiest to hit and score the fewest points.
The top of the screen displays each player's score and a countdown timer. When the timer runs to zero, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.
Every time a ball hits one of the walls, a brick is knocked out of the wall at the point of impact. By aiming your shots carefully, you can bore a path through a wall and move a ball into the interior space between two walls. When this happens, the all bounces wildly back and forth between the walls, scoring many points in a short time.
An additional bit of strategy has to do with the redrawing of walls. Whenever wall has been destroyed, it is immediately redrawn. Some of the highest scores result when you trap one or more balls behind a wall when it is redrawn. Since the wall is new, the trapped balls may hit it many times before they break back out to the exterior.