Battle Room

From Orson Scott Card Wiki

The Battle Room is a the most significant part of Battle School. The chamber is at the center of the rotating "wheel" of the Battle School space station, where the centrifugal force that generates the artificial gravity on the station is at the least magnitude. It is also probable that gravity generators create a cancellation field in the Battle Room, to make gravity have no influence in the chamber. There are actually nine identical Battle Rooms, each usually open for practices and for scheduled games.

[edit] The Game

The Battle Room game is one of a sort of conquest. Two armies enter on opposing sides of the chamber, and plummet towards each other in the zero gravity. The members of the army are equipped with weapons that send a coherent signal in the direction it is pointed. The signal represents a bullet, or other fast-moving harmful ballistic that emits from firearms. When the signal is absorbed by another player's flash suit, the suit makes a buzzing sound for a while. If the "shot" comes in contact with a certain area of the suit for a period of time, the suit freezes, and the person wearing the suit is unable to move.

Stars are sometimes placed in different areas of the Battle Room as obstacles. As players shoot one another, they can use the "stars" as refuge, rendezvous, or rebound.

[edit] Rules

The objective of the Battle Room game is to either freeze all players of the opponent's army, or to have four soldiers place themselves, unfrozen, on the four sides of the enemy's gate, and have a fifth enter. The game does not technically end until the enemy's gate is passed in such a manner, though after Ender is confronted with two armies at once and exploits the enemy gate to win, the rules are changed so that all opponents must be frozen prior to passing through the enemy's gate.