Before you begin:

I'm trying to make this accessible to those who need it most - namely computer illiterates. Don't be ashamed... I don't mean that in a particularly judgemental way. Some people just want things to work. I can respect that.

This really isn't that difficult of an operation, but I'm trying to be as thorough as possible to answer as many questions as possible. Please keep that in mind. The big long list you're seeing below may look daunting, but it's really not that bad. I'm just being extra cautious.

I'm going to make one crucial assumption. I'm going to trust that you already have some version of Java installed. By "Java", I'm referring to the JRE or Java Runtime Environment. This is what lets you run Java applications, including our beloved JavaBBowl. I'm completely skipping this step because I'm using a mac and most of this is oriented towards mac users. It comes pre-installed for we the forunate few, so there is no need to install any sort of Java components - just the javabbowl application.

In all the steps below, whenever I'm referring to a specific file or folder, I'll put it in italics. So if I refer to a folder, I'm just talking about any old directory. When I refer to the pics folder, I'm referring to a specific directory, called "pics". If I say something like BBowl8_8a Folder/pics, I'm referring to the "pics" folder which is inside of the Bbowl8_8a Folder

Pieces Parts:

Once you have a machine with Java running, you can get started collecting the pieces you need. You'll want:

1. The latest full version (from SkiJunkie's site, currently 8.8a)
2. The latest patch (also from SkiJunkie's site, currently 8.9)
3. Optionally, the latest version of javabbowl.app (from this site, currently 8.9 as well.)

Summary:

The summary is very simple. I've got a painfully thorough detailed version below.

1. Download and unzip the full version.
2. Download and unzip the latest patch.
3. Move any files over from the patch folder to the full version folder. Overwrite any files.
4. Repeat step 3 for any subfolders included in the patch. Never overwrite folders, just files.
5. Optionally, add JBB for OS X
6. Set options and play a quick standalone game to save them and you're done.

Install the full version:

1. Download the .zip file (the one which says, "(full install)" after the release number).
2. Unzip the .zip file. It will make a folder called something like Bbowl8_8a Folder.
3. Put the Bbowl8_8a Folder where you want it to live. Pick some place you'll remember and that you can find easily.(I put mine in /Users/{my account}/Applications, personally. Whatever works for you.)
4. Open that folder and double-click on BBowl.jar. It should start up, show you a splash screen and come up with a window that allows you to play.
5. Congratulations. That's all there is to it. You've just installed the latest full version.

About patches:

The problem is that it's wasteful to make everyone download and reinstall everything whenever there's only a tiny change. To get around this, we have patches - small upgrades with nothing except the new and updated files. This way, SkiJunkie doesn't burn through all his bandwidth by having 6,000 people download the exact same icons 4 times because of a minor change to the .jar file. Instead, you download a file with the new .jar file inside and write that over the old one.

Makes sense, right? It does. Really. Trust me.

Install the latest patch:

1. Download the .zip file (the one which says, "(patch install)" after the release number).
2. Unzip the .zip file by double-clicking on it. It will make a folder called something like Patch8_9 Folder.
3. Open the Patch8_9 Folder and see what you've got inside.Some patches - such as 8.9, which is the latest version as I write this - are incredibly easy. They just consist of a single updated file (Bbowl.jar) and possibly a new one (MersenneTwisterLicense.txt). Every patch I can remember (going back to 4.1...? maybe even earlier) has always included a new Bbowl.jar. This is the main program and any updates will undoubtedly include a new version of this file. This is what makes 8.9 different from 8.8a, for example.
4. Select all the FILES in Patch8_9 Folder, but not any FOLDERS.
5. Copy the files (whether with Control-C or Command-C, right-click/Copy, Edit|Copy in the menu bar or however you like. If you can't figure this out, you're really going to have a hard time playing the game).
6. Open the Bbowl8_8a Folder.
7. Paste the files into Bbowl8_8a Folder. You will get a prompt asking if you want to overwrite Bbowl.jar with a newer version.
8. Click "Yes" or "Overwrite" (or whatever it says).(If you have a patch with more than one file that's getting overwritten, you can go ahead and click, "Yes to All".)
9. If you have any FOLDERS in Patch8_9 Folder, go back to that window and open the first one.
10. Repeat steps 4 through 8, but instead of moving them from Patch8_9 Folder to Bbowl8_8a Folder, you'll be copying them from Patch8_9 Folder/{folder name} and pasting into Bbowl8_8a Folder/{folder name}.
11. Wait for it to finish up and you're done. Congratulations.
12. Double-click on Bbowl.jar and look at the splash screen as it opens. It should show you that you have the latest version running successfully on your machine.

Optional: Add JBB for OS X if you want it:

1. Read the site for instructions about what JBB for OSX is and is not. You may never even use it unless it's something you specifically want.
2. Download the latest .zip file from witwat.net/games/javabbowl.
3. Unzip it. It will just create a single file called something like JavaBBowl-8_9.
4. Drag (or copy and paste) the file into Bbowl8_8a Folder.
5. Double-click on JavaBBowl-8_9 and watch as it opens up. It'll show you the splash screen with the version number and you can verify that you've got it running correctly.

Post-installation stuff:

1. Start up a standalone game by double-clicking on the .jar file.
2. A window comes up allowing you to start a game. The Reikland Reavers and Gouged Eye will be selected by default as the two teams to use.
3. Click on the Options button on the bottom.
4. IF YOU'RE PLAYING ON FUMBBL: Check the button labeled "Use FUMBBL login".
5. Now go through and select or deselect whatever options you like. If you want to know what something does, you can find it in Bbowl8_8a/README.TXT
6. Once you're happy with your options, click "OK".
7. IMPORTANT: Any changes you make in the options panel will stay as you requested until you quit out of the file. They won't stick afterwards unless you play a game first. Fortunately, this is easy.
8. Click on "standalone game" and you'll start a game, playing against yourself, with the default teams.
9. Go through and set up the sides, go through the kickoff and everything else. Once you get to the first team's turn one, you want to concede the game!(You can go through and play out the entire game yourself, if you really want to. The whole point of this exercise is to get an entire game played out... and the fastest possible way to do this is just to concede as soon as possible.)
10. To concede the game on a mac - click on a player. Any player. Hit SHIFT + Q.
11. To concede the game on a PC - right-click on the field somewhere and choose "Concede" from the contextual menu that comes up.
12. You'll get a popup window that asks if you really, really want to concede. Yes, you really do.
13. The game results pop open in another window. Once this is on your screen, you are all set. Your options get saved when this window is created and next time you start up the game, all your options will be set correctly.

Also, there are a few optional things you can do...

1. If you want, you can rename Bbowl8_8a Folder. Whatever you want. Whether you call it JBB, Blood4BloodGod, Bbowl or Susan... it just doesn't matter except to you.
2. You can delete all the .zip files.
3. You can delete the Patch8_9 Folder.
4. You can add in replacement images, icons, fields and other customized files.
5. You can tweak your options.nfo to customize the way the client looks and behaves.