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1 | \title Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection |
2 | |
3 | \cfg{winhelp-filename}{puzzles.hlp} |
4 | \cfg{winhelp-contents-titlepage}{Contents} |
5 | |
6 | \cfg{text-filename}{puzzles.txt} |
7 | |
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8 | \cfg{html-contents-filename}{index.html} |
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9 | \cfg{html-template-filename}{%k.html} |
10 | \cfg{html-index-filename}{docindex.html} |
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11 | \cfg{html-leaf-level}{1} |
12 | \cfg{html-contents-depth-0}{1} |
13 | \cfg{html-contents-depth-1}{2} |
14 | \cfg{html-leaf-contains-contents}{true} |
15 | |
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16 | \cfg{info-filename}{puzzles.info} |
17 | |
18 | \cfg{ps-filename}{puzzles.ps} |
19 | \cfg{pdf-filename}{puzzles.pdf} |
20 | |
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21 | \define{by} \u00D7{x} |
22 | |
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23 | \define{dash} \u2013{-} |
24 | |
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25 | This is a collection of small one-player puzzle games. |
26 | |
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27 | \copyright This manual is copyright 2004-5 Simon Tatham. All rights |
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28 | reserved. You may distribute this documentation under the MIT licence. |
29 | See \k{licence} for the licence text in full. |
30 | |
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31 | \cfg{html-local-head}{<meta name="AppleTitle" content="Puzzles Help">} |
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32 | |
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33 | \versionid $Id$ |
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34 | |
35 | \C{intro} Introduction |
36 | |
37 | I wrote this collection because I thought there should be more small |
38 | desktop toys available: little games you can pop up in a window and |
39 | play for two or three minutes while you take a break from whatever |
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40 | else you were doing. And I was also annoyed that every time I found |
41 | a good game on (say) \i{Unix}, it wasn't available the next time I |
42 | was sitting at a \i{Windows} machine, or vice versa; so I arranged |
43 | that everything in my personal puzzle collection will happily run on |
44 | both, and have more recently done a port to Mac OS X as well. When I |
45 | find (or perhaps invent) further puzzle games that I like, they'll |
46 | be added to this collection and will immediately be available on |
47 | both platforms. And if anyone feels like writing any other front |
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48 | ends \dash PocketPC, Mac OS pre-10, or whatever it might be \dash |
49 | then all the games in this framework will immediately become |
50 | available on another platform as well. |
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51 | |
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52 | The actual games in this collection were mostly not my invention; they |
53 | are re-implementations of existing game concepts within my portable |
54 | puzzle framework. I do not claim credit, in general, for inventing the |
55 | rules of any of these puzzles. (I don't even claim authorship of all |
56 | the code; some of the puzzles have been submitted by other authors.) |
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57 | |
58 | This collection is distributed under the \i{MIT licence} (see |
59 | \k{licence}). This means that you can do pretty much anything you like |
60 | with the game binaries or the code, except pretending you wrote them |
61 | yourself, or suing me if anything goes wrong. |
62 | |
63 | The most recent versions, and \i{source code}, can be found at |
64 | \I{website}\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}. |
65 | |
66 | Please report \I{feedback}\i{bugs} to |
67 | \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\cw{anakin@pobox.com}. |
68 | You might find it helpful to read this article before reporting a bug: |
69 | |
70 | \W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html} |
71 | |
72 | \ii{Patches} are welcome. Especially if they provide a new front end |
73 | (to make all these games run on another platform), or a new game. |
74 | |
75 | |
76 | \C{common} \ii{Common features} |
77 | |
78 | This chapter describes features that are common to all the games. |
79 | |
80 | \H{common-actions} \I{controls}Common actions |
81 | |
82 | These actions are all available from the \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu |
83 | and via \I{keys}keyboard shortcuts, in addition to any game-specific |
84 | actions. |
85 | |
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86 | (On Mac OS X, to conform with local user interface standards, these |
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87 | actions are situated on the \I{File menu}\q{File} and \I{Edit |
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88 | menu}\q{Edit} menus instead.) |
89 | |
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90 | \dt \ii\e{New game} (\q{N}, Ctrl+\q{N}) |
91 | |
92 | \dd Starts a new game, with a random initial state. |
93 | |
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94 | \dt \ii\e{Restart game} |
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95 | |
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96 | \dd Resets the current game to its initial state. (This can be undone.) |
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97 | |
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98 | \dt \ii\e{Load} |
99 | |
100 | \dd Loads a saved game from a file on disk. |
101 | |
102 | \dt \ii\e{Save} |
103 | |
104 | \dd Saves the current state of your game to a file on disk. |
105 | |
106 | \lcont{ |
107 | |
108 | The Load and Save operations should preserve your entire game |
109 | history (so you can save, reload, and still Undo and Redo things you |
110 | had done before saving). |
111 | |
112 | } |
113 | |
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114 | \dt \ii\e{Print} |
115 | |
116 | \dd Where supported (currently only on Windows), brings up a dialog |
117 | allowing you to print an arbitrary number of puzzles randomly |
118 | generated from the current parameters, optionally including the |
119 | current puzzle. |
120 | |
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121 | \dt \ii\e{Undo} (\q{U}, Ctrl+\q{Z}, Ctrl+\q{_}) |
122 | |
123 | \dd Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of the |
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124 | session.) |
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125 | |
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126 | \dt \ii\e{Redo} (\q{R}, Ctrl+\q{R}) |
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127 | |
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128 | \dd Redoes a previously undone move. |
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129 | |
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130 | \dt \ii\e{Copy} |
131 | |
132 | \dd Copies the current state of your game to the clipboard in text |
133 | format, so that you can paste it into (say) an e-mail client or a |
134 | web message board if you're discussing the game with someone else. |
135 | (Not all games support this feature.) |
136 | |
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137 | \dt \ii\e{Solve} |
138 | |
139 | \dd Transforms the puzzle instantly into its solved state. For some |
140 | games (Cube) this feature is not supported at all because it is of |
141 | no particular use. For other games (such as Pattern), the solved |
142 | state can be used to give you information, if you can't see how a |
143 | solution can exist at all or you want to know where you made a |
144 | mistake. For still other games (such as Sixteen), automatic solution |
145 | tells you nothing about how to \e{get} to the solution, but it does |
146 | provide a useful way to get there quickly so that you can experiment |
147 | with set-piece moves and transformations. |
148 | |
149 | \lcont{ |
150 | |
151 | Some games (such as Solo) are capable of solving a game ID you have |
152 | typed in from elsewhere. Other games (such as Rectangles) cannot |
153 | solve a game ID they didn't invent themself, but when they did |
154 | invent the game ID they know what the solution is already. Still |
155 | other games (Pattern) can solve \e{some} external game IDs, but only |
156 | if they aren't too difficult. |
157 | |
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158 | The \q{Solve} command adds the solved state to the end of the undo |
159 | chain for the puzzle. In other words, if you want to go back to |
160 | solving it yourself after seeing the answer, you can just press Undo. |
161 | |
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162 | } |
163 | |
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164 | \dt \I{exit}\ii\e{Quit} (\q{Q}, Ctrl+\q{Q}) |
165 | |
166 | \dd Closes the application entirely. |
167 | |
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168 | \H{common-id} Specifying games with the \ii{game ID} |
169 | |
170 | There are two ways to save a game specification out of a puzzle and |
171 | recreate it later, or recreate it in somebody else's copy of the |
172 | same puzzle. |
173 | |
174 | The \q{\i{Specific}} and \q{\i{Random Seed}} options from the |
175 | \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu (or the \q{File} menu, on Mac OS X) each |
176 | show a piece of text (a \q{game ID}) which is sufficient to |
177 | reconstruct precisely the same game at a later date. |
178 | |
179 | You can enter either of these pieces of text back into the program |
180 | (via the same \q{Specific} or \q{Random Seed} menu options) at a |
181 | later point, and it will recreate the same game. You can also use |
182 | either one as a \i{command line} argument (on Windows or Unix); see |
183 | \k{common-cmdline} for more detail. |
184 | |
185 | The difference between the two forms is that a descriptive game ID |
186 | is a literal \e{description} of the \i{initial state} of the game, |
187 | whereas a random seed is just a piece of arbitrary text which was |
188 | provided as input to the random number generator used to create the |
189 | puzzle. This means that: |
190 | |
191 | \b Descriptive game IDs tend to be longer in many puzzles (although |
192 | some, such as Cube (\k{cube}), only need very short descriptions). |
193 | So a random seed is often a \e{quicker} way to note down the puzzle |
194 | you're currently playing, or to tell it to somebody else so they can |
195 | play the same one as you. |
196 | |
197 | \b Any text at all is a valid random seed. The automatically |
198 | generated ones are fifteen-digit numbers, but anything will do; you |
199 | can type in your full name, or a word you just made up, and a valid |
200 | puzzle will be generated from it. This provides a way for two or |
201 | more people to race to complete the same puzzle: you think of a |
202 | random seed, then everybody types it in at the same time, and nobody |
203 | has an advantage due to having seen the generated puzzle before |
204 | anybody else. |
205 | |
206 | \b It is often possible to convert puzzles from other sources (such |
207 | as \q{nonograms} or \q{sudoku} from newspapers) into descriptive |
208 | game IDs suitable for use with these programs. |
209 | |
210 | \b Random seeds are not guaranteed to produce the same result if you |
211 | use them with a different \i\e{version} of the puzzle program. This |
212 | is because the generation algorithm might have been improved or |
213 | modified in later versions of the code, and will therefore produce a |
214 | different result when given the same sequence of random numbers. Use |
215 | a descriptive game ID if you aren't sure that it will be used on the |
216 | same version of the program as yours. |
217 | |
218 | \lcont{(Use the \q{About} menu option to find out the version number |
219 | of the program. Programs with the same version number running on |
220 | different platforms should still be random-seed compatible.)} |
221 | |
222 | \I{ID format}A descriptive game ID starts with a piece of text which |
223 | encodes the \i\e{parameters} of the current game (such as grid |
224 | size). Then there is a colon, and after that is the description of |
225 | the game's initial state. A random seed starts with a similar string |
226 | of parameters, but then it contains a hash sign followed by |
227 | arbitrary data. |
228 | |
229 | If you enter a descriptive game ID, the program will not be able to |
230 | show you the random seed which generated it, since it wasn't |
231 | generated \e{from} a random seed. If you \e{enter} a random seed, |
232 | however, the program will be able to show you the descriptive game |
233 | ID derived from that random seed. |
234 | |
235 | Note that the game parameter strings are not always identical |
236 | between the two forms. For some games, there will be parameter data |
237 | provided with the random seed which is not included in the |
238 | descriptive game ID. This is because that parameter information is |
239 | only relevant when \e{generating} puzzle grids, and is not important |
240 | when playing them. Thus, for example, the difficulty level in Solo |
241 | (\k{solo}) is not mentioned in the descriptive game ID. |
242 | |
243 | These additional parameters are also not set permanently if you type |
244 | in a game ID. For example, suppose you have Solo set to \q{Advanced} |
245 | difficulty level, and then a friend wants your help with a |
246 | \q{Trivial} puzzle; so the friend reads out a random seed specifying |
247 | \q{Trivial} difficulty, and you type it in. The program will |
248 | generate you the same \q{Trivial} grid which your friend was having |
249 | trouble with, but once you have finished playing it, when you ask |
250 | for a new game it will automatically go back to the \q{Advanced} |
251 | difficulty which it was previously set on. |
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252 | |
253 | \H{common-type} The \q{Type} menu |
254 | |
255 | The \I{Type menu}\q{Type} menu, if present, may contain a list of |
256 | \i{preset} game settings. Selecting one of these will start a new |
257 | random game with the parameters specified. |
258 | |
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259 | The \q{Type} menu may also contain a \q{\i{Custom}} option which |
260 | allows you to fine-tune game \i{parameters}. The parameters |
261 | available are specific to each game and are described in the |
262 | following sections. |
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263 | |
264 | \H{common-cmdline} Specifying game parameters on the \i{command line} |
265 | |
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266 | (This section does not apply to the Mac OS X version.) |
267 | |
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268 | The games in this collection deliberately do not ever save |
269 | information on to the computer they run on: they have no high score |
270 | tables and no saved preferences. (This is because I expect at least |
271 | some people to play them at work, and those people will probably |
272 | appreciate leaving as little evidence as possible!) |
273 | |
274 | However, if you do want to arrange for one of these games to default |
275 | to a particular set of parameters, you can specify them on the |
276 | command line. |
277 | |
278 | The easiest way to do this is to set up the parameters you want |
279 | using the \q{Type} menu (see \k{common-type}), and then to select |
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280 | \q{Random Seed} from the \q{Game} or \q{File} menu (see |
281 | \k{common-id}). The text in the \q{Game ID} box will be composed of |
282 | two parts, separated by a hash. The first of these parts represents |
283 | the game parameters (the size of the playing area, for example, and |
284 | anything else you set using the \q{Type} menu). |
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285 | |
286 | If you run the game with just that parameter text on the command |
287 | line, it will start up with the settings you specified. |
288 | |
289 | For example: if you run Cube (see \k{cube}), select \q{Octahedron} |
290 | from the \q{Type} menu, and then go to the game ID selection, you |
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291 | will see a string of the form \cq{o2x2#338686542711620}. Take only |
292 | the part before the hash (\cq{o2x2}), and start Cube with that text |
293 | on the command line: \cq{cube o2x2}. |
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294 | |
295 | If you copy the \e{entire} game ID on to the command line, the game |
296 | will start up in the specific game that was described. This is |
297 | occasionally a more convenient way to start a particular game ID |
298 | than by pasting it into the game ID selection box. |
299 | |
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300 | (You could also retrieve the encoded game parameters using the |
301 | \q{Specific} menu option instead of \q{Random Seed}, but if you do |
302 | then some options, such as the difficulty level in Solo, will be |
303 | missing. See \k{common-id} for more details on this.) |
304 | |
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305 | |
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306 | \C{net} \i{Net} |
307 | |
308 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.net} |
309 | |
310 | (\e{Note:} the \i{Windows} version of this game is called |
311 | \i\cw{NETGAME.EXE} to avoid clashing with Windows's own \cw{NET.EXE}.) |
312 | |
313 | I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{FreeNet} |
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314 | \k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans; there are several other |
315 | implementations under the name \i{NetWalk}. The computer prepares a |
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316 | network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then |
317 | shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is to |
318 | rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be an |
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319 | entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{The latter |
320 | clause means that there are no closed paths within the network. |
321 | Could this be clearer? "No closed paths"?} As a visual aid, |
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322 | all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are |
323 | highlighted. |
324 | |
325 | \B{FreeNet} \W{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}\cw{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm} |
326 | |
327 | \H{net-controls} \i{Net controls} |
328 | |
329 | \IM{Net controls} controls, for Net |
330 | \IM{Net controls} keys, for Net |
331 | \IM{Net controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Net |
332 | |
333 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. The |
334 | controls are: |
335 | |
336 | \dt \e{Select tile}: mouse pointer, arrow keys |
337 | |
338 | \dt \e{Rotate tile anticlockwise}: left mouse button, \q{A} key |
339 | |
340 | \dt \e{Rotate tile clockwise}: right mouse button, \q{D} key |
341 | |
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342 | \dt \e{Rotate tile by 180 degrees}: \q{F} key |
343 | |
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344 | \dt \e{Lock (or unlock) tile}: middle mouse button, shift-click, \q{S} key |
345 | |
346 | \dd You can lock a tile once you're sure of its orientation. You can |
347 | also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't accidentally |
348 | turn it. |
349 | |
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350 | The following controls are not necessary to complete the game, but may |
351 | be useful: |
352 | |
353 | \dt \e{Shift grid}: Shift + arrow keys |
354 | |
355 | \dd On grids that wrap, you can move the origin of the grid, so that |
356 | tiles that were on opposite sides of the grid can be seen together. |
357 | |
358 | \dt \e{Move centre}: Ctrl + arrow keys |
359 | |
360 | \dd You can change which tile is used as the source of highlighting. |
361 | (It doesn't ultimately matter which tile this is, as every tile will |
362 | be connected to every other tile in a correct solution, but it may be |
363 | helpful in the intermediate stages of solving the puzzle.) |
364 | |
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365 | \dt \e{Jumble tiles}: \q{J} key |
366 | |
367 | \dd This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random |
368 | orientations. |
369 | |
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370 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
371 | |
372 | \H{net-params} \I{parameters, for Net}Net parameters |
373 | |
374 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
375 | \q{Type} menu. |
376 | |
377 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
378 | |
379 | \dd Size of grid in tiles. |
380 | |
381 | \dt \e{Walls wrap around} |
382 | |
383 | \dd If checked, flow can pass from the left edge to the right edge, |
384 | and from top to bottom, and vice versa. |
385 | |
386 | \dt \e{Barrier probability} |
387 | |
388 | \dd A number between 0.0 and 1.0 controlling whether an immovable |
389 | barrier is placed between two tiles to prevent flow between them (a |
390 | higher number gives more barriers). Since barriers are immovable, they |
391 | act as constraints on the solution (i.e., hints). |
392 | |
393 | \lcont{ |
394 | |
395 | The grid generation in Net has been carefully arranged so that the |
396 | barriers are independent of the rest of the grid. This means that if |
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397 | you note down the random seed used to generate the current puzzle |
398 | (see \k{common-id}), change the \e{Barrier probability} parameter, |
399 | and then re-enter the same random seed, you should see exactly the |
400 | same starting grid, with the only change being the number of |
401 | barriers. So if you're stuck on a particular grid and need a hint, |
402 | you could start up another instance of Net, set up the same |
403 | parameters but a higher barrier probability, and enter the game seed |
404 | from the original Net window. |
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405 | |
406 | } |
407 | |
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408 | \dt \e{Ensure unique solution} |
409 | |
410 | \dd Normally, Net will make sure that the puzzles it presents have |
411 | only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more |
412 | difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this |
413 | feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. (Also, finding \e{all} |
414 | the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an |
415 | advanced player.) |
416 | |
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417 | |
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418 | \C{cube} \i{Cube} |
419 | |
420 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.cube} |
421 | |
422 | This is another one I originally saw as a web game. This one was a |
423 | Java game \k{cube-java-game}, by Paul Scott. You have a grid of 16 |
424 | squares, six of which are blue; on one square rests a cube. Your move |
425 | is to use the arrow keys to roll the cube through 90 degrees so that |
426 | it moves to an adjacent square. If you roll the cube on to a blue |
427 | square, the blue square is picked up on one face of the cube; if you |
428 | roll a blue face of the cube on to a non-blue square, the blueness is |
429 | put down again. (In general, whenever you roll the cube, the two faces |
430 | that come into contact swap colours.) Your job is to get all six blue |
431 | squares on to the six faces of the cube at the same time. Count your |
432 | moves and try to do it in as few as possible. |
433 | |
434 | Unlike the original Java game, my version has an additional feature: |
435 | once you've mastered the game with a cube rolling on a square grid, |
436 | you can change to a triangular grid and roll any of a tetrahedron, an |
437 | octahedron or an icosahedron. |
438 | |
439 | \B{cube-java-game} \W{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}\cw{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm} |
440 | |
441 | \H{cube-controls} \i{Cube controls} |
442 | |
443 | \IM{Cube controls} controls, for Cube |
444 | \IM{Cube controls} keys, for Cube |
445 | \IM{Cube controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Cube |
446 | |
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447 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. |
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448 | |
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449 | Left-clicking anywhere on the window will move the cube (or other |
450 | solid) towards the mouse pointer. |
451 | |
452 | The arrow keys can also used to roll the cube on its square grid in |
453 | the four cardinal directions. |
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454 | On the triangular grids, the mapping of arrow keys to directions is |
455 | more approximate. Vertical movement is disallowed where it doesn't |
456 | make sense. The four keys surrounding the arrow keys on the numeric |
457 | keypad (\q{7}, \q{9}, \q{1}, \q{3}) can be used for diagonal movement. |
458 | |
459 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
460 | |
461 | \H{cube-params} \I{parameters, for Cube}Cube parameters |
462 | |
463 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
464 | \q{Type} menu. |
465 | |
466 | \dt \e{Type of solid} |
467 | |
468 | \dd Selects the solid to roll (and hence the shape of the grid): |
469 | tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, or icosahedron. |
470 | |
471 | \dt \e{Width / top}, \e{Height / bottom} |
472 | |
473 | \dd On a square grid, horizontal and vertical dimensions. On a |
474 | triangular grid, the number of triangles on the top and bottom rows |
475 | respectively. |
476 | |
477 | |
478 | \C{fifteen} \i{Fifteen} |
479 | |
480 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.fifteen} |
481 | |
1d8e8ad8 |
482 | The old ones are the best: this is the good old \q{\i{15-puzzle}} |
483 | with sliding tiles. You have a 4\by\.4 square grid; 15 squares |
484 | contain numbered tiles, and the sixteenth is empty. Your move is to |
485 | choose a tile next to the empty space, and slide it into the space. |
486 | The aim is to end up with the tiles in numerical order, with the |
487 | space in the bottom right (so that the top row reads 1,2,3,4 and the |
488 | bottom row reads 13,14,15,\e{space}). |
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489 | |
490 | \H{fifteen-controls} \i{Fifteen controls} |
491 | |
492 | \IM{Fifteen controls} controls, for Fifteen |
493 | \IM{Fifteen controls} keys, for Fifteen |
494 | \IM{Fifteen controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Fifteen |
495 | |
496 | This game can be controlled with the mouse or the keyboard. |
497 | |
498 | A left-click with the mouse in the row or column containing the empty |
499 | space will move as many tiles as necessary to move the space to the |
500 | mouse pointer. |
501 | |
502 | The arrow keys will move a tile adjacent to the space in the direction |
503 | indicated (moving the space in the \e{opposite} direction). |
504 | |
505 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
506 | |
507 | \H{fifteen-params} \I{parameters, for Fifteen}Fifteen parameters |
508 | |
509 | The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} |
510 | menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. (Once |
511 | you've changed these, it's not a \q{15-puzzle} any more, of course!) |
512 | |
513 | |
514 | \C{sixteen} \i{Sixteen} |
515 | |
516 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.sixteen} |
517 | |
518 | Another sliding tile puzzle, visually similar to Fifteen (see |
519 | \k{fifteen}) but with a different type of move. This time, there is no |
520 | hole: all 16 squares on the grid contain numbered squares. Your move |
521 | is to shift an entire row left or right, or shift an entire column up |
522 | or down; every time you do that, the tile you shift off the grid |
523 | re-appears at the other end of the same row, in the space you just |
524 | vacated. To win, arrange the tiles into numerical order (1,2,3,4 on |
525 | the top row, 13,14,15,16 on the bottom). When you've done that, try |
526 | playing on different sizes of grid. |
527 | |
528 | I \e{might} have invented this game myself, though only by accident if |
529 | so (and I'm sure other people have independently invented it). I |
530 | thought I was imitating a screensaver I'd seen, but I have a feeling |
531 | that the screensaver might actually have been a Fifteen-type puzzle |
532 | rather than this slightly different kind. So this might be the one |
533 | thing in my puzzle collection which represents creativity on my part |
534 | rather than just engineering. |
535 | |
536 | \H{sixteen-controls} \I{controls, for Sixteen}Sixteen controls |
537 | |
538 | This game is played with the mouse. Left-clicking on an arrow will |
539 | move the appropriate row or column in the direction indicated. |
540 | Right-clicking will move it in the opposite direction. |
541 | |
542 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
543 | |
544 | \H{sixteen-params} \I{parameters, for Sixteen}Sixteen parameters |
545 | |
81875211 |
546 | The parameters available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
547 | \q{Type} menu are: |
548 | |
549 | \b \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. |
550 | |
551 | \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on |
552 | the grid. By default, Sixteen will shuffle the grid in such a way |
553 | that any arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can |
554 | override this by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to |
555 | be performed. Typically your aim is then to determine the precise |
556 | set of shuffling moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer |
557 | (say) a four-move shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the |
558 | more moves you ask for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter |
559 | than the target length will turn out to be possible. |
560 | |
e91825f8 |
561 | |
9038fd11 |
562 | \C{twiddle} \i{Twiddle} |
563 | |
564 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.twiddle} |
565 | |
566 | Twiddle is a tile-rearrangement puzzle, visually similar to Sixteen |
567 | (see \k{sixteen}): you are given a grid of square tiles, each |
568 | containing a number, and your aim is to arrange the numbers into |
569 | ascending order. |
570 | |
571 | In basic Twiddle, your move is to rotate a square group of four |
a3631c72 |
572 | tiles about their common centre. (Orientation is not significant in |
573 | the basic puzzle, although you can select it.) On more advanced |
574 | settings, you can rotate a larger square group of tiles. |
9038fd11 |
575 | |
576 | I first saw this type of puzzle in the GameCube game \q{Metroid |
577 | Prime 2}. In the Main Gyro Chamber in that game, there is a puzzle |
578 | you solve to unlock a door, which is a special case of Twiddle. I |
579 | developed this game as a generalisation of that puzzle. |
580 | |
581 | \H{twiddle-controls} \I{controls, for Twiddle}Twiddle controls |
582 | |
583 | To play Twiddle, click the mouse in the centre of the square group |
584 | you wish to rotate. In the basic mode, you rotate a 2\by\.2 square, |
585 | which means you have to click at a corner point where four tiles |
586 | meet. |
587 | |
588 | In more advanced modes you might be rotating 3\by\.3 or even more at |
589 | a time; if the size of the square is odd then you simply click in |
590 | the centre tile of the square you want to rotate. |
591 | |
592 | Clicking with the left mouse button rotates the group anticlockwise. |
593 | Clicking with the right button rotates it clockwise. |
594 | |
595 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
596 | |
597 | \H{twiddle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Twiddle}Twiddle parameters |
598 | |
599 | Twiddle provides several configuration options via the \q{Custom} |
600 | option on the \q{Type} menu: |
601 | |
602 | \b You can configure the width and height of the puzzle grid. |
603 | |
604 | \b You can configure the size of square block that rotates at a time. |
605 | |
606 | \b You can ask for every square in the grid to be distinguishable |
607 | (the default), or you can ask for a simplified puzzle in which there |
608 | are groups of identical numbers. In the simplified puzzle your aim |
609 | is just to arrange all the 1s into the first row, all the 2s into |
610 | the second row, and so on. |
611 | |
a3631c72 |
612 | \b You can configure whether the orientation of tiles matters. If |
d50832a3 |
613 | you ask for an orientable puzzle, each tile will have a triangle |
614 | drawn in it. All the triangles must be pointing upwards to complete |
615 | the puzzle. |
a3631c72 |
616 | |
81875211 |
617 | \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on |
618 | the grid. By default, Twiddle will shuffle the grid so much that any |
619 | arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can override this |
620 | by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to be performed. |
621 | Typically your aim is then to determine the precise set of shuffling |
622 | moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer (say) a four-move |
623 | shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the more moves you ask |
624 | for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter than the target |
625 | length will turn out to be possible. |
626 | |
9038fd11 |
627 | |
e91825f8 |
628 | \C{rectangles} \i{Rectangles} |
629 | |
630 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.rectangles} |
631 | |
632 | You have a grid of squares, with numbers written in some (but not all) |
633 | of the squares. Your task is to subdivide the grid into rectangles of |
634 | various sizes, such that (a) every rectangle contains exactly one |
635 | numbered square, and (b) the area of each rectangle is equal to the |
636 | number written in its numbered square. |
637 | |
638 | Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine \i{Nikoli} |
26801d29 |
639 | \k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle |
640 | Palace} \k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's |
641 | implementation, my version automatically generates random grids of |
642 | any size you like. The quality of puzzle design is therefore not |
643 | quite as good as hand-crafted puzzles would be, but on the plus side |
644 | you get an inexhaustible supply of puzzles tailored to your own |
645 | specification. |
e91825f8 |
646 | |
6ae37301 |
647 | \B{nikoli-rect} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm} |
e91825f8 |
648 | |
6ae37301 |
649 | \B{puzzle-palace-rect} \W{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en}\cw{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en} |
e91825f8 |
650 | |
651 | \H{rectangles-controls} \I{controls, for Rectangles}Rectangles controls |
652 | |
653 | This game is played with the mouse. |
654 | |
655 | Left-click any edge to toggle it on or off, or click and drag to draw |
656 | an entire rectangle (or line) on the grid in one go (removing any |
657 | existing edges within that rectangle). |
658 | |
659 | When a rectangle of the correct size is completed, it will be shaded. |
660 | |
661 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
662 | |
663 | \H{rectangles-params} \I{parameters, for Rectangles}Rectangles parameters |
664 | |
40fde884 |
665 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
666 | \q{Type} menu. |
667 | |
668 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
669 | |
670 | \dd Size of grid, in squares. |
671 | |
672 | \dt \e{Expansion factor} |
aea3ed9a |
673 | |
40fde884 |
674 | \dd This is a mechanism for changing the type of grids generated by |
675 | the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few large |
676 | rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask |
aea3ed9a |
677 | Rectangles to essentially generate a \e{smaller} grid than the size |
678 | you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and columns. |
679 | |
40fde884 |
680 | \lcont{ |
681 | |
aea3ed9a |
682 | The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will |
683 | simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing |
684 | further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means that |
685 | each dimension of the grid will be expanded to half again as big |
686 | after generation. In other words, the initial grid will be 2/3 the |
687 | size in each dimension, and will be expanded to its full size |
688 | without adding any more rectangles. |
689 | |
4a03dbb4 |
690 | Setting an expansion factor of around 0.5 tends to make the game |
691 | more difficult, and also (in my experience) rewards a less deductive |
692 | and more intuitive playing style. If you set it \e{too} high, |
693 | though, the game simply cannot generate more than a few rectangles |
694 | to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes trivial. |
aea3ed9a |
695 | |
40fde884 |
696 | } |
697 | |
698 | \dt \e{Ensure unique solution} |
699 | |
700 | \dd Normally, Rectangles will make sure that the puzzles it presents |
701 | have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more |
702 | difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this |
703 | feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. Also, finding \e{all} the |
704 | possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an advanced |
705 | player. Turning off this option can also speed up puzzle generation. |
706 | |
6ae37301 |
707 | |
e91825f8 |
708 | \C{netslide} \i{Netslide} |
709 | |
710 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.netslide} |
711 | |
6bbab0fe |
712 | This game combines the grid generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the |
713 | movement of Sixteen (see \k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but |
714 | instead of rotating tiles back into place you have to slide them |
715 | into place by moving a whole row at a time. |
e91825f8 |
716 | |
e91825f8 |
717 | As in Sixteen, \I{controls, for Netslide}control is with the mouse. |
718 | See \k{sixteen-controls}. |
719 | |
aa27d493 |
720 | \I{parameters, for Netslide}The available game parameters have similar |
721 | meanings to those in Net (see \k{net-params}) and Sixteen (see |
722 | \k{sixteen-params}). |
e91825f8 |
723 | |
6bbab0fe |
724 | Netslide was contributed to this collection by Richard Boulton. |
6ae37301 |
725 | |
e28d0584 |
726 | |
b6b0369e |
727 | \C{pattern} \i{Pattern} |
728 | |
729 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pattern} |
730 | |
731 | You have a grid of squares, which must all be filled in either black |
732 | or white. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the |
733 | runs of black squares on that row; above each column are listed the |
734 | lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to |
735 | fill in the entire grid black or white. |
736 | |
737 | I first saw this puzzle form around 1995, under the name |
2e1e03ff |
738 | \q{\i{nonograms}}. I've seen it in various places since then, under |
b6b0369e |
739 | different names. |
740 | |
741 | Normally, puzzles of this type turn out to be a meaningful picture |
742 | of something once you've solved them. However, since this version |
743 | generates the puzzles automatically, they will just look like random |
744 | groupings of squares. (One user has suggested that this is actually |
745 | a \e{good} thing, since it prevents you from guessing the colour of |
746 | squares based on the picture, and forces you to use logic instead.) |
747 | The advantage, though, is that you never run out of them. |
748 | |
2e1e03ff |
749 | \H{pattern-controls} \I{controls, for Pattern}Pattern controls |
b6b0369e |
750 | |
751 | This game is played with the mouse. |
752 | |
753 | Left-click in a square to colour it black. Right-click to colour it |
754 | white. If you make a mistake, you can middle-click, or hold down |
755 | Shift while clicking with any button, to colour the square in the |
756 | default grey (meaning \q{undecided}) again. |
757 | |
758 | You can click and drag with the left or right mouse button to colour |
759 | a vertical or horizontal line of squares black or white at a time |
760 | (respectively). If you click and drag with the middle button, or |
761 | with Shift held down, you can colour a whole rectangle of squares |
762 | grey. |
763 | |
2e1e03ff |
764 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
765 | |
b6b0369e |
766 | \H{pattern-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pattern}Pattern parameters |
767 | |
768 | The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} |
769 | menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. |
e91825f8 |
770 | |
6ae37301 |
771 | |
1d8e8ad8 |
772 | \C{solo} \i{Solo} |
773 | |
774 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.solo} |
775 | |
776 | You have a square grid, which is divided into square or rectangular |
777 | blocks. Each square must be filled in with a digit from 1 to the |
778 | size of the grid, in such a way that |
779 | |
780 | \b every row contains only one occurrence of each digit |
781 | |
782 | \b every column contains only one occurrence of each digit |
783 | |
784 | \b every block contains only one occurrence of each digit. |
785 | |
786 | You are given some of the numbers as clues; your aim is to place the |
787 | rest of the numbers correctly. |
788 | |
789 | The default puzzle size is 3\by\.3 (a 9\by\.9 actual grid, divided |
790 | into nine 3\by\.3 blocks). You can also select sizes with |
791 | rectangular blocks instead of square ones, such as 2\by\.3 (a |
792 | 6\by\.6 grid divided into six 3\by\.2 blocks). |
793 | |
794 | If you select a puzzle size which requires more than 9 digits, the |
795 | additional digits will be letters of the alphabet. For example, if |
796 | you select 3\by\.4 then the digits which go in your grid will be 1 |
797 | to 9, plus \cq{a}, \cq{b} and \cq{c}. |
798 | |
6ae37301 |
799 | I first saw this puzzle in \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-solo}, although it's also |
1d8e8ad8 |
800 | been popularised by various newspapers under the name \q{Sudoku} or |
801 | \q{Su Doku}. |
802 | |
6ae37301 |
803 | \B{nikoli-solo} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm} |
804 | |
1d8e8ad8 |
805 | \H{solo-controls} \I{controls, for Solo}Solo controls |
806 | |
807 | To play Solo, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then |
808 | type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you |
809 | make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press |
810 | Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature). |
811 | |
c8266e03 |
812 | If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that |
813 | number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can |
814 | have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. |
815 | |
816 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use |
817 | them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a |
818 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a |
819 | particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible |
820 | numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like. |
821 | |
822 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type |
823 | the same number again. |
824 | |
825 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type |
826 | a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and |
827 | pressing space will also erase pencil marks. |
828 | |
1d8e8ad8 |
829 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
830 | |
831 | \H{solo-parameters} \I{parameters, for Solo}Solo parameters |
832 | |
833 | Solo allows you to configure two separate dimensions of the puzzle |
6ae37301 |
834 | grid on the \q{Type} menu: the number of columns, and the number of |
835 | rows, into which the main grid is divided. (The size of a block is |
836 | the inverse of this: for example, if you select 2 columns and 3 rows, |
837 | each actual block will have 3 columns and 2 rows.) |
1d8e8ad8 |
838 | |
ef57b17d |
839 | You can also configure the type of symmetry shown in the generated |
840 | puzzles. More symmetry makes the puzzles look prettier but may also |
841 | make them easier, since the symmetry constraints can force more |
842 | clues than necessary to be present. Completely asymmetric puzzles |
843 | have the freedom to contain as few clues as possible. |
844 | |
7c568a48 |
845 | Finally, you can configure the difficulty of the generated puzzles. |
846 | Difficulty levels are judged by the complexity of the techniques of |
847 | deduction required to solve the puzzle: each level requires a mode |
848 | of reasoning which was not necessary in the previous one. In |
849 | particular, on difficulty levels \q{Trivial} and \q{Basic} there |
850 | will be a square you can fill in with a single number at all times, |
851 | whereas at \q{Intermediate} level and beyond you will have to make |
852 | partial deductions about the \e{set} of squares a number could be in |
e28d0584 |
853 | (or the set of numbers that could be in a square). |
854 | \#{Advanced, Extreme?} |
855 | At \q{Unreasonable} level, even this is not enough, and you will |
de60d8bd |
856 | eventually have to make a guess, and then backtrack if it turns out |
857 | to be wrong. |
7c568a48 |
858 | |
c65d92ac |
859 | Generating difficult puzzles is itself difficult: if you select one |
860 | of the higher difficulty levels, Solo may have to make many attempts |
861 | at generating a puzzle before it finds one hard enough for you. Be |
862 | prepared to wait, especially if you have also configured a large |
863 | puzzle size. |
7c568a48 |
864 | |
ef57b17d |
865 | |
7959b517 |
866 | \C{mines} \i{Mines} |
867 | |
868 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.mines} |
869 | |
870 | You have a grid of covered squares, some of which contain mines, but |
871 | you don't know which. Your job is to uncover every square which does |
872 | \e{not} contain a mine. If you uncover a square containing a mine, |
873 | you lose. If you uncover a square which does not contain a mine, you |
874 | are told how many mines are contained within the eight surrounding |
875 | squares. |
876 | |
877 | This game needs no introduction; popularised by Windows, it is |
878 | perhaps the single best known desktop puzzle game in existence. |
879 | |
880 | This version of it has an unusual property. By default, it will |
881 | generate its mine positions in such a way as to ensure that you |
882 | never need to \e{guess} where a mine is: you will always be able to |
883 | deduce it somehow. So you will never, as can happen in other |
884 | versions, get to the last four squares and discover that there are |
885 | two mines left but you have no way of knowing for sure where they |
886 | are. |
887 | |
888 | \H{mines-controls} \I{controls, for Mines}Mines controls |
889 | |
890 | This game is played with the mouse. |
891 | |
892 | If you left-click in a covered square, it will be uncovered. |
893 | |
894 | If you right-click in a covered square, it will place a flag which |
895 | indicates that the square is believed to be a mine. Left-clicking in |
896 | a marked square will not uncover it, for safety. You can right-click |
897 | again to remove a mark placed in error. |
898 | |
899 | If you left-click in an \e{uncovered} square, it will \q{clear |
900 | around} the square. This means: if the square has exactly as many |
901 | flags surrounding it as it should have mines, then all the covered |
902 | squares next to it which are \e{not} flagged will be uncovered. So |
903 | once you think you know the location of all the mines around a |
904 | square, you can use this function as a shortcut to avoid having to |
905 | click on each of the remaining squares one by one. |
906 | |
907 | If you uncover a square which has \e{no} mines in the surrounding |
908 | eight squares, then it is obviously safe to uncover those squares in |
909 | turn, and so on if any of them also has no surrounding mines. This |
910 | will be done for you automatically; so sometimes when you uncover a |
911 | square, a whole new area will open up to be explored. |
912 | |
11d31eb9 |
913 | All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available. |
914 | |
7959b517 |
915 | Even Undo is available, although you might consider it cheating to |
11d31eb9 |
916 | use it. If you step on a mine, the program will only reveal the mine |
917 | in question (unlike most other implementations, which reveal all of |
918 | them). You can then Undo your fatal move and continue playing if you |
919 | like. The program will track the number of times you died (and Undo |
920 | will not reduce that counter), so when you get to the end of the |
921 | game you know whether or not you did it without making any errors. |
922 | |
923 | (If you really want to know the full layout of the grid, which other |
924 | implementations will show you after you die, you can always use the |
925 | Solve menu option.) |
7959b517 |
926 | |
927 | \H{mines-parameters} \I{parameters, for Mines}Mines parameters |
928 | |
929 | The options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} |
930 | menu are: |
931 | |
932 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
933 | |
934 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
935 | |
936 | \dt \e{Mines} |
937 | |
08781119 |
938 | \dd Number of mines in the grid. You can enter this as an absolute |
939 | mine count, or alternatively you can put a \cw{%} sign on the end in |
940 | which case the game will arrange for that proportion of the squares |
941 | in the grid to be mines. |
942 | |
943 | \lcont{ |
944 | |
945 | Beware of setting the mine count too high. At very high densities, |
946 | the program may spend forever searching for a solvable grid. |
947 | |
948 | } |
7959b517 |
949 | |
950 | \dt \e{Ensure solubility} |
951 | |
952 | \dd When this option is enabled (as it is by default), Mines will |
953 | ensure that the entire grid can be fully deduced starting from the |
954 | initial open space. If you prefer the riskier grids generated by |
955 | other implementations, you can switch off this option. |
956 | |
957 | |
6bbab0fe |
958 | \C{samegame} \i{Same Game} |
959 | |
960 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.samegame} |
961 | |
962 | You have a grid of coloured squares, which you have to clear by |
209ab5a7 |
963 | highlighting contiguous regions of more than one coloured square; |
6bbab0fe |
964 | the larger the region you highlight, the more points you get (and |
965 | the faster you clear the arena). |
966 | |
967 | If you clear the grid you win. If you end up with nothing but |
209ab5a7 |
968 | single squares (i.e., there are no more clickable regions left) you |
6bbab0fe |
969 | lose. |
970 | |
971 | Removing a region causes the rest of the grid to shuffle up: |
972 | blocks that are suspended will fall down (first), and then empty |
973 | columns are filled from the right. |
974 | |
6bbab0fe |
975 | Same Game was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. |
976 | |
209ab5a7 |
977 | \H{samegame-controls} \i{Same Game controls} |
978 | |
979 | \IM{Same Game controls} controls, for Same Game |
980 | \IM{Same Game controls} keys, for Same Game |
981 | \IM{Same Game controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Same Game |
982 | |
983 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. |
6bbab0fe |
984 | |
985 | If you left-click an unselected region, it becomes selected (possibly |
986 | clearing the current selection). |
987 | |
988 | If you left-click the selected region, it will be removed (and the |
989 | rest of the grid shuffled immediately). |
990 | |
991 | If you right-click the selected region, it will be unselected. |
992 | |
209ab5a7 |
993 | The cursor keys move a cursor around the grid. Pressing the Space or |
994 | Enter keys while the cursor is in an unselected region selects it; |
995 | pressing Space or Enter again removes it as above. |
996 | |
e28d0584 |
997 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
998 | |
6bbab0fe |
999 | \H{samegame-parameters} \I{parameters, for Same Game}Same Game parameters |
1000 | |
209ab5a7 |
1001 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1002 | \q{Type} menu. |
1003 | |
6bbab0fe |
1004 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1005 | |
1006 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1007 | |
1008 | \dt \e{No. of colours} |
1009 | |
1010 | \dd Number of different colours used to fill the grid; the more colours, |
209ab5a7 |
1011 | the fewer large regions of colour and thus the more difficult it is to |
1012 | successfully clear the grid. |
1013 | |
1014 | \dt \e{Scoring system} |
1015 | |
1016 | \dd Controls the precise mechanism used for scoring. With the default |
1017 | system, \q{(n-2)^2}, only regions of three squares or more will score |
1018 | any points at all. With the alternative \q{(n-1)^2} system, regions of |
1019 | two squares score a point each, and larger regions score relatively |
1020 | more points. |
6bbab0fe |
1021 | |
e4a7ab56 |
1022 | \dt \e{Ensure solubility} |
1023 | |
1024 | \dd If this option is ticked (the default state), generated grids |
1025 | will be guaranteed to have at least one solution. |
1026 | |
1027 | \lcont{ |
1028 | |
1029 | If you turn it off, the game generator will not try to guarantee |
1030 | soluble grids; it will, however, still ensure that there are at |
1031 | least 2 squares of each colour on the grid at the start (since a |
1032 | grid with exactly one square of a given colour is \e{definitely} |
1033 | insoluble). Grids generated with this option disabled may contain |
1034 | more large areas of contiguous colour, leading to opportunities for |
1035 | higher scores; they can also take less time to generate. |
1036 | |
1037 | } |
1038 | |
f4afe206 |
1039 | |
1040 | \C{flip} \i{Flip} |
1041 | |
1042 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.flip} |
1043 | |
1044 | You have a grid of squares, some light and some dark. Your aim is to |
1045 | light all the squares up at the same time. You can choose any square |
1046 | and flip its state from light to dark or dark to light, but when you |
1047 | do so, other squares around it change state as well. |
1048 | |
1049 | Each square contains a small diagram showing which other squares |
1050 | change when you flip it. |
1051 | |
d6acbe63 |
1052 | \H{flip-controls} \i{Flip controls} |
f4afe206 |
1053 | |
1054 | \IM{Flip controls} controls, for Flip |
1055 | \IM{Flip controls} keys, for Flip |
1056 | \IM{Flip controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Flip |
1057 | |
33317d37 |
1058 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. |
1059 | |
1060 | Left-click in a square to flip it and its associated squares, or |
1061 | use the cursor keys to choose a square and the space bar or Enter |
1062 | key to flip. |
79cb09e9 |
1063 | |
5f6050b4 |
1064 | If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, it will mark some of |
1065 | the squares in red. If you click once in every square with a red |
1066 | mark, the game should be solved. (If you click in a square |
1067 | \e{without} a red mark, a red mark will appear in it to indicate |
1068 | that you will need to reverse that operation to reach the solution.) |
f4afe206 |
1069 | |
e28d0584 |
1070 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
1071 | |
f4afe206 |
1072 | \H{flip-parameters} \I{parameters, for flip}Flip parameters |
1073 | |
1074 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1075 | \q{Type} menu. |
1076 | |
1077 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1078 | |
1079 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1080 | |
1081 | \dt \e{Shape type} |
1082 | |
1083 | \dd This control determines the shape of the region which is flipped |
1084 | by clicking in any given square. The default setting, \q{Crosses}, |
1085 | causes every square to flip itself and its four immediate neighbours |
1086 | (or three or two if it's at an edge or corner). The other setting, |
1087 | \q{Random}, causes a random shape to be chosen for every square, so |
1088 | the game is different every time. |
1089 | |
1090 | |
c6203e43 |
1091 | \C{guess} \i{Guess} |
1092 | |
1093 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.guess} |
1094 | |
1095 | You have a set of coloured pegs, and have to reproduce a |
1096 | predetermined sequence of them (chosen by the computer) within a |
1097 | certain number of guesses. |
1098 | |
1099 | Each guess gets marked with the number of correctly-coloured pegs |
9ffde3e8 |
1100 | in the correct places (in black), and also the number of |
1101 | correctly-coloured pegs in the wrong places (in white). |
c6203e43 |
1102 | |
1103 | This game is also known (and marketed, by Hasbro, mainly) as |
9ffde3e8 |
1104 | a board game \q{Mastermind}, with 6 colours, 4 pegs per row, and 10 guesses. |
c6203e43 |
1105 | However, this version allows custom settings of number of colours |
1106 | (up to 10), number of pegs per row, and number of guesses. |
1107 | |
64455a5a |
1108 | Guess was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. |
1109 | |
c6203e43 |
1110 | \H{guess-controls} \i{Guess controls} |
1111 | |
1112 | \IM{Guess controls} controls, for Guess |
1113 | \IM{Guess controls} keys, for Guess |
1114 | \IM{Guess controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Guess |
1115 | |
9ffde3e8 |
1116 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. |
1117 | |
9c63a011 |
1118 | With the mouse, drag a coloured peg from the tray on the left-hand |
1119 | side to its required position in the current guess; pegs may also be |
1120 | dragged from current and past guesses to copy them elsewhere. To |
1121 | remove a peg, drag it off its current position to somewhere invalid. |
c6203e43 |
1122 | |
9ffde3e8 |
1123 | Right-clicking in the current guess adds a \q{hold} marker; pegs |
c6203e43 |
1124 | that have hold markers will be automatically added to the next guess |
1125 | after marking. |
1126 | |
9ffde3e8 |
1127 | Alternatively, with the keyboard, the up and down cursor keys can be |
1128 | used to select a peg colour, the left and right keys to select a |
9c63a011 |
1129 | peg position, and the space bar or Enter key to place a peg of the |
59dae0db |
1130 | selected colour in the chosen position. \q{D} or Backspace removes a |
1131 | peg, and \q{H} adds a hold marker. |
9ffde3e8 |
1132 | |
9c63a011 |
1133 | When the guess is complete, the smaller feedback pegs will be highlighted; |
9ffde3e8 |
1134 | clicking on these (or moving the peg cursor to them with the arrow keys |
9c63a011 |
1135 | and pressing the space bar or Enter key) will mark the current guess, |
1136 | copy any held pegs to the next guess, and move the \q{current guess} |
1137 | marker. |
c6203e43 |
1138 | |
1139 | If you correctly position all the pegs the solution will be displayed |
9ffde3e8 |
1140 | below; if you run out of guesses (or select \q{Solve...}) the solution |
9c63a011 |
1141 | will also be revealed. |
c6203e43 |
1142 | |
e28d0584 |
1143 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
1144 | |
13b443e3 |
1145 | \H{guess-parameters} \I{parameters, for Guess}Guess parameters |
c6203e43 |
1146 | |
1147 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1148 | \q{Type} menu. The default game matches the parameters for the |
9ffde3e8 |
1149 | board game \q{Mastermind}. |
c6203e43 |
1150 | |
1151 | \dt \e{Colours} |
1152 | |
1153 | \dd Number of colours the solution is chosen from; from 2 to 10 |
1154 | (more is harder). |
1155 | |
1156 | \dt \e{Pegs per guess} |
1157 | |
1158 | \dd Number of pegs per guess (more is harder). |
1159 | |
1160 | \dt \e{Guesses} |
1161 | |
1162 | \dd Number of guesses you have to find the solution in (fewer is harder). |
1163 | |
1164 | \dt \e{Allow blanks} |
1165 | |
1166 | \dd Allows blank pegs to be given as part of a guess (makes it easier, because |
1167 | you know that those will never be counted as part of the solution). This |
1168 | is turned off by default. |
1169 | |
1170 | Note that this doesn't allow blank pegs in the solution; if you really wanted |
1171 | that, use one extra colour. |
1172 | |
1173 | \dt \e{Allow duplicates} |
1174 | |
1175 | \dd Allows the solution (and the guesses) to contain colours more than once; |
1176 | this increases the search space (making things harder), and is turned on by |
1177 | default. |
1178 | |
1179 | |
13b443e3 |
1180 | \C{pegs} \i{Pegs} |
1181 | |
1182 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pegs} |
1183 | |
1184 | A number of pegs are placed in holes on a board. You can remove a |
33a3deb2 |
1185 | peg by jumping an adjacent peg over it (horizontally or vertically) |
1186 | to a vacant hole on the other side. Your aim is to remove all but one |
1187 | of the pegs initially present. |
13b443e3 |
1188 | |
e28d0584 |
1189 | This game, best known as \I{Solitaire, Peg}\q{Peg Solitaire}, is |
1190 | possibly one of the oldest puzzle games still commonly known. |
13b443e3 |
1191 | |
1192 | \H{pegs-controls} \i{Pegs controls} |
1193 | |
1194 | \IM{Pegs controls} controls, for Pegs |
1195 | |
1196 | To move a peg, drag it with the mouse from its current position to |
1197 | its final position. If the final position is exactly two holes away |
1198 | from the initial position, is currently unoccupied by a peg, and |
1199 | there is a peg in the intervening square, the move will be permitted |
1200 | and the intervening peg will be removed. |
1201 | |
1202 | Vacant spaces which you can move a peg into are marked with holes. A |
1203 | space with no peg and no hole is not available for moving at all: it |
1204 | is an obstacle which you must work around. |
1205 | |
e28d0584 |
1206 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
13b443e3 |
1207 | |
1208 | \H{pegs-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pegs}Pegs parameters |
1209 | |
1210 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1211 | \q{Type} menu. |
1212 | |
1213 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1214 | |
1215 | \dd Size of grid in holes. |
1216 | |
1217 | \dt \e{Board type} |
1218 | |
1219 | \dd Controls whether you are given a board of a standard shape or a |
1220 | randomly generated shape. The two standard shapes currently |
1221 | supported are \q{Cross} and \q{Octagon} (also commonly known as the |
1222 | English and European traditional board layouts respectively). |
1223 | Selecting \q{Random} will give you a different board shape every |
1224 | time (but always one that is known to have a solution). |
1225 | |
1226 | |
6c04c334 |
1227 | \C{dominosa} \i{Dominosa} |
1228 | |
1229 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.dominosa} |
1230 | |
f1010613 |
1231 | A normal set of dominoes \dash that is, one instance of every |
1232 | (unordered) pair of numbers from 0 to 6 \dash has been arranged |
1233 | irregularly into a rectangle; then the number in each square has |
1234 | been written down and the dominoes themselves removed. Your task is |
1235 | to reconstruct the pattern by arranging the set of dominoes to match |
1236 | the provided array of numbers. |
6c04c334 |
1237 | |
1238 | This puzzle is widely credited to O. S. Adler, and takes part of its |
1239 | name from those initials. |
1240 | |
1241 | \H{dominosa-controls} \i{Dominosa controls} |
1242 | |
1243 | \IM{Dominosa controls} controls, for Dominosa |
1244 | |
1245 | Left-clicking between any two adjacent numbers places a domino |
1246 | covering them, or removes one if it is already present. Trying to |
1247 | place a domino which overlaps existing dominoes will remove the ones |
1248 | it overlaps. |
1249 | |
1250 | Right-clicking between two adjacent numbers draws a line between |
1251 | them, which you can use to remind yourself that you know those two |
1252 | numbers are \e{not} covered by a single domino. Right-clicking again |
1253 | removes the line. |
1254 | |
e28d0584 |
1255 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
6c04c334 |
1256 | |
1257 | \H{dominosa-parameters} \I{parameters, for Dominosa}Dominosa parameters |
1258 | |
1259 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1260 | \q{Type} menu. |
1261 | |
1262 | \dt \e{Maximum number on dominoes} |
1263 | |
1264 | \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by controlling the size of the |
1265 | set of dominoes used to make it. Dominoes with numbers going up to N |
1266 | will give rise to an (N+2) \by (N+1) rectangle; so, in particular, |
1267 | the default value of 6 gives an 8\by\.7 grid. |
1268 | |
1269 | \dt \e{Ensure unique solution} |
1270 | |
1271 | \dd Normally, Dominosa will make sure that the puzzles it presents |
1272 | have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more |
1273 | difficult and sometimes more subtle, so if you like you can turn off |
1274 | this feature. Also, finding \e{all} the possible solutions can be an |
1275 | additional challenge for an advanced player. Turning off this option |
1276 | can also speed up puzzle generation. |
1277 | |
1278 | |
9d6c3859 |
1279 | \C{untangle} \i{Untangle} |
1280 | |
1281 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.untangle} |
1282 | |
1283 | You are given a number of points, some of which have lines drawn |
1284 | between them. You can move the points about arbitrarily; your aim is |
1285 | to position the points so that no line crosses another. |
1286 | |
1287 | I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{Planarity} |
1288 | \k{Planarity}, written by John Tantalo. |
1289 | |
1290 | \B{Planarity} \W{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity}\cw{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity} |
1291 | |
1292 | \H{untangle-controls} \i{Untangle controls} |
1293 | |
1294 | \IM{Untangle controls} controls, for Untangle |
1295 | |
1296 | To move a point, click on it with the left mouse button and drag it |
1297 | into a new position. |
1298 | |
e28d0584 |
1299 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
1300 | |
9d6c3859 |
1301 | \H{untangle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Untangle}Untangle parameters |
1302 | |
1303 | There is only one parameter available from the \q{Custom...} option |
1304 | on the \q{Type} menu: |
1305 | |
1306 | \dt \e{Number of points} |
1307 | |
1308 | \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by specifying the number of |
1309 | points in the generated graph. |
1310 | |
1311 | |
bf7ebf5a |
1312 | \C{blackbox} \i{Black Box} |
1313 | |
1314 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.blackbox} |
1315 | |
1316 | A number of balls are hidden in a rectangular arena. You have to |
1317 | deduce the positions of the balls by firing lasers from positions |
1318 | on the edge of the arena and observing how they are deflected. |
1319 | |
1320 | Lasers will fire straight until they hit the opposite side of the |
1321 | arena (at which point they emerge), unless affected by balls in one of |
1322 | the following ways: |
1323 | |
1324 | \b A laser that hits a ball head-on is absorbed and will never re-emerge. |
1325 | This includes lasers that meet a ball on the first rank of the arena. |
1326 | |
1327 | \b A laser with a ball to its front-left square gets deflected 90 degrees |
1328 | to the right. |
1329 | |
1330 | \b A laser with a ball to its front-right square gets similarly deflected |
1331 | to the left. |
1332 | |
1333 | \b A laser that would re-emerge from the entry location is considered to be |
ebf54ec9 |
1334 | \q{reflected}. |
bf7ebf5a |
1335 | |
a4c9750f |
1336 | \b A laser which would get deflected before entering the arena (down the |
1337 | \q{firing range}) by a ball to the front-left or front-right of its |
1338 | entry point is also considered to be \q{reflected}. |
bf7ebf5a |
1339 | |
ebf54ec9 |
1340 | Lasers that are reflected appear as a \q{R}; lasers that hit balls |
1341 | dead-on appear as \q{H}. Otherwise, a number appears at the firing point |
bf7ebf5a |
1342 | and the location where the laser emerges (this number is unique to |
1343 | that shot). |
1344 | |
1345 | You can place guesses as to the location of the balls, based on the |
1346 | entry and exit patterns of the lasers; once you have placed enough |
1347 | balls a button appears enabling you to have your guesses checked. |
1348 | |
1349 | Here is a diagram showing how the positions of balls can create each |
1350 | of the laser behaviours shown above: |
1351 | |
1352 | \c 1RHR---- |
1353 | \c |..O.O...| |
1354 | \c 2........3 |
1355 | \c |........| |
1356 | \c |........| |
1357 | \c 3........| |
1358 | \c |......O.| |
1359 | \c H........| |
1360 | \c |.....O..| |
1361 | \c 12-RH--- |
1362 | |
1363 | As shown, it is possible for a ball to receive multiple reflections |
1364 | before re-emerging (see turn 3). Similarly, a ball may be reflected |
ebf54ec9 |
1365 | (possibly more than once) before receiving a hit (the \q{H} on the |
bf7ebf5a |
1366 | left side of the example). |
1367 | |
1368 | Note that any layout with more that 4 balls may have a non-unique |
1369 | solution. The following diagram illustrates this; if you know the |
1370 | board contains 5 balls, it is impossible to determine where the fifth |
1371 | ball is (possible positions marked with an x): |
1372 | |
1373 | \c -------- |
1374 | \c |........| |
1375 | \c |........| |
1376 | \c |..O..O..| |
1377 | \c |...xx...| |
1378 | \c |...xx...| |
1379 | \c |..O..O..| |
1380 | \c |........| |
1381 | \c |........| |
1382 | \c -------- |
1383 | |
1384 | For this reason when you have your guesses checked the game will |
1385 | check that your solution \e{produces the same results} as the |
1386 | computer's, rather than that your solution is identical to the |
1387 | computer's. So in the above example, you could put the fifth ball at |
1388 | \e{any} of the locations marked with an x, and you would still win. |
1389 | |
1390 | Black Box was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. |
1391 | |
1392 | \H{blackbox-controls} \i{Black Box controls} |
1393 | |
1394 | \IM{Black Box controls}controls, for Black Box |
1395 | |
1396 | To fire a laser, left-click in a square around the side of the arena. |
1397 | The results will be displayed immediately. Lasers may not be fired |
1398 | twice (because the results will never change). Holding down the left |
1399 | button will highlight the current go (or a previous go) to confirm the |
1400 | exit point for that laser, if applicable. |
1401 | |
1402 | To guess the location of a ball, left-click within the arena and a |
1403 | black circle will appear marking the guess; to remove the guessed ball |
1404 | click again. |
1405 | |
1406 | Locations in the arena may be locked against modification by |
1407 | right-clicking; whole rows and columns may be similarly locked by |
1408 | right-clicking in the laser firing range above/below that column, or |
1409 | to the left/right of that row. |
1410 | |
1411 | When an appropriate number of balls have been guessed a button will |
a4c9750f |
1412 | appear at the top-left corner of the grid; clicking that will mark |
bf7ebf5a |
1413 | your guesses. |
1414 | |
27388471 |
1415 | If you click the \q{mark} button and your guesses are not correct, |
1416 | the game will show you as little information as possible to |
1417 | demonstrate this to you, so you can try again. If your ball |
1418 | positions are not consistent with the laser paths you already know |
1419 | about, one laser path will be circled to indicate that it proves you |
1420 | wrong. If your positions match all the existing laser paths but are |
1421 | still wrong, one new laser path will be revealed (written in red) |
1422 | which is not consistent with your current guesses. |
1423 | |
1424 | If you decide to give up completely, you can select Solve to reveal |
1425 | the actual ball positions. At this point, correctly-placed balls |
1426 | will be displayed as filled black circles; incorrectly-placed balls |
1427 | are displayed as filled black circles with red crosses, and missing |
1428 | balls are filled red circles. In addition, a red circle marks any |
1429 | laser you had already fired which is not consistent with your ball |
1430 | layout (just as when you press the mark button), and red text marks |
bf7ebf5a |
1431 | any laser you \e{could} have fired in order to distinguish your ball |
1432 | layout from the right one. |
1433 | |
1434 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
1435 | |
1436 | \H{blackbox-parameters} \I{parameters, for Black Box}Black Box parameters |
1437 | |
1438 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1439 | \q{Type} menu. |
1440 | |
1441 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1442 | |
ebf54ec9 |
1443 | \dd Size of grid in squares. There are 2 \by \e{Width} \by \e{Height} lasers |
bf7ebf5a |
1444 | per grid, two per row and two per column. |
1445 | |
1446 | \dt \e{No. of balls} |
1447 | |
1448 | \dd Number of balls to place in the grid. This can be a single number, |
ebf54ec9 |
1449 | or a range (separated with a hyphen, like \q{2-6}), and determines the |
1450 | number of balls to place on the grid. The \q{reveal} button is only |
bf7ebf5a |
1451 | enabled if you have guessed an appropriate number of balls; a guess |
1452 | using a different number to the original solution is still acceptable, |
1453 | if all the laser inputs and outputs match. |
1454 | |
1455 | |
f1010613 |
1456 | \C{slant} \i{Slant} |
1457 | |
1458 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.slant} |
1459 | |
1460 | You have a grid of squares. Your aim is to draw a diagonal line |
1461 | through each square, and choose which way each line slants so that |
1462 | the following conditions are met: |
1463 | |
1464 | \b The diagonal lines never form a loop. |
1465 | |
1466 | \b Any point with a circled number has precisely that many lines |
1467 | meeting at it. (Thus, a 4 is the centre of a cross shape, whereas a |
1468 | zero is the centre of a diamond shape \dash or rather, a partial |
1469 | diamond shape, because a zero can never appear in the middle of the |
1470 | grid because that would immediately cause a loop.) |
1471 | |
1472 | Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-slant}. |
1473 | |
1474 | \B{nikoli-slant} |
1475 | \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm} |
1476 | (in Japanese) |
1477 | |
f1010613 |
1478 | \H{slant-controls} \i{Slant controls} |
1479 | |
1480 | \IM{Slant controls} controls, for Slant |
f1010613 |
1481 | |
1482 | Left-clicking in a blank square will place a \cw{\\} in it (a line |
1483 | leaning to the left, i.e. running from the top left of the square to |
1484 | the bottom right). Right-clicking in a blank square will place a |
1485 | \cw{/} in it (leaning to the right, running from top right to bottom |
1486 | left). |
1487 | |
1488 | Continuing to click either button will cycle between the three |
1489 | possible square contents. Thus, if you left-click repeatedly in a |
1490 | blank square it will change from blank to \cw{\\} to \cw{/} back to |
1491 | blank, and if you right-click repeatedly the square will change from |
1492 | blank to \cw{/} to \cw{\\} back to blank. (Therefore, you can play |
1493 | the game entirely with one button if you need to.) |
1494 | |
1495 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
1496 | |
e3478a4b |
1497 | \H{slant-parameters} \I{parameters, for Slant}Slant parameters |
f1010613 |
1498 | |
1499 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1500 | \q{Type} menu. |
1501 | |
1502 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1503 | |
1504 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1505 | |
15164c74 |
1506 | \dt \e{Difficulty} |
1507 | |
1508 | \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Hard level, |
1509 | you are required to do deductions based on knowledge of |
1510 | \e{relationships} between squares rather than always being able to |
1511 | deduce the exact contents of one square at a time. (For example, you |
1512 | might know that two squares slant in the same direction, even if you |
1513 | don't yet know what that direction is, and this might enable you to |
1514 | deduce something about still other squares.) Even at Hard level, |
1515 | guesswork and backtracking should never be necessary. |
1516 | |
f1010613 |
1517 | |
e3478a4b |
1518 | \C{lightup} \i{Light Up} |
1519 | |
1520 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.lightup} |
1521 | |
1522 | You have a grid of squares. Some are filled in black; some of the |
1523 | black squares are numbered. Your aim is to \q{light up} all the |
1524 | empty squares by placing light bulbs in some of them. |
1525 | |
1526 | Each light bulb illuminates the square it is on, plus all squares in |
1527 | line with it horizontally or vertically unless a black square is |
1528 | blocking the way. |
1529 | |
1530 | To win the game, you must satisfy the following conditions: |
1531 | |
1532 | \b All non-black squares are lit. |
1533 | |
1534 | \b No light is lit by another light. |
1535 | |
1536 | \b All numbered black squares have exactly that number of lights adjacent to |
1537 | them (in the four squares above, below, and to the side). |
1538 | |
1539 | Non-numbered black squares may have any number of lights adjacent to them. |
1540 | |
1541 | Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-lightup}. |
1542 | |
1543 | Light Up was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. |
1544 | |
1545 | \B{nikoli-lightup} |
1546 | \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm} |
1547 | (beware of Flash) |
1548 | |
1549 | \H{lightup-controls} \i{Light Up controls} |
1550 | |
1551 | \IM{Light Up controls} controls, for Light Up |
e3478a4b |
1552 | |
1553 | Left-clicking in a non-black square will toggle the presence of a light |
1554 | in that square. Right-clicking in a non-black square toggles a mark there to aid |
1555 | solving; it can be used to highlight squares that cannot be lit, for example. |
1556 | |
1557 | You may not place a light in a marked square, nor place a mark in a lit square. |
1558 | |
1559 | The game will highlight obvious errors in red. Lights lit by other |
1560 | lights are highlighted in this way, as are numbered squares which |
1561 | do not (or cannot) have the right number of lights next to them. |
1562 | |
1563 | Thus, the grid is solved when all non-black squares have yellow |
1564 | highlights and there are no red lights. |
1565 | |
e28d0584 |
1566 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
e3478a4b |
1567 | |
1568 | \H{lightup-parameters} \I{parameters, for Light Up}Light Up parameters |
1569 | |
1570 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1571 | \q{Type} menu. |
1572 | |
1573 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1574 | |
1575 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1576 | |
1577 | \dt \e{%age of black squares} |
1578 | |
1579 | \dd Rough percentage of black squares in the grid. |
1580 | |
1581 | \lcont{ |
1582 | |
1583 | This is a hint rather than an instruction. If the grid generator is |
1584 | unable to generate a puzzle to this precise specification, it will |
1585 | increase the proportion of black squares until it can. |
1586 | |
1587 | } |
1588 | |
1589 | \dt \e{Symmetry} |
1590 | |
1591 | \dd Allows you to specify the required symmetry of the black squares |
1592 | in the grid. (This does not affect the difficulty of the puzzles |
1593 | noticeably.) |
1594 | |
1595 | \dt \e{Difficulty} |
1596 | |
1597 | \dd \q{Easy} means that the puzzles should be soluble without |
1598 | backtracking or guessing, \q{Hard} means that some guesses will |
1599 | probably be necessary. |
1600 | |
1601 | |
c51c7de6 |
1602 | \C{map} \i{Map} |
1603 | |
1604 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.map} |
1605 | |
1606 | You are given a map consisting of a number of regions. Your task is |
1607 | to colour each region with one of four colours, in such a way that |
1608 | no two regions sharing a boundary have the same colour. You are |
1609 | provided with some regions already coloured, sufficient to make the |
1610 | remainder of the solution unique. |
1611 | |
1612 | Only regions which share a length of border are required to be |
1613 | different colours. Two regions which meet at only one \e{point} |
1614 | (i.e. are diagonally separated) may be the same colour. |
1615 | |
1616 | I believe this puzzle is original; I've never seen an implementation |
1617 | of it anywhere else. The concept of a four-colouring puzzle was |
1618 | suggested by Owen Dunn; credit must also go to Nikoli and to Verity |
1619 | Allan for inspiring the train of thought that led to me realising |
1620 | Owen's suggestion was a viable puzzle. Thanks also to Gareth Taylor |
1621 | for many detailed suggestions. |
1622 | |
c51c7de6 |
1623 | \H{map-controls} \i{Map controls} |
1624 | |
1625 | \IM{Map controls} controls, for Map |
c51c7de6 |
1626 | |
1cdd1306 |
1627 | To colour a region, click the left mouse button on an existing |
1628 | region of the desired colour and drag that colour into the new |
1629 | region. |
c51c7de6 |
1630 | |
1631 | (The program will always ensure the starting puzzle has at least one |
1632 | region of each colour, so that this is always possible!) |
1633 | |
1634 | If you need to clear a region, you can drag from an empty region, or |
1635 | from the puzzle boundary if there are no empty regions left. |
1636 | |
1cdd1306 |
1637 | Dragging a colour using the \e{right} mouse button will stipple the |
1638 | region in that colour, which you can use as a note to yourself that |
1639 | you think the region \e{might} be that colour. A region can contain |
1640 | stipples in multiple colours at once. (This is often useful at the |
1641 | harder difficulty levels.) |
1642 | |
e857e161 |
1643 | If you press L during play, the game will toggle display of a number |
1644 | in each region of the map. This is useful if you want to discuss a |
1645 | particular puzzle instance with a friend \dash having an unambiguous |
1646 | name for each region is much easier than trying to refer to them all |
1647 | by names such as \q{the one down and right of the brown one on the |
1648 | top border}. |
1649 | |
e28d0584 |
1650 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
c51c7de6 |
1651 | |
1652 | \H{map-parameters} \I{parameters, for Map}Map parameters |
1653 | |
1654 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1655 | \q{Type} menu. |
1656 | |
1657 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1658 | |
1659 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1660 | |
1661 | \dt \e{Regions} |
1662 | |
1663 | \dd Number of regions in the generated map. |
1664 | |
1665 | \dt \e{Difficulty} |
1666 | |
1667 | \dd In \q{Easy} mode, there should always be at least one region |
1cdd1306 |
1668 | whose colour can be determined trivially. In \q{Normal} and \q{Hard} |
1669 | modes, you will have to use increasingly complex logic to deduce the |
1670 | colour of some regions. However, it will always be possible without |
1671 | having to guess or backtrack. |
c51c7de6 |
1672 | |
b3728d72 |
1673 | \lcont{ |
1674 | |
1675 | In \q{Unreasonable} mode, the program will feel free to generate |
1676 | puzzles which are as hard as it can possibly make them: the only |
1677 | constraint is that they should still have a unique solution. Solving |
1678 | Unreasonable puzzles may require guessing and backtracking. |
1679 | |
1680 | } |
1681 | |
c51c7de6 |
1682 | |
6193da8d |
1683 | \C{loopy} \i{Loopy} |
1684 | |
1685 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.loopy} |
1686 | |
1687 | You are given a grid of dots. Your aim is to draw a single unbroken |
1688 | loop from dot to dot within the grid. |
1689 | |
1690 | Some of the square spaces between the dots contain numbers. These |
1691 | numbers indicate how many of the four edges of that square are part |
1692 | of the loop. The loop you draw must correctly satisfy all of these |
1693 | clues to be considered a correct solution. |
1694 | |
1695 | Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-loopy}. |
1696 | |
1697 | Loopy was contributed to this collection by Mike Pinna. |
1698 | |
1699 | \B{nikoli-loopy} |
1700 | \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm} |
1701 | (beware of Flash) |
1702 | |
6193da8d |
1703 | \H{loopy-controls} \i{Loopy controls} |
1704 | |
1705 | \IM{Loopy controls} controls, for Loopy |
6193da8d |
1706 | |
1707 | Click the left mouse button between two dots to add a line segment |
1708 | connecting them. Click again to remove that line segment. |
1709 | |
1710 | If you are sure that a particular line segment is \e{not} part of |
1711 | the loop, you can click the right mouse button to add a small cross |
1712 | indicating this. Click again to remove the cross. |
1713 | |
e28d0584 |
1714 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
6193da8d |
1715 | |
1716 | \H{loopy-parameters} \I{parameters, for Loopy}Loopy parameters |
1717 | |
1718 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1719 | \q{Type} menu. |
1720 | |
1721 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1722 | |
1723 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1724 | |
1725 | \dt \e{Recursion depth} |
1726 | |
1727 | \dd Determines how much guesswork and backtracking you will need to |
1728 | do to solve the puzzle. When this is set to zero (as it is for all |
1729 | of the \q{Easy} options in the menu), you should always be able to |
1730 | deduce the state of an edge without having to guess. If you increase |
1731 | it, you will have to guess more and more. |
1732 | |
1733 | \lcont{ |
1734 | |
1735 | Setting a high value for this option is liable to consume a lot of |
1736 | CPU time and memory. Be warned! |
1737 | |
1738 | } |
1739 | |
1740 | |
81eef9aa |
1741 | \C{inertia} \i{Inertia} |
1742 | |
1743 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.inertia} |
1744 | |
1745 | You are a small green ball sitting in a grid full of obstacles. Your |
1746 | aim is to collect all the gems without running into any mines. |
1747 | |
1748 | You can move the ball in any orthogonal \e{or diagonal} direction. |
1749 | Once the ball starts moving, it will continue until something stops |
1750 | it. A wall directly in its path will stop it (but if it is moving |
1751 | diagonally, it will move through a diagonal gap between two other |
1752 | walls without stopping). Also, some of the squares are \q{stops}; |
1753 | when the ball moves on to a stop, it will stop moving no matter what |
1754 | direction it was going in. Gems do \e{not} stop the ball; it picks |
1755 | them up and keeps on going. |
1756 | |
1757 | Running into a mine is fatal. Even if you picked up the last gem in |
1758 | the same move which then hit a mine, the game will count you as dead |
1759 | rather than victorious. |
1760 | |
1761 | This game was originally implemented for Windows by Ben Olmstead |
1762 | \k{bem}, who was kind enough to release his source code on request |
1763 | so that it could be re-implemented for this collection. |
1764 | |
1765 | \B{bem} \W{http://xn13.com/}\cw{http://xn13.com/} |
1766 | |
1767 | \H{inertia-controls} \i{Inertia controls} |
1768 | |
1769 | \IM{Inertia controls} controls, for Inertia |
1770 | \IM{Inertia controls} keys, for Inertia |
1771 | \IM{Inertia controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Inertia |
1772 | |
1773 | You can move the ball in any of the eight directions using the |
1774 | numeric keypad. Alternatively, if you click the left mouse button on |
1775 | the grid, the ball will begin a move in the general direction of |
1776 | where you clicked. |
1777 | |
8b5b08f7 |
1778 | If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, the program will |
1779 | compute a path through the grid which collects all the remaining |
1780 | gems and returns to the current position. A hint arrow will appear |
1781 | on the ball indicating the direction in which you should move to |
1782 | begin on this path. If you then move in that direction, the arrow |
1783 | will update to indicate the next direction on the path. You can also |
1784 | press Space to automatically move in the direction of the hint |
1785 | arrow. If you move in a different direction from the one shown by |
1786 | the arrow, the hint arrows will stop appearing because you have |
1787 | strayed from the provided path; you can then use \q{Solve} again to |
1788 | generate a new path if you want to. |
1789 | |
81eef9aa |
1790 | All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available. |
1791 | In particular, if you do run into a mine and die, you can use the |
1792 | Undo function and resume playing from before the fatal move. The |
1793 | game will keep track of the number of times you have done this. |
1794 | |
1795 | \H{inertia-parameters} \I{parameters, for Inertia}Inertia parameters |
1796 | |
1797 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
1798 | \q{Type} menu. |
1799 | |
1800 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
1801 | |
1802 | \dd Size of grid in squares. |
1803 | |
1804 | |
e91825f8 |
1805 | \A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence} |
1806 | |
8a771ea7 |
1807 | This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2005 Simon Tatham. |
e91825f8 |
1808 | |
6193da8d |
1809 | Portions copyright Richard Boulton, James Harvey and Mike Pinna. |
e91825f8 |
1810 | |
1811 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person |
1812 | obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files |
1813 | (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, |
1814 | including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, |
1815 | publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, |
1816 | and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, |
1817 | subject to the following conditions: |
1818 | |
1819 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be |
1820 | included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. |
1821 | |
1822 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, |
1823 | EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF |
1824 | MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND |
1825 | NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS |
1826 | BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN |
1827 | ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN |
1828 | CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE |
1829 | SOFTWARE. |
1830 | |
1185e3c5 |
1831 | \IM{specific} \q{Specific}, menu option |
1832 | \IM{custom} \q{Custom}, menu option |
e91825f8 |
1833 | |
1834 | \IM{game ID} game ID |
1835 | \IM{game ID} ID, game |
1836 | \IM{ID format} ID format |
1837 | \IM{ID format} format, ID |
1838 | \IM{ID format} game ID, format |
1839 | |
1840 | \IM{keys} keys |
1841 | \IM{keys} shortcuts (keyboard) |
1842 | |
1843 | \IM{initial state} initial state |
1844 | \IM{initial state} state, initial |
1845 | |
1846 | \IM{MIT licence} MIT licence |
1847 | \IM{MIT licence} licence, MIT |