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