Keyboard control patch for Slant, from James H.
[sgt/puzzles] / puzzles.but
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 \define{dash} \u2013{-}
24
25 This is a collection of small one-player puzzle games.
26
27 \copyright This manual is copyright 2004-2008 Simon Tatham. All rights
28 reserved. You may distribute this documentation under the MIT licence.
29 See \k{licence} for the licence text in full.
30
31 \cfg{html-local-head}{<meta name="AppleTitle" content="Puzzles Help">}
32
33 \versionid $Id$
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
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 \i{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
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.
51
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.)
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
86 (On \i{Mac OS X}, to conform with local user interface standards, these
87 actions are situated on the \I{File menu}\q{File} and \I{Edit
88 menu}\q{Edit} menus instead.)
89
90 \dt \ii\e{New game} (\q{N}, Ctrl+\q{N})
91
92 \dd Starts a new game, with a random initial state.
93
94 \dt \ii\e{Restart game}
95
96 \dd Resets the current game to its initial state. (This can be undone.)
97
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 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
114 \dt \I{printing, on Windows}\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. (Only for puzzles which make sense to print, of
120 course - it's hard to think of a sensible printable representation
121 of Fifteen!)
122
123 \dt \ii\e{Undo} (\q{U}, Ctrl+\q{Z}, Ctrl+\q{_})
124
125 \dd Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of the
126 session.)
127
128 \dt \ii\e{Redo} (\q{R}, Ctrl+\q{R})
129
130 \dd Redoes a previously undone move.
131
132 \dt \ii\e{Copy}
133
134 \dd Copies the current state of your game to the clipboard in text
135 format, so that you can paste it into (say) an e-mail client or a
136 web message board if you're discussing the game with someone else.
137 (Not all games support this feature.)
138
139 \dt \ii\e{Solve}
140
141 \dd Transforms the puzzle instantly into its solved state. For some
142 games (Cube) this feature is not supported at all because it is of
143 no particular use. For other games (such as Pattern), the solved
144 state can be used to give you information, if you can't see how a
145 solution can exist at all or you want to know where you made a
146 mistake. For still other games (such as Sixteen), automatic solution
147 tells you nothing about how to \e{get} to the solution, but it does
148 provide a useful way to get there quickly so that you can experiment
149 with set-piece moves and transformations.
150
151 \lcont{
152
153 Some games (such as Solo) are capable of solving a game ID you have
154 typed in from elsewhere. Other games (such as Rectangles) cannot
155 solve a game ID they didn't invent themself, but when they did
156 invent the game ID they know what the solution is already. Still
157 other games (Pattern) can solve \e{some} external game IDs, but only
158 if they aren't too difficult.
159
160 The \q{Solve} command adds the solved state to the end of the undo
161 chain for the puzzle. In other words, if you want to go back to
162 solving it yourself after seeing the answer, you can just press Undo.
163
164 }
165
166 \dt \I{exit}\ii\e{Quit} (\q{Q}, Ctrl+\q{Q})
167
168 \dd Closes the application entirely.
169
170 \H{common-id} Specifying games with the \ii{game ID}
171
172 There are two ways to save a game specification out of a puzzle and
173 recreate it later, or recreate it in somebody else's copy of the
174 same puzzle.
175
176 The \q{\i{Specific}} and \q{\i{Random Seed}} options from the
177 \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu (or the \q{File} menu, on \i{Mac OS X}) each
178 show a piece of text (a \q{game ID}) which is sufficient to
179 reconstruct precisely the same game at a later date.
180
181 You can enter either of these pieces of text back into the program
182 (via the same \q{Specific} or \q{Random Seed} menu options) at a
183 later point, and it will recreate the same game. You can also use
184 either one as a \i{command line} argument (on Windows or Unix); see
185 \k{common-cmdline} for more detail.
186
187 The difference between the two forms is that a descriptive game ID
188 is a literal \e{description} of the \i{initial state} of the game,
189 whereas a random seed is just a piece of arbitrary text which was
190 provided as input to the random number generator used to create the
191 puzzle. This means that:
192
193 \b Descriptive game IDs tend to be longer in many puzzles (although
194 some, such as Cube (\k{cube}), only need very short descriptions).
195 So a random seed is often a \e{quicker} way to note down the puzzle
196 you're currently playing, or to tell it to somebody else so they can
197 play the same one as you.
198
199 \b Any text at all is a valid random seed. The automatically
200 generated ones are fifteen-digit numbers, but anything will do; you
201 can type in your full name, or a word you just made up, and a valid
202 puzzle will be generated from it. This provides a way for two or
203 more people to race to complete the same puzzle: you think of a
204 random seed, then everybody types it in at the same time, and nobody
205 has an advantage due to having seen the generated puzzle before
206 anybody else.
207
208 \b It is often possible to convert puzzles from other sources (such
209 as \q{nonograms} or \q{sudoku} from newspapers) into descriptive
210 game IDs suitable for use with these programs.
211
212 \b Random seeds are not guaranteed to produce the same result if you
213 use them with a different \i\e{version} of the puzzle program. This
214 is because the generation algorithm might have been improved or
215 modified in later versions of the code, and will therefore produce a
216 different result when given the same sequence of random numbers. Use
217 a descriptive game ID if you aren't sure that it will be used on the
218 same version of the program as yours.
219
220 \lcont{(Use the \q{About} menu option to find out the version number
221 of the program. Programs with the same version number running on
222 different platforms should still be random-seed compatible.)}
223
224 \I{ID format}A descriptive game ID starts with a piece of text which
225 encodes the \i\e{parameters} of the current game (such as grid
226 size). Then there is a colon, and after that is the description of
227 the game's initial state. A random seed starts with a similar string
228 of parameters, but then it contains a hash sign followed by
229 arbitrary data.
230
231 If you enter a descriptive game ID, the program will not be able to
232 show you the random seed which generated it, since it wasn't
233 generated \e{from} a random seed. If you \e{enter} a random seed,
234 however, the program will be able to show you the descriptive game
235 ID derived from that random seed.
236
237 Note that the game parameter strings are not always identical
238 between the two forms. For some games, there will be parameter data
239 provided with the random seed which is not included in the
240 descriptive game ID. This is because that parameter information is
241 only relevant when \e{generating} puzzle grids, and is not important
242 when playing them. Thus, for example, the difficulty level in Solo
243 (\k{solo}) is not mentioned in the descriptive game ID.
244
245 These additional parameters are also not set permanently if you type
246 in a game ID. For example, suppose you have Solo set to \q{Advanced}
247 difficulty level, and then a friend wants your help with a
248 \q{Trivial} puzzle; so the friend reads out a random seed specifying
249 \q{Trivial} difficulty, and you type it in. The program will
250 generate you the same \q{Trivial} grid which your friend was having
251 trouble with, but once you have finished playing it, when you ask
252 for a new game it will automatically go back to the \q{Advanced}
253 difficulty which it was previously set on.
254
255 \H{common-type} The \q{Type} menu
256
257 The \I{Type menu}\q{Type} menu, if present, may contain a list of
258 \i{preset} game settings. Selecting one of these will start a new
259 random game with the parameters specified.
260
261 The \q{Type} menu may also contain a \q{\i{Custom}} option which
262 allows you to fine-tune game \i{parameters}. The parameters
263 available are specific to each game and are described in the
264 following sections.
265
266 \H{common-cmdline} Specifying game parameters on the \i{command line}
267
268 (This section does not apply to the \i{Mac OS X} version.)
269
270 The games in this collection deliberately do not ever save
271 information on to the computer they run on: they have no high score
272 tables and no saved preferences. (This is because I expect at least
273 some people to play them at work, and those people will probably
274 appreciate leaving as little evidence as possible!)
275
276 However, if you do want to arrange for one of these games to
277 \I{default parameters, specifying}default to a particular set of
278 parameters, you can specify them on the command line.
279
280 The easiest way to do this is to set up the parameters you want
281 using the \q{Type} menu (see \k{common-type}), and then to select
282 \q{Random Seed} from the \q{Game} or \q{File} menu (see
283 \k{common-id}). The text in the \q{Game ID} box will be composed of
284 two parts, separated by a hash. The first of these parts represents
285 the game parameters (the size of the playing area, for example, and
286 anything else you set using the \q{Type} menu).
287
288 If you run the game with just that parameter text on the command
289 line, it will start up with the settings you specified.
290
291 For example: if you run Cube (see \k{cube}), select \q{Octahedron}
292 from the \q{Type} menu, and then go to the game ID selection, you
293 will see a string of the form \cq{o2x2#338686542711620}. Take only
294 the part before the hash (\cq{o2x2}), and start Cube with that text
295 on the command line: \cq{cube o2x2}.
296
297 If you copy the \e{entire} game ID on to the command line, the game
298 will start up in the specific game that was described. This is
299 occasionally a more convenient way to start a particular game ID
300 than by pasting it into the game ID selection box.
301
302 (You could also retrieve the encoded game parameters using the
303 \q{Specific} menu option instead of \q{Random Seed}, but if you do
304 then some options, such as the difficulty level in Solo, will be
305 missing. See \k{common-id} for more details on this.)
306
307 \H{common-unix-cmdline} \i{Unix} \i{command-line} options
308
309 (This section only applies to the Unix port.)
310
311 In addition to being able to specify game parameters on the command
312 line (see \k{common-cmdline}), there are various other options:
313
314 \dt \cw{--game}
315
316 \dt \cw{--load}
317
318 \dd These options respectively determine whether the command-line
319 argument is treated as specifying game parameters or a \i{save} file
320 to \i{load}. Only one should be specified. If neither of these options
321 is specified, a guess is made based on the format of the argument.
322
323 \dt \cw{--generate }\e{n}
324
325 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being displayed,
326 a number of descriptive game IDs will be \I{generating game IDs}invented
327 and printed on standard output. This is useful for gaining access to
328 the game generation algorithms without necessarily using the frontend.
329
330 \lcont{
331
332 If game parameters are specified on the command-line, they will be
333 used to generate the game IDs; otherwise a default set of parameters
334 will be used.
335
336 The most common use of this option is in conjunction with \c{--print},
337 in which case its behaviour is slightly different; see below.
338
339 }
340
341 \dt \I{printing, on Unix}\cw{--print }\e{w}\cw{x}\e{h}
342
343 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being displayed,
344 a printed representation of one or more unsolved puzzles is sent to
345 standard output, in \i{PostScript} format.
346
347 \lcont{
348
349 On each page of puzzles, there will be \e{w} across and \e{h} down. If
350 there are more puzzles than \e{w}\by\e{h}, more than one page will be
351 printed.
352
353 If \c{--generate} has also been specified, the invented game IDs will
354 be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, a list of game IDs
355 is expected on standard input (which can be descriptive or random
356 seeds; see \k{common-id}), in the same format produced by
357 \c{--generate}.
358
359 For example:
360
361 \c net --generate 12 --print 2x3 7x7w | lpr
362
363 will generate two pages of printed Net puzzles (each of which will
364 have a 7\by\.7 wrapping grid), and pipe the output to the \c{lpr}
365 command, which on many systems will send them to an actual printer.
366
367 There are various other options which affect printing; see below.
368
369 }
370
371 \dt \cw{--save }\e{file-prefix} [ \cw{--save-suffix }\e{file-suffix} ]
372
373 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being
374 displayed, saved-game files for one or more unsolved puzzles are
375 written to files constructed from the supplied prefix and/or suffix.
376
377 \lcont{
378
379 If \c{--generate} has also been specified, the invented game IDs will
380 be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, a list of game IDs
381 is expected on standard input (which can be descriptive or random
382 seeds; see \k{common-id}), in the same format produced by
383 \c{--generate}.
384
385 For example:
386
387 \c net --generate 12 --save game --save-suffix .sav
388
389 will generate twelve Net saved-game files with the names
390 \cw{game0.sav} to \cw{game11.sav}.
391
392 }
393
394 \dt \cw{--version}
395
396 \dd Prints version information about the game, and then quits.
397
398 The following options are only meaningful if \c{--print} is also
399 specified:
400
401 \dt \cw{--with-solutions}
402
403 \dd The set of pages filled with unsolved puzzles will be followed by
404 the solutions to those puzzles.
405
406 \dt \cw{--scale }\e{n}
407
408 \dd Adjusts how big each puzzle is when printed. Larger numbers make
409 puzzles bigger; the default is 1.0.
410
411 \dt \cw{--colour}
412
413 \dd Puzzles will be printed in colour, rather than in black and white
414 (if supported by the puzzle).
415
416
417 \C{net} \i{Net}
418
419 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.net}
420
421 (\e{Note:} the \i{Windows} version of this game is called
422 \i\cw{NETGAME.EXE} to avoid clashing with Windows's own \cw{NET.EXE}.)
423
424 I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{FreeNet}
425 \k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans; there are several other
426 implementations under the name \i{NetWalk}. The computer prepares a
427 network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then
428 shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is to
429 rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be an
430 entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{The latter
431 clause means that there are no closed paths within the network.
432 Could this be clearer? "No closed paths"?} As a visual aid,
433 all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are
434 highlighted.
435
436 \B{FreeNet} \W{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}\cw{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}
437
438 \H{net-controls} \i{Net controls}
439
440 \IM{Net controls} controls, for Net
441 \IM{Net controls} keys, for Net
442 \IM{Net controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Net
443
444 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. The
445 controls are:
446
447 \dt \e{Select tile}: mouse pointer, arrow keys
448
449 \dt \e{Rotate tile anticlockwise}: left mouse button, \q{A} key
450
451 \dt \e{Rotate tile clockwise}: right mouse button, \q{D} key
452
453 \dt \e{Rotate tile by 180 degrees}: \q{F} key
454
455 \dt \e{Lock (or unlock) tile}: middle mouse button, shift-click, \q{S} key
456
457 \dd You can lock a tile once you're sure of its orientation. You can
458 also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't accidentally
459 turn it.
460
461 The following controls are not necessary to complete the game, but may
462 be useful:
463
464 \dt \e{Shift grid}: Shift + arrow keys
465
466 \dd On grids that wrap, you can move the origin of the grid, so that
467 tiles that were on opposite sides of the grid can be seen together.
468
469 \dt \e{Move centre}: Ctrl + arrow keys
470
471 \dd You can change which tile is used as the source of highlighting.
472 (It doesn't ultimately matter which tile this is, as every tile will
473 be connected to every other tile in a correct solution, but it may be
474 helpful in the intermediate stages of solving the puzzle.)
475
476 \dt \e{Jumble tiles}: \q{J} key
477
478 \dd This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random
479 orientations.
480
481 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
482
483 \H{net-params} \I{parameters, for Net}Net parameters
484
485 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
486 \q{Type} menu.
487
488 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
489
490 \dd Size of grid in tiles.
491
492 \dt \e{Walls wrap around}
493
494 \dd If checked, flow can pass from the left edge to the right edge,
495 and from top to bottom, and vice versa.
496
497 \dt \e{Barrier probability}
498
499 \dd A number between 0.0 and 1.0 controlling whether an immovable
500 barrier is placed between two tiles to prevent flow between them (a
501 higher number gives more barriers). Since barriers are immovable, they
502 act as constraints on the solution (i.e., hints).
503
504 \lcont{
505
506 The grid generation in Net has been carefully arranged so that the
507 barriers are independent of the rest of the grid. This means that if
508 you note down the random seed used to generate the current puzzle
509 (see \k{common-id}), change the \e{Barrier probability} parameter,
510 and then re-enter the same random seed, you should see exactly the
511 same starting grid, with the only change being the number of
512 barriers. So if you're stuck on a particular grid and need a hint,
513 you could start up another instance of Net, set up the same
514 parameters but a higher barrier probability, and enter the game seed
515 from the original Net window.
516
517 }
518
519 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
520
521 \dd Normally, Net will make sure that the puzzles it presents have
522 only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
523 difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
524 feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. (Also, finding \e{all}
525 the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an
526 advanced player.)
527
528
529 \C{cube} \i{Cube}
530
531 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.cube}
532
533 This is another one I originally saw as a web game. This one was a
534 Java game \k{cube-java-game}, by Paul Scott. You have a grid of 16
535 squares, six of which are blue; on one square rests a cube. Your move
536 is to use the arrow keys to roll the cube through 90 degrees so that
537 it moves to an adjacent square. If you roll the cube on to a blue
538 square, the blue square is picked up on one face of the cube; if you
539 roll a blue face of the cube on to a non-blue square, the blueness is
540 put down again. (In general, whenever you roll the cube, the two faces
541 that come into contact swap colours.) Your job is to get all six blue
542 squares on to the six faces of the cube at the same time. Count your
543 moves and try to do it in as few as possible.
544
545 Unlike the original Java game, my version has an additional feature:
546 once you've mastered the game with a cube rolling on a square grid,
547 you can change to a triangular grid and roll any of a tetrahedron, an
548 octahedron or an icosahedron.
549
550 \B{cube-java-game} \W{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}\cw{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}
551
552 \H{cube-controls} \i{Cube controls}
553
554 \IM{Cube controls} controls, for Cube
555 \IM{Cube controls} keys, for Cube
556 \IM{Cube controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Cube
557
558 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
559
560 Left-clicking anywhere on the window will move the cube (or other
561 solid) towards the mouse pointer.
562
563 The arrow keys can also used to roll the cube on its square grid in
564 the four cardinal directions.
565 On the triangular grids, the mapping of arrow keys to directions is
566 more approximate. Vertical movement is disallowed where it doesn't
567 make sense. The four keys surrounding the arrow keys on the numeric
568 keypad (\q{7}, \q{9}, \q{1}, \q{3}) can be used for diagonal movement.
569
570 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
571
572 \H{cube-params} \I{parameters, for Cube}Cube parameters
573
574 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
575 \q{Type} menu.
576
577 \dt \e{Type of solid}
578
579 \dd Selects the solid to roll (and hence the shape of the grid):
580 tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, or icosahedron.
581
582 \dt \e{Width / top}, \e{Height / bottom}
583
584 \dd On a square grid, horizontal and vertical dimensions. On a
585 triangular grid, the number of triangles on the top and bottom rows
586 respectively.
587
588
589 \C{fifteen} \i{Fifteen}
590
591 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.fifteen}
592
593 The old ones are the best: this is the good old \q{\i{15-puzzle}}
594 with sliding tiles. You have a 4\by\.4 square grid; 15 squares
595 contain numbered tiles, and the sixteenth is empty. Your move is to
596 choose a tile next to the empty space, and slide it into the space.
597 The aim is to end up with the tiles in numerical order, with the
598 space in the bottom right (so that the top row reads 1,2,3,4 and the
599 bottom row reads 13,14,15,\e{space}).
600
601 \H{fifteen-controls} \i{Fifteen controls}
602
603 \IM{Fifteen controls} controls, for Fifteen
604 \IM{Fifteen controls} keys, for Fifteen
605 \IM{Fifteen controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Fifteen
606
607 This game can be controlled with the mouse or the keyboard.
608
609 A left-click with the mouse in the row or column containing the empty
610 space will move as many tiles as necessary to move the space to the
611 mouse pointer.
612
613 The arrow keys will move a tile adjacent to the space in the direction
614 indicated (moving the space in the \e{opposite} direction).
615
616 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
617
618 \H{fifteen-params} \I{parameters, for Fifteen}Fifteen parameters
619
620 The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
621 menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. (Once
622 you've changed these, it's not a \q{15-puzzle} any more, of course!)
623
624
625 \C{sixteen} \i{Sixteen}
626
627 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.sixteen}
628
629 Another sliding tile puzzle, visually similar to Fifteen (see
630 \k{fifteen}) but with a different type of move. This time, there is no
631 hole: all 16 squares on the grid contain numbered squares. Your move
632 is to shift an entire row left or right, or shift an entire column up
633 or down; every time you do that, the tile you shift off the grid
634 re-appears at the other end of the same row, in the space you just
635 vacated. To win, arrange the tiles into numerical order (1,2,3,4 on
636 the top row, 13,14,15,16 on the bottom). When you've done that, try
637 playing on different sizes of grid.
638
639 I \e{might} have invented this game myself, though only by accident if
640 so (and I'm sure other people have independently invented it). I
641 thought I was imitating a screensaver I'd seen, but I have a feeling
642 that the screensaver might actually have been a Fifteen-type puzzle
643 rather than this slightly different kind. So this might be the one
644 thing in my puzzle collection which represents creativity on my part
645 rather than just engineering.
646
647 \H{sixteen-controls} \I{controls, for Sixteen}Sixteen controls
648
649 This game is played with the mouse. Left-clicking on an arrow will
650 move the appropriate row or column in the direction indicated.
651 Right-clicking will move it in the opposite direction.
652
653 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
654
655 \H{sixteen-params} \I{parameters, for Sixteen}Sixteen parameters
656
657 The parameters available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
658 \q{Type} menu are:
659
660 \b \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory.
661
662 \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on
663 the grid. By default, Sixteen will shuffle the grid in such a way
664 that any arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can
665 override this by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to
666 be performed. Typically your aim is then to determine the precise
667 set of shuffling moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer
668 (say) a four-move shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the
669 more moves you ask for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter
670 than the target length will turn out to be possible.
671
672
673 \C{twiddle} \i{Twiddle}
674
675 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.twiddle}
676
677 Twiddle is a tile-rearrangement puzzle, visually similar to Sixteen
678 (see \k{sixteen}): you are given a grid of square tiles, each
679 containing a number, and your aim is to arrange the numbers into
680 ascending order.
681
682 In basic Twiddle, your move is to rotate a square group of four
683 tiles about their common centre. (Orientation is not significant in
684 the basic puzzle, although you can select it.) On more advanced
685 settings, you can rotate a larger square group of tiles.
686
687 I first saw this type of puzzle in the GameCube game \q{Metroid
688 Prime 2}. In the Main Gyro Chamber in that game, there is a puzzle
689 you solve to unlock a door, which is a special case of Twiddle. I
690 developed this game as a generalisation of that puzzle.
691
692 \H{twiddle-controls} \I{controls, for Twiddle}Twiddle controls
693
694 To play Twiddle, click the mouse in the centre of the square group
695 you wish to rotate. In the basic mode, you rotate a 2\by\.2 square,
696 which means you have to click at a corner point where four tiles
697 meet.
698
699 In more advanced modes you might be rotating 3\by\.3 or even more at
700 a time; if the size of the square is odd then you simply click in
701 the centre tile of the square you want to rotate.
702
703 Clicking with the left mouse button rotates the group anticlockwise.
704 Clicking with the right button rotates it clockwise.
705
706 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
707
708 \H{twiddle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Twiddle}Twiddle parameters
709
710 Twiddle provides several configuration options via the \q{Custom}
711 option on the \q{Type} menu:
712
713 \b You can configure the width and height of the puzzle grid.
714
715 \b You can configure the size of square block that rotates at a time.
716
717 \b You can ask for every square in the grid to be distinguishable
718 (the default), or you can ask for a simplified puzzle in which there
719 are groups of identical numbers. In the simplified puzzle your aim
720 is just to arrange all the 1s into the first row, all the 2s into
721 the second row, and so on.
722
723 \b You can configure whether the orientation of tiles matters. If
724 you ask for an orientable puzzle, each tile will have a triangle
725 drawn in it. All the triangles must be pointing upwards to complete
726 the puzzle.
727
728 \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on
729 the grid. By default, Twiddle will shuffle the grid so much that any
730 arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can override this
731 by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to be performed.
732 Typically your aim is then to determine the precise set of shuffling
733 moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer (say) a four-move
734 shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the more moves you ask
735 for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter than the target
736 length will turn out to be possible.
737
738
739 \C{rectangles} \i{Rectangles}
740
741 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.rectangles}
742
743 You have a grid of squares, with numbers written in some (but not all)
744 of the squares. Your task is to subdivide the grid into rectangles of
745 various sizes, such that (a) every rectangle contains exactly one
746 numbered square, and (b) the area of each rectangle is equal to the
747 number written in its numbered square.
748
749 Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine \i{Nikoli}
750 \k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle
751 Palace} \k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's
752 implementation, my version automatically generates random grids of
753 any size you like. The quality of puzzle design is therefore not
754 quite as good as hand-crafted puzzles would be, but on the plus side
755 you get an inexhaustible supply of puzzles tailored to your own
756 specification.
757
758 \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}
759
760 \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}
761
762 \H{rectangles-controls} \I{controls, for Rectangles}Rectangles controls
763
764 This game is played with the mouse or cursor keys.
765
766 Left-click any edge to toggle it on or off, or left-click and drag to draw
767 an entire rectangle (or line) on the grid in one go (removing any existing
768 edges within that rectangle). Right-clicking and dragging will allow you
769 to erase the contents of a rectangle without affecting its edges.
770
771 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the position indicator
772 around the board. Pressing the return key then allows you to use the
773 cursor keys to drag a rectangle out from that position, and pressing
774 the return key again completes the rectangle. Using the space bar
775 instead of the return key allows you to erase the contents of a
776 rectangle without affecting its edges, as above.
777
778 When a rectangle of the correct size is completed, it will be shaded.
779
780 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
781
782 \H{rectangles-params} \I{parameters, for Rectangles}Rectangles parameters
783
784 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
785 \q{Type} menu.
786
787 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
788
789 \dd Size of grid, in squares.
790
791 \dt \e{Expansion factor}
792
793 \dd This is a mechanism for changing the type of grids generated by
794 the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few large
795 rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask
796 Rectangles to essentially generate a \e{smaller} grid than the size
797 you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and columns.
798
799 \lcont{
800
801 The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will
802 simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing
803 further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means that
804 each dimension of the grid will be expanded to half again as big
805 after generation. In other words, the initial grid will be 2/3 the
806 size in each dimension, and will be expanded to its full size
807 without adding any more rectangles.
808
809 Setting an expansion factor of around 0.5 tends to make the game
810 more difficult, and also (in my experience) rewards a less deductive
811 and more intuitive playing style. If you set it \e{too} high,
812 though, the game simply cannot generate more than a few rectangles
813 to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes trivial.
814
815 }
816
817 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
818
819 \dd Normally, Rectangles will make sure that the puzzles it presents
820 have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
821 difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
822 feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. Also, finding \e{all} the
823 possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an advanced
824 player. Turning off this option can also speed up puzzle generation.
825
826
827 \C{netslide} \i{Netslide}
828
829 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.netslide}
830
831 This game combines the grid generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the
832 movement of Sixteen (see \k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but
833 instead of rotating tiles back into place you have to slide them
834 into place by moving a whole row at a time.
835
836 As in Sixteen, \I{controls, for Netslide}control is with the mouse.
837 See \k{sixteen-controls}.
838
839 \I{parameters, for Netslide}The available game parameters have similar
840 meanings to those in Net (see \k{net-params}) and Sixteen (see
841 \k{sixteen-params}).
842
843 Netslide was contributed to this collection by Richard Boulton.
844
845
846 \C{pattern} \i{Pattern}
847
848 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pattern}
849
850 You have a grid of squares, which must all be filled in either black
851 or white. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the
852 runs of black squares on that row; above each column are listed the
853 lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to
854 fill in the entire grid black or white.
855
856 I first saw this puzzle form around 1995, under the name
857 \q{\i{nonograms}}. I've seen it in various places since then, under
858 different names.
859
860 Normally, puzzles of this type turn out to be a meaningful picture
861 of something once you've solved them. However, since this version
862 generates the puzzles automatically, they will just look like random
863 groupings of squares. (One user has suggested that this is actually
864 a \e{good} thing, since it prevents you from guessing the colour of
865 squares based on the picture, and forces you to use logic instead.)
866 The advantage, though, is that you never run out of them.
867
868 \H{pattern-controls} \I{controls, for Pattern}Pattern controls
869
870 This game is played with the mouse.
871
872 Left-click in a square to colour it black. Right-click to colour it
873 white. If you make a mistake, you can middle-click, or hold down
874 Shift while clicking with any button, to colour the square in the
875 default grey (meaning \q{undecided}) again.
876
877 You can click and drag with the left or right mouse button to colour
878 a vertical or horizontal line of squares black or white at a time
879 (respectively). If you click and drag with the middle button, or
880 with Shift held down, you can colour a whole rectangle of squares
881 grey.
882
883 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
884
885 \H{pattern-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pattern}Pattern parameters
886
887 The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
888 menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory.
889
890
891 \C{solo} \i{Solo}
892
893 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.solo}
894
895 You have a square grid, which is divided into as many equally sized
896 sub-blocks as the grid has rows. Each square must be filled in with
897 a digit from 1 to the size of the grid, in such a way that
898
899 \b every row contains only one occurrence of each digit
900
901 \b every column contains only one occurrence of each digit
902
903 \b every block contains only one occurrence of each digit.
904
905 \b (optionally, by default off) each of the square's two main
906 diagonals contains only one occurrence of each digit.
907
908 You are given some of the numbers as clues; your aim is to place the
909 rest of the numbers correctly.
910
911 Under the default settings, the sub-blocks are square or
912 rectangular. The default puzzle size is 3\by\.3 (a 9\by\.9 actual
913 grid, divided into nine 3\by\.3 blocks). You can also select sizes
914 with rectangular blocks instead of square ones, such as 2\by\.3 (a
915 6\by\.6 grid divided into six 3\by\.2 blocks). Alternatively, you
916 can select \q{jigsaw} mode, in which the sub-blocks are arbitrary
917 shapes which differ between individual puzzles.
918
919 If you select a puzzle size which requires more than 9 digits, the
920 additional digits will be letters of the alphabet. For example, if
921 you select 3\by\.4 then the digits which go in your grid will be 1
922 to 9, plus \cq{a}, \cq{b} and \cq{c}.
923
924 I first saw this puzzle in \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-solo}, although it's
925 also been popularised by various newspapers under the name
926 \q{Sudoku} or \q{Su Doku}. Howard Garns is considered the inventor
927 of the modern form of the puzzle, and it was first published in
928 \e{Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games}. A more elaborate treatment
929 of the history of the puzzle can be found on Wikipedia
930 \k{wikipedia-solo}.
931
932 \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}
933
934 \B{wikipedia-solo} \W{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku}\cw{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku}
935
936 \H{solo-controls} \I{controls, for Solo}Solo controls
937
938 To play Solo, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
939 type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you
940 make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press
941 Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
942
943 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
944 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
945 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square.
946
947 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
948 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
949 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
950 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
951 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
952
953 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
954 the same number again.
955
956 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
957 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
958 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
959
960 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
961
962 \H{solo-parameters} \I{parameters, for Solo}Solo parameters
963
964 Solo allows you to configure two separate dimensions of the puzzle
965 grid on the \q{Type} menu: the number of columns, and the number of
966 rows, into which the main grid is divided. (The size of a block is
967 the inverse of this: for example, if you select 2 columns and 3 rows,
968 each actual block will have 3 columns and 2 rows.)
969
970 If you tick the \q{X} checkbox, Solo will apply the optional extra
971 constraint that the two main diagonals of the grid also contain one
972 of every digit. (This is sometimes known as \q{Sudoku-X} in
973 newspapers.) In this mode, the squares on the two main diagonals
974 will be shaded slightly so that you know it's enabled.
975
976 If you tick the \q{Jigsaw} checkbox, Solo will generate randomly
977 shaped sub-blocks. In this mode, the actual grid size will be taken
978 to be the product of the numbers entered in the \q{Columns} and
979 \q{Rows} boxes. There is no reason why you have to enter a number
980 greater than 1 in both boxes; Jigsaw mode has no constraint on the
981 grid size, and it can even be a prime number if you feel like it.
982
983 You can also configure the type of symmetry shown in the generated
984 puzzles. More symmetry makes the puzzles look prettier but may also
985 make them easier, since the symmetry constraints can force more
986 clues than necessary to be present. Completely asymmetric puzzles
987 have the freedom to contain as few clues as possible.
988
989 Finally, you can configure the difficulty of the generated puzzles.
990 Difficulty levels are judged by the complexity of the techniques of
991 deduction required to solve the puzzle: each level requires a mode
992 of reasoning which was not necessary in the previous one. In
993 particular, on difficulty levels \q{Trivial} and \q{Basic} there
994 will be a square you can fill in with a single number at all times,
995 whereas at \q{Intermediate} level and beyond you will have to make
996 partial deductions about the \e{set} of squares a number could be in
997 (or the set of numbers that could be in a square).
998 \#{Advanced, Extreme?}
999 At \q{Unreasonable} level, even this is not enough, and you will
1000 eventually have to make a guess, and then backtrack if it turns out
1001 to be wrong.
1002
1003 Generating difficult puzzles is itself difficult: if you select one
1004 of the higher difficulty levels, Solo may have to make many attempts
1005 at generating a puzzle before it finds one hard enough for you. Be
1006 prepared to wait, especially if you have also configured a large
1007 puzzle size.
1008
1009
1010 \C{mines} \i{Mines}
1011
1012 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.mines}
1013
1014 You have a grid of covered squares, some of which contain mines, but
1015 you don't know which. Your job is to uncover every square which does
1016 \e{not} contain a mine. If you uncover a square containing a mine,
1017 you lose. If you uncover a square which does not contain a mine, you
1018 are told how many mines are contained within the eight surrounding
1019 squares.
1020
1021 This game needs no introduction; popularised by Windows, it is
1022 perhaps the single best known desktop puzzle game in existence.
1023
1024 This version of it has an unusual property. By default, it will
1025 generate its mine positions in such a way as to ensure that you
1026 never need to \e{guess} where a mine is: you will always be able to
1027 deduce it somehow. So you will never, as can happen in other
1028 versions, get to the last four squares and discover that there are
1029 two mines left but you have no way of knowing for sure where they
1030 are.
1031
1032 \H{mines-controls} \I{controls, for Mines}Mines controls
1033
1034 This game is played with the mouse.
1035
1036 If you left-click in a covered square, it will be uncovered.
1037
1038 If you right-click in a covered square, it will place a flag which
1039 indicates that the square is believed to be a mine. Left-clicking in
1040 a marked square will not uncover it, for safety. You can right-click
1041 again to remove a mark placed in error.
1042
1043 If you left-click in an \e{uncovered} square, it will \q{clear
1044 around} the square. This means: if the square has exactly as many
1045 flags surrounding it as it should have mines, then all the covered
1046 squares next to it which are \e{not} flagged will be uncovered. So
1047 once you think you know the location of all the mines around a
1048 square, you can use this function as a shortcut to avoid having to
1049 click on each of the remaining squares one by one.
1050
1051 If you uncover a square which has \e{no} mines in the surrounding
1052 eight squares, then it is obviously safe to uncover those squares in
1053 turn, and so on if any of them also has no surrounding mines. This
1054 will be done for you automatically; so sometimes when you uncover a
1055 square, a whole new area will open up to be explored.
1056
1057 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the minefield.
1058 Pressing the return key in a covered square uncovers it, and in an
1059 uncovered square will clear around it (so it acts as the left button),
1060 pressing the space bar in a covered square will place a flag
1061 (similarly, it acts as the right button).
1062
1063 All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.
1064
1065 Even Undo is available, although you might consider it cheating to
1066 use it. If you step on a mine, the program will only reveal the mine
1067 in question (unlike most other implementations, which reveal all of
1068 them). You can then Undo your fatal move and continue playing if you
1069 like. The program will track the number of times you died (and Undo
1070 will not reduce that counter), so when you get to the end of the
1071 game you know whether or not you did it without making any errors.
1072
1073 (If you really want to know the full layout of the grid, which other
1074 implementations will show you after you die, you can always use the
1075 Solve menu option.)
1076
1077 \H{mines-parameters} \I{parameters, for Mines}Mines parameters
1078
1079 The options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
1080 menu are:
1081
1082 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1083
1084 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1085
1086 \dt \e{Mines}
1087
1088 \dd Number of mines in the grid. You can enter this as an absolute
1089 mine count, or alternatively you can put a \cw{%} sign on the end in
1090 which case the game will arrange for that proportion of the squares
1091 in the grid to be mines.
1092
1093 \lcont{
1094
1095 Beware of setting the mine count too high. At very high densities,
1096 the program may spend forever searching for a solvable grid.
1097
1098 }
1099
1100 \dt \e{Ensure solubility}
1101
1102 \dd When this option is enabled (as it is by default), Mines will
1103 ensure that the entire grid can be fully deduced starting from the
1104 initial open space. If you prefer the riskier grids generated by
1105 other implementations, you can switch off this option.
1106
1107
1108 \C{samegame} \i{Same Game}
1109
1110 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.samegame}
1111
1112 You have a grid of coloured squares, which you have to clear by
1113 highlighting contiguous regions of more than one coloured square;
1114 the larger the region you highlight, the more points you get (and
1115 the faster you clear the arena).
1116
1117 If you clear the grid you win. If you end up with nothing but
1118 single squares (i.e., there are no more clickable regions left) you
1119 lose.
1120
1121 Removing a region causes the rest of the grid to shuffle up:
1122 blocks that are suspended will fall down (first), and then empty
1123 columns are filled from the right.
1124
1125 Same Game was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1126
1127 \H{samegame-controls} \i{Same Game controls}
1128
1129 \IM{Same Game controls} controls, for Same Game
1130 \IM{Same Game controls} keys, for Same Game
1131 \IM{Same Game controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Same Game
1132
1133 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1134
1135 If you left-click an unselected region, it becomes selected (possibly
1136 clearing the current selection).
1137
1138 If you left-click the selected region, it will be removed (and the
1139 rest of the grid shuffled immediately).
1140
1141 If you right-click the selected region, it will be unselected.
1142
1143 The cursor keys move a cursor around the grid. Pressing the Space or
1144 Enter keys while the cursor is in an unselected region selects it;
1145 pressing Space or Enter again removes it as above.
1146
1147 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1148
1149 \H{samegame-parameters} \I{parameters, for Same Game}Same Game parameters
1150
1151 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1152 \q{Type} menu.
1153
1154 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1155
1156 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1157
1158 \dt \e{No. of colours}
1159
1160 \dd Number of different colours used to fill the grid; the more colours,
1161 the fewer large regions of colour and thus the more difficult it is to
1162 successfully clear the grid.
1163
1164 \dt \e{Scoring system}
1165
1166 \dd Controls the precise mechanism used for scoring. With the default
1167 system, \q{(n-2)^2}, only regions of three squares or more will score
1168 any points at all. With the alternative \q{(n-1)^2} system, regions of
1169 two squares score a point each, and larger regions score relatively
1170 more points.
1171
1172 \dt \e{Ensure solubility}
1173
1174 \dd If this option is ticked (the default state), generated grids
1175 will be guaranteed to have at least one solution.
1176
1177 \lcont{
1178
1179 If you turn it off, the game generator will not try to guarantee
1180 soluble grids; it will, however, still ensure that there are at
1181 least 2 squares of each colour on the grid at the start (since a
1182 grid with exactly one square of a given colour is \e{definitely}
1183 insoluble). Grids generated with this option disabled may contain
1184 more large areas of contiguous colour, leading to opportunities for
1185 higher scores; they can also take less time to generate.
1186
1187 }
1188
1189
1190 \C{flip} \i{Flip}
1191
1192 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.flip}
1193
1194 You have a grid of squares, some light and some dark. Your aim is to
1195 light all the squares up at the same time. You can choose any square
1196 and flip its state from light to dark or dark to light, but when you
1197 do so, other squares around it change state as well.
1198
1199 Each square contains a small diagram showing which other squares
1200 change when you flip it.
1201
1202 \H{flip-controls} \i{Flip controls}
1203
1204 \IM{Flip controls} controls, for Flip
1205 \IM{Flip controls} keys, for Flip
1206 \IM{Flip controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Flip
1207
1208 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1209
1210 Left-click in a square to flip it and its associated squares, or
1211 use the cursor keys to choose a square and the space bar or Enter
1212 key to flip.
1213
1214 If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, it will mark some of
1215 the squares in red. If you click once in every square with a red
1216 mark, the game should be solved. (If you click in a square
1217 \e{without} a red mark, a red mark will appear in it to indicate
1218 that you will need to reverse that operation to reach the solution.)
1219
1220 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1221
1222 \H{flip-parameters} \I{parameters, for flip}Flip parameters
1223
1224 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1225 \q{Type} menu.
1226
1227 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1228
1229 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1230
1231 \dt \e{Shape type}
1232
1233 \dd This control determines the shape of the region which is flipped
1234 by clicking in any given square. The default setting, \q{Crosses},
1235 causes every square to flip itself and its four immediate neighbours
1236 (or three or two if it's at an edge or corner). The other setting,
1237 \q{Random}, causes a random shape to be chosen for every square, so
1238 the game is different every time.
1239
1240
1241 \C{guess} \i{Guess}
1242
1243 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.guess}
1244
1245 You have a set of coloured pegs, and have to reproduce a
1246 predetermined sequence of them (chosen by the computer) within a
1247 certain number of guesses.
1248
1249 Each guess gets marked with the number of correctly-coloured pegs
1250 in the correct places (in black), and also the number of
1251 correctly-coloured pegs in the wrong places (in white).
1252
1253 This game is also known (and marketed, by Hasbro, mainly) as
1254 a board game \q{\i{Mastermind}}, with 6 colours, 4 pegs per row,
1255 and 10 guesses. However, this version allows custom settings of number
1256 of colours (up to 10), number of pegs per row, and number of guesses.
1257
1258 Guess was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1259
1260 \H{guess-controls} \i{Guess controls}
1261
1262 \IM{Guess controls} controls, for Guess
1263 \IM{Guess controls} keys, for Guess
1264 \IM{Guess controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Guess
1265
1266 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1267
1268 With the mouse, drag a coloured peg from the tray on the left-hand
1269 side to its required position in the current guess; pegs may also be
1270 dragged from current and past guesses to copy them elsewhere. To
1271 remove a peg, drag it off its current position to somewhere invalid.
1272
1273 Right-clicking in the current guess adds a \q{hold} marker; pegs
1274 that have hold markers will be automatically added to the next guess
1275 after marking.
1276
1277 Alternatively, with the keyboard, the up and down cursor keys can be
1278 used to select a peg colour, the left and right keys to select a
1279 peg position, and the space bar or Enter key to place a peg of the
1280 selected colour in the chosen position. \q{D} or Backspace removes a
1281 peg, and \q{H} adds a hold marker.
1282
1283 When the guess is complete, the smaller feedback pegs will be highlighted;
1284 clicking on these (or moving the peg cursor to them with the arrow keys
1285 and pressing the space bar or Enter key) will mark the current guess,
1286 copy any held pegs to the next guess, and move the \q{current guess}
1287 marker.
1288
1289 If you correctly position all the pegs the solution will be displayed
1290 below; if you run out of guesses (or select \q{Solve...}) the solution
1291 will also be revealed.
1292
1293 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1294
1295 \H{guess-parameters} \I{parameters, for Guess}Guess parameters
1296
1297 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1298 \q{Type} menu. The default game matches the parameters for the
1299 board game \q{Mastermind}.
1300
1301 \dt \e{Colours}
1302
1303 \dd Number of colours the solution is chosen from; from 2 to 10
1304 (more is harder).
1305
1306 \dt \e{Pegs per guess}
1307
1308 \dd Number of pegs per guess (more is harder).
1309
1310 \dt \e{Guesses}
1311
1312 \dd Number of guesses you have to find the solution in (fewer is harder).
1313
1314 \dt \e{Allow blanks}
1315
1316 \dd Allows blank pegs to be given as part of a guess (makes it easier, because
1317 you know that those will never be counted as part of the solution). This
1318 is turned off by default.
1319
1320 Note that this doesn't allow blank pegs in the solution; if you really wanted
1321 that, use one extra colour.
1322
1323 \dt \e{Allow duplicates}
1324
1325 \dd Allows the solution (and the guesses) to contain colours more than once;
1326 this increases the search space (making things harder), and is turned on by
1327 default.
1328
1329
1330 \C{pegs} \i{Pegs}
1331
1332 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pegs}
1333
1334 A number of pegs are placed in holes on a board. You can remove a
1335 peg by jumping an adjacent peg over it (horizontally or vertically)
1336 to a vacant hole on the other side. Your aim is to remove all but one
1337 of the pegs initially present.
1338
1339 This game, best known as \I{Solitaire, Peg}\q{Peg Solitaire}, is
1340 possibly one of the oldest puzzle games still commonly known.
1341
1342 \H{pegs-controls} \i{Pegs controls}
1343
1344 \IM{Pegs controls} controls, for Pegs
1345
1346 To move a peg, drag it with the mouse from its current position to
1347 its final position. If the final position is exactly two holes away
1348 from the initial position, is currently unoccupied by a peg, and
1349 there is a peg in the intervening square, the move will be permitted
1350 and the intervening peg will be removed.
1351
1352 Vacant spaces which you can move a peg into are marked with holes. A
1353 space with no peg and no hole is not available for moving at all: it
1354 is an obstacle which you must work around.
1355
1356 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1357
1358 \H{pegs-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pegs}Pegs parameters
1359
1360 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1361 \q{Type} menu.
1362
1363 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1364
1365 \dd Size of grid in holes.
1366
1367 \dt \e{Board type}
1368
1369 \dd Controls whether you are given a board of a standard shape or a
1370 randomly generated shape. The two standard shapes currently
1371 supported are \q{Cross} and \q{Octagon} (also commonly known as the
1372 English and European traditional board layouts respectively).
1373 Selecting \q{Random} will give you a different board shape every
1374 time (but always one that is known to have a solution).
1375
1376
1377 \C{dominosa} \i{Dominosa}
1378
1379 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.dominosa}
1380
1381 A normal set of dominoes \dash that is, one instance of every
1382 (unordered) pair of numbers from 0 to 6 \dash has been arranged
1383 irregularly into a rectangle; then the number in each square has
1384 been written down and the dominoes themselves removed. Your task is
1385 to reconstruct the pattern by arranging the set of dominoes to match
1386 the provided array of numbers.
1387
1388 This puzzle is widely credited to O. S. Adler, and takes part of its
1389 name from those initials.
1390
1391 \H{dominosa-controls} \i{Dominosa controls}
1392
1393 \IM{Dominosa controls} controls, for Dominosa
1394
1395 Left-clicking between any two adjacent numbers places a domino
1396 covering them, or removes one if it is already present. Trying to
1397 place a domino which overlaps existing dominoes will remove the ones
1398 it overlaps.
1399
1400 Right-clicking between two adjacent numbers draws a line between
1401 them, which you can use to remind yourself that you know those two
1402 numbers are \e{not} covered by a single domino. Right-clicking again
1403 removes the line.
1404
1405 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1406
1407 \H{dominosa-parameters} \I{parameters, for Dominosa}Dominosa parameters
1408
1409 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1410 \q{Type} menu.
1411
1412 \dt \e{Maximum number on dominoes}
1413
1414 \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by controlling the size of the
1415 set of dominoes used to make it. Dominoes with numbers going up to N
1416 will give rise to an (N+2) \by (N+1) rectangle; so, in particular,
1417 the default value of 6 gives an 8\by\.7 grid.
1418
1419 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
1420
1421 \dd Normally, Dominosa will make sure that the puzzles it presents
1422 have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
1423 difficult and sometimes more subtle, so if you like you can turn off
1424 this feature. Also, finding \e{all} the possible solutions can be an
1425 additional challenge for an advanced player. Turning off this option
1426 can also speed up puzzle generation.
1427
1428
1429 \C{untangle} \i{Untangle}
1430
1431 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.untangle}
1432
1433 You are given a number of points, some of which have lines drawn
1434 between them. You can move the points about arbitrarily; your aim is
1435 to position the points so that no line crosses another.
1436
1437 I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{Planarity}
1438 \k{Planarity}, written by John Tantalo.
1439
1440 \B{Planarity} \W{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity}\cw{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity}
1441
1442 \H{untangle-controls} \i{Untangle controls}
1443
1444 \IM{Untangle controls} controls, for Untangle
1445
1446 To move a point, click on it with the left mouse button and drag it
1447 into a new position.
1448
1449 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1450
1451 \H{untangle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Untangle}Untangle parameters
1452
1453 There is only one parameter available from the \q{Custom...} option
1454 on the \q{Type} menu:
1455
1456 \dt \e{Number of points}
1457
1458 \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by specifying the number of
1459 points in the generated graph.
1460
1461
1462 \C{blackbox} \i{Black Box}
1463
1464 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.blackbox}
1465
1466 A number of balls are hidden in a rectangular arena. You have to
1467 deduce the positions of the balls by firing lasers from positions
1468 on the edge of the arena and observing how they are deflected.
1469
1470 Lasers will fire straight until they hit the opposite side of the
1471 arena (at which point they emerge), unless affected by balls in one of
1472 the following ways:
1473
1474 \b A laser that hits a ball head-on is absorbed and will never re-emerge.
1475 This includes lasers that meet a ball on the first rank of the arena.
1476
1477 \b A laser with a ball to its front-left square gets deflected 90 degrees
1478 to the right.
1479
1480 \b A laser with a ball to its front-right square gets similarly deflected
1481 to the left.
1482
1483 \b A laser that would re-emerge from the entry location is considered to be
1484 \q{reflected}.
1485
1486 \b A laser which would get deflected before entering the arena (down the
1487 \q{firing range}) by a ball to the front-left or front-right of its
1488 entry point is also considered to be \q{reflected}.
1489
1490 Lasers that are reflected appear as a \q{R}; lasers that hit balls
1491 dead-on appear as \q{H}. Otherwise, a number appears at the firing point
1492 and the location where the laser emerges (this number is unique to
1493 that shot).
1494
1495 You can place guesses as to the location of the balls, based on the
1496 entry and exit patterns of the lasers; once you have placed enough
1497 balls a button appears enabling you to have your guesses checked.
1498
1499 Here is a diagram showing how the positions of balls can create each
1500 of the laser behaviours shown above:
1501
1502 \c 1RHR----
1503 \c |..O.O...|
1504 \c 2........3
1505 \c |........|
1506 \c |........|
1507 \c 3........|
1508 \c |......O.|
1509 \c H........|
1510 \c |.....O..|
1511 \c 12-RH---
1512
1513 As shown, it is possible for a ball to receive multiple reflections
1514 before re-emerging (see turn 3). Similarly, a ball may be reflected
1515 (possibly more than once) before receiving a hit (the \q{H} on the
1516 left side of the example).
1517
1518 Note that any layout with more that 4 balls may have a non-unique
1519 solution. The following diagram illustrates this; if you know the
1520 board contains 5 balls, it is impossible to determine where the fifth
1521 ball is (possible positions marked with an x):
1522
1523 \c --------
1524 \c |........|
1525 \c |........|
1526 \c |..O..O..|
1527 \c |...xx...|
1528 \c |...xx...|
1529 \c |..O..O..|
1530 \c |........|
1531 \c |........|
1532 \c --------
1533
1534 For this reason when you have your guesses checked the game will
1535 check that your solution \e{produces the same results} as the
1536 computer's, rather than that your solution is identical to the
1537 computer's. So in the above example, you could put the fifth ball at
1538 \e{any} of the locations marked with an x, and you would still win.
1539
1540 Black Box was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1541
1542 \H{blackbox-controls} \i{Black Box controls}
1543
1544 \IM{Black Box controls}controls, for Black Box
1545
1546 To fire a laser, left-click in a square around the side of the arena.
1547 The results will be displayed immediately. Lasers may not be fired
1548 twice (because the results will never change). Holding down the left
1549 button will highlight the current go (or a previous go) to confirm the
1550 exit point for that laser, if applicable.
1551
1552 To guess the location of a ball, left-click within the arena and a
1553 black circle will appear marking the guess; to remove the guessed ball
1554 click again.
1555
1556 Locations in the arena may be locked against modification by
1557 right-clicking; whole rows and columns may be similarly locked by
1558 right-clicking in the laser firing range above/below that column, or
1559 to the left/right of that row.
1560
1561 When an appropriate number of balls have been guessed a button will
1562 appear at the top-left corner of the grid; clicking that will mark
1563 your guesses.
1564
1565 If you click the \q{mark} button and your guesses are not correct,
1566 the game will show you as little information as possible to
1567 demonstrate this to you, so you can try again. If your ball
1568 positions are not consistent with the laser paths you already know
1569 about, one laser path will be circled to indicate that it proves you
1570 wrong. If your positions match all the existing laser paths but are
1571 still wrong, one new laser path will be revealed (written in red)
1572 which is not consistent with your current guesses.
1573
1574 If you decide to give up completely, you can select Solve to reveal
1575 the actual ball positions. At this point, correctly-placed balls
1576 will be displayed as filled black circles; incorrectly-placed balls
1577 are displayed as filled black circles with red crosses, and missing
1578 balls are filled red circles. In addition, a red circle marks any
1579 laser you had already fired which is not consistent with your ball
1580 layout (just as when you press the mark button), and red text marks
1581 any laser you \e{could} have fired in order to distinguish your ball
1582 layout from the right one.
1583
1584 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1585
1586 \H{blackbox-parameters} \I{parameters, for Black Box}Black Box parameters
1587
1588 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1589 \q{Type} menu.
1590
1591 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1592
1593 \dd Size of grid in squares. There are 2 \by \e{Width} \by \e{Height} lasers
1594 per grid, two per row and two per column.
1595
1596 \dt \e{No. of balls}
1597
1598 \dd Number of balls to place in the grid. This can be a single number,
1599 or a range (separated with a hyphen, like \q{2-6}), and determines the
1600 number of balls to place on the grid. The \q{reveal} button is only
1601 enabled if you have guessed an appropriate number of balls; a guess
1602 using a different number to the original solution is still acceptable,
1603 if all the laser inputs and outputs match.
1604
1605
1606 \C{slant} \i{Slant}
1607
1608 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.slant}
1609
1610 You have a grid of squares. Your aim is to draw a diagonal line
1611 through each square, and choose which way each line slants so that
1612 the following conditions are met:
1613
1614 \b The diagonal lines never form a loop.
1615
1616 \b Any point with a circled number has precisely that many lines
1617 meeting at it. (Thus, a 4 is the centre of a cross shape, whereas a
1618 zero is the centre of a diamond shape \dash or rather, a partial
1619 diamond shape, because a zero can never appear in the middle of the
1620 grid because that would immediately cause a loop.)
1621
1622 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-slant}.
1623
1624 \B{nikoli-slant}
1625 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm}
1626 (in Japanese)
1627
1628 \H{slant-controls} \i{Slant controls}
1629
1630 \IM{Slant controls} controls, for Slant
1631
1632 Left-clicking in a blank square will place a \cw{\\} in it (a line
1633 leaning to the left, i.e. running from the top left of the square to
1634 the bottom right). Right-clicking in a blank square will place a
1635 \cw{/} in it (leaning to the right, running from top right to bottom
1636 left).
1637
1638 Continuing to click either button will cycle between the three
1639 possible square contents. Thus, if you left-click repeatedly in a
1640 blank square it will change from blank to \cw{\\} to \cw{/} back to
1641 blank, and if you right-click repeatedly the square will change from
1642 blank to \cw{/} to \cw{\\} back to blank. (Therefore, you can play
1643 the game entirely with one button if you need to.)
1644
1645 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
1646 return or space keys will place a \cw{\\} or a \cw{/}, respectively,
1647 and will then cycle them as above.
1648
1649 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1650
1651 \H{slant-parameters} \I{parameters, for Slant}Slant parameters
1652
1653 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1654 \q{Type} menu.
1655
1656 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1657
1658 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1659
1660 \dt \e{Difficulty}
1661
1662 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Hard level,
1663 you are required to do deductions based on knowledge of
1664 \e{relationships} between squares rather than always being able to
1665 deduce the exact contents of one square at a time. (For example, you
1666 might know that two squares slant in the same direction, even if you
1667 don't yet know what that direction is, and this might enable you to
1668 deduce something about still other squares.) Even at Hard level,
1669 guesswork and backtracking should never be necessary.
1670
1671
1672 \C{lightup} \i{Light Up}
1673
1674 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.lightup}
1675
1676 You have a grid of squares. Some are filled in black; some of the
1677 black squares are numbered. Your aim is to \q{light up} all the
1678 empty squares by placing light bulbs in some of them.
1679
1680 Each light bulb illuminates the square it is on, plus all squares in
1681 line with it horizontally or vertically unless a black square is
1682 blocking the way.
1683
1684 To win the game, you must satisfy the following conditions:
1685
1686 \b All non-black squares are lit.
1687
1688 \b No light is lit by another light.
1689
1690 \b All numbered black squares have exactly that number of lights adjacent to
1691 them (in the four squares above, below, and to the side).
1692
1693 Non-numbered black squares may have any number of lights adjacent to them.
1694
1695 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-lightup}.
1696
1697 Light Up was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1698
1699 \B{nikoli-lightup}
1700 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm}
1701 (beware of Flash)
1702
1703 \H{lightup-controls} \i{Light Up controls}
1704
1705 \IM{Light Up controls} controls, for Light Up
1706
1707 Left-clicking in a non-black square will toggle the presence of a light
1708 in that square. Right-clicking in a non-black square toggles a mark there to aid
1709 solving; it can be used to highlight squares that cannot be lit, for example.
1710
1711 You may not place a light in a marked square, nor place a mark in a lit square.
1712
1713 The game will highlight obvious errors in red. Lights lit by other
1714 lights are highlighted in this way, as are numbered squares which
1715 do not (or cannot) have the right number of lights next to them.
1716
1717 Thus, the grid is solved when all non-black squares have yellow
1718 highlights and there are no red lights.
1719
1720 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1721
1722 \H{lightup-parameters} \I{parameters, for Light Up}Light Up parameters
1723
1724 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1725 \q{Type} menu.
1726
1727 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1728
1729 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1730
1731 \dt \e{%age of black squares}
1732
1733 \dd Rough percentage of black squares in the grid.
1734
1735 \lcont{
1736
1737 This is a hint rather than an instruction. If the grid generator is
1738 unable to generate a puzzle to this precise specification, it will
1739 increase the proportion of black squares until it can.
1740
1741 }
1742
1743 \dt \e{Symmetry}
1744
1745 \dd Allows you to specify the required symmetry of the black squares
1746 in the grid. (This does not affect the difficulty of the puzzles
1747 noticeably.)
1748
1749 \dt \e{Difficulty}
1750
1751 \dd \q{Easy} means that the puzzles should be soluble without
1752 backtracking or guessing, \q{Hard} means that some guesses will
1753 probably be necessary.
1754
1755
1756 \C{map} \i{Map}
1757
1758 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.map}
1759
1760 You are given a map consisting of a number of regions. Your task is
1761 to colour each region with one of four colours, in such a way that
1762 no two regions sharing a boundary have the same colour. You are
1763 provided with some regions already coloured, sufficient to make the
1764 remainder of the solution unique.
1765
1766 Only regions which share a length of border are required to be
1767 different colours. Two regions which meet at only one \e{point}
1768 (i.e. are diagonally separated) may be the same colour.
1769
1770 I believe this puzzle is original; I've never seen an implementation
1771 of it anywhere else. The concept of a \i{four-colouring} puzzle was
1772 suggested by Owen Dunn; credit must also go to Nikoli and to Verity
1773 Allan for inspiring the train of thought that led to me realising
1774 Owen's suggestion was a viable puzzle. Thanks also to Gareth Taylor
1775 for many detailed suggestions.
1776
1777 \H{map-controls} \i{Map controls}
1778
1779 \IM{Map controls} controls, for Map
1780
1781 To colour a region, click the left mouse button on an existing
1782 region of the desired colour and drag that colour into the new
1783 region.
1784
1785 (The program will always ensure the starting puzzle has at least one
1786 region of each colour, so that this is always possible!)
1787
1788 If you need to clear a region, you can drag from an empty region, or
1789 from the puzzle boundary if there are no empty regions left.
1790
1791 Dragging a colour using the \e{right} mouse button will stipple the
1792 region in that colour, which you can use as a note to yourself that
1793 you think the region \e{might} be that colour. A region can contain
1794 stipples in multiple colours at once. (This is often useful at the
1795 harder difficulty levels.)
1796
1797 If you press L during play, the game will toggle display of a number
1798 in each region of the map. This is useful if you want to discuss a
1799 particular puzzle instance with a friend \dash having an unambiguous
1800 name for each region is much easier than trying to refer to them all
1801 by names such as \q{the one down and right of the brown one on the
1802 top border}.
1803
1804 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1805
1806 \H{map-parameters} \I{parameters, for Map}Map parameters
1807
1808 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1809 \q{Type} menu.
1810
1811 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1812
1813 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1814
1815 \dt \e{Regions}
1816
1817 \dd Number of regions in the generated map.
1818
1819 \dt \e{Difficulty}
1820
1821 \dd In \q{Easy} mode, there should always be at least one region
1822 whose colour can be determined trivially. In \q{Normal} and \q{Hard}
1823 modes, you will have to use increasingly complex logic to deduce the
1824 colour of some regions. However, it will always be possible without
1825 having to guess or backtrack.
1826
1827 \lcont{
1828
1829 In \q{Unreasonable} mode, the program will feel free to generate
1830 puzzles which are as hard as it can possibly make them: the only
1831 constraint is that they should still have a unique solution. Solving
1832 Unreasonable puzzles may require guessing and backtracking.
1833
1834 }
1835
1836
1837 \C{loopy} \i{Loopy}
1838
1839 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.loopy}
1840
1841 You are given a grid of dots, marked with yellow lines to indicate
1842 which dots you are allowed to connect directly together. Your aim is
1843 to use some subset of those yellow lines to draw a single unbroken
1844 loop from dot to dot within the grid.
1845
1846 Some of the spaces between the lines contain numbers. These numbers
1847 indicate how many of the lines around that space form part of the
1848 loop. The loop you draw must correctly satisfy all of these clues to
1849 be considered a correct solution.
1850
1851 In the default mode, the dots are arranged in a grid of squares;
1852 however, you can also play on triangular or hexagonal grids, or even
1853 more exotic ones.
1854
1855 Credit for the basic puzzle idea goes to \i{Nikoli}
1856 \k{nikoli-loopy}.
1857
1858 Loopy was originally contributed to this collection by Mike Pinna,
1859 and subsequently enhanced to handle various types of non-square grid
1860 by Lambros Lambrou.
1861
1862 \B{nikoli-loopy}
1863 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm}
1864 (beware of Flash)
1865
1866 \H{loopy-controls} \i{Loopy controls}
1867
1868 \IM{Loopy controls} controls, for Loopy
1869
1870 Click the left mouse button on a yellow line to turn it black,
1871 indicating that you think it is part of the loop. Click again to
1872 turn the line yellow again (meaning you aren't sure yet).
1873
1874 If you are sure that a particular line segment is \e{not} part of
1875 the loop, you can click the right mouse button to remove it
1876 completely. Again, clicking a second time will turn the line back to
1877 yellow.
1878
1879 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1880
1881 \H{loopy-parameters} \I{parameters, for Loopy}Loopy parameters
1882
1883 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1884 \q{Type} menu.
1885
1886 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1887
1888 \dd Size of grid, measured in number of regions across and down. For
1889 square grids, it's clear how this is counted; for other types of
1890 grid you may have to think a bit to see how the dimensions are
1891 measured.
1892
1893 \dt \e{Grid type}
1894
1895 \dd Allows you to choose between a selection of types of tiling.
1896 Some have all the faces the same but may have multiple different
1897 types of vertex (e.g. the \e{Cairo} or \e{Kites} mode); others have
1898 all the vertices the same but may have differnt types of face (e.g.
1899 the \e{Great Hexagonal}). The square, triangular and honeycomb grids
1900 are fully regular, and have all their vertices \e{and} faces the
1901 same; this makes them the least confusing to play.
1902
1903 \dt \e{Difficulty}
1904
1905 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle.
1906 \#{FIXME: what distinguishes Easy, Medium, and Hard? In particular,
1907 when are backtracking/guesswork required, if ever?}
1908
1909
1910 \C{inertia} \i{Inertia}
1911
1912 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.inertia}
1913
1914 You are a small green ball sitting in a grid full of obstacles. Your
1915 aim is to collect all the gems without running into any mines.
1916
1917 You can move the ball in any orthogonal \e{or diagonal} direction.
1918 Once the ball starts moving, it will continue until something stops
1919 it. A wall directly in its path will stop it (but if it is moving
1920 diagonally, it will move through a diagonal gap between two other
1921 walls without stopping). Also, some of the squares are \q{stops};
1922 when the ball moves on to a stop, it will stop moving no matter what
1923 direction it was going in. Gems do \e{not} stop the ball; it picks
1924 them up and keeps on going.
1925
1926 Running into a mine is fatal. Even if you picked up the last gem in
1927 the same move which then hit a mine, the game will count you as dead
1928 rather than victorious.
1929
1930 This game was originally implemented for Windows by Ben Olmstead
1931 \k{bem}, who was kind enough to release his source code on request
1932 so that it could be re-implemented for this collection.
1933
1934 \B{bem} \W{http://xn13.com/}\cw{http://xn13.com/}
1935
1936 \H{inertia-controls} \i{Inertia controls}
1937
1938 \IM{Inertia controls} controls, for Inertia
1939 \IM{Inertia controls} keys, for Inertia
1940 \IM{Inertia controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Inertia
1941
1942 You can move the ball in any of the eight directions using the
1943 numeric keypad. Alternatively, if you click the left mouse button on
1944 the grid, the ball will begin a move in the general direction of
1945 where you clicked.
1946
1947 If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, the program will
1948 compute a path through the grid which collects all the remaining
1949 gems and returns to the current position. A hint arrow will appear
1950 on the ball indicating the direction in which you should move to
1951 begin on this path. If you then move in that direction, the arrow
1952 will update to indicate the next direction on the path. You can also
1953 press Space to automatically move in the direction of the hint
1954 arrow. If you move in a different direction from the one shown by
1955 the arrow, the hint arrows will stop appearing because you have
1956 strayed from the provided path; you can then use \q{Solve} again to
1957 generate a new path if you want to.
1958
1959 All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.
1960 In particular, if you do run into a mine and die, you can use the
1961 Undo function and resume playing from before the fatal move. The
1962 game will keep track of the number of times you have done this.
1963
1964 \H{inertia-parameters} \I{parameters, for Inertia}Inertia parameters
1965
1966 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1967 \q{Type} menu.
1968
1969 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1970
1971 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1972
1973
1974 \C{tents} \i{Tents}
1975
1976 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.tents}
1977
1978 You have a grid of squares, some of which contain trees. Your aim is
1979 to place tents in some of the remaining squares, in such a way that
1980 the following conditions are met:
1981
1982 \b There are exactly as many tents as trees.
1983
1984 \b The tents and trees can be matched up in such a way that each
1985 tent is directly adjacent (horizontally or vertically, but not
1986 diagonally) to its own tree. However, a tent may be adjacent to
1987 other trees as well as its own.
1988
1989 \b No two tents are adjacent horizontally, vertically \e{or
1990 diagonally}.
1991
1992 \b The number of tents in each row, and in each column, matches the
1993 numbers given round the sides of the grid.
1994
1995 This puzzle can be found in several places on the Internet, and was
1996 brought to my attention by e-mail. I don't know who I should credit
1997 for inventing it.
1998
1999 \H{tents-controls} \i{Tents controls}
2000
2001 \IM{Tents controls} controls, for Tents
2002
2003 Left-clicking in a blank square will place a tent in it.
2004 Right-clicking in a blank square will colour it green, indicating
2005 that you are sure it \e{isn't} a tent. Clicking either button in an
2006 occupied square will clear it.
2007
2008 If you \e{drag} with the right button along a row or column, every
2009 blank square in the region you cover will be turned green, and no
2010 other squares will be affected. (This is useful for clearing the
2011 remainder of a row once you have placed all its tents.)
2012
2013 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
2014 return key over an empty square will place a tent, and pressing the
2015 space bar over an empty square will colour it green; either key will
2016 clear an occupied square.
2017
2018 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2019
2020 \H{tents-parameters} \I{parameters, for Tents}Tents parameters
2021
2022 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2023 \q{Type} menu.
2024
2025 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2026
2027 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2028
2029 \dt \e{Difficulty}
2030
2031 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult
2032 puzzles require more complex deductions, but at present none of the
2033 available difficulty levels requires guesswork or backtracking.
2034
2035
2036 \C{bridges} \i{Bridges}
2037
2038 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.bridges}
2039
2040 You have a set of islands distributed across the playing area. Each
2041 island contains a number. Your aim is to connect the islands
2042 together with bridges, in such a way that:
2043
2044 \b Bridges run horizontally or vertically.
2045
2046 \b The number of bridges terminating at any island is equal to the
2047 number written in that island.
2048
2049 \b Two bridges may run in parallel between the same two islands, but
2050 no more than two may do so.
2051
2052 \b No bridge crosses another bridge.
2053
2054 \b All the islands are connected together.
2055
2056 There are some configurable alternative modes, which involve
2057 changing the parallel-bridge limit to something other than 2, and
2058 introducing the additional constraint that no sequence of bridges
2059 may form a loop from one island back to the same island. The rules
2060 stated above are the default ones.
2061
2062 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-bridges}.
2063
2064 Bridges was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2065
2066 \B{nikoli-bridges}
2067 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/14/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/14/index-e.htm}
2068
2069 \H{bridges-controls} \i{Bridges controls}
2070
2071 \IM{Bridges controls} controls, for Bridges
2072
2073 To place a bridge between two islands, click the mouse down on one
2074 island and drag it towards the other. You do not need to drag all
2075 the way to the other island; you only need to move the mouse far
2076 enough for the intended bridge direction to be unambiguous. (So you
2077 can keep the mouse near the starting island and conveniently throw
2078 bridges out from it in many directions.)
2079
2080 Doing this again when a bridge is already present will add another
2081 parallel bridge. If there are already as many bridges between the
2082 two islands as permitted by the current game rules (i.e. two by
2083 default), the same dragging action will remove all of them.
2084
2085 If you want to remind yourself that two islands definitely \e{do
2086 not} have a bridge between them, you can right-drag between them in
2087 the same way to draw a \q{non-bridge} marker.
2088
2089 If you think you have finished with an island (i.e. you have placed
2090 all its bridges and are confident that they are in the right
2091 places), you can mark the island as finished by left-clicking on it.
2092 This will highlight it and all the bridges connected to it, and you
2093 will be prevented from accidentally modifying any of those bridges
2094 in future. Left-clicking again on a highlighted island will unmark
2095 it and restore your ability to modify it.
2096
2097 Violations of the puzzle rules will be marked in red:
2098
2099 \b An island with too many bridges will be highlighted in red.
2100
2101 \b An island with too few bridges will be highlighted in red if it
2102 is definitely an error (as opposed to merely not being finished
2103 yet): if adding enough bridges would involve having to cross another
2104 bridge or remove a non-bridge marker, or if the island has been
2105 highlighted as complete.
2106
2107 \b A group of islands and bridges may be highlighted in red if it is
2108 a closed subset of the puzzle with no way to connect it to the rest
2109 of the islands. For example, if you directly connect two 1s together
2110 with a bridge and they are not the only two islands on the grid,
2111 they will light up red to indicate that such a group cannot be
2112 contained in any valid solution.
2113
2114 \b If you have selected the (non-default) option to disallow loops
2115 in the solution, a group of bridges which forms a loop will be
2116 highlighted.
2117
2118 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2119
2120 \H{bridges-parameters} \I{parameters, for Bridges}Bridges parameters
2121
2122 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2123 \q{Type} menu.
2124
2125 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2126
2127 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2128
2129 \dt \e{Difficulty}
2130
2131 \dd Difficulty level of puzzle.
2132
2133 \dt \e{Allow loops}
2134
2135 \dd This is set by default. If cleared, puzzles will be generated in
2136 such a way that they are always soluble without creating a loop, and
2137 solutions which do involve a loop will be disallowed.
2138
2139 \dt \e{Max. bridges per direction}
2140
2141 \dd Maximum number of bridges in any particular direction. The
2142 default is 2, but you can change it to 1, 3 or 4. In general, fewer
2143 is easier.
2144
2145 \dt \e{%age of island squares}
2146
2147 \dd Gives a rough percentage of islands the generator will try and
2148 lay before finishing the puzzle. Certain layouts will not manage to
2149 lay enough islands; this is an upper bound.
2150
2151 \dt \e{Expansion factor (%age)}
2152
2153 \dd The grid generator works by picking an existing island at random
2154 (after first creating an initial island somewhere). It then decides
2155 on a direction (at random), and then works out how far it could
2156 extend before creating another island. This parameter determines how
2157 likely it is to extend as far as it can, rather than choosing
2158 somewhere closer.
2159
2160 High expansion factors usually mean easier puzzles with fewer
2161 possible islands; low expansion factors can create lots of
2162 tightly-packed islands.
2163
2164
2165 \C{unequal} \i{Unequal}
2166
2167 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.unequal}
2168
2169 You have a square grid; each square may contain a digit from 1 to
2170 the size of the grid, and some squares have greater-than signs between
2171 them. Your aim is to fully populate the grid with numbers such that:
2172
2173 \b Each row contains only one occurrence of each digit
2174
2175 \b Each column contains only one occurrence of each digit
2176
2177 \b All the greater-than signs are satisfied.
2178
2179 In \q{Trivial} mode (available via the \q{Custom} game type
2180 selector), there are no greater-than signs; the puzzle is to solve
2181 the \i{Latin square} only.
2182
2183 At the time of writing, this puzzle is appearing in the Guardian
2184 weekly under the name \q{\i{Futoshiki}}.
2185
2186 Unequal was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2187
2188 \H{unequal-controls} \i{Unequal controls}
2189
2190 \IM{Unequal controls} controls, for Unequal
2191
2192 Unequal shares much of its control system with Solo.
2193
2194 To play Unequal, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2195 type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you
2196 make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press
2197 Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
2198
2199 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
2200 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
2201 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square.
2202
2203 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
2204 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
2205 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
2206 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
2207 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
2208
2209 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
2210 the same number again.
2211
2212 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
2213 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
2214 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
2215
2216 As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the digit
2217 keys to set numbers or pencil marks. You can also use the 'M' key to
2218 auto-fill every numeric hint, ready for removal as required.
2219
2220 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2221
2222 \H{unequal-parameters} \I{parameters, for Unequal}Unequal parameters
2223
2224 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2225 \q{Type} menu.
2226
2227 \dt \e{Size (s*s)}
2228
2229 \dd Size of grid.
2230
2231 \dt \e{Difficulty}
2232
2233 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Trivial
2234 level, there are no greater-than signs; the puzzle is to solve the
2235 Latin square only. At Recursive level (only available via the
2236 \q{Custom} game type selector) backtracking will be required, but
2237 the solution should still be unique. The levels in between require
2238 increasingly complex reasoning to avoid having to backtrack.
2239
2240
2241
2242 \C{galaxies} \i{Galaxies}
2243
2244 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.galaxies}
2245
2246 You have a rectangular grid containing a number of dots. Your aim is
2247 to draw edges along the grid lines which divide the rectangle into
2248 regions in such a way that every region is 180\u00b0{-degree}
2249 rotationally symmetric, and contains exactly one dot which is
2250 located at its centre of symmetry.
2251
2252 This puzzle was invented by \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-galaxies}, under
2253 the name \q{Tentai Show}; its name is commonly translated into
2254 English as \q{Spiral Galaxies}.
2255
2256 Galaxies was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2257
2258 \B{nikoli-galaxies} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/astronomical_show/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/astronomical_show/}
2259
2260 \H{galaxies-controls} \i{Galaxies controls}
2261
2262 \IM{Galaxies controls} controls, for Galaxies
2263
2264 Left-click on any grid line to draw an edge if there isn't one
2265 already, or to remove one if there is. When you create a valid
2266 region (one which is closed, contains exactly one dot, is
2267 180\u00b0{-degree} symmetric about that dot, and contains no
2268 extraneous edges inside it) it will be highlighted automatically; so
2269 your aim is to have the whole grid highlighted in that way.
2270
2271 During solving, you might know that a particular grid square belongs
2272 to a specific dot, but not be sure of where the edges go and which
2273 other squares are connected to the dot. In order to mark this so you
2274 don't forget, you can right-click on the dot and drag, which will
2275 create an arrow marker pointing at the dot. Drop that in a square of
2276 your choice and it will remind you which dot it's associated with.
2277 You can also right-click on existing arrows to pick them up and move
2278 them, or destroy them by dropping them off the edge of the grid.
2279 (Also, if you're not sure which dot an arrow is pointing at, you can
2280 pick it up and move it around to make it clearer. It will swivel
2281 constantly as you drag it, to stay pointed at its parent dot.)
2282
2283 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares and
2284 lines. Pressing the return key when over a grid line will draw or
2285 clear its edge, as above. Pressing the return key when over a dot will
2286 pick up an arrow, to be dropped the nest time the return key is
2287 pressed; this can also be used to move existing arrows around, removing
2288 them by dropping them on a dot or another arrow.
2289
2290 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2291
2292 \H{galaxies-parameters} \I{parameters, for Galaxies}Galaxies parameters
2293
2294 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2295 \q{Type} menu.
2296
2297 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2298
2299 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2300
2301 \dt \e{Difficulty}
2302
2303 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult
2304 puzzles require more complex deductions, and the \q{Unreasonable}
2305 difficulty level may require backtracking.
2306
2307
2308
2309 \C{filling} \i{Filling}
2310
2311 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.filling}
2312
2313 You have a grid of squares, some of which contain digits, and the
2314 rest of which are empty. Your job is to fill in digits in the empty
2315 squares, in such a way that each connected region of squares all
2316 containing the same digit has an area equal to that digit.
2317
2318 (\q{Connected region}, for the purposes of this game, does not count
2319 diagonally separated squares as adjacent.)
2320
2321 For example, it follows that no square can contain a zero, and that
2322 two adjacent squares can not both contain a one. No region has an
2323 area greater than 9 (because then its area would not be a single
2324 digit).
2325
2326 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-fillomino}.
2327
2328 Filling was contributed to this collection by Jonas K\u00F6{oe}lker.
2329
2330 \B{nikoli-fillomino}
2331 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/fillomino/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/fillomino/}
2332
2333 \H{filling-controls} \I{controls, for Filling}Filling controls
2334
2335 To play Filling, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2336 type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square. By dragging the
2337 mouse, you can select multiple squares to fill with a single keypress.
2338 If you make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and
2339 press 0, Space, Backspace or Enter to clear it again (or use the Undo
2340 feature).
2341
2342 You can also move around the grid with the cursor keys; typing a digit will
2343 fill the square containing the cursor with that number, or typing 0, Space,
2344 or Enter will clear it. You can also select multiple squares for numbering
2345 or clearing by using the return key, before typing a digit to fill in the
2346 highlighted squares (as above).
2347
2348 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2349
2350 \H{filling-parameters} \I{parameters, for Filling}Filling parameters
2351
2352 Filling allows you to configure the number of rows and columns of the
2353 grid, through the \q{Type} menu.
2354
2355
2356
2357 \A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence}
2358
2359 This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2008 Simon Tatham.
2360
2361 Portions copyright Richard Boulton, James Harvey, Mike Pinna, Jonas
2362 K\u00F6{oe}lker, Dariusz Olszewski, Michael Schierl and Lambros
2363 Lambrou.
2364
2365 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
2366 obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
2367 (the \q{Software}), to deal in the Software without restriction,
2368 including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
2369 publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,
2370 and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
2371 subject to the following conditions:
2372
2373 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
2374 included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
2375
2376 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED \q{AS IS}, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
2377 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
2378 MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
2379 NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
2380 BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
2381 ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
2382 CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
2383 SOFTWARE.
2384
2385 \IM{command-line}{command line} command line
2386
2387 \IM{default parameters, specifying} default parameters, specifying
2388 \IM{default parameters, specifying} preferences, specifying default
2389
2390 \IM{Unix} Unix
2391 \IM{Unix} Linux
2392
2393 \IM{generating game IDs} generating game IDs
2394 \IM{generating game IDs} game ID, generating
2395
2396 \IM{specific} \q{Specific}, menu option
2397 \IM{custom} \q{Custom}, menu option
2398
2399 \IM{game ID} game ID
2400 \IM{game ID} ID, game
2401 \IM{ID format} ID format
2402 \IM{ID format} format, ID
2403 \IM{ID format} game ID, format
2404
2405 \IM{keys} keys
2406 \IM{keys} shortcuts (keyboard)
2407
2408 \IM{initial state} initial state
2409 \IM{initial state} state, initial
2410
2411 \IM{MIT licence} MIT licence
2412 \IM{MIT licence} licence, MIT