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| 1 | Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection | ||
| 2 | ========================================= | ||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | This is a collection of small one-player puzzle games. | ||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | This manual is copyright 2004-2014 Simon Tatham. All rights reserved. You | ||
| 7 | may distribute this documentation under the MIT licence. See appendix A for | ||
| 8 | the licence text in full. | ||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | Chapter 1: Introduction | ||
| 11 | ----------------------- | ||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | I wrote this collection because I thought there should be more small | ||
| 14 | desktop toys available: little games you can pop up in a window and | ||
| 15 | play for two or three minutes while you take a break from whatever | ||
| 16 | else you were doing. And I was also annoyed that every time I found | ||
| 17 | a good game on (say) Unix, it wasn't available the next time I was | ||
| 18 | sitting at a Windows machine, or vice versa; so I arranged that | ||
| 19 | everything in my personal puzzle collection will happily run on | ||
| 20 | both, and have more recently done a port to Mac OS X as well. When I | ||
| 21 | find (or perhaps invent) further puzzle games that I like, they'll | ||
| 22 | be added to this collection and will immediately be available on | ||
| 23 | both platforms. And if anyone feels like writing any other front | ||
| 24 | ends - PocketPC, Mac OS pre-10, or whatever it might be - then all | ||
| 25 | the games in this framework will immediately become available on | ||
| 26 | another platform as well. | ||
| 27 | |||
| 28 | The actual games in this collection were mostly not my invention; | ||
| 29 | they are re-implementations of existing game concepts within my | ||
| 30 | portable puzzle framework. I do not claim credit, in general, for | ||
| 31 | inventing the rules of any of these puzzles. (I don't even claim | ||
| 32 | authorship of all the code; some of the puzzles have been submitted | ||
| 33 | by other authors.) | ||
| 34 | |||
| 35 | This collection is distributed under the MIT licence (see appendix | ||
| 36 | A). This means that you can do pretty much anything you like with | ||
| 37 | the game binaries or the code, except pretending you wrote them | ||
| 38 | yourself, or suing me if anything goes wrong. | ||
| 39 | |||
| 40 | The most recent versions, and source code, can be found at | ||
| 41 | http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/. | ||
| 42 | |||
| 43 | Please report bugs to anakin@pobox.com. You might find it helpful to | ||
| 44 | read this article before reporting a bug: | ||
| 45 | |||
| 46 | http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html | ||
| 47 | |||
| 48 | Patches are welcome. Especially if they provide a new front end (to | ||
| 49 | make all these games run on another platform), or a new game. | ||
| 50 | |||
| 51 | Chapter 2: Common features | ||
| 52 | -------------------------- | ||
| 53 | |||
| 54 | This chapter describes features that are common to all the games. | ||
| 55 | |||
| 56 | 2.1 Common actions | ||
| 57 | |||
| 58 | These actions are all available from the `Game' menu and via | ||
| 59 | keyboard shortcuts, in addition to any game-specific actions. | ||
| 60 | |||
| 61 | (On Mac OS X, to conform with local user interface standards, these | ||
| 62 | actions are situated on the `File' and `Edit' menus instead.) | ||
| 63 | |||
| 64 | _New game_ (`N', Ctrl+`N') | ||
| 65 | |||
| 66 | Starts a new game, with a random initial state. | ||
| 67 | |||
| 68 | _Restart game_ | ||
| 69 | |||
| 70 | Resets the current game to its initial state. (This can be | ||
| 71 | undone.) | ||
| 72 | |||
| 73 | _Load_ | ||
| 74 | |||
| 75 | Loads a saved game from a file on disk. | ||
| 76 | |||
| 77 | _Save_ | ||
| 78 | |||
| 79 | Saves the current state of your game to a file on disk. | ||
| 80 | |||
| 81 | The Load and Save operations preserve your entire game history | ||
| 82 | (so you can save, reload, and still Undo and Redo things you had | ||
| 83 | done before saving). | ||
| 84 | |||
| 85 | _Print_ | ||
| 86 | |||
| 87 | Where supported (currently only on Windows), brings up a dialog | ||
| 88 | allowing you to print an arbitrary number of puzzles randomly | ||
| 89 | generated from the current parameters, optionally including | ||
| 90 | the current puzzle. (Only for puzzles which make sense to | ||
| 91 | print, of course - it's hard to think of a sensible printable | ||
| 92 | representation of Fifteen!) | ||
| 93 | |||
| 94 | _Undo_ (`U', Ctrl+`Z', Ctrl+`_') | ||
| 95 | |||
| 96 | Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of | ||
| 97 | the session.) | ||
| 98 | |||
| 99 | _Redo_ (`R', Ctrl+`R') | ||
| 100 | |||
| 101 | Redoes a previously undone move. | ||
| 102 | |||
| 103 | _Copy_ | ||
| 104 | |||
| 105 | Copies the current state of your game to the clipboard in text | ||
| 106 | format, so that you can paste it into (say) an e-mail client or | ||
| 107 | a web message board if you're discussing the game with someone | ||
| 108 | else. (Not all games support this feature.) | ||
| 109 | |||
| 110 | _Solve_ | ||
| 111 | |||
| 112 | Transforms the puzzle instantly into its solved state. For some | ||
| 113 | games (Cube) this feature is not supported at all because it is | ||
| 114 | of no particular use. For other games (such as Pattern), the | ||
| 115 | solved state can be used to give you information, if you can't | ||
| 116 | see how a solution can exist at all or you want to know where | ||
| 117 | you made a mistake. For still other games (such as Sixteen), | ||
| 118 | automatic solution tells you nothing about how to _get_ to | ||
| 119 | the solution, but it does provide a useful way to get there | ||
| 120 | quickly so that you can experiment with set-piece moves and | ||
| 121 | transformations. | ||
| 122 | |||
| 123 | Some games (such as Solo) are capable of solving a game ID you | ||
| 124 | have typed in from elsewhere. Other games (such as Rectangles) | ||
| 125 | cannot solve a game ID they didn't invent themself, but when | ||
| 126 | they did invent the game ID they know what the solution is | ||
| 127 | already. Still other games (Pattern) can solve _some_ external | ||
| 128 | game IDs, but only if they aren't too difficult. | ||
| 129 | |||
| 130 | The `Solve' command adds the solved state to the end of the undo | ||
| 131 | chain for the puzzle. In other words, if you want to go back to | ||
| 132 | solving it yourself after seeing the answer, you can just press | ||
| 133 | Undo. | ||
| 134 | |||
| 135 | _Quit_ (`Q', Ctrl+`Q') | ||
| 136 | |||
| 137 | Closes the application entirely. | ||
| 138 | |||
| 139 | 2.2 Specifying games with the game ID | ||
| 140 | |||
| 141 | There are two ways to save a game specification out of a puzzle and | ||
| 142 | recreate it later, or recreate it in somebody else's copy of the | ||
| 143 | same puzzle. | ||
| 144 | |||
| 145 | The `Specific' and `Random Seed' options from the `Game' menu (or | ||
| 146 | the `File' menu, on Mac OS X) each show a piece of text (a `game | ||
| 147 | ID') which is sufficient to reconstruct precisely the same game at a | ||
| 148 | later date. | ||
| 149 | |||
| 150 | You can enter either of these pieces of text back into the program | ||
| 151 | (via the same `Specific' or `Random Seed' menu options) at a later | ||
| 152 | point, and it will recreate the same game. You can also use either | ||
| 153 | one as a command line argument (on Windows or Unix); see section 2.4 | ||
| 154 | for more detail. | ||
| 155 | |||
| 156 | The difference between the two forms is that a descriptive game ID | ||
| 157 | is a literal _description_ of the initial state of the game, whereas | ||
| 158 | a random seed is just a piece of arbitrary text which was provided | ||
| 159 | as input to the random number generator used to create the puzzle. | ||
| 160 | This means that: | ||
| 161 | |||
| 162 | - Descriptive game IDs tend to be longer in many puzzles | ||
| 163 | (although some, such as Cube (chapter 4), only need very short | ||
| 164 | descriptions). So a random seed is often a _quicker_ way to | ||
| 165 | note down the puzzle you're currently playing, or to tell it to | ||
| 166 | somebody else so they can play the same one as you. | ||
| 167 | |||
| 168 | - Any text at all is a valid random seed. The automatically | ||
| 169 | generated ones are fifteen-digit numbers, but anything will do; | ||
| 170 | you can type in your full name, or a word you just made up, and | ||
| 171 | a valid puzzle will be generated from it. This provides a way | ||
| 172 | for two or more people to race to complete the same puzzle: | ||
| 173 | you think of a random seed, then everybody types it in at the | ||
| 174 | same time, and nobody has an advantage due to having seen the | ||
| 175 | generated puzzle before anybody else. | ||
| 176 | |||
| 177 | - It is often possible to convert puzzles from other sources (such | ||
| 178 | as `nonograms' or `sudoku' from newspapers) into descriptive | ||
| 179 | game IDs suitable for use with these programs. | ||
| 180 | |||
| 181 | - Random seeds are not guaranteed to produce the same result | ||
| 182 | if you use them with a different _version_ of the puzzle | ||
| 183 | program. This is because the generation algorithm might have | ||
| 184 | been improved or modified in later versions of the code, and | ||
| 185 | will therefore produce a different result when given the same | ||
| 186 | sequence of random numbers. Use a descriptive game ID if you | ||
| 187 | aren't sure that it will be used on the same version of the | ||
| 188 | program as yours. | ||
| 189 | |||
| 190 | (Use the `About' menu option to find out the version number of | ||
| 191 | the program. Programs with the same version number running on | ||
| 192 | different platforms should still be random-seed compatible.) | ||
| 193 | |||
| 194 | A descriptive game ID starts with a piece of text which encodes the | ||
| 195 | _parameters_ of the current game (such as grid size). Then there is | ||
| 196 | a colon, and after that is the description of the game's initial | ||
| 197 | state. A random seed starts with a similar string of parameters, but | ||
| 198 | then it contains a hash sign followed by arbitrary data. | ||
| 199 | |||
| 200 | If you enter a descriptive game ID, the program will not be able | ||
| 201 | to show you the random seed which generated it, since it wasn't | ||
| 202 | generated _from_ a random seed. If you _enter_ a random seed, | ||
| 203 | however, the program will be able to show you the descriptive game | ||
| 204 | ID derived from that random seed. | ||
| 205 | |||
| 206 | Note that the game parameter strings are not always identical | ||
| 207 | between the two forms. For some games, there will be parameter | ||
| 208 | data provided with the random seed which is not included in the | ||
| 209 | descriptive game ID. This is because that parameter information is | ||
| 210 | only relevant when _generating_ puzzle grids, and is not important | ||
| 211 | when playing them. Thus, for example, the difficulty level in Solo | ||
| 212 | (chapter 11) is not mentioned in the descriptive game ID. | ||
| 213 | |||
| 214 | These additional parameters are also not set permanently if you type | ||
| 215 | in a game ID. For example, suppose you have Solo set to `Advanced' | ||
| 216 | difficulty level, and then a friend wants your help with a `Trivial' | ||
| 217 | puzzle; so the friend reads out a random seed specifying `Trivial' | ||
| 218 | difficulty, and you type it in. The program will generate you the | ||
| 219 | same `Trivial' grid which your friend was having trouble with, but | ||
| 220 | once you have finished playing it, when you ask for a new game it | ||
| 221 | will automatically go back to the `Advanced' difficulty which it was | ||
| 222 | previously set on. | ||
| 223 | |||
| 224 | 2.3 The `Type' menu | ||
| 225 | |||
| 226 | The `Type' menu, if present, may contain a list of preset game | ||
| 227 | settings. Selecting one of these will start a new random game with | ||
| 228 | the parameters specified. | ||
| 229 | |||
| 230 | The `Type' menu may also contain a `Custom' option which allows you | ||
| 231 | to fine-tune game parameters. The parameters available are specific | ||
| 232 | to each game and are described in the following sections. | ||
| 233 | |||
| 234 | 2.4 Specifying game parameters on the command line | ||
| 235 | |||
| 236 | (This section does not apply to the Mac OS X version.) | ||
| 237 | |||
| 238 | The games in this collection deliberately do not ever save | ||
| 239 | information on to the computer they run on: they have no high score | ||
| 240 | tables and no saved preferences. (This is because I expect at least | ||
| 241 | some people to play them at work, and those people will probably | ||
| 242 | appreciate leaving as little evidence as possible!) | ||
| 243 | |||
| 244 | However, if you do want to arrange for one of these games to default | ||
| 245 | to a particular set of parameters, you can specify them on the | ||
| 246 | command line. | ||
| 247 | |||
| 248 | The easiest way to do this is to set up the parameters you want | ||
| 249 | using the `Type' menu (see section 2.3), and then to select `Random | ||
| 250 | Seed' from the `Game' or `File' menu (see section 2.2). The text | ||
| 251 | in the `Game ID' box will be composed of two parts, separated by a | ||
| 252 | hash. The first of these parts represents the game parameters (the | ||
| 253 | size of the playing area, for example, and anything else you set | ||
| 254 | using the `Type' menu). | ||
| 255 | |||
| 256 | If you run the game with just that parameter text on the command | ||
| 257 | line, it will start up with the settings you specified. | ||
| 258 | |||
| 259 | For example: if you run Cube (see chapter 4), select `Octahedron' | ||
| 260 | from the `Type' menu, and then go to the game ID selection, you | ||
| 261 | will see a string of the form `o2x2#338686542711620'. Take only the | ||
| 262 | part before the hash (`o2x2'), and start Cube with that text on the | ||
| 263 | command line: `PREFIX-cube o2x2'. | ||
| 264 | |||
| 265 | If you copy the _entire_ game ID on to the command line, the game | ||
| 266 | will start up in the specific game that was described. This is | ||
| 267 | occasionally a more convenient way to start a particular game ID | ||
| 268 | than by pasting it into the game ID selection box. | ||
| 269 | |||
| 270 | (You could also retrieve the encoded game parameters using the | ||
| 271 | `Specific' menu option instead of `Random Seed', but if you do then | ||
| 272 | some options, such as the difficulty level in Solo, will be missing. | ||
| 273 | See section 2.2 for more details on this.) | ||
| 274 | |||
| 275 | 2.5 Unix command-line options | ||
| 276 | |||
| 277 | (This section only applies to the Unix port.) | ||
| 278 | |||
| 279 | In addition to being able to specify game parameters on the command | ||
| 280 | line (see section 2.4), there are various other options: | ||
| 281 | |||
| 282 | --game | ||
| 283 | |||
| 284 | --load | ||
| 285 | |||
| 286 | These options respectively determine whether the command-line | ||
| 287 | argument is treated as specifying game parameters or a save | ||
| 288 | file to load. Only one should be specified. If neither of these | ||
| 289 | options is specified, a guess is made based on the format of the | ||
| 290 | argument. | ||
| 291 | |||
| 292 | --generate _n_ | ||
| 293 | |||
| 294 | If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being | ||
| 295 | displayed, a number of descriptive game IDs will be invented and | ||
| 296 | printed on standard output. This is useful for gaining access | ||
| 297 | to the game generation algorithms without necessarily using the | ||
| 298 | frontend. | ||
| 299 | |||
| 300 | If game parameters are specified on the command-line, they will | ||
| 301 | be used to generate the game IDs; otherwise a default set of | ||
| 302 | parameters will be used. | ||
| 303 | |||
| 304 | The most common use of this option is in conjunction with `-- | ||
| 305 | print', in which case its behaviour is slightly different; see | ||
| 306 | below. | ||
| 307 | |||
| 308 | --print _w_x_h_ | ||
| 309 | |||
| 310 | If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being | ||
| 311 | displayed, a printed representation of one or more unsolved | ||
| 312 | puzzles is sent to standard output, in PostScript format. | ||
| 313 | |||
| 314 | On each page of puzzles, there will be _w_ across and _h_ down. | ||
| 315 | If there are more puzzles than _w_x_h_, more than one page will | ||
| 316 | be printed. | ||
| 317 | |||
| 318 | If `--generate' has also been specified, the invented game | ||
| 319 | IDs will be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, | ||
| 320 | a list of game IDs is expected on standard input (which can | ||
| 321 | be descriptive or random seeds; see section 2.2), in the same | ||
| 322 | format produced by `--generate'. | ||
| 323 | |||
| 324 | For example: | ||
| 325 | |||
| 326 | PREFIX-net --generate 12 --print 2x3 7x7w | lpr | ||
| 327 | |||
| 328 | will generate two pages of printed Net puzzles (each of which | ||
| 329 | will have a 7x7 wrapping grid), and pipe the output to the `lpr' | ||
| 330 | command, which on many systems will send them to an actual | ||
| 331 | printer. | ||
| 332 | |||
| 333 | There are various other options which affect printing; see | ||
| 334 | below. | ||
| 335 | |||
| 336 | --save _file-prefix_ [ --save-suffix _file-suffix_ ] | ||
| 337 | |||
| 338 | If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being | ||
| 339 | displayed, saved-game files for one or more unsolved puzzles are | ||
| 340 | written to files constructed from the supplied prefix and/or | ||
| 341 | suffix. | ||
| 342 | |||
| 343 | If `--generate' has also been specified, the invented game | ||
| 344 | IDs will be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, | ||
| 345 | a list of game IDs is expected on standard input (which can | ||
| 346 | be descriptive or random seeds; see section 2.2), in the same | ||
| 347 | format produced by `--generate'. | ||
| 348 | |||
| 349 | For example: | ||
| 350 | |||
| 351 | PREFIX-net --generate 12 --save game --save-suffix .sav | ||
| 352 | |||
| 353 | will generate twelve Net saved-game files with the names | ||
| 354 | game0.sav to game11.sav. | ||
| 355 | |||
| 356 | --version | ||
| 357 | |||
| 358 | Prints version information about the game, and then quits. | ||
| 359 | |||
| 360 | The following options are only meaningful if `--print' is also | ||
| 361 | specified: | ||
| 362 | |||
| 363 | --with-solutions | ||
| 364 | |||
| 365 | The set of pages filled with unsolved puzzles will be followed | ||
| 366 | by the solutions to those puzzles. | ||
| 367 | |||
| 368 | --scale _n_ | ||
| 369 | |||
| 370 | Adjusts how big each puzzle is when printed. Larger numbers make | ||
| 371 | puzzles bigger; the default is 1.0. | ||
| 372 | |||
| 373 | --colour | ||
| 374 | |||
| 375 | Puzzles will be printed in colour, rather than in black and | ||
| 376 | white (if supported by the puzzle). | ||
| 377 | |||
| 378 | Chapter 3: Net | ||
| 379 | -------------- | ||
| 380 | |||
| 381 | (_Note:_ the Windows version of this game is called NETGAME.EXE to | ||
| 382 | avoid clashing with Windows's own NET.EXE.) | ||
| 383 | |||
| 384 | I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called | ||
| 385 | FreeNet [1], written by Pavils Jurjans; there are several other | ||
| 386 | implementations under the name NetWalk. The computer prepares a | ||
| 387 | network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then | ||
| 388 | shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is | ||
| 389 | to rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be | ||
| 390 | an entirely connected network, with no closed loops. As a visual | ||
| 391 | aid, all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are | ||
| 392 | highlighted. | ||
| 393 | |||
| 394 | [1] http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm | ||
| 395 | |||
| 396 | 3.1 Net controls | ||
| 397 | |||
| 398 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. The | ||
| 399 | controls are: | ||
| 400 | |||
| 401 | _Select tile_: mouse pointer, arrow keys | ||
| 402 | |||
| 403 | _Rotate tile anticlockwise_: left mouse button, `A' key | ||
| 404 | |||
| 405 | _Rotate tile clockwise_: right mouse button, `D' key | ||
| 406 | |||
| 407 | _Rotate tile by 180 degrees_: `F' key | ||
| 408 | |||
| 409 | _Lock (or unlock) tile_: middle mouse button, shift-click, `S' key | ||
| 410 | |||
| 411 | You can lock a tile once you're sure of its orientation. You | ||
| 412 | can also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't | ||
| 413 | accidentally turn it. | ||
| 414 | |||
| 415 | The following controls are not necessary to complete the game, but | ||
| 416 | may be useful: | ||
| 417 | |||
| 418 | _Shift grid_: Shift + arrow keys | ||
| 419 | |||
| 420 | On grids that wrap, you can move the origin of the grid, so | ||
| 421 | that tiles that were on opposite sides of the grid can be seen | ||
| 422 | together. | ||
| 423 | |||
| 424 | _Move centre_: Ctrl + arrow keys | ||
| 425 | |||
| 426 | You can change which tile is used as the source of highlighting. | ||
| 427 | (It doesn't ultimately matter which tile this is, as every tile | ||
| 428 | will be connected to every other tile in a correct solution, | ||
| 429 | but it may be helpful in the intermediate stages of solving the | ||
| 430 | puzzle.) | ||
| 431 | |||
| 432 | _Jumble tiles_: `J' key | ||
| 433 | |||
| 434 | This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random | ||
| 435 | orientations. | ||
| 436 | |||
| 437 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 438 | |||
| 439 | 3.2 Net parameters | ||
| 440 | |||
| 441 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 442 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 443 | |||
| 444 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 445 | |||
| 446 | Size of grid in tiles. | ||
| 447 | |||
| 448 | _Walls wrap around_ | ||
| 449 | |||
| 450 | If checked, flow can pass from the left edge to the right edge, | ||
| 451 | and from top to bottom, and vice versa. | ||
| 452 | |||
| 453 | _Barrier probability_ | ||
| 454 | |||
| 455 | A number between 0.0 and 1.0 controlling whether an immovable | ||
| 456 | barrier is placed between two tiles to prevent flow between | ||
| 457 | them (a higher number gives more barriers). Since barriers | ||
| 458 | are immovable, they act as constraints on the solution (i.e., | ||
| 459 | hints). | ||
| 460 | |||
| 461 | The grid generation in Net has been carefully arranged so that | ||
| 462 | the barriers are independent of the rest of the grid. This | ||
| 463 | means that if you note down the random seed used to generate | ||
| 464 | the current puzzle (see section 2.2), change the _Barrier | ||
| 465 | probability_ parameter, and then re-enter the same random seed, | ||
| 466 | you should see exactly the same starting grid, with the only | ||
| 467 | change being the number of barriers. So if you're stuck on a | ||
| 468 | particular grid and need a hint, you could start up another | ||
| 469 | instance of Net, set up the same parameters but a higher barrier | ||
| 470 | probability, and enter the game seed from the original Net | ||
| 471 | window. | ||
| 472 | |||
| 473 | _Ensure unique solution_ | ||
| 474 | |||
| 475 | Normally, Net will make sure that the puzzles it presents have | ||
| 476 | only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more | ||
| 477 | difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this | ||
| 478 | feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. (Also, finding _all_ | ||
| 479 | the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an | ||
| 480 | advanced player.) | ||
| 481 | |||
| 482 | Chapter 4: Cube | ||
| 483 | --------------- | ||
| 484 | |||
| 485 | This is another one I originally saw as a web game. This one was a | ||
| 486 | Java game [2], by Paul Scott. You have a grid of 16 squares, six of | ||
| 487 | which are blue; on one square rests a cube. Your move is to use the | ||
| 488 | arrow keys to roll the cube through 90 degrees so that it moves to | ||
| 489 | an adjacent square. If you roll the cube on to a blue square, the | ||
| 490 | blue square is picked up on one face of the cube; if you roll a blue | ||
| 491 | face of the cube on to a non-blue square, the blueness is put down | ||
| 492 | again. (In general, whenever you roll the cube, the two faces that | ||
| 493 | come into contact swap colours.) Your job is to get all six blue | ||
| 494 | squares on to the six faces of the cube at the same time. Count your | ||
| 495 | moves and try to do it in as few as possible. | ||
| 496 | |||
| 497 | Unlike the original Java game, my version has an additional feature: | ||
| 498 | once you've mastered the game with a cube rolling on a square grid, | ||
| 499 | you can change to a triangular grid and roll any of a tetrahedron, | ||
| 500 | an octahedron or an icosahedron. | ||
| 501 | |||
| 502 | [2] http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm | ||
| 503 | |||
| 504 | 4.1 Cube controls | ||
| 505 | |||
| 506 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. | ||
| 507 | |||
| 508 | Left-clicking anywhere on the window will move the cube (or other | ||
| 509 | solid) towards the mouse pointer. | ||
| 510 | |||
| 511 | The arrow keys can also used to roll the cube on its square grid in | ||
| 512 | the four cardinal directions. On the triangular grids, the mapping | ||
| 513 | of arrow keys to directions is more approximate. Vertical movement | ||
| 514 | is disallowed where it doesn't make sense. The four keys surrounding | ||
| 515 | the arrow keys on the numeric keypad (`7', `9', `1', `3') can be | ||
| 516 | used for diagonal movement. | ||
| 517 | |||
| 518 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 519 | |||
| 520 | 4.2 Cube parameters | ||
| 521 | |||
| 522 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 523 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 524 | |||
| 525 | _Type of solid_ | ||
| 526 | |||
| 527 | Selects the solid to roll (and hence the shape of the grid): | ||
| 528 | tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, or icosahedron. | ||
| 529 | |||
| 530 | _Width / top_, _Height / bottom_ | ||
| 531 | |||
| 532 | On a square grid, horizontal and vertical dimensions. On a | ||
| 533 | triangular grid, the number of triangles on the top and bottom | ||
| 534 | rows respectively. | ||
| 535 | |||
| 536 | Chapter 5: Fifteen | ||
| 537 | ------------------ | ||
| 538 | |||
| 539 | The old ones are the best: this is the good old `15-puzzle' with | ||
| 540 | sliding tiles. You have a 4x4 square grid; 15 squares contain | ||
| 541 | numbered tiles, and the sixteenth is empty. Your move is to choose a | ||
| 542 | tile next to the empty space, and slide it into the space. The aim | ||
| 543 | is to end up with the tiles in numerical order, with the space in | ||
| 544 | the bottom right (so that the top row reads 1,2,3,4 and the bottom | ||
| 545 | row reads 13,14,15,_space_). | ||
| 546 | |||
| 547 | 5.1 Fifteen controls | ||
| 548 | |||
| 549 | This game can be controlled with the mouse or the keyboard. | ||
| 550 | |||
| 551 | A left-click with the mouse in the row or column containing the | ||
| 552 | empty space will move as many tiles as necessary to move the space | ||
| 553 | to the mouse pointer. | ||
| 554 | |||
| 555 | The arrow keys will move a tile adjacent to the space in the | ||
| 556 | direction indicated (moving the space in the _opposite_ direction). | ||
| 557 | |||
| 558 | Pressing `h' will make a suggested move. Pressing `h' enough times | ||
| 559 | will solve the game, but it may scramble your progress while doing | ||
| 560 | so. | ||
| 561 | |||
| 562 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 563 | |||
| 564 | 5.2 Fifteen parameters | ||
| 565 | |||
| 566 | The only options available from the `Custom...' option on the `Type' | ||
| 567 | menu are _Width_ and _Height_, which are self-explanatory. (Once | ||
| 568 | you've changed these, it's not a `15-puzzle' any more, of course!) | ||
| 569 | |||
| 570 | Chapter 6: Sixteen | ||
| 571 | ------------------ | ||
| 572 | |||
| 573 | Another sliding tile puzzle, visually similar to Fifteen (see | ||
| 574 | chapter 5) but with a different type of move. This time, there is no | ||
| 575 | hole: all 16 squares on the grid contain numbered squares. Your move | ||
| 576 | is to shift an entire row left or right, or shift an entire column | ||
| 577 | up or down; every time you do that, the tile you shift off the grid | ||
| 578 | re-appears at the other end of the same row, in the space you just | ||
| 579 | vacated. To win, arrange the tiles into numerical order (1,2,3,4 on | ||
| 580 | the top row, 13,14,15,16 on the bottom). When you've done that, try | ||
| 581 | playing on different sizes of grid. | ||
| 582 | |||
| 583 | I _might_ have invented this game myself, though only by accident | ||
| 584 | if so (and I'm sure other people have independently invented it). I | ||
| 585 | thought I was imitating a screensaver I'd seen, but I have a feeling | ||
| 586 | that the screensaver might actually have been a Fifteen-type puzzle | ||
| 587 | rather than this slightly different kind. So this might be the one | ||
| 588 | thing in my puzzle collection which represents creativity on my part | ||
| 589 | rather than just engineering. | ||
| 590 | |||
| 591 | 6.1 Sixteen controls | ||
| 592 | |||
| 593 | Left-clicking on an arrow will move the appropriate row or column in | ||
| 594 | the direction indicated. Right-clicking will move it in the opposite | ||
| 595 | direction. | ||
| 596 | |||
| 597 | Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the position indicator | ||
| 598 | around the edge of the grid, and use the return key to move the | ||
| 599 | row/column in the direction indicated. | ||
| 600 | |||
| 601 | You can also move the tiles directly. Move the cursor onto a tile, | ||
| 602 | hold Control and press an arrow key to move the tile under the | ||
| 603 | cursor and move the cursor along with the tile. Or, hold Shift to | ||
| 604 | move only the tile. Pressing Enter simulates holding down Control | ||
| 605 | (press Enter again to release), while pressing Space simulates | ||
| 606 | holding down shift. | ||
| 607 | |||
| 608 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 609 | |||
| 610 | 6.2 Sixteen parameters | ||
| 611 | |||
| 612 | The parameters available from the `Custom...' option on the `Type' | ||
| 613 | menu are: | ||
| 614 | |||
| 615 | - _Width_ and _Height_, which are self-explanatory. | ||
| 616 | |||
| 617 | - You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on | ||
| 618 | the grid. By default, Sixteen will shuffle the grid in such a | ||
| 619 | way that any arrangement is about as probable as any other. You | ||
| 620 | can override this by requesting a precise number of shuffling | ||
| 621 | moves to be performed. Typically your aim is then to determine | ||
| 622 | the precise set of shuffling moves and invert them exactly, | ||
| 623 | so that you answer (say) a four-move shuffle with a four-move | ||
| 624 | solution. Note that the more moves you ask for, the more likely | ||
| 625 | it is that solutions shorter than the target length will turn | ||
| 626 | out to be possible. | ||
| 627 | |||
| 628 | Chapter 7: Twiddle | ||
| 629 | ------------------ | ||
| 630 | |||
| 631 | Twiddle is a tile-rearrangement puzzle, visually similar to Sixteen | ||
| 632 | (see chapter 6): you are given a grid of square tiles, each | ||
| 633 | containing a number, and your aim is to arrange the numbers into | ||
| 634 | ascending order. | ||
| 635 | |||
| 636 | In basic Twiddle, your move is to rotate a square group of four | ||
| 637 | tiles about their common centre. (Orientation is not significant | ||
| 638 | in the basic puzzle, although you can select it.) On more advanced | ||
| 639 | settings, you can rotate a larger square group of tiles. | ||
| 640 | |||
| 641 | I first saw this type of puzzle in the GameCube game `Metroid | ||
| 642 | Prime 2'. In the Main Gyro Chamber in that game, there is a puzzle | ||
| 643 | you solve to unlock a door, which is a special case of Twiddle. I | ||
| 644 | developed this game as a generalisation of that puzzle. | ||
| 645 | |||
| 646 | 7.1 Twiddle controls | ||
| 647 | |||
| 648 | To play Twiddle, click the mouse in the centre of the square group | ||
| 649 | you wish to rotate. In the basic mode, you rotate a 2x2 square, | ||
| 650 | which means you have to click at a corner point where four tiles | ||
| 651 | meet. | ||
| 652 | |||
| 653 | In more advanced modes you might be rotating 3x3 or even more at a | ||
| 654 | time; if the size of the square is odd then you simply click in the | ||
| 655 | centre tile of the square you want to rotate. | ||
| 656 | |||
| 657 | Clicking with the left mouse button rotates the group anticlockwise. | ||
| 658 | Clicking with the right button rotates it clockwise. | ||
| 659 | |||
| 660 | You can also move an outline square around the grid with the cursor | ||
| 661 | keys; the square is the size above (2x2 by default, or larger). | ||
| 662 | Pressing the return key or space bar will rotate the current square | ||
| 663 | anticlockwise or clockwise respectively. | ||
| 664 | |||
| 665 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 666 | |||
| 667 | 7.2 Twiddle parameters | ||
| 668 | |||
| 669 | Twiddle provides several configuration options via the `Custom' | ||
| 670 | option on the `Type' menu: | ||
| 671 | |||
| 672 | - You can configure the width and height of the puzzle grid. | ||
| 673 | |||
| 674 | - You can configure the size of square block that rotates at a | ||
| 675 | time. | ||
| 676 | |||
| 677 | - You can ask for every square in the grid to be distinguishable | ||
| 678 | (the default), or you can ask for a simplified puzzle in which | ||
| 679 | there are groups of identical numbers. In the simplified puzzle | ||
| 680 | your aim is just to arrange all the 1s into the first row, all | ||
| 681 | the 2s into the second row, and so on. | ||
| 682 | |||
| 683 | - You can configure whether the orientation of tiles matters. If | ||
| 684 | you ask for an orientable puzzle, each tile will have a triangle | ||
| 685 | drawn in it. All the triangles must be pointing upwards to | ||
| 686 | complete the puzzle. | ||
| 687 | |||
| 688 | - You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed | ||
| 689 | on the grid. By default, Twiddle will shuffle the grid so much | ||
| 690 | that any arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can | ||
| 691 | override this by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves | ||
| 692 | to be performed. Typically your aim is then to determine the | ||
| 693 | precise set of shuffling moves and invert them exactly, so that | ||
| 694 | you answer (say) a four-move shuffle with a four-move solution. | ||
| 695 | Note that the more moves you ask for, the more likely it is that | ||
| 696 | solutions shorter than the target length will turn out to be | ||
| 697 | possible. | ||
| 698 | |||
| 699 | Chapter 8: Rectangles | ||
| 700 | --------------------- | ||
| 701 | |||
| 702 | You have a grid of squares, with numbers written in some (but | ||
| 703 | not all) of the squares. Your task is to subdivide the grid into | ||
| 704 | rectangles of various sizes, such that (a) every rectangle contains | ||
| 705 | exactly one numbered square, and (b) the area of each rectangle is | ||
| 706 | equal to the number written in its numbered square. | ||
| 707 | |||
| 708 | Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine Nikoli [3] | ||
| 709 | ; I've also seen a Palm implementation at Puzzle Palace [4]. Unlike | ||
| 710 | Puzzle Palace's implementation, my version automatically generates | ||
| 711 | random grids of any size you like. The quality of puzzle design is | ||
| 712 | therefore not quite as good as hand-crafted puzzles would be, but on | ||
| 713 | the plus side you get an inexhaustible supply of puzzles tailored to | ||
| 714 | your own specification. | ||
| 715 | |||
| 716 | [3] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/shikaku.html (beware of | ||
| 717 | Flash) | ||
| 718 | |||
| 719 | [4] | ||
| 720 | https://web.archive.org/web/20041024001459/http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en | ||
| 721 | |||
| 722 | 8.1 Rectangles controls | ||
| 723 | |||
| 724 | This game is played with the mouse or cursor keys. | ||
| 725 | |||
| 726 | Left-click any edge to toggle it on or off, or left-click and | ||
| 727 | drag to draw an entire rectangle (or line) on the grid in one go | ||
| 728 | (removing any existing edges within that rectangle). Right-clicking | ||
| 729 | and dragging will allow you to erase the contents of a rectangle | ||
| 730 | without affecting its edges. | ||
| 731 | |||
| 732 | Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the position indicator | ||
| 733 | around the board. Pressing the return key then allows you to use the | ||
| 734 | cursor keys to drag a rectangle out from that position, and pressing | ||
| 735 | the return key again completes the rectangle. Using the space bar | ||
| 736 | instead of the return key allows you to erase the contents of a | ||
| 737 | rectangle without affecting its edges, as above. Pressing escape | ||
| 738 | cancels a drag. | ||
| 739 | |||
| 740 | When a rectangle of the correct size is completed, it will be | ||
| 741 | shaded. | ||
| 742 | |||
| 743 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 744 | |||
| 745 | 8.2 Rectangles parameters | ||
| 746 | |||
| 747 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 748 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 749 | |||
| 750 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 751 | |||
| 752 | Size of grid, in squares. | ||
| 753 | |||
| 754 | _Expansion factor_ | ||
| 755 | |||
| 756 | This is a mechanism for changing the type of grids generated by | ||
| 757 | the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few large | ||
| 758 | rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask | ||
| 759 | Rectangles to essentially generate a _smaller_ grid than the | ||
| 760 | size you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and | ||
| 761 | columns. | ||
| 762 | |||
| 763 | The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will | ||
| 764 | simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing | ||
| 765 | further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means | ||
| 766 | that each dimension of the grid will be expanded to half again | ||
| 767 | as big after generation. In other words, the initial grid will | ||
| 768 | be 2/3 the size in each dimension, and will be expanded to its | ||
| 769 | full size without adding any more rectangles. | ||
| 770 | |||
| 771 | Setting an expansion factor of around 0.5 tends to make the | ||
| 772 | game more difficult, and also (in my experience) rewards a | ||
| 773 | less deductive and more intuitive playing style. If you set it | ||
| 774 | _too_ high, though, the game simply cannot generate more than a | ||
| 775 | few rectangles to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes | ||
| 776 | trivial. | ||
| 777 | |||
| 778 | _Ensure unique solution_ | ||
| 779 | |||
| 780 | Normally, Rectangles will make sure that the puzzles it presents | ||
| 781 | have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be | ||
| 782 | more difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off | ||
| 783 | this feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. Also, finding | ||
| 784 | _all_ the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for | ||
| 785 | an advanced player. Turning off this option can also speed up | ||
| 786 | puzzle generation. | ||
| 787 | |||
| 788 | Chapter 9: Netslide | ||
| 789 | ------------------- | ||
| 790 | |||
| 791 | This game combines the grid generation of Net (see chapter 3) with | ||
| 792 | the movement of Sixteen (see chapter 6): you have a Net grid, but | ||
| 793 | instead of rotating tiles back into place you have to slide them | ||
| 794 | into place by moving a whole row at a time. | ||
| 795 | |||
| 796 | As in Sixteen, control is with the mouse or cursor keys. See section | ||
| 797 | 6.1. | ||
| 798 | |||
| 799 | The available game parameters have similar meanings to those in Net | ||
| 800 | (see section 3.2) and Sixteen (see section 6.2). | ||
| 801 | |||
| 802 | Netslide was contributed to this collection by Richard Boulton. | ||
| 803 | |||
| 804 | Chapter 10: Pattern | ||
| 805 | ------------------- | ||
| 806 | |||
| 807 | You have a grid of squares, which must all be filled in either black | ||
| 808 | or white. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the | ||
| 809 | runs of black squares on that row; above each column are listed the | ||
| 810 | lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to | ||
| 811 | fill in the entire grid black or white. | ||
| 812 | |||
| 813 | I first saw this puzzle form around 1995, under the name | ||
| 814 | `nonograms'. I've seen it in various places since then, under | ||
| 815 | different names. | ||
| 816 | |||
| 817 | Normally, puzzles of this type turn out to be a meaningful picture | ||
| 818 | of something once you've solved them. However, since this version | ||
| 819 | generates the puzzles automatically, they will just look like random | ||
| 820 | groupings of squares. (One user has suggested that this is actually | ||
| 821 | a _good_ thing, since it prevents you from guessing the colour of | ||
| 822 | squares based on the picture, and forces you to use logic instead.) | ||
| 823 | The advantage, though, is that you never run out of them. | ||
| 824 | |||
| 825 | 10.1 Pattern controls | ||
| 826 | |||
| 827 | This game is played with the mouse. | ||
| 828 | |||
| 829 | Left-click in a square to colour it black. Right-click to colour it | ||
| 830 | white. If you make a mistake, you can middle-click, or hold down | ||
| 831 | Shift while clicking with any button, to colour the square in the | ||
| 832 | default grey (meaning `undecided') again. | ||
| 833 | |||
| 834 | You can click and drag with the left or right mouse button to colour | ||
| 835 | a vertical or horizontal line of squares black or white at a time | ||
| 836 | (respectively). If you click and drag with the middle button, or | ||
| 837 | with Shift held down, you can colour a whole rectangle of squares | ||
| 838 | grey. | ||
| 839 | |||
| 840 | You can also move around the grid with the cursor keys. Pressing the | ||
| 841 | return key will cycle the current cell through empty, then black, | ||
| 842 | then white, then empty, and the space bar does the same cycle in | ||
| 843 | reverse. | ||
| 844 | |||
| 845 | Moving the cursor while holding Control will colour the moved-over | ||
| 846 | squares black. Holding Shift will colour the moved-over squares | ||
| 847 | white, and holding both will colour them grey. | ||
| 848 | |||
| 849 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 850 | |||
| 851 | 10.2 Pattern parameters | ||
| 852 | |||
| 853 | The only options available from the `Custom...' option on the `Type' | ||
| 854 | menu are _Width_ and _Height_, which are self-explanatory. | ||
| 855 | |||
| 856 | Chapter 11: Solo | ||
| 857 | ---------------- | ||
| 858 | |||
| 859 | You have a square grid, which is divided into as many equally sized | ||
| 860 | sub-blocks as the grid has rows. Each square must be filled in with | ||
| 861 | a digit from 1 to the size of the grid, in such a way that | ||
| 862 | |||
| 863 | - every row contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 864 | |||
| 865 | - every column contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 866 | |||
| 867 | - every block contains only one occurrence of each digit. | ||
| 868 | |||
| 869 | - (optionally, by default off) each of the square's two main | ||
| 870 | diagonals contains only one occurrence of each digit. | ||
| 871 | |||
| 872 | You are given some of the numbers as clues; your aim is to place the | ||
| 873 | rest of the numbers correctly. | ||
| 874 | |||
| 875 | Under the default settings, the sub-blocks are square or | ||
| 876 | rectangular. The default puzzle size is 3x3 (a 9x9 actual grid, | ||
| 877 | divided into nine 3x3 blocks). You can also select sizes with | ||
| 878 | rectangular blocks instead of square ones, such as 2x3 (a 6x6 grid | ||
| 879 | divided into six 3x2 blocks). Alternatively, you can select `jigsaw' | ||
| 880 | mode, in which the sub-blocks are arbitrary shapes which differ | ||
| 881 | between individual puzzles. | ||
| 882 | |||
| 883 | Another available mode is `killer'. In this mode, clues are not | ||
| 884 | given in the form of filled-in squares; instead, the grid is divided | ||
| 885 | into `cages' by coloured lines, and for each cage the game tells | ||
| 886 | you what the sum of all the digits in that cage should be. Also, | ||
| 887 | no digit may appear more than once within a cage, even if the cage | ||
| 888 | crosses the boundaries of existing regions. | ||
| 889 | |||
| 890 | If you select a puzzle size which requires more than 9 digits, the | ||
| 891 | additional digits will be letters of the alphabet. For example, if | ||
| 892 | you select 3x4 then the digits which go in your grid will be 1 to 9, | ||
| 893 | plus `a', `b' and `c'. This cannot be selected for killer puzzles. | ||
| 894 | |||
| 895 | I first saw this puzzle in Nikoli [5], although it's also been | ||
| 896 | popularised by various newspapers under the name `Sudoku' or `Su | ||
| 897 | Doku'. Howard Garns is considered the inventor of the modern form of | ||
| 898 | the puzzle, and it was first published in _Dell Pencil Puzzles and | ||
| 899 | Word Games_. A more elaborate treatment of the history of the puzzle | ||
| 900 | can be found on Wikipedia [6]. | ||
| 901 | |||
| 902 | [5] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/sudoku.html (beware of Flash) | ||
| 903 | |||
| 904 | [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku | ||
| 905 | |||
| 906 | 11.1 Solo controls | ||
| 907 | |||
| 908 | To play Solo, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then | ||
| 909 | type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you | ||
| 910 | make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press | ||
| 911 | Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature). | ||
| 912 | |||
| 913 | If you _right_-click in a square and then type a number, that | ||
| 914 | number will be entered in the square as a `pencil mark'. You can | ||
| 915 | have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares | ||
| 916 | containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks. | ||
| 917 | |||
| 918 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you | ||
| 919 | use them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a | ||
| 920 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about | ||
| 921 | a particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible | ||
| 922 | numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like. | ||
| 923 | |||
| 924 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type | ||
| 925 | the same number again. | ||
| 926 | |||
| 927 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type | ||
| 928 | a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and | ||
| 929 | pressing space will also erase pencil marks. | ||
| 930 | |||
| 931 | Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the mark around the grid. | ||
| 932 | Pressing the return key toggles the mark (from a normal mark to a | ||
| 933 | pencil mark), and typing a number in is entered in the square in the | ||
| 934 | appropriate way; typing in a 0 or using the space bar will clear a | ||
| 935 | filled square. | ||
| 936 | |||
| 937 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 938 | |||
| 939 | 11.2 Solo parameters | ||
| 940 | |||
| 941 | Solo allows you to configure two separate dimensions of the puzzle | ||
| 942 | grid on the `Type' menu: the number of columns, and the number of | ||
| 943 | rows, into which the main grid is divided. (The size of a block is | ||
| 944 | the inverse of this: for example, if you select 2 columns and 3 | ||
| 945 | rows, each actual block will have 3 columns and 2 rows.) | ||
| 946 | |||
| 947 | If you tick the `X' checkbox, Solo will apply the optional extra | ||
| 948 | constraint that the two main diagonals of the grid also contain | ||
| 949 | one of every digit. (This is sometimes known as `Sudoku-X' in | ||
| 950 | newspapers.) In this mode, the squares on the two main diagonals | ||
| 951 | will be shaded slightly so that you know it's enabled. | ||
| 952 | |||
| 953 | If you tick the `Jigsaw' checkbox, Solo will generate randomly | ||
| 954 | shaped sub-blocks. In this mode, the actual grid size will be taken | ||
| 955 | to be the product of the numbers entered in the `Columns' and `Rows' | ||
| 956 | boxes. There is no reason why you have to enter a number greater | ||
| 957 | than 1 in both boxes; Jigsaw mode has no constraint on the grid | ||
| 958 | size, and it can even be a prime number if you feel like it. | ||
| 959 | |||
| 960 | If you tick the `Killer' checkbox, Solo will generate a set of | ||
| 961 | of cages, which are randomly shaped and drawn in an outline of a | ||
| 962 | different colour. Each of these regions contains a smaller clue | ||
| 963 | which shows the digit sum of all the squares in this region. | ||
| 964 | |||
| 965 | You can also configure the type of symmetry shown in the generated | ||
| 966 | puzzles. More symmetry makes the puzzles look prettier but may also | ||
| 967 | make them easier, since the symmetry constraints can force more | ||
| 968 | clues than necessary to be present. Completely asymmetric puzzles | ||
| 969 | have the freedom to contain as few clues as possible. | ||
| 970 | |||
| 971 | Finally, you can configure the difficulty of the generated puzzles. | ||
| 972 | Difficulty levels are judged by the complexity of the techniques | ||
| 973 | of deduction required to solve the puzzle: each level requires a | ||
| 974 | mode of reasoning which was not necessary in the previous one. In | ||
| 975 | particular, on difficulty levels `Trivial' and `Basic' there will be | ||
| 976 | a square you can fill in with a single number at all times, whereas | ||
| 977 | at `Intermediate' level and beyond you will have to make partial | ||
| 978 | deductions about the _set_ of squares a number could be in (or the | ||
| 979 | set of numbers that could be in a square). At `Unreasonable' level, | ||
| 980 | even this is not enough, and you will eventually have to make a | ||
| 981 | guess, and then backtrack if it turns out to be wrong. | ||
| 982 | |||
| 983 | Generating difficult puzzles is itself difficult: if you select one | ||
| 984 | of the higher difficulty levels, Solo may have to make many attempts | ||
| 985 | at generating a puzzle before it finds one hard enough for you. Be | ||
| 986 | prepared to wait, especially if you have also configured a large | ||
| 987 | puzzle size. | ||
| 988 | |||
| 989 | Chapter 12: Mines | ||
| 990 | ----------------- | ||
| 991 | |||
| 992 | You have a grid of covered squares, some of which contain mines, but | ||
| 993 | you don't know which. Your job is to uncover every square which does | ||
| 994 | _not_ contain a mine. If you uncover a square containing a mine, you | ||
| 995 | lose. If you uncover a square which does not contain a mine, you | ||
| 996 | are told how many mines are contained within the eight surrounding | ||
| 997 | squares. | ||
| 998 | |||
| 999 | This game needs no introduction; popularised by Windows, it is | ||
| 1000 | perhaps the single best known desktop puzzle game in existence. | ||
| 1001 | |||
| 1002 | This version of it has an unusual property. By default, it will | ||
| 1003 | generate its mine positions in such a way as to ensure that you | ||
| 1004 | never need to _guess_ where a mine is: you will always be able | ||
| 1005 | to deduce it somehow. So you will never, as can happen in other | ||
| 1006 | versions, get to the last four squares and discover that there are | ||
| 1007 | two mines left but you have no way of knowing for sure where they | ||
| 1008 | are. | ||
| 1009 | |||
| 1010 | 12.1 Mines controls | ||
| 1011 | |||
| 1012 | This game is played with the mouse. | ||
| 1013 | |||
| 1014 | If you left-click in a covered square, it will be uncovered. | ||
| 1015 | |||
| 1016 | If you right-click in a covered square, it will place a flag which | ||
| 1017 | indicates that the square is believed to be a mine. Left-clicking in | ||
| 1018 | a marked square will not uncover it, for safety. You can right-click | ||
| 1019 | again to remove a mark placed in error. | ||
| 1020 | |||
| 1021 | If you left-click in an _uncovered_ square, it will `clear around' | ||
| 1022 | the square. This means: if the square has exactly as many flags | ||
| 1023 | surrounding it as it should have mines, then all the covered squares | ||
| 1024 | next to it which are _not_ flagged will be uncovered. So once you | ||
| 1025 | think you know the location of all the mines around a square, you | ||
| 1026 | can use this function as a shortcut to avoid having to click on each | ||
| 1027 | of the remaining squares one by one. | ||
| 1028 | |||
| 1029 | If you uncover a square which has _no_ mines in the surrounding | ||
| 1030 | eight squares, then it is obviously safe to uncover those squares in | ||
| 1031 | turn, and so on if any of them also has no surrounding mines. This | ||
| 1032 | will be done for you automatically; so sometimes when you uncover a | ||
| 1033 | square, a whole new area will open up to be explored. | ||
| 1034 | |||
| 1035 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the minefield. | ||
| 1036 | Pressing the return key in a covered square uncovers it, and in | ||
| 1037 | an uncovered square will clear around it (so it acts as the left | ||
| 1038 | button), pressing the space bar in a covered square will place a | ||
| 1039 | flag (similarly, it acts as the right button). | ||
| 1040 | |||
| 1041 | All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available. | ||
| 1042 | |||
| 1043 | Even Undo is available, although you might consider it cheating to | ||
| 1044 | use it. If you step on a mine, the program will only reveal the mine | ||
| 1045 | in question (unlike most other implementations, which reveal all of | ||
| 1046 | them). You can then Undo your fatal move and continue playing if you | ||
| 1047 | like. The program will track the number of times you died (and Undo | ||
| 1048 | will not reduce that counter), so when you get to the end of the | ||
| 1049 | game you know whether or not you did it without making any errors. | ||
| 1050 | |||
| 1051 | (If you really want to know the full layout of the grid, which other | ||
| 1052 | implementations will show you after you die, you can always use the | ||
| 1053 | Solve menu option.) | ||
| 1054 | |||
| 1055 | 12.2 Mines parameters | ||
| 1056 | |||
| 1057 | The options available from the `Custom...' option on the `Type' menu | ||
| 1058 | are: | ||
| 1059 | |||
| 1060 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1061 | |||
| 1062 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1063 | |||
| 1064 | _Mines_ | ||
| 1065 | |||
| 1066 | Number of mines in the grid. You can enter this as an absolute | ||
| 1067 | mine count, or alternatively you can put a % sign on the end | ||
| 1068 | in which case the game will arrange for that proportion of the | ||
| 1069 | squares in the grid to be mines. | ||
| 1070 | |||
| 1071 | Beware of setting the mine count too high. At very high | ||
| 1072 | densities, the program may spend forever searching for a | ||
| 1073 | solvable grid. | ||
| 1074 | |||
| 1075 | _Ensure solubility_ | ||
| 1076 | |||
| 1077 | When this option is enabled (as it is by default), Mines will | ||
| 1078 | ensure that the entire grid can be fully deduced starting | ||
| 1079 | from the initial open space. If you prefer the riskier grids | ||
| 1080 | generated by other implementations, you can switch off this | ||
| 1081 | option. | ||
| 1082 | |||
| 1083 | Chapter 13: Same Game | ||
| 1084 | --------------------- | ||
| 1085 | |||
| 1086 | You have a grid of coloured squares, which you have to clear by | ||
| 1087 | highlighting contiguous regions of more than one coloured square; | ||
| 1088 | the larger the region you highlight, the more points you get (and | ||
| 1089 | the faster you clear the arena). | ||
| 1090 | |||
| 1091 | If you clear the grid you win. If you end up with nothing but single | ||
| 1092 | squares (i.e., there are no more clickable regions left) you lose. | ||
| 1093 | |||
| 1094 | Removing a region causes the rest of the grid to shuffle up: blocks | ||
| 1095 | that are suspended will fall down (first), and then empty columns | ||
| 1096 | are filled from the right. | ||
| 1097 | |||
| 1098 | Same Game was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 1099 | |||
| 1100 | 13.1 Same Game controls | ||
| 1101 | |||
| 1102 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. | ||
| 1103 | |||
| 1104 | If you left-click an unselected region, it becomes selected | ||
| 1105 | (possibly clearing the current selection). | ||
| 1106 | |||
| 1107 | If you left-click the selected region, it will be removed (and the | ||
| 1108 | rest of the grid shuffled immediately). | ||
| 1109 | |||
| 1110 | If you right-click the selected region, it will be unselected. | ||
| 1111 | |||
| 1112 | The cursor keys move a cursor around the grid. Pressing the Space or | ||
| 1113 | Enter keys while the cursor is in an unselected region selects it; | ||
| 1114 | pressing Space or Enter again removes it as above. | ||
| 1115 | |||
| 1116 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1117 | |||
| 1118 | 13.2 Same Game parameters | ||
| 1119 | |||
| 1120 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1121 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1122 | |||
| 1123 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1124 | |||
| 1125 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1126 | |||
| 1127 | _No. of colours_ | ||
| 1128 | |||
| 1129 | Number of different colours used to fill the grid; the more | ||
| 1130 | colours, the fewer large regions of colour and thus the more | ||
| 1131 | difficult it is to successfully clear the grid. | ||
| 1132 | |||
| 1133 | _Scoring system_ | ||
| 1134 | |||
| 1135 | Controls the precise mechanism used for scoring. With the | ||
| 1136 | default system, `(n-2)^2', only regions of three squares or more | ||
| 1137 | will score any points at all. With the alternative `(n-1)^2' | ||
| 1138 | system, regions of two squares score a point each, and larger | ||
| 1139 | regions score relatively more points. | ||
| 1140 | |||
| 1141 | _Ensure solubility_ | ||
| 1142 | |||
| 1143 | If this option is ticked (the default state), generated grids | ||
| 1144 | will be guaranteed to have at least one solution. | ||
| 1145 | |||
| 1146 | If you turn it off, the game generator will not try to guarantee | ||
| 1147 | soluble grids; it will, however, still ensure that there are at | ||
| 1148 | least 2 squares of each colour on the grid at the start (since a | ||
| 1149 | grid with exactly one square of a given colour is _definitely_ | ||
| 1150 | insoluble). Grids generated with this option disabled may | ||
| 1151 | contain more large areas of contiguous colour, leading to | ||
| 1152 | opportunities for higher scores; they can also take less time to | ||
| 1153 | generate. | ||
| 1154 | |||
| 1155 | Chapter 14: Flip | ||
| 1156 | ---------------- | ||
| 1157 | |||
| 1158 | You have a grid of squares, some light and some dark. Your aim is to | ||
| 1159 | light all the squares up at the same time. You can choose any square | ||
| 1160 | and flip its state from light to dark or dark to light, but when you | ||
| 1161 | do so, other squares around it change state as well. | ||
| 1162 | |||
| 1163 | Each square contains a small diagram showing which other squares | ||
| 1164 | change when you flip it. | ||
| 1165 | |||
| 1166 | 14.1 Flip controls | ||
| 1167 | |||
| 1168 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. | ||
| 1169 | |||
| 1170 | Left-click in a square to flip it and its associated squares, or use | ||
| 1171 | the cursor keys to choose a square and the space bar or Enter key to | ||
| 1172 | flip. | ||
| 1173 | |||
| 1174 | If you use the `Solve' function on this game, it will mark some of | ||
| 1175 | the squares in red. If you click once in every square with a red | ||
| 1176 | mark, the game should be solved. (If you click in a square _without_ | ||
| 1177 | a red mark, a red mark will appear in it to indicate that you will | ||
| 1178 | need to reverse that operation to reach the solution.) | ||
| 1179 | |||
| 1180 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1181 | |||
| 1182 | 14.2 Flip parameters | ||
| 1183 | |||
| 1184 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1185 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1186 | |||
| 1187 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1188 | |||
| 1189 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1190 | |||
| 1191 | _Shape type_ | ||
| 1192 | |||
| 1193 | This control determines the shape of the region which is flipped | ||
| 1194 | by clicking in any given square. The default setting, `Crosses', | ||
| 1195 | causes every square to flip itself and its four immediate | ||
| 1196 | neighbours (or three or two if it's at an edge or corner). The | ||
| 1197 | other setting, `Random', causes a random shape to be chosen for | ||
| 1198 | every square, so the game is different every time. | ||
| 1199 | |||
| 1200 | Chapter 15: Guess | ||
| 1201 | ----------------- | ||
| 1202 | |||
| 1203 | You have a set of coloured pegs, and have to reproduce a | ||
| 1204 | predetermined sequence of them (chosen by the computer) within a | ||
| 1205 | certain number of guesses. | ||
| 1206 | |||
| 1207 | Each guess gets marked with the number of correctly-coloured pegs | ||
| 1208 | in the correct places (in black), and also the number of correctly- | ||
| 1209 | coloured pegs in the wrong places (in white). | ||
| 1210 | |||
| 1211 | This game is also known (and marketed, by Hasbro, mainly) as a board | ||
| 1212 | game `Mastermind', with 6 colours, 4 pegs per row, and 10 guesses. | ||
| 1213 | However, this version allows custom settings of number of colours | ||
| 1214 | (up to 10), number of pegs per row, and number of guesses. | ||
| 1215 | |||
| 1216 | Guess was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 1217 | |||
| 1218 | 15.1 Guess controls | ||
| 1219 | |||
| 1220 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. | ||
| 1221 | |||
| 1222 | With the mouse, drag a coloured peg from the tray on the left-hand | ||
| 1223 | side to its required position in the current guess; pegs may also | ||
| 1224 | be dragged from current and past guesses to copy them elsewhere. To | ||
| 1225 | remove a peg, drag it off its current position to somewhere invalid. | ||
| 1226 | |||
| 1227 | Right-clicking in the current guess adds a `hold' marker; pegs that | ||
| 1228 | have hold markers will be automatically added to the next guess | ||
| 1229 | after marking. | ||
| 1230 | |||
| 1231 | Alternatively, with the keyboard, the up and down cursor keys can | ||
| 1232 | be used to select a peg colour, the left and right keys to select a | ||
| 1233 | peg position, and the space bar or Enter key to place a peg of the | ||
| 1234 | selected colour in the chosen position. `D' or Backspace removes a | ||
| 1235 | peg, and Space adds a hold marker. | ||
| 1236 | |||
| 1237 | Pressing `h' or `?' will fill the current guess with a suggested | ||
| 1238 | guess. Using this is not recommended for 10 or more pegs as it is | ||
| 1239 | slow. | ||
| 1240 | |||
| 1241 | When the guess is complete, the smaller feedback pegs will be | ||
| 1242 | highlighted; clicking on these (or moving the peg cursor to them | ||
| 1243 | with the arrow keys and pressing the space bar or Enter key) will | ||
| 1244 | mark the current guess, copy any held pegs to the next guess, and | ||
| 1245 | move the `current guess' marker. | ||
| 1246 | |||
| 1247 | If you correctly position all the pegs the solution will be | ||
| 1248 | displayed below; if you run out of guesses (or select `Solve...') | ||
| 1249 | the solution will also be revealed. | ||
| 1250 | |||
| 1251 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1252 | |||
| 1253 | 15.2 Guess parameters | ||
| 1254 | |||
| 1255 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1256 | `Type' menu. The default game matches the parameters for the board | ||
| 1257 | game `Mastermind'. | ||
| 1258 | |||
| 1259 | _Colours_ | ||
| 1260 | |||
| 1261 | Number of colours the solution is chosen from; from 2 to 10 | ||
| 1262 | (more is harder). | ||
| 1263 | |||
| 1264 | _Pegs per guess_ | ||
| 1265 | |||
| 1266 | Number of pegs per guess (more is harder). | ||
| 1267 | |||
| 1268 | _Guesses_ | ||
| 1269 | |||
| 1270 | Number of guesses you have to find the solution in (fewer is | ||
| 1271 | harder). | ||
| 1272 | |||
| 1273 | _Allow blanks_ | ||
| 1274 | |||
| 1275 | Allows blank pegs to be given as part of a guess (makes it | ||
| 1276 | easier, because you know that those will never be counted as | ||
| 1277 | part of the solution). This is turned off by default. | ||
| 1278 | |||
| 1279 | Note that this doesn't allow blank pegs in the solution; if you | ||
| 1280 | really wanted that, use one extra colour. | ||
| 1281 | |||
| 1282 | _Allow duplicates_ | ||
| 1283 | |||
| 1284 | Allows the solution (and the guesses) to contain colours more | ||
| 1285 | than once; this increases the search space (making things | ||
| 1286 | harder), and is turned on by default. | ||
| 1287 | |||
| 1288 | Chapter 16: Pegs | ||
| 1289 | ---------------- | ||
| 1290 | |||
| 1291 | A number of pegs are placed in holes on a board. You can remove a | ||
| 1292 | peg by jumping an adjacent peg over it (horizontally or vertically) | ||
| 1293 | to a vacant hole on the other side. Your aim is to remove all but | ||
| 1294 | one of the pegs initially present. | ||
| 1295 | |||
| 1296 | This game, best known as `Peg Solitaire', is possibly one of the | ||
| 1297 | oldest puzzle games still commonly known. | ||
| 1298 | |||
| 1299 | 16.1 Pegs controls | ||
| 1300 | |||
| 1301 | To move a peg, drag it with the mouse from its current position to | ||
| 1302 | its final position. If the final position is exactly two holes away | ||
| 1303 | from the initial position, is currently unoccupied by a peg, and | ||
| 1304 | there is a peg in the intervening square, the move will be permitted | ||
| 1305 | and the intervening peg will be removed. | ||
| 1306 | |||
| 1307 | Vacant spaces which you can move a peg into are marked with holes. A | ||
| 1308 | space with no peg and no hole is not available for moving at all: it | ||
| 1309 | is an obstacle which you must work around. | ||
| 1310 | |||
| 1311 | You can also use the cursor keys to move a position indicator around | ||
| 1312 | the board. Pressing the return key while over a peg, followed by a | ||
| 1313 | cursor key, will jump the peg in that direction (if that is a legal | ||
| 1314 | move). | ||
| 1315 | |||
| 1316 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1317 | |||
| 1318 | 16.2 Pegs parameters | ||
| 1319 | |||
| 1320 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1321 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1322 | |||
| 1323 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1324 | |||
| 1325 | Size of grid in holes. | ||
| 1326 | |||
| 1327 | _Board type_ | ||
| 1328 | |||
| 1329 | Controls whether you are given a board of a standard shape or | ||
| 1330 | a randomly generated shape. The two standard shapes currently | ||
| 1331 | supported are `Cross' and `Octagon' (also commonly known as the | ||
| 1332 | English and European traditional board layouts respectively). | ||
| 1333 | Selecting `Random' will give you a different board shape every | ||
| 1334 | time (but always one that is known to have a solution). | ||
| 1335 | |||
| 1336 | Chapter 17: Dominosa | ||
| 1337 | -------------------- | ||
| 1338 | |||
| 1339 | A normal set of dominoes - that is, one instance of every | ||
| 1340 | (unordered) pair of numbers from 0 to 6 - has been arranged | ||
| 1341 | irregularly into a rectangle; then the number in each square has | ||
| 1342 | been written down and the dominoes themselves removed. Your task is | ||
| 1343 | to reconstruct the pattern by arranging the set of dominoes to match | ||
| 1344 | the provided array of numbers. | ||
| 1345 | |||
| 1346 | This puzzle is widely credited to O. S. Adler, and takes part of its | ||
| 1347 | name from those initials. | ||
| 1348 | |||
| 1349 | 17.1 Dominosa controls | ||
| 1350 | |||
| 1351 | Left-clicking between any two adjacent numbers places a domino | ||
| 1352 | covering them, or removes one if it is already present. Trying to | ||
| 1353 | place a domino which overlaps existing dominoes will remove the ones | ||
| 1354 | it overlaps. | ||
| 1355 | |||
| 1356 | Right-clicking between two adjacent numbers draws a line between | ||
| 1357 | them, which you can use to remind yourself that you know those two | ||
| 1358 | numbers are _not_ covered by a single domino. Right-clicking again | ||
| 1359 | removes the line. | ||
| 1360 | |||
| 1361 | You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor around the grid. | ||
| 1362 | When the cursor is half way between two adjacent numbers, pressing | ||
| 1363 | the return key will place a domino covering those numbers, or | ||
| 1364 | pressing the space bar will lay a line between the two squares. | ||
| 1365 | Repeating either action removes the domino or line. | ||
| 1366 | |||
| 1367 | Pressing a number key will highlight all occurrences of that number. | ||
| 1368 | Pressing that number again will clear the highlighting. Up to two | ||
| 1369 | different numbers can be highlighted at any given time. | ||
| 1370 | |||
| 1371 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1372 | |||
| 1373 | 17.2 Dominosa parameters | ||
| 1374 | |||
| 1375 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1376 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1377 | |||
| 1378 | _Maximum number on dominoes_ | ||
| 1379 | |||
| 1380 | Controls the size of the puzzle, by controlling the size of the | ||
| 1381 | set of dominoes used to make it. Dominoes with numbers going | ||
| 1382 | up to N will give rise to an (N+2) x (N+1) rectangle; so, in | ||
| 1383 | particular, the default value of 6 gives an 8x7 grid. | ||
| 1384 | |||
| 1385 | _Ensure unique solution_ | ||
| 1386 | |||
| 1387 | Normally, Dominosa will make sure that the puzzles it presents | ||
| 1388 | have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be | ||
| 1389 | more difficult and sometimes more subtle, so if you like you | ||
| 1390 | can turn off this feature. Also, finding _all_ the possible | ||
| 1391 | solutions can be an additional challenge for an advanced player. | ||
| 1392 | Turning off this option can also speed up puzzle generation. | ||
| 1393 | |||
| 1394 | Chapter 18: Untangle | ||
| 1395 | -------------------- | ||
| 1396 | |||
| 1397 | You are given a number of points, some of which have lines drawn | ||
| 1398 | between them. You can move the points about arbitrarily; your aim is | ||
| 1399 | to position the points so that no line crosses another. | ||
| 1400 | |||
| 1401 | I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called Planarity | ||
| 1402 | [7], written by John Tantalo. | ||
| 1403 | |||
| 1404 | [7] http://planarity.net | ||
| 1405 | |||
| 1406 | 18.1 Untangle controls | ||
| 1407 | |||
| 1408 | To move a point, click on it with the left mouse button and drag it | ||
| 1409 | into a new position. | ||
| 1410 | |||
| 1411 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1412 | |||
| 1413 | 18.2 Untangle parameters | ||
| 1414 | |||
| 1415 | There is only one parameter available from the `Custom...' option on | ||
| 1416 | the `Type' menu: | ||
| 1417 | |||
| 1418 | _Number of points_ | ||
| 1419 | |||
| 1420 | Controls the size of the puzzle, by specifying the number of | ||
| 1421 | points in the generated graph. | ||
| 1422 | |||
| 1423 | Chapter 19: Black Box | ||
| 1424 | --------------------- | ||
| 1425 | |||
| 1426 | A number of balls are hidden in a rectangular arena. You have to | ||
| 1427 | deduce the positions of the balls by firing lasers positioned at the | ||
| 1428 | edges of the arena and observing how their beams are deflected. | ||
| 1429 | |||
| 1430 | Beams will travel straight from their origin until they hit the | ||
| 1431 | opposite side of the arena (at which point they emerge), unless | ||
| 1432 | affected by balls in one of the following ways: | ||
| 1433 | |||
| 1434 | - A beam that hits a ball head-on is absorbed and will never re- | ||
| 1435 | emerge. This includes beams that meet a ball on the first rank | ||
| 1436 | of the arena. | ||
| 1437 | |||
| 1438 | - A beam with a ball in its front-left square and no ball ahead of | ||
| 1439 | it gets deflected 90 degrees to the right. | ||
| 1440 | |||
| 1441 | - A beam with a ball in its front-right square and no ball ahead | ||
| 1442 | of it gets similarly deflected to the left. | ||
| 1443 | |||
| 1444 | - A beam that would re-emerge from its entry location is | ||
| 1445 | considered to be `reflected'. | ||
| 1446 | |||
| 1447 | - A beam which would get deflected before entering the arena by a | ||
| 1448 | ball to the front-left or front-right of its entry point is also | ||
| 1449 | considered to be `reflected'. | ||
| 1450 | |||
| 1451 | Beams that are reflected appear as a `R'; beams that hit balls head- | ||
| 1452 | on appear as `H'. Otherwise, a number appears at the firing point | ||
| 1453 | and the location where the beam emerges (this number is unique to | ||
| 1454 | that shot). | ||
| 1455 | |||
| 1456 | You can place guesses as to the location of the balls, based on the | ||
| 1457 | entry and exit patterns of the beams; once you have placed enough | ||
| 1458 | balls a button appears enabling you to have your guesses checked. | ||
| 1459 | |||
| 1460 | Here is a diagram showing how the positions of balls can create each | ||
| 1461 | of the beam behaviours shown above: | ||
| 1462 | |||
| 1463 | 1RHR---- | ||
| 1464 | |..O.O...| | ||
| 1465 | 2........3 | ||
| 1466 | |........| | ||
| 1467 | |........| | ||
| 1468 | 3........| | ||
| 1469 | |......O.| | ||
| 1470 | H........| | ||
| 1471 | |.....O..| | ||
| 1472 | 12-RR--- | ||
| 1473 | |||
| 1474 | As shown, it is possible for a beam to receive multiple reflections | ||
| 1475 | before re-emerging (see turn 3). Similarly, a beam may be reflected | ||
| 1476 | (possibly more than once) before receiving a hit (the `H' on the | ||
| 1477 | left side of the example). | ||
| 1478 | |||
| 1479 | Note that any layout with more than 4 balls may have a non-unique | ||
| 1480 | solution. The following diagram illustrates this; if you know the | ||
| 1481 | board contains 5 balls, it is impossible to determine where the | ||
| 1482 | fifth ball is (possible positions marked with an x): | ||
| 1483 | |||
| 1484 | -------- | ||
| 1485 | |........| | ||
| 1486 | |........| | ||
| 1487 | |..O..O..| | ||
| 1488 | |...xx...| | ||
| 1489 | |...xx...| | ||
| 1490 | |..O..O..| | ||
| 1491 | |........| | ||
| 1492 | |........| | ||
| 1493 | -------- | ||
| 1494 | |||
| 1495 | For this reason, when you have your guesses checked, the game | ||
| 1496 | will check that your solution _produces the same results_ as the | ||
| 1497 | computer's, rather than that your solution is identical to the | ||
| 1498 | computer's. So in the above example, you could put the fifth ball at | ||
| 1499 | _any_ of the locations marked with an x, and you would still win. | ||
| 1500 | |||
| 1501 | Black Box was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 1502 | |||
| 1503 | 19.1 Black Box controls | ||
| 1504 | |||
| 1505 | To fire a laser beam, left-click in a square around the edge of | ||
| 1506 | the arena. The results will be displayed immediately. Clicking or | ||
| 1507 | holding the left button on one of these squares will highlight the | ||
| 1508 | current go (or a previous go) to confirm the exit point for that | ||
| 1509 | laser, if applicable. | ||
| 1510 | |||
| 1511 | To guess the location of a ball, left-click within the arena and a | ||
| 1512 | black circle will appear marking the guess; click again to remove | ||
| 1513 | the guessed ball. | ||
| 1514 | |||
| 1515 | Locations in the arena may be locked against modification by right- | ||
| 1516 | clicking; whole rows and columns may be similarly locked by right- | ||
| 1517 | clicking in the laser square above/below that column, or to the | ||
| 1518 | left/right of that row. | ||
| 1519 | |||
| 1520 | The cursor keys may also be used to move around the grid. Pressing | ||
| 1521 | the Enter key will fire a laser or add a new ball-location guess, | ||
| 1522 | and pressing Space will lock a cell, row, or column. | ||
| 1523 | |||
| 1524 | When an appropriate number of balls have been guessed, a button will | ||
| 1525 | appear at the top-left corner of the grid; clicking that (with mouse | ||
| 1526 | or cursor) will check your guesses. | ||
| 1527 | |||
| 1528 | If you click the `check' button and your guesses are not correct, | ||
| 1529 | the game will show you the minimum information necessary to | ||
| 1530 | demonstrate this to you, so you can try again. If your ball | ||
| 1531 | positions are not consistent with the beam paths you already know | ||
| 1532 | about, one beam path will be circled to indicate that it proves you | ||
| 1533 | wrong. If your positions match all the existing beam paths but are | ||
| 1534 | still wrong, one new beam path will be revealed (written in red) | ||
| 1535 | which is not consistent with your current guesses. | ||
| 1536 | |||
| 1537 | If you decide to give up completely, you can select Solve to reveal | ||
| 1538 | the actual ball positions. At this point, correctly-placed balls | ||
| 1539 | will be displayed as filled black circles, incorrectly-placed balls | ||
| 1540 | as filled black circles with red crosses, and missing balls as | ||
| 1541 | filled red circles. In addition, a red circle marks any laser you | ||
| 1542 | had already fired which is not consistent with your ball layout | ||
| 1543 | (just as when you press the `check' button), and red text marks | ||
| 1544 | any laser you _could_ have fired in order to distinguish your ball | ||
| 1545 | layout from the correct one. | ||
| 1546 | |||
| 1547 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1548 | |||
| 1549 | 19.2 Black Box parameters | ||
| 1550 | |||
| 1551 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1552 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1553 | |||
| 1554 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1555 | |||
| 1556 | Size of grid in squares. There are 2 x _Width_ x _Height_ lasers | ||
| 1557 | per grid, two per row and two per column. | ||
| 1558 | |||
| 1559 | _No. of balls_ | ||
| 1560 | |||
| 1561 | Number of balls to place in the grid. This can be a single | ||
| 1562 | number, or a range (separated with a hyphen, like `2-6'), | ||
| 1563 | and determines the number of balls to place on the grid. | ||
| 1564 | The `reveal' button is only enabled if you have guessed an | ||
| 1565 | appropriate number of balls; a guess using a different number | ||
| 1566 | to the original solution is still acceptable, if all the beam | ||
| 1567 | inputs and outputs match. | ||
| 1568 | |||
| 1569 | Chapter 20: Slant | ||
| 1570 | ----------------- | ||
| 1571 | |||
| 1572 | You have a grid of squares. Your aim is to draw a diagonal line | ||
| 1573 | through each square, and choose which way each line slants so that | ||
| 1574 | the following conditions are met: | ||
| 1575 | |||
| 1576 | - The diagonal lines never form a loop. | ||
| 1577 | |||
| 1578 | - Any point with a circled number has precisely that many lines | ||
| 1579 | meeting at it. (Thus, a 4 is the centre of a cross shape, | ||
| 1580 | whereas a zero is the centre of a diamond shape - or rather, a | ||
| 1581 | partial diamond shape, because a zero can never appear in the | ||
| 1582 | middle of the grid because that would immediately cause a loop.) | ||
| 1583 | |||
| 1584 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli [8]. | ||
| 1585 | |||
| 1586 | [8] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/ja/puzzles/gokigen_naname (in Japanese) | ||
| 1587 | |||
| 1588 | 20.1 Slant controls | ||
| 1589 | |||
| 1590 | Left-clicking in a blank square will place a \ in it (a line leaning | ||
| 1591 | to the left, i.e. running from the top left of the square to the | ||
| 1592 | bottom right). Right-clicking in a blank square will place a / in it | ||
| 1593 | (leaning to the right, running from top right to bottom left). | ||
| 1594 | |||
| 1595 | Continuing to click either button will cycle between the three | ||
| 1596 | possible square contents. Thus, if you left-click repeatedly in a | ||
| 1597 | blank square it will change from blank to \ to / back to blank, and | ||
| 1598 | if you right-click repeatedly the square will change from blank to / | ||
| 1599 | to \ back to blank. (Therefore, you can play the game entirely with | ||
| 1600 | one button if you need to.) | ||
| 1601 | |||
| 1602 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing | ||
| 1603 | the return or space keys will place a \ or a /, respectively, and | ||
| 1604 | will then cycle them as above. You can also press / or \ to place a | ||
| 1605 | / or \, respectively, independent of what is already in the cursor | ||
| 1606 | square. Backspace removes any line from the cursor square. | ||
| 1607 | |||
| 1608 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1609 | |||
| 1610 | 20.2 Slant parameters | ||
| 1611 | |||
| 1612 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1613 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1614 | |||
| 1615 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1616 | |||
| 1617 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1618 | |||
| 1619 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 1620 | |||
| 1621 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Hard | ||
| 1622 | level, you are required to do deductions based on knowledge of | ||
| 1623 | _relationships_ between squares rather than always being able to | ||
| 1624 | deduce the exact contents of one square at a time. (For example, | ||
| 1625 | you might know that two squares slant in the same direction, | ||
| 1626 | even if you don't yet know what that direction is, and this | ||
| 1627 | might enable you to deduce something about still other squares.) | ||
| 1628 | Even at Hard level, guesswork and backtracking should never be | ||
| 1629 | necessary. | ||
| 1630 | |||
| 1631 | Chapter 21: Light Up | ||
| 1632 | -------------------- | ||
| 1633 | |||
| 1634 | You have a grid of squares. Some are filled in black; some of the | ||
| 1635 | black squares are numbered. Your aim is to `light up' all the empty | ||
| 1636 | squares by placing light bulbs in some of them. | ||
| 1637 | |||
| 1638 | Each light bulb illuminates the square it is on, plus all squares | ||
| 1639 | in line with it horizontally or vertically unless a black square is | ||
| 1640 | blocking the way. | ||
| 1641 | |||
| 1642 | To win the game, you must satisfy the following conditions: | ||
| 1643 | |||
| 1644 | - All non-black squares are lit. | ||
| 1645 | |||
| 1646 | - No light is lit by another light. | ||
| 1647 | |||
| 1648 | - All numbered black squares have exactly that number of lights | ||
| 1649 | adjacent to them (in the four squares above, below, and to the | ||
| 1650 | side). | ||
| 1651 | |||
| 1652 | Non-numbered black squares may have any number of lights adjacent to | ||
| 1653 | them. | ||
| 1654 | |||
| 1655 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli [9]. | ||
| 1656 | |||
| 1657 | Light Up was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 1658 | |||
| 1659 | [9] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/akari.html (beware of Flash) | ||
| 1660 | |||
| 1661 | 21.1 Light Up controls | ||
| 1662 | |||
| 1663 | Left-clicking in a non-black square will toggle the presence of a | ||
| 1664 | light in that square. Right-clicking in a non-black square toggles a | ||
| 1665 | mark there to aid solving; it can be used to highlight squares that | ||
| 1666 | cannot be lit, for example. | ||
| 1667 | |||
| 1668 | You may not place a light in a marked square, nor place a mark in a | ||
| 1669 | lit square. | ||
| 1670 | |||
| 1671 | The game will highlight obvious errors in red. Lights lit by other | ||
| 1672 | lights are highlighted in this way, as are numbered squares which do | ||
| 1673 | not (or cannot) have the right number of lights next to them. | ||
| 1674 | |||
| 1675 | Thus, the grid is solved when all non-black squares have yellow | ||
| 1676 | highlights and there are no red lights. | ||
| 1677 | |||
| 1678 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1679 | |||
| 1680 | 21.2 Light Up parameters | ||
| 1681 | |||
| 1682 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1683 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1684 | |||
| 1685 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1686 | |||
| 1687 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1688 | |||
| 1689 | _%age of black squares_ | ||
| 1690 | |||
| 1691 | Rough percentage of black squares in the grid. | ||
| 1692 | |||
| 1693 | This is a hint rather than an instruction. If the grid generator | ||
| 1694 | is unable to generate a puzzle to this precise specification, it | ||
| 1695 | will increase the proportion of black squares until it can. | ||
| 1696 | |||
| 1697 | _Symmetry_ | ||
| 1698 | |||
| 1699 | Allows you to specify the required symmetry of the black squares | ||
| 1700 | in the grid. (This does not affect the difficulty of the puzzles | ||
| 1701 | noticeably.) | ||
| 1702 | |||
| 1703 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 1704 | |||
| 1705 | `Easy' means that the puzzles should be soluble without | ||
| 1706 | backtracking or guessing, `Hard' means that some guesses will | ||
| 1707 | probably be necessary. | ||
| 1708 | |||
| 1709 | Chapter 22: Map | ||
| 1710 | --------------- | ||
| 1711 | |||
| 1712 | You are given a map consisting of a number of regions. Your task is | ||
| 1713 | to colour each region with one of four colours, in such a way that | ||
| 1714 | no two regions sharing a boundary have the same colour. You are | ||
| 1715 | provided with some regions already coloured, sufficient to make the | ||
| 1716 | remainder of the solution unique. | ||
| 1717 | |||
| 1718 | Only regions which share a length of border are required to be | ||
| 1719 | different colours. Two regions which meet at only one _point_ (i.e. | ||
| 1720 | are diagonally separated) may be the same colour. | ||
| 1721 | |||
| 1722 | I believe this puzzle is original; I've never seen an implementation | ||
| 1723 | of it anywhere else. The concept of a four-colouring puzzle was | ||
| 1724 | suggested by Owen Dunn; credit must also go to Nikoli and to Verity | ||
| 1725 | Allan for inspiring the train of thought that led to me realising | ||
| 1726 | Owen's suggestion was a viable puzzle. Thanks also to Gareth Taylor | ||
| 1727 | for many detailed suggestions. | ||
| 1728 | |||
| 1729 | 22.1 Map controls | ||
| 1730 | |||
| 1731 | To colour a region, click the left mouse button on an existing | ||
| 1732 | region of the desired colour and drag that colour into the new | ||
| 1733 | region. | ||
| 1734 | |||
| 1735 | (The program will always ensure the starting puzzle has at least one | ||
| 1736 | region of each colour, so that this is always possible!) | ||
| 1737 | |||
| 1738 | If you need to clear a region, you can drag from an empty region, or | ||
| 1739 | from the puzzle boundary if there are no empty regions left. | ||
| 1740 | |||
| 1741 | Dragging a colour using the _right_ mouse button will stipple the | ||
| 1742 | region in that colour, which you can use as a note to yourself that | ||
| 1743 | you think the region _might_ be that colour. A region can contain | ||
| 1744 | stipples in multiple colours at once. (This is often useful at the | ||
| 1745 | harder difficulty levels.) | ||
| 1746 | |||
| 1747 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the map: the colour | ||
| 1748 | of the cursor indicates the position of the colour you would drag | ||
| 1749 | (which is not obvious if you're on a region's boundary, since it | ||
| 1750 | depends on the direction from which you approached the boundary). | ||
| 1751 | Pressing the return key starts a drag of that colour, as above, | ||
| 1752 | which you control with the cursor keys; pressing the return key | ||
| 1753 | again finishes the drag. The space bar can be used similarly to | ||
| 1754 | create a stippled region. Double-pressing the return key (without | ||
| 1755 | moving the cursor) will clear the region, as a drag from an empty | ||
| 1756 | region does: this is useful with the cursor mode if you have filled | ||
| 1757 | the entire map in but need to correct the layout. | ||
| 1758 | |||
| 1759 | If you press L during play, the game will toggle display of a number | ||
| 1760 | in each region of the map. This is useful if you want to discuss a | ||
| 1761 | particular puzzle instance with a friend - having an unambiguous | ||
| 1762 | name for each region is much easier than trying to refer to them all | ||
| 1763 | by names such as `the one down and right of the brown one on the top | ||
| 1764 | border'. | ||
| 1765 | |||
| 1766 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1767 | |||
| 1768 | 22.2 Map parameters | ||
| 1769 | |||
| 1770 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1771 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1772 | |||
| 1773 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1774 | |||
| 1775 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1776 | |||
| 1777 | _Regions_ | ||
| 1778 | |||
| 1779 | Number of regions in the generated map. | ||
| 1780 | |||
| 1781 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 1782 | |||
| 1783 | In `Easy' mode, there should always be at least one region whose | ||
| 1784 | colour can be determined trivially. In `Normal' and `Hard' | ||
| 1785 | modes, you will have to use increasingly complex logic to deduce | ||
| 1786 | the colour of some regions. However, it will always be possible | ||
| 1787 | without having to guess or backtrack. | ||
| 1788 | |||
| 1789 | In `Unreasonable' mode, the program will feel free to generate | ||
| 1790 | puzzles which are as hard as it can possibly make them: the | ||
| 1791 | only constraint is that they should still have a unique | ||
| 1792 | solution. Solving Unreasonable puzzles may require guessing and | ||
| 1793 | backtracking. | ||
| 1794 | |||
| 1795 | Chapter 23: Loopy | ||
| 1796 | ----------------- | ||
| 1797 | |||
| 1798 | You are given a grid of dots, marked with yellow lines to indicate | ||
| 1799 | which dots you are allowed to connect directly together. Your aim is | ||
| 1800 | to use some subset of those yellow lines to draw a single unbroken | ||
| 1801 | loop from dot to dot within the grid. | ||
| 1802 | |||
| 1803 | Some of the spaces between the lines contain numbers. These numbers | ||
| 1804 | indicate how many of the lines around that space form part of the | ||
| 1805 | loop. The loop you draw must correctly satisfy all of these clues to | ||
| 1806 | be considered a correct solution. | ||
| 1807 | |||
| 1808 | In the default mode, the dots are arranged in a grid of squares; | ||
| 1809 | however, you can also play on triangular or hexagonal grids, or even | ||
| 1810 | more exotic ones. | ||
| 1811 | |||
| 1812 | Credit for the basic puzzle idea goes to Nikoli [10]. | ||
| 1813 | |||
| 1814 | Loopy was originally contributed to this collection by Mike Pinna, | ||
| 1815 | and subsequently enhanced to handle various types of non-square grid | ||
| 1816 | by Lambros Lambrou. | ||
| 1817 | |||
| 1818 | [10] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/slitherlink.html (beware of | ||
| 1819 | Flash) | ||
| 1820 | |||
| 1821 | 23.1 Loopy controls | ||
| 1822 | |||
| 1823 | Click the left mouse button on a yellow line to turn it black, | ||
| 1824 | indicating that you think it is part of the loop. Click again to | ||
| 1825 | turn the line yellow again (meaning you aren't sure yet). | ||
| 1826 | |||
| 1827 | If you are sure that a particular line segment is _not_ part of the | ||
| 1828 | loop, you can click the right mouse button to remove it completely. | ||
| 1829 | Again, clicking a second time will turn the line back to yellow. | ||
| 1830 | |||
| 1831 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1832 | |||
| 1833 | 23.2 Loopy parameters | ||
| 1834 | |||
| 1835 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1836 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1837 | |||
| 1838 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1839 | |||
| 1840 | Size of grid, measured in number of regions across and down. For | ||
| 1841 | square grids, it's clear how this is counted; for other types of | ||
| 1842 | grid you may have to think a bit to see how the dimensions are | ||
| 1843 | measured. | ||
| 1844 | |||
| 1845 | _Grid type_ | ||
| 1846 | |||
| 1847 | Allows you to choose between a selection of types of tiling. | ||
| 1848 | Some have all the faces the same but may have multiple different | ||
| 1849 | types of vertex (e.g. the _Cairo_ or _Kites_ mode); others | ||
| 1850 | have all the vertices the same but may have different types of | ||
| 1851 | face (e.g. the _Great Hexagonal_). The square, triangular and | ||
| 1852 | honeycomb grids are fully regular, and have all their vertices | ||
| 1853 | _and_ faces the same; this makes them the least confusing to | ||
| 1854 | play. | ||
| 1855 | |||
| 1856 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 1857 | |||
| 1858 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. | ||
| 1859 | |||
| 1860 | Chapter 24: Inertia | ||
| 1861 | ------------------- | ||
| 1862 | |||
| 1863 | You are a small green ball sitting in a grid full of obstacles. Your | ||
| 1864 | aim is to collect all the gems without running into any mines. | ||
| 1865 | |||
| 1866 | You can move the ball in any orthogonal _or diagonal_ direction. | ||
| 1867 | Once the ball starts moving, it will continue until something stops | ||
| 1868 | it. A wall directly in its path will stop it (but if it is moving | ||
| 1869 | diagonally, it will move through a diagonal gap between two other | ||
| 1870 | walls without stopping). Also, some of the squares are `stops'; when | ||
| 1871 | the ball moves on to a stop, it will stop moving no matter what | ||
| 1872 | direction it was going in. Gems do _not_ stop the ball; it picks | ||
| 1873 | them up and keeps on going. | ||
| 1874 | |||
| 1875 | Running into a mine is fatal. Even if you picked up the last gem in | ||
| 1876 | the same move which then hit a mine, the game will count you as dead | ||
| 1877 | rather than victorious. | ||
| 1878 | |||
| 1879 | This game was originally implemented for Windows by Ben Olmstead | ||
| 1880 | [11], who was kind enough to release his source code on request so | ||
| 1881 | that it could be re-implemented for this collection. | ||
| 1882 | |||
| 1883 | [11] http://xn13.com/ | ||
| 1884 | |||
| 1885 | 24.1 Inertia controls | ||
| 1886 | |||
| 1887 | You can move the ball in any of the eight directions using the | ||
| 1888 | numeric keypad. Alternatively, if you click the left mouse button | ||
| 1889 | on the grid, the ball will begin a move in the general direction of | ||
| 1890 | where you clicked. | ||
| 1891 | |||
| 1892 | If you use the `Solve' function on this game, the program will | ||
| 1893 | compute a path through the grid which collects all the remaining | ||
| 1894 | gems and returns to the current position. A hint arrow will appear | ||
| 1895 | on the ball indicating the direction in which you should move to | ||
| 1896 | begin on this path. If you then move in that direction, the arrow | ||
| 1897 | will update to indicate the next direction on the path. You can | ||
| 1898 | also press Space to automatically move in the direction of the hint | ||
| 1899 | arrow. If you move in a different direction from the one shown | ||
| 1900 | by the arrow, arrows will be shown only if the puzzle is still | ||
| 1901 | solvable. | ||
| 1902 | |||
| 1903 | All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available. In | ||
| 1904 | particular, if you do run into a mine and die, you can use the Undo | ||
| 1905 | function and resume playing from before the fatal move. The game | ||
| 1906 | will keep track of the number of times you have done this. | ||
| 1907 | |||
| 1908 | 24.2 Inertia parameters | ||
| 1909 | |||
| 1910 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1911 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1912 | |||
| 1913 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1914 | |||
| 1915 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1916 | |||
| 1917 | Chapter 25: Tents | ||
| 1918 | ----------------- | ||
| 1919 | |||
| 1920 | You have a grid of squares, some of which contain trees. Your aim is | ||
| 1921 | to place tents in some of the remaining squares, in such a way that | ||
| 1922 | the following conditions are met: | ||
| 1923 | |||
| 1924 | - There are exactly as many tents as trees. | ||
| 1925 | |||
| 1926 | - The tents and trees can be matched up in such a way that each | ||
| 1927 | tent is directly adjacent (horizontally or vertically, but not | ||
| 1928 | diagonally) to its own tree. However, a tent may be adjacent to | ||
| 1929 | other trees as well as its own. | ||
| 1930 | |||
| 1931 | - No two tents are adjacent horizontally, vertically _or | ||
| 1932 | diagonally_. | ||
| 1933 | |||
| 1934 | - The number of tents in each row, and in each column, matches the | ||
| 1935 | numbers given round the sides of the grid. | ||
| 1936 | |||
| 1937 | This puzzle can be found in several places on the Internet, and was | ||
| 1938 | brought to my attention by e-mail. I don't know who I should credit | ||
| 1939 | for inventing it. | ||
| 1940 | |||
| 1941 | 25.1 Tents controls | ||
| 1942 | |||
| 1943 | Left-clicking in a blank square will place a tent in it. Right- | ||
| 1944 | clicking in a blank square will colour it green, indicating that you | ||
| 1945 | are sure it _isn't_ a tent. Clicking either button in an occupied | ||
| 1946 | square will clear it. | ||
| 1947 | |||
| 1948 | If you _drag_ with the right button along a row or column, every | ||
| 1949 | blank square in the region you cover will be turned green, and no | ||
| 1950 | other squares will be affected. (This is useful for clearing the | ||
| 1951 | remainder of a row once you have placed all its tents.) | ||
| 1952 | |||
| 1953 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing | ||
| 1954 | the return key over an empty square will place a tent, and pressing | ||
| 1955 | the space bar over an empty square will colour it green; either key | ||
| 1956 | will clear an occupied square. Holding Shift and pressing the cursor | ||
| 1957 | keys will colour empty squares green. Holding Control and pressing | ||
| 1958 | the cursor keys will colour green both empty squares and squares | ||
| 1959 | with tents. | ||
| 1960 | |||
| 1961 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 1962 | |||
| 1963 | 25.2 Tents parameters | ||
| 1964 | |||
| 1965 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 1966 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 1967 | |||
| 1968 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 1969 | |||
| 1970 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 1971 | |||
| 1972 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 1973 | |||
| 1974 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult | ||
| 1975 | puzzles require more complex deductions, but at present none | ||
| 1976 | of the available difficulty levels requires guesswork or | ||
| 1977 | backtracking. | ||
| 1978 | |||
| 1979 | Chapter 26: Bridges | ||
| 1980 | ------------------- | ||
| 1981 | |||
| 1982 | You have a set of islands distributed across the playing area. | ||
| 1983 | Each island contains a number. Your aim is to connect the islands | ||
| 1984 | together with bridges, in such a way that: | ||
| 1985 | |||
| 1986 | - Bridges run horizontally or vertically. | ||
| 1987 | |||
| 1988 | - The number of bridges terminating at any island is equal to the | ||
| 1989 | number written in that island. | ||
| 1990 | |||
| 1991 | - Two bridges may run in parallel between the same two islands, | ||
| 1992 | but no more than two may do so. | ||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | - No bridge crosses another bridge. | ||
| 1995 | |||
| 1996 | - All the islands are connected together. | ||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | There are some configurable alternative modes, which involve | ||
| 1999 | changing the parallel-bridge limit to something other than 2, and | ||
| 2000 | introducing the additional constraint that no sequence of bridges | ||
| 2001 | may form a loop from one island back to the same island. The rules | ||
| 2002 | stated above are the default ones. | ||
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli [12]. | ||
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | Bridges was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2007 | |||
| 2008 | [12] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/hashiwokakero.html (beware | ||
| 2009 | of Flash) | ||
| 2010 | |||
| 2011 | 26.1 Bridges controls | ||
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | To place a bridge between two islands, click the mouse down on one | ||
| 2014 | island and drag it towards the other. You do not need to drag all | ||
| 2015 | the way to the other island; you only need to move the mouse far | ||
| 2016 | enough for the intended bridge direction to be unambiguous. (So you | ||
| 2017 | can keep the mouse near the starting island and conveniently throw | ||
| 2018 | bridges out from it in many directions.) | ||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | Doing this again when a bridge is already present will add another | ||
| 2021 | parallel bridge. If there are already as many bridges between the | ||
| 2022 | two islands as permitted by the current game rules (i.e. two by | ||
| 2023 | default), the same dragging action will remove all of them. | ||
| 2024 | |||
| 2025 | If you want to remind yourself that two islands definitely _do not_ | ||
| 2026 | have a bridge between them, you can right-drag between them in the | ||
| 2027 | same way to draw a `non-bridge' marker. | ||
| 2028 | |||
| 2029 | If you think you have finished with an island (i.e. you have placed | ||
| 2030 | all its bridges and are confident that they are in the right | ||
| 2031 | places), you can mark the island as finished by left-clicking on it. | ||
| 2032 | This will highlight it and all the bridges connected to it, and you | ||
| 2033 | will be prevented from accidentally modifying any of those bridges | ||
| 2034 | in future. Left-clicking again on a highlighted island will unmark | ||
| 2035 | it and restore your ability to modify it. | ||
| 2036 | |||
| 2037 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid: if | ||
| 2038 | possible the cursor will always move orthogonally, otherwise it | ||
| 2039 | will move towards the nearest island to the indicated direction. | ||
| 2040 | Holding Control and pressing a cursor key will lay a bridge in that | ||
| 2041 | direction (if available); Shift and a cursor key will lay a `non- | ||
| 2042 | bridge' marker. Pressing the return key followed by a cursor key | ||
| 2043 | will also lay a bridge in that direction. | ||
| 2044 | |||
| 2045 | You can mark an island as finished by pressing the space bar or by | ||
| 2046 | pressing the return key twice. | ||
| 2047 | |||
| 2048 | By pressing a number key, you can jump to the nearest island with | ||
| 2049 | that number. Letters `a', ..., `f' count as 10, ..., 15 and `0' as | ||
| 2050 | 16. | ||
| 2051 | |||
| 2052 | Violations of the puzzle rules will be marked in red: | ||
| 2053 | |||
| 2054 | - An island with too many bridges will be highlighted in red. | ||
| 2055 | |||
| 2056 | - An island with too few bridges will be highlighted in red if it | ||
| 2057 | is definitely an error (as opposed to merely not being finished | ||
| 2058 | yet): if adding enough bridges would involve having to cross | ||
| 2059 | another bridge or remove a non-bridge marker, or if the island | ||
| 2060 | has been highlighted as complete. | ||
| 2061 | |||
| 2062 | - A group of islands and bridges may be highlighted in red if it | ||
| 2063 | is a closed subset of the puzzle with no way to connect it to | ||
| 2064 | the rest of the islands. For example, if you directly connect | ||
| 2065 | two 1s together with a bridge and they are not the only two | ||
| 2066 | islands on the grid, they will light up red to indicate that | ||
| 2067 | such a group cannot be contained in any valid solution. | ||
| 2068 | |||
| 2069 | - If you have selected the (non-default) option to disallow loops | ||
| 2070 | in the solution, a group of bridges which forms a loop will be | ||
| 2071 | highlighted. | ||
| 2072 | |||
| 2073 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2074 | |||
| 2075 | 26.2 Bridges parameters | ||
| 2076 | |||
| 2077 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2078 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2079 | |||
| 2080 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2081 | |||
| 2082 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2083 | |||
| 2084 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2085 | |||
| 2086 | Difficulty level of puzzle. | ||
| 2087 | |||
| 2088 | _Allow loops_ | ||
| 2089 | |||
| 2090 | This is set by default. If cleared, puzzles will be generated in | ||
| 2091 | such a way that they are always soluble without creating a loop, | ||
| 2092 | and solutions which do involve a loop will be disallowed. | ||
| 2093 | |||
| 2094 | _Max. bridges per direction_ | ||
| 2095 | |||
| 2096 | Maximum number of bridges in any particular direction. The | ||
| 2097 | default is 2, but you can change it to 1, 3 or 4. In general, | ||
| 2098 | fewer is easier. | ||
| 2099 | |||
| 2100 | _%age of island squares_ | ||
| 2101 | |||
| 2102 | Gives a rough percentage of islands the generator will try and | ||
| 2103 | lay before finishing the puzzle. Certain layouts will not manage | ||
| 2104 | to lay enough islands; this is an upper bound. | ||
| 2105 | |||
| 2106 | _Expansion factor (%age)_ | ||
| 2107 | |||
| 2108 | The grid generator works by picking an existing island at random | ||
| 2109 | (after first creating an initial island somewhere). It then | ||
| 2110 | decides on a direction (at random), and then works out how far | ||
| 2111 | it could extend before creating another island. This parameter | ||
| 2112 | determines how likely it is to extend as far as it can, rather | ||
| 2113 | than choosing somewhere closer. | ||
| 2114 | |||
| 2115 | High expansion factors usually mean easier puzzles with fewer | ||
| 2116 | possible islands; low expansion factors can create lots of | ||
| 2117 | tightly-packed islands. | ||
| 2118 | |||
| 2119 | Chapter 27: Unequal | ||
| 2120 | ------------------- | ||
| 2121 | |||
| 2122 | You have a square grid; each square may contain a digit from 1 to | ||
| 2123 | the size of the grid, and some squares have clue signs between them. | ||
| 2124 | Your aim is to fully populate the grid with numbers such that: | ||
| 2125 | |||
| 2126 | - Each row contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 2127 | |||
| 2128 | - Each column contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 2129 | |||
| 2130 | - All the clue signs are satisfied. | ||
| 2131 | |||
| 2132 | There are two modes for this game, `Unequal' and `Adjacent'. | ||
| 2133 | |||
| 2134 | In `Unequal' mode, the clue signs are greater-than symbols | ||
| 2135 | indicating one square's value is greater than its neighbour's. In | ||
| 2136 | this mode not all clues may be visible, particularly at higher | ||
| 2137 | difficulty levels. | ||
| 2138 | |||
| 2139 | In `Adjacent' mode, the clue signs are bars indicating one square's | ||
| 2140 | value is numerically adjacent (i.e. one higher or one lower) than | ||
| 2141 | its neighbour. In this mode all clues are always visible: absence of | ||
| 2142 | a bar thus means that a square's value is definitely not numerically | ||
| 2143 | adjacent to that neighbour's. | ||
| 2144 | |||
| 2145 | In `Trivial' difficulty level (available via the `Custom' game type | ||
| 2146 | selector), there are no greater-than signs in `Unequal' mode; the | ||
| 2147 | puzzle is to solve the Latin square only. | ||
| 2148 | |||
| 2149 | At the time of writing, the `Unequal' mode of this puzzle is | ||
| 2150 | appearing in the Guardian weekly under the name `Futoshiki'. | ||
| 2151 | |||
| 2152 | Unequal was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2153 | |||
| 2154 | 27.1 Unequal controls | ||
| 2155 | |||
| 2156 | Unequal shares much of its control system with Solo. | ||
| 2157 | |||
| 2158 | To play Unequal, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then | ||
| 2159 | type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you | ||
| 2160 | make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press | ||
| 2161 | Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature). | ||
| 2162 | |||
| 2163 | If you _right_-click in a square and then type a number, that | ||
| 2164 | number will be entered in the square as a `pencil mark'. You can | ||
| 2165 | have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares | ||
| 2166 | containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks. | ||
| 2167 | |||
| 2168 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you | ||
| 2169 | use them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a | ||
| 2170 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about | ||
| 2171 | a particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible | ||
| 2172 | numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like. | ||
| 2173 | |||
| 2174 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type | ||
| 2175 | the same number again. | ||
| 2176 | |||
| 2177 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type | ||
| 2178 | a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and | ||
| 2179 | pressing space will also erase pencil marks. | ||
| 2180 | |||
| 2181 | As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the | ||
| 2182 | digit keys to set numbers or pencil marks. You can also use the `M' | ||
| 2183 | key to auto-fill every numeric hint, ready for removal as required, | ||
| 2184 | or the `H' key to do the same but also to remove all obvious hints. | ||
| 2185 | |||
| 2186 | Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the mark around the grid. | ||
| 2187 | Pressing the return key toggles the mark (from a normal mark to a | ||
| 2188 | pencil mark), and typing a number in is entered in the square in the | ||
| 2189 | appropriate way; typing in a 0 or using the space bar will clear a | ||
| 2190 | filled square. | ||
| 2191 | |||
| 2192 | Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark | ||
| 2193 | it if it is already marked. Holding Control or Shift and pressing | ||
| 2194 | an arrow key likewise marks any clue adjacent to the cursor in the | ||
| 2195 | given direction. | ||
| 2196 | |||
| 2197 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2198 | |||
| 2199 | 27.2 Unequal parameters | ||
| 2200 | |||
| 2201 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2202 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2203 | |||
| 2204 | _Mode_ | ||
| 2205 | |||
| 2206 | Mode of the puzzle (`Unequal' or `Adjacent') | ||
| 2207 | |||
| 2208 | _Size (s*s)_ | ||
| 2209 | |||
| 2210 | Size of grid. | ||
| 2211 | |||
| 2212 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2213 | |||
| 2214 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Trivial | ||
| 2215 | level, there are no greater-than signs; the puzzle is to solve | ||
| 2216 | the Latin square only. At Recursive level (only available via | ||
| 2217 | the `Custom' game type selector) backtracking will be required, | ||
| 2218 | but the solution should still be unique. The levels in between | ||
| 2219 | require increasingly complex reasoning to avoid having to | ||
| 2220 | backtrack. | ||
| 2221 | |||
| 2222 | Chapter 28: Galaxies | ||
| 2223 | -------------------- | ||
| 2224 | |||
| 2225 | You have a rectangular grid containing a number of dots. Your aim is | ||
| 2226 | to draw edges along the grid lines which divide the rectangle into | ||
| 2227 | regions in such a way that every region is 180-degree rotationally | ||
| 2228 | symmetric, and contains exactly one dot which is located at its | ||
| 2229 | centre of symmetry. | ||
| 2230 | |||
| 2231 | This puzzle was invented by Nikoli [13], under the name `Tentai | ||
| 2232 | Show'; its name is commonly translated into English as `Spiral | ||
| 2233 | Galaxies'. | ||
| 2234 | |||
| 2235 | Galaxies was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2236 | |||
| 2237 | [13] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/astronomical_show.html | ||
| 2238 | |||
| 2239 | 28.1 Galaxies controls | ||
| 2240 | |||
| 2241 | Left-click on any grid line to draw an edge if there isn't one | ||
| 2242 | already, or to remove one if there is. When you create a valid | ||
| 2243 | region (one which is closed, contains exactly one dot, is 180-degree | ||
| 2244 | symmetric about that dot, and contains no extraneous edges inside | ||
| 2245 | it) it will be highlighted automatically; so your aim is to have the | ||
| 2246 | whole grid highlighted in that way. | ||
| 2247 | |||
| 2248 | During solving, you might know that a particular grid square belongs | ||
| 2249 | to a specific dot, but not be sure of where the edges go and which | ||
| 2250 | other squares are connected to the dot. In order to mark this so you | ||
| 2251 | don't forget, you can right-click on the dot and drag, which will | ||
| 2252 | create an arrow marker pointing at the dot. Drop that in a square of | ||
| 2253 | your choice and it will remind you which dot it's associated with. | ||
| 2254 | You can also right-click on existing arrows to pick them up and move | ||
| 2255 | them, or destroy them by dropping them off the edge of the grid. | ||
| 2256 | (Also, if you're not sure which dot an arrow is pointing at, you can | ||
| 2257 | pick it up and move it around to make it clearer. It will swivel | ||
| 2258 | constantly as you drag it, to stay pointed at its parent dot.) | ||
| 2259 | |||
| 2260 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares and | ||
| 2261 | lines. Pressing the return key when over a grid line will draw or | ||
| 2262 | clear its edge, as above. Pressing the return key when over a dot | ||
| 2263 | will pick up an arrow, to be dropped the next time the return key | ||
| 2264 | is pressed; this can also be used to move existing arrows around, | ||
| 2265 | removing them by dropping them on a dot or another arrow. | ||
| 2266 | |||
| 2267 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2268 | |||
| 2269 | 28.2 Galaxies parameters | ||
| 2270 | |||
| 2271 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2272 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2273 | |||
| 2274 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2275 | |||
| 2276 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2277 | |||
| 2278 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2279 | |||
| 2280 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult | ||
| 2281 | puzzles require more complex deductions, and the `Unreasonable' | ||
| 2282 | difficulty level may require backtracking. | ||
| 2283 | |||
| 2284 | Chapter 29: Filling | ||
| 2285 | ------------------- | ||
| 2286 | |||
| 2287 | You have a grid of squares, some of which contain digits, and the | ||
| 2288 | rest of which are empty. Your job is to fill in digits in the empty | ||
| 2289 | squares, in such a way that each connected region of squares all | ||
| 2290 | containing the same digit has an area equal to that digit. | ||
| 2291 | |||
| 2292 | (`Connected region', for the purposes of this game, does not count | ||
| 2293 | diagonally separated squares as adjacent.) | ||
| 2294 | |||
| 2295 | For example, it follows that no square can contain a zero, and that | ||
| 2296 | two adjacent squares can not both contain a one. No region has an | ||
| 2297 | area greater than 9 (because then its area would not be a single | ||
| 2298 | digit). | ||
| 2299 | |||
| 2300 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli [14]. | ||
| 2301 | |||
| 2302 | Filling was contributed to this collection by Jonas Koelker. | ||
| 2303 | |||
| 2304 | [14] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/fillomino.html | ||
| 2305 | |||
| 2306 | 29.1 Filling controls | ||
| 2307 | |||
| 2308 | To play Filling, simply click the mouse in any empty square and | ||
| 2309 | then type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square. By dragging | ||
| 2310 | the mouse, you can select multiple squares to fill with a single | ||
| 2311 | keypress. If you make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect | ||
| 2312 | square and press 0, Space, Backspace or Enter to clear it again (or | ||
| 2313 | use the Undo feature). | ||
| 2314 | |||
| 2315 | You can also move around the grid with the cursor keys; typing a | ||
| 2316 | digit will fill the square containing the cursor with that number; | ||
| 2317 | typing 0 will clear it. You can also select multiple squares for | ||
| 2318 | numbering or clearing with the return and arrow keys, before typing | ||
| 2319 | a digit to fill or clear the highlighted squares (as above). The | ||
| 2320 | space bar adds and removes single squares to and from the selection. | ||
| 2321 | Backspace and escape remove all squares from the selection. | ||
| 2322 | |||
| 2323 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2324 | |||
| 2325 | 29.2 Filling parameters | ||
| 2326 | |||
| 2327 | Filling allows you to configure the number of rows and columns of | ||
| 2328 | the grid, through the `Type' menu. | ||
| 2329 | |||
| 2330 | Chapter 30: Keen | ||
| 2331 | ---------------- | ||
| 2332 | |||
| 2333 | You have a square grid; each square may contain a digit from 1 to | ||
| 2334 | the size of the grid. The grid is divided into blocks of varying | ||
| 2335 | shape and size, with arithmetic clues written in them. Your aim is | ||
| 2336 | to fully populate the grid with digits such that: | ||
| 2337 | |||
| 2338 | - Each row contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 2339 | |||
| 2340 | - Each column contains only one occurrence of each digit | ||
| 2341 | |||
| 2342 | - The digits in each block can be combined to form the number | ||
| 2343 | stated in the clue, using the arithmetic operation given in the | ||
| 2344 | clue. That is: | ||
| 2345 | |||
| 2346 | - An addition clue means that the sum of the digits in the | ||
| 2347 | block must be the given number. For example, `15+' means the | ||
| 2348 | contents of the block adds up to fifteen. | ||
| 2349 | |||
| 2350 | - A multiplication clue (e.g. `60*'), similarly, means that | ||
| 2351 | the product of the digits in the block must be the given | ||
| 2352 | number. | ||
| 2353 | |||
| 2354 | - A subtraction clue will always be written in a block of | ||
| 2355 | size two, and it means that one of the digits in the block | ||
| 2356 | is greater than the other by the given amount. For example, | ||
| 2357 | `2-' means that one of the digits in the block is 2 more | ||
| 2358 | than the other, or equivalently that one digit minus the | ||
| 2359 | other one is 2. The two digits could be either way round, | ||
| 2360 | though. | ||
| 2361 | |||
| 2362 | - A division clue (e.g. `3/'), similarly, is always in a block | ||
| 2363 | of size two and means that one digit divided by the other is | ||
| 2364 | equal to the given amount. | ||
| 2365 | |||
| 2366 | Note that a block may contain the same digit more than once | ||
| 2367 | (provided the identical ones are not in the same row and | ||
| 2368 | column). This rule is precisely the opposite of the rule in | ||
| 2369 | Solo's `Killer' mode (see chapter 11). | ||
| 2370 | |||
| 2371 | This puzzle appears in the Times under the name `KenKen'. | ||
| 2372 | |||
| 2373 | 30.1 Keen controls | ||
| 2374 | |||
| 2375 | Keen shares much of its control system with Solo (and Unequal). | ||
| 2376 | |||
| 2377 | To play Keen, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then | ||
| 2378 | type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square. If you make a | ||
| 2379 | mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press Space to | ||
| 2380 | clear it again (or use the Undo feature). | ||
| 2381 | |||
| 2382 | If you _right_-click in a square and then type a number, that | ||
| 2383 | number will be entered in the square as a `pencil mark'. You can | ||
| 2384 | have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares | ||
| 2385 | containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks. | ||
| 2386 | |||
| 2387 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you | ||
| 2388 | use them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a | ||
| 2389 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about | ||
| 2390 | a particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible | ||
| 2391 | numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like. | ||
| 2392 | |||
| 2393 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type | ||
| 2394 | the same number again. | ||
| 2395 | |||
| 2396 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type | ||
| 2397 | a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and | ||
| 2398 | pressing space will also erase pencil marks. | ||
| 2399 | |||
| 2400 | As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the | ||
| 2401 | digit keys to set numbers or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys to | ||
| 2402 | move a highlight around the grid, and type a digit to enter it in | ||
| 2403 | the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the highlight into a | ||
| 2404 | mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks. | ||
| 2405 | |||
| 2406 | Pressing M will fill in a full set of pencil marks in every square | ||
| 2407 | that does not have a main digit in it. | ||
| 2408 | |||
| 2409 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2410 | |||
| 2411 | 30.2 Keen parameters | ||
| 2412 | |||
| 2413 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2414 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2415 | |||
| 2416 | _Grid size_ | ||
| 2417 | |||
| 2418 | Specifies the size of the grid. Lower limit is 3; upper limit is | ||
| 2419 | 9 (because the user interface would become more difficult with | ||
| 2420 | `digits' bigger than 9!). | ||
| 2421 | |||
| 2422 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2423 | |||
| 2424 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Unreasonable | ||
| 2425 | level, some backtracking will be required, but the solution | ||
| 2426 | should still be unique. The remaining levels require | ||
| 2427 | increasingly complex reasoning to avoid having to backtrack. | ||
| 2428 | |||
| 2429 | _Multiplication only_ | ||
| 2430 | |||
| 2431 | If this is enabled, all boxes will be multiplication boxes. With | ||
| 2432 | this rule, the puzzle is known as `Inshi No Heya'. | ||
| 2433 | |||
| 2434 | Chapter 31: Towers | ||
| 2435 | ------------------ | ||
| 2436 | |||
| 2437 | You have a square grid. On each square of the grid you can build | ||
| 2438 | a tower, with its height ranging from 1 to the size of the grid. | ||
| 2439 | Around the edge of the grid are some numeric clues. | ||
| 2440 | |||
| 2441 | Your task is to build a tower on every square, in such a way that: | ||
| 2442 | |||
| 2443 | - Each row contains every possible height of tower once | ||
| 2444 | |||
| 2445 | - Each column contains every possible height of tower once | ||
| 2446 | |||
| 2447 | - Each numeric clue describes the number of towers that can be | ||
| 2448 | seen if you look into the square from that direction, assuming | ||
| 2449 | that shorter towers are hidden behind taller ones. For example, | ||
| 2450 | in a 5x5 grid, a clue marked `5' indicates that the five tower | ||
| 2451 | heights must appear in increasing order (otherwise you would | ||
| 2452 | not be able to see all five towers), whereas a clue marked `1' | ||
| 2453 | indicates that the tallest tower (the one marked 5) must come | ||
| 2454 | first. | ||
| 2455 | |||
| 2456 | In harder or larger puzzles, some towers will be specified for you | ||
| 2457 | as well as the clues round the edge, and some edge clues may be | ||
| 2458 | missing. | ||
| 2459 | |||
| 2460 | This puzzle appears on the web under various names, particularly | ||
| 2461 | `Skyscrapers', but I don't know who first invented it. | ||
| 2462 | |||
| 2463 | 31.1 Towers controls | ||
| 2464 | |||
| 2465 | Towers shares much of its control system with Solo, Unequal and | ||
| 2466 | Keen. | ||
| 2467 | |||
| 2468 | To play Towers, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then | ||
| 2469 | type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square with a tower of | ||
| 2470 | the given height. If you make a mistake, click the mouse in the | ||
| 2471 | incorrect square and press Space to clear it again (or use the Undo | ||
| 2472 | feature). | ||
| 2473 | |||
| 2474 | If you _right_-click in a square and then type a number, that | ||
| 2475 | number will be entered in the square as a `pencil mark'. You can | ||
| 2476 | have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. A square | ||
| 2477 | containing a tower cannot also contain pencil marks. | ||
| 2478 | |||
| 2479 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you | ||
| 2480 | use them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a | ||
| 2481 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about | ||
| 2482 | a particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible | ||
| 2483 | numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like. | ||
| 2484 | |||
| 2485 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type | ||
| 2486 | the same number again. | ||
| 2487 | |||
| 2488 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type | ||
| 2489 | a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and | ||
| 2490 | pressing space will also erase pencil marks. | ||
| 2491 | |||
| 2492 | As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the | ||
| 2493 | digit keys to set numbers or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys to | ||
| 2494 | move a highlight around the grid, and type a digit to enter it in | ||
| 2495 | the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the highlight into a | ||
| 2496 | mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks. | ||
| 2497 | |||
| 2498 | Pressing M will fill in a full set of pencil marks in every square | ||
| 2499 | that does not have a main digit in it. | ||
| 2500 | |||
| 2501 | Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark | ||
| 2502 | it if it is already marked. Holding Control or Shift and pressing an | ||
| 2503 | arrow key likewise marks any clue in the given direction. | ||
| 2504 | |||
| 2505 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2506 | |||
| 2507 | 31.2 Towers parameters | ||
| 2508 | |||
| 2509 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2510 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2511 | |||
| 2512 | _Grid size_ | ||
| 2513 | |||
| 2514 | Specifies the size of the grid. Lower limit is 3; upper limit is | ||
| 2515 | 9 (because the user interface would become more difficult with | ||
| 2516 | `digits' bigger than 9!). | ||
| 2517 | |||
| 2518 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2519 | |||
| 2520 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Unreasonable | ||
| 2521 | level, some backtracking will be required, but the solution | ||
| 2522 | should still be unique. The remaining levels require | ||
| 2523 | increasingly complex reasoning to avoid having to backtrack. | ||
| 2524 | |||
| 2525 | Chapter 32: Singles | ||
| 2526 | ------------------- | ||
| 2527 | |||
| 2528 | You have a grid of white squares, all of which contain numbers. Your | ||
| 2529 | task is to colour some of the squares black (removing the number) so | ||
| 2530 | as to satisfy all of the following conditions: | ||
| 2531 | |||
| 2532 | - No number occurs more than once in any row or column. | ||
| 2533 | |||
| 2534 | - No black square is horizontally or vertically adjacent to any | ||
| 2535 | other black square. | ||
| 2536 | |||
| 2537 | - The remaining white squares must all form one contiguous region | ||
| 2538 | (connected by edges, not just touching at corners). | ||
| 2539 | |||
| 2540 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli [15] who call it Hitori. | ||
| 2541 | |||
| 2542 | Singles was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2543 | |||
| 2544 | [15] http://www.nikoli.com/en/puzzles/hitori.html (beware of Flash) | ||
| 2545 | |||
| 2546 | 32.1 Singles controls | ||
| 2547 | |||
| 2548 | Left-clicking on an empty square will colour it black; left-clicking | ||
| 2549 | again will restore the number. Right-clicking will add a circle | ||
| 2550 | (useful for indicating that a cell is definitely not black). | ||
| 2551 | |||
| 2552 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing | ||
| 2553 | the return or space keys will turn a square black or add a circle | ||
| 2554 | respectively, and pressing the key again will restore the number or | ||
| 2555 | remove the circle. | ||
| 2556 | |||
| 2557 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2558 | |||
| 2559 | 32.2 Singles parameters | ||
| 2560 | |||
| 2561 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2562 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2563 | |||
| 2564 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2565 | |||
| 2566 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2567 | |||
| 2568 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2569 | |||
| 2570 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. | ||
| 2571 | |||
| 2572 | Chapter 33: Magnets | ||
| 2573 | ------------------- | ||
| 2574 | |||
| 2575 | A rectangular grid has been filled with a mixture of magnets (that | ||
| 2576 | is, dominoes with one positive end and one negative end) and blank | ||
| 2577 | dominoes (that is, dominoes with two neutral poles). These dominoes | ||
| 2578 | are initially only seen in silhouette. Around the grid are placed a | ||
| 2579 | number of clues indicating the number of positive and negative poles | ||
| 2580 | contained in certain columns and rows. | ||
| 2581 | |||
| 2582 | Your aim is to correctly place the magnets and blank dominoes such | ||
| 2583 | that all the clues are satisfied, with the additional constraint | ||
| 2584 | that no two similar magnetic poles may be orthogonally adjacent | ||
| 2585 | (since they repel). Neutral poles do not repel, and can be adjacent | ||
| 2586 | to any other pole. | ||
| 2587 | |||
| 2588 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Janko [16]. | ||
| 2589 | |||
| 2590 | Magnets was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2591 | |||
| 2592 | [16] http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Magnete/index.htm | ||
| 2593 | |||
| 2594 | 33.1 Magnets controls | ||
| 2595 | |||
| 2596 | Left-clicking on an empty square places a magnet at that position | ||
| 2597 | with the positive pole on the square and the negative pole on the | ||
| 2598 | other half of the magnet; left-clicking again reverses the polarity, | ||
| 2599 | and a third click removes the magnet. | ||
| 2600 | |||
| 2601 | Right-clicking on an empty square places a blank domino there. | ||
| 2602 | Right-clicking again places two question marks on the domino, | ||
| 2603 | signifying `this cannot be blank' (which can be useful to note | ||
| 2604 | deductions while solving), and right-clicking again empties the | ||
| 2605 | domino. | ||
| 2606 | |||
| 2607 | Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark | ||
| 2608 | it if it is already marked. | ||
| 2609 | |||
| 2610 | You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor around the grid. | ||
| 2611 | Pressing the return key will lay a domino with a positive pole at | ||
| 2612 | that position; pressing again reverses the polarity and then removes | ||
| 2613 | the domino, as with left-clicking. Using the space bar allows | ||
| 2614 | placement of blank dominoes and cannot-be-blank hints, as for right- | ||
| 2615 | clicking. | ||
| 2616 | |||
| 2617 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2618 | |||
| 2619 | 33.2 Magnets parameters | ||
| 2620 | |||
| 2621 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2622 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2623 | |||
| 2624 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2625 | |||
| 2626 | Size of grid in squares. There will be half _Width_ x _Height_ | ||
| 2627 | dominoes in the grid: if this number is odd then one square will | ||
| 2628 | be blank. | ||
| 2629 | |||
| 2630 | (Grids with at least one odd dimension tend to be easier to | ||
| 2631 | solve.) | ||
| 2632 | |||
| 2633 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2634 | |||
| 2635 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Tricky | ||
| 2636 | level, you are required to make more deductions about empty | ||
| 2637 | dominoes and row/column counts. | ||
| 2638 | |||
| 2639 | _Strip clues_ | ||
| 2640 | |||
| 2641 | If true, some of the clues around the grid are removed at | ||
| 2642 | generation time, making the puzzle more difficult. | ||
| 2643 | |||
| 2644 | Chapter 34: Signpost | ||
| 2645 | -------------------- | ||
| 2646 | |||
| 2647 | You have a grid of squares; each square (except the last one) | ||
| 2648 | contains an arrow, and some squares also contain numbers. Your job | ||
| 2649 | is to connect the squares to form a continuous list of numbers | ||
| 2650 | starting at 1 and linked in the direction of the arrows - so the | ||
| 2651 | arrow inside the square with the number 1 will point to the square | ||
| 2652 | containing the number 2, which will point to the square containing | ||
| 2653 | the number 3, etc. Each square can be any distance away from the | ||
| 2654 | previous one, as long as it is somewhere in the direction of the | ||
| 2655 | arrow. | ||
| 2656 | |||
| 2657 | By convention the first and last numbers are shown; one or more | ||
| 2658 | interim numbers may also appear at the beginning. | ||
| 2659 | |||
| 2660 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Janko [17], who call it `Pfeilpfad' | ||
| 2661 | (`arrow path'). | ||
| 2662 | |||
| 2663 | Signpost was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 2664 | |||
| 2665 | [17] http://janko.at/Raetsel/Pfeilpfad/index.htm | ||
| 2666 | |||
| 2667 | 34.1 Signpost controls | ||
| 2668 | |||
| 2669 | To play Signpost, you connect squares together by dragging from | ||
| 2670 | one square to another, indicating that they are adjacent in the | ||
| 2671 | sequence. Drag with the left button from a square to its successor, | ||
| 2672 | or with the right button from a square to its predecessor. | ||
| 2673 | |||
| 2674 | If you connect together two squares in this way and one of them has | ||
| 2675 | a number in it, the appropriate number will appear in the other | ||
| 2676 | square. If you connect two non-numbered squares, they will be | ||
| 2677 | assigned temporary algebraic labels: on the first occasion, they | ||
| 2678 | will be labelled `a' and `a+1', and then `b' and `b+1', and so on. | ||
| 2679 | Connecting more squares on to the ends of such a chain will cause | ||
| 2680 | them all to be labelled with the same letter. | ||
| 2681 | |||
| 2682 | When you left-click or right-click in a square, the legal squares to | ||
| 2683 | connect it to will be shown. | ||
| 2684 | |||
| 2685 | The arrow in each square starts off black, and goes grey once you | ||
| 2686 | connect the square to its successor. Also, each square which needs | ||
| 2687 | a predecessor has a small dot in the bottom left corner, which | ||
| 2688 | vanishes once you link a square to it. So your aim is always to | ||
| 2689 | connect a square with a black arrow to a square with a dot. | ||
| 2690 | |||
| 2691 | To remove any links for a particular square (both incoming and | ||
| 2692 | outgoing), left-drag it off the grid. To remove a whole chain, | ||
| 2693 | right-drag any square in the chain off the grid. | ||
| 2694 | |||
| 2695 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares | ||
| 2696 | and lines. Pressing the return key when over a square starts a link | ||
| 2697 | operation, and pressing the return key again over a square will | ||
| 2698 | finish the link, if allowable. Pressing the space bar over a square | ||
| 2699 | will show the other squares pointing to it, and allow you to form a | ||
| 2700 | backward link, and pressing the space bar again cancels this. | ||
| 2701 | |||
| 2702 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2703 | |||
| 2704 | 34.2 Signpost parameters | ||
| 2705 | |||
| 2706 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2707 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2708 | |||
| 2709 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2710 | |||
| 2711 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2712 | |||
| 2713 | _Force start/end to corners_ | ||
| 2714 | |||
| 2715 | If true, the start and end squares are always placed in opposite | ||
| 2716 | corners (the start at the top left, and the end at the bottom | ||
| 2717 | right). If false the start and end squares are placed randomly | ||
| 2718 | (although always both shown). | ||
| 2719 | |||
| 2720 | Chapter 35: Range | ||
| 2721 | ----------------- | ||
| 2722 | |||
| 2723 | You have a grid of squares; some squares contain numbers. Your job | ||
| 2724 | is to colour some of the squares black, such that several criteria | ||
| 2725 | are satisfied: | ||
| 2726 | |||
| 2727 | - no square with a number is coloured black. | ||
| 2728 | |||
| 2729 | - no two black squares are adjacent (horizontally or vertically). | ||
| 2730 | |||
| 2731 | - for any two white squares, there is a path between them using | ||
| 2732 | only white squares. | ||
| 2733 | |||
| 2734 | - for each square with a number, that number denotes the total | ||
| 2735 | number of white squares reachable from that square going in a | ||
| 2736 | straight line in any horizontal or vertical direction until | ||
| 2737 | hitting a wall or a black square; the square with the number is | ||
| 2738 | included in the total (once). | ||
| 2739 | |||
| 2740 | For instance, a square containing the number one must have four | ||
| 2741 | black squares as its neighbours by the last criterion; but then it's | ||
| 2742 | impossible for it to be connected to any outside white square, which | ||
| 2743 | violates the second to last criterion. So no square will contain the | ||
| 2744 | number one. | ||
| 2745 | |||
| 2746 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli, who have variously called it | ||
| 2747 | `Kurodoko', `Kuromasu' or `Where is Black Cells'. [18]. | ||
| 2748 | |||
| 2749 | Range was contributed to this collection by Jonas Koelker. | ||
| 2750 | |||
| 2751 | [18] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/where_is_black_cells.html | ||
| 2752 | |||
| 2753 | 35.1 Range controls | ||
| 2754 | |||
| 2755 | Click with the left button to paint a square black, or with the | ||
| 2756 | right button to mark a square with a dot to indicate that you are | ||
| 2757 | sure it should _not_ be painted black. Repeated clicking with either | ||
| 2758 | button will cycle the square through the three possible states | ||
| 2759 | (filled, dotted or empty) in opposite directions. | ||
| 2760 | |||
| 2761 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares. | ||
| 2762 | Pressing Return does the same as clicking with the left button, | ||
| 2763 | while pressing Space does the same as a right button click. Moving | ||
| 2764 | with the cursor keys while holding Shift will place dots in all | ||
| 2765 | squares that are moved through. | ||
| 2766 | |||
| 2767 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2768 | |||
| 2769 | 35.2 Range parameters | ||
| 2770 | |||
| 2771 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2772 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2773 | |||
| 2774 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2775 | |||
| 2776 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2777 | |||
| 2778 | Chapter 36: Pearl | ||
| 2779 | ----------------- | ||
| 2780 | |||
| 2781 | You have a grid of squares. Your job is to draw lines between the | ||
| 2782 | centres of horizontally or vertically adjacent squares, so that the | ||
| 2783 | lines form a single closed loop. In the resulting grid, some of the | ||
| 2784 | squares that the loop passes through will contain corners, and some | ||
| 2785 | will be straight horizontal or vertical lines. (And some squares can | ||
| 2786 | be completely empty - the loop doesn't have to pass through every | ||
| 2787 | square.) | ||
| 2788 | |||
| 2789 | Some of the squares contain black and white circles, which are clues | ||
| 2790 | that the loop must satisfy. | ||
| 2791 | |||
| 2792 | A black circle in a square indicates that that square is a corner, | ||
| 2793 | but neither of the squares adjacent to it in the loop is also a | ||
| 2794 | corner. | ||
| 2795 | |||
| 2796 | A white circle indicates that the square is a straight edge, but _at | ||
| 2797 | least one_ of the squares adjacent to it in the loop is a corner. | ||
| 2798 | |||
| 2799 | (In both cases, the clue only constrains the two squares adjacent | ||
| 2800 | _in the loop_, that is, the squares that the loop passes into after | ||
| 2801 | leaving the clue square. The squares that are only adjacent _in the | ||
| 2802 | grid_ are not constrained.) | ||
| 2803 | |||
| 2804 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli, who call it `Masyu'. [19] | ||
| 2805 | |||
| 2806 | Thanks to James Harvey for assistance with the implementation. | ||
| 2807 | |||
| 2808 | [19] http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/masyu.html (beware of Flash) | ||
| 2809 | |||
| 2810 | 36.1 Pearl controls | ||
| 2811 | |||
| 2812 | Click with the left button on a grid edge to draw a segment of the | ||
| 2813 | loop through that edge, or to remove a segment once it is drawn. | ||
| 2814 | |||
| 2815 | Drag with the left button through a series of squares to draw more | ||
| 2816 | than one segment of the loop in one go. Alternatively, drag over an | ||
| 2817 | existing part of the loop to undraw it, or to undraw part of it and | ||
| 2818 | then go in a different direction. | ||
| 2819 | |||
| 2820 | Click with the right button on a grid edge to mark it with a cross, | ||
| 2821 | indicating that you are sure the loop does not go through that edge. | ||
| 2822 | (For instance, if you have decided which of the squares adjacent | ||
| 2823 | to a white clue has to be a corner, but don't yet know which way | ||
| 2824 | the corner turns, you might mark the one way it _can't_ go with a | ||
| 2825 | cross.) | ||
| 2826 | |||
| 2827 | Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the cursor. Use the Enter | ||
| 2828 | key to begin and end keyboard `drag' operations. Use the Space, | ||
| 2829 | Escape or Backspace keys to cancel the drag. Or, hold Control while | ||
| 2830 | dragging with the cursor keys to toggle segments as you move between | ||
| 2831 | squares. | ||
| 2832 | |||
| 2833 | Pressing Control-Shift-arrowkey or Shift-arrowkey simulates a left | ||
| 2834 | or right click, respectively, on the edge in the direction of the | ||
| 2835 | key. | ||
| 2836 | |||
| 2837 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2838 | |||
| 2839 | 36.2 Pearl parameters | ||
| 2840 | |||
| 2841 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2842 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2843 | |||
| 2844 | Chapter 37: Undead | ||
| 2845 | ------------------ | ||
| 2846 | |||
| 2847 | You are given a grid of squares, some of which contain diagonal | ||
| 2848 | mirrors. Every square which is not a mirror must be filled with one | ||
| 2849 | of three types of undead monster: a ghost, a vampire, or a zombie. | ||
| 2850 | |||
| 2851 | Vampires can be seen directly, but are invisible when reflected in | ||
| 2852 | mirrors. Ghosts are the opposite way round: they can be seen in | ||
| 2853 | mirrors, but are invisible when looked at directly. Zombies are | ||
| 2854 | visible by any means. | ||
| 2855 | |||
| 2856 | You are also told the total number of each type of monster in the | ||
| 2857 | grid. Also around the edge of the grid are written numbers, which | ||
| 2858 | indicate how many monsters can be seen if you look into the grid | ||
| 2859 | along a row or column starting from that position. (The diagonal | ||
| 2860 | mirrors are reflective on both sides. If your reflected line of | ||
| 2861 | sight crosses the same monster more than once, the number will count | ||
| 2862 | it each time it is visible, not just once.) | ||
| 2863 | |||
| 2864 | This puzzle type was invented by David Millar, under the name | ||
| 2865 | `Haunted Mirror Maze'. See [20] for more details. | ||
| 2866 | |||
| 2867 | Undead was contributed to this collection by Steffen Bauer. | ||
| 2868 | |||
| 2869 | [20] http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Spukschloss/index.htm | ||
| 2870 | |||
| 2871 | 37.1 Undead controls | ||
| 2872 | |||
| 2873 | Undead has a similar control system to Solo, Unequal and Keen. | ||
| 2874 | |||
| 2875 | To play Undead, click the mouse in any empty square and then type | ||
| 2876 | a letter on the keyboard indicating the type of monster: `G' for | ||
| 2877 | a ghost, `V' for a vampire, or `Z' for a zombie. If you make a | ||
| 2878 | mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press Space to | ||
| 2879 | clear it again (or use the Undo feature). | ||
| 2880 | |||
| 2881 | If you _right_-click in a square and then type a letter, the | ||
| 2882 | corresponding monster will be shown in reduced size in that square, | ||
| 2883 | as a `pencil mark'. You can have pencil marks for multiple monsters | ||
| 2884 | in the same square. A square containing a full-size monster cannot | ||
| 2885 | also contain pencil marks. | ||
| 2886 | |||
| 2887 | The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you | ||
| 2888 | use them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a | ||
| 2889 | particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about | ||
| 2890 | a particular monster, or you can use them as lists of the possible | ||
| 2891 | monster in a given square, or anything else you feel like. | ||
| 2892 | |||
| 2893 | To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type | ||
| 2894 | the same letter again. | ||
| 2895 | |||
| 2896 | All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type | ||
| 2897 | a monster letter, or when you left-click and press Space. Right- | ||
| 2898 | clicking and pressing space will also erase pencil marks. | ||
| 2899 | |||
| 2900 | As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the | ||
| 2901 | letter keys to place monsters or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys | ||
| 2902 | to move a highlight around the grid, and type a monster letter to | ||
| 2903 | enter it in the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the | ||
| 2904 | highlight into a mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks. | ||
| 2905 | |||
| 2906 | If you prefer plain letters of the alphabet to cute monster | ||
| 2907 | pictures, you can press `A' to toggle between showing the monsters | ||
| 2908 | as monsters or showing them as letters. | ||
| 2909 | |||
| 2910 | Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark | ||
| 2911 | it if it is already marked. | ||
| 2912 | |||
| 2913 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2914 | |||
| 2915 | 37.2 Undead parameters | ||
| 2916 | |||
| 2917 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2918 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2919 | |||
| 2920 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2921 | |||
| 2922 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 2923 | |||
| 2924 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2925 | |||
| 2926 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. | ||
| 2927 | |||
| 2928 | Chapter 38: Unruly | ||
| 2929 | ------------------ | ||
| 2930 | |||
| 2931 | You are given a grid of squares, which you must colour either black | ||
| 2932 | or white. Some squares are provided as clues; the rest are left for | ||
| 2933 | you to fill in. Each row and column must contain the same number | ||
| 2934 | of black and white squares, and no row or column may contain three | ||
| 2935 | consecutive squares of the same colour. | ||
| 2936 | |||
| 2937 | This puzzle type was invented by Adolfo Zanellati, under the name | ||
| 2938 | `Tohu wa Vohu'. See [21] for more details. | ||
| 2939 | |||
| 2940 | Unruly was contributed to this collection by Lennard Sprong. | ||
| 2941 | |||
| 2942 | [21] http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Tohu-Wa-Vohu/index.htm | ||
| 2943 | |||
| 2944 | 38.1 Unruly controls | ||
| 2945 | |||
| 2946 | To play Unruly, click the mouse in a square to change its colour. | ||
| 2947 | Left-clicking an empty square will turn it black, and right-clicking | ||
| 2948 | will turn it white. Keep clicking the same button to cycle through | ||
| 2949 | the three possible states for the square. If you middle-click in a | ||
| 2950 | square it will be reset to empty. | ||
| 2951 | |||
| 2952 | You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing | ||
| 2953 | the return or space keys will turn an empty square black or white | ||
| 2954 | respectively (and then cycle the colours in the same way as the | ||
| 2955 | mouse buttons), and pressing Backspace will reset a square to empty. | ||
| 2956 | |||
| 2957 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 2958 | |||
| 2959 | 38.2 Unruly parameters | ||
| 2960 | |||
| 2961 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 2962 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 2963 | |||
| 2964 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 2965 | |||
| 2966 | Size of grid in squares. (Note that the rules of the game | ||
| 2967 | require both the width and height to be even numbers.) | ||
| 2968 | |||
| 2969 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 2970 | |||
| 2971 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. | ||
| 2972 | |||
| 2973 | _Unique rows and columns_ | ||
| 2974 | |||
| 2975 | If enabled, no two rows are permitted to have exactly the same | ||
| 2976 | pattern, and likewise columns. (A row and a column can match, | ||
| 2977 | though.) | ||
| 2978 | |||
| 2979 | Chapter 39: Flood | ||
| 2980 | ----------------- | ||
| 2981 | |||
| 2982 | You are given a grid of squares, coloured at random in multiple | ||
| 2983 | colours. In each move, you can flood-fill the top left square in a | ||
| 2984 | colour of your choice (i.e. every square reachable from the starting | ||
| 2985 | square by an orthogonally connected path of squares all the same | ||
| 2986 | colour will be filled in the new colour). As you do this, more and | ||
| 2987 | more of the grid becomes connected to the starting square. | ||
| 2988 | |||
| 2989 | Your aim is to make the whole grid the same colour, in as few moves | ||
| 2990 | as possible. The game will set a limit on the number of moves, based | ||
| 2991 | on running its own internal solver. You win if you can make the | ||
| 2992 | whole grid the same colour in that many moves or fewer. | ||
| 2993 | |||
| 2994 | I saw this game (with a fixed grid size, fixed number of colours, | ||
| 2995 | and fixed move limit) at http://floodit.appspot.com (no longer | ||
| 2996 | accessible). | ||
| 2997 | |||
| 2998 | 39.1 Flood controls | ||
| 2999 | |||
| 3000 | To play Flood, click the mouse in a square. The top left corner and | ||
| 3001 | everything connected to it will be flood-filled with the colour of | ||
| 3002 | the square you clicked. Clicking a square the same colour as the top | ||
| 3003 | left corner has no effect, and therefore does not count as a move. | ||
| 3004 | |||
| 3005 | You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor (outline black | ||
| 3006 | square) around the grid. Pressing the return key will fill the top | ||
| 3007 | left corner in the colour of the square under the cursor. | ||
| 3008 | |||
| 3009 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 3010 | |||
| 3011 | 39.2 Flood parameters | ||
| 3012 | |||
| 3013 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 3014 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 3015 | |||
| 3016 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 3017 | |||
| 3018 | Size of the grid, in squares. | ||
| 3019 | |||
| 3020 | _Colours_ | ||
| 3021 | |||
| 3022 | Number of colours used to fill the grid. Must be at least 3 | ||
| 3023 | (with two colours there would only be one legal move at any | ||
| 3024 | stage, hence no choice to make at all), and at most 10. | ||
| 3025 | |||
| 3026 | _Extra moves permitted_ | ||
| 3027 | |||
| 3028 | Controls the difficulty of the puzzle, by increasing the move | ||
| 3029 | limit. In each new grid, Flood will run an internal solver to | ||
| 3030 | generate its own solution, and then the value in this field | ||
| 3031 | will be added to the length of Flood's solution to generate the | ||
| 3032 | game's move limit. So a value of 0 requires you to be just as | ||
| 3033 | efficient as Flood's automated solver, and a larger value makes | ||
| 3034 | it easier. | ||
| 3035 | |||
| 3036 | (Note that Flood's internal solver will not necessarily find the | ||
| 3037 | shortest possible solution, though I believe it's pretty close. | ||
| 3038 | For a real challenge, set this value to 0 and then try to solve | ||
| 3039 | a grid in _strictly fewer_ moves than the limit you're given!) | ||
| 3040 | |||
| 3041 | Chapter 40: Tracks | ||
| 3042 | ------------------ | ||
| 3043 | |||
| 3044 | You are given a grid of squares, some of which are filled with train | ||
| 3045 | tracks. You need to complete the track from A to B so that the | ||
| 3046 | rows and columns contain the same number of track segments as are | ||
| 3047 | indicated in the clues to the top and right of the grid. | ||
| 3048 | |||
| 3049 | There are only straight and 90 degree curved rails, and the track | ||
| 3050 | may not cross itself. | ||
| 3051 | |||
| 3052 | Tracks was contributed to this collection by James Harvey. | ||
| 3053 | |||
| 3054 | 40.1 Tracks controls | ||
| 3055 | |||
| 3056 | Left-clicking on an edge between two squares adds a track segment | ||
| 3057 | between the two squares. Right-clicking on an edge adds a cross on | ||
| 3058 | the edge, indicating no track is possible there. | ||
| 3059 | |||
| 3060 | Left-clicking in a square adds a colour indicator showing that | ||
| 3061 | you know the square must contain a track, even if you don't know | ||
| 3062 | which edges it crosses yet. Right-clicking in a square adds a cross | ||
| 3063 | indicating it contains no track segment. | ||
| 3064 | |||
| 3065 | Left- or right-dragging between squares allows you to lay a straight | ||
| 3066 | line of is-track or is-not-track indicators, useful for filling in | ||
| 3067 | rows or columns to match the clue. | ||
| 3068 | |||
| 3069 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 3070 | |||
| 3071 | 40.2 Tracks parameters | ||
| 3072 | |||
| 3073 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 3074 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 3075 | |||
| 3076 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 3077 | |||
| 3078 | Size of the grid, in squares. | ||
| 3079 | |||
| 3080 | _Difficulty_ | ||
| 3081 | |||
| 3082 | Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle: at Tricky | ||
| 3083 | level, you are required to make more deductions regarding | ||
| 3084 | disregarding moves that would lead to impossible crossings | ||
| 3085 | later. | ||
| 3086 | |||
| 3087 | _Disallow consecutive 1 clues_ | ||
| 3088 | |||
| 3089 | Controls whether the Tracks game generation permits two adjacent | ||
| 3090 | rows or columns to have a 1 clue, or permits the row or column | ||
| 3091 | of the track's endpoint to have a 1 clue. By default this is | ||
| 3092 | not permitted, to avoid long straight boring segments of track | ||
| 3093 | and make the games more twiddly and interesting. If you want to | ||
| 3094 | restore the possibility, turn this option off. | ||
| 3095 | |||
| 3096 | Chapter 41: Palisade | ||
| 3097 | -------------------- | ||
| 3098 | |||
| 3099 | You're given a grid of squares, some of which contain numbers. Your | ||
| 3100 | goal is to subdivide the grid into contiguous regions, all of the | ||
| 3101 | same (given) size, such that each square containing a number is | ||
| 3102 | adjacent to exactly that many edges (including those between the | ||
| 3103 | inside and the outside of the grid). | ||
| 3104 | |||
| 3105 | Credit for this puzzle goes to Nikoli, who call it `Five Cells'. | ||
| 3106 | [22]. | ||
| 3107 | |||
| 3108 | Palisade was contributed to this collection by Jonas Koelker. | ||
| 3109 | |||
| 3110 | [22] http://nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/five_cells.html | ||
| 3111 | |||
| 3112 | 41.1 Palisade controls | ||
| 3113 | |||
| 3114 | Left-click to place an edge. Right-click to indicate `no edge'. | ||
| 3115 | Alternatively, the arrow keys will move a keyboard cursor. Holding | ||
| 3116 | Control while pressing an arrow key will place an edge. Press Shift- | ||
| 3117 | arrowkey to switch off an edge. Repeat an action to perform its | ||
| 3118 | inverse. | ||
| 3119 | |||
| 3120 | (All the actions described in section 2.1 are also available.) | ||
| 3121 | |||
| 3122 | 41.2 Palisade parameters | ||
| 3123 | |||
| 3124 | These parameters are available from the `Custom...' option on the | ||
| 3125 | `Type' menu. | ||
| 3126 | |||
| 3127 | _Width_, _Height_ | ||
| 3128 | |||
| 3129 | Size of grid in squares. | ||
| 3130 | |||
| 3131 | _Region size_ | ||
| 3132 | |||
| 3133 | The size of the regions into which the grid must be subdivided. | ||
| 3134 | |||
| 3135 | Appendix A: Licence | ||
| 3136 | ------------------- | ||
| 3137 | |||
| 3138 | This software is copyright 2004-2014 Simon Tatham. | ||
| 3139 | |||
| 3140 | Portions copyright Richard Boulton, James Harvey, Mike Pinna, Jonas | ||
| 3141 | Koelker, Dariusz Olszewski, Michael Schierl, Lambros Lambrou, Bernd | ||
| 3142 | Schmidt, Steffen Bauer, Lennard Sprong and Rogier Goossens. | ||
| 3143 | |||
| 3144 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person | ||
| 3145 | obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files | ||
| 3146 | (the `Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, | ||
| 3147 | including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, | ||
| 3148 | publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, | ||
| 3149 | and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, | ||
| 3150 | subject to the following conditions: | ||
| 3151 | |||
| 3152 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be | ||
| 3153 | included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. | ||
| 3154 | |||
| 3155 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED `AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, | ||
| 3156 | EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES | ||
| 3157 | OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND | ||
| 3158 | NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS | ||
| 3159 | BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN | ||
| 3160 | ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN | ||
| 3161 | CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE | ||
| 3162 | SOFTWARE. | ||
| 3163 | |||