1 \title Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection
3 \cfg{winhelp-filename}{puzzles.hlp}
4 \cfg{winhelp-contents-titlepage}{Contents}
6 \cfg{text-filename}{puzzles.txt}
8 \cfg{html-contents-filename}{index.html}
9 \cfg{html-template-filename}{%k.html}
10 \cfg{html-index-filename}{docindex.html}
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13 \cfg{html-contents-depth-1}{2}
14 \cfg{html-leaf-contains-contents}{true}
16 \cfg{info-filename}{puzzles.info}
18 \cfg{ps-filename}{puzzles.ps}
19 \cfg{pdf-filename}{puzzles.pdf}
23 \define{dash} \u2013{-}
25 \define{times} \u00D7{*}
27 \define{divide} \u00F7{/}
29 \define{minus} \u2212{-}
31 This is a collection of small one-player puzzle games.
33 \copyright This manual is copyright 2004-2014 Simon Tatham. All rights
34 reserved. You may distribute this documentation under the MIT licence.
35 See \k{licence} for the licence text in full.
37 \cfg{html-local-head}{<meta name="AppleTitle" content="Puzzles Help">}
39 \C{intro} Introduction
41 I wrote this collection because I thought there should be more small
42 desktop toys available: little games you can pop up in a window and
43 play for two or three minutes while you take a break from whatever
44 else you were doing. And I was also annoyed that every time I found
45 a good game on (say) \i{Unix}, it wasn't available the next time I
46 was sitting at a \i{Windows} machine, or vice versa; so I arranged
47 that everything in my personal puzzle collection will happily run on
48 both, and have more recently done a port to \i{Mac OS X} as well. When I
49 find (or perhaps invent) further puzzle games that I like, they'll
50 be added to this collection and will immediately be available on
51 both platforms. And if anyone feels like writing any other front
52 ends \dash PocketPC, Mac OS pre-10, or whatever it might be \dash
53 then all the games in this framework will immediately become
54 available on another platform as well.
56 The actual games in this collection were mostly not my invention; they
57 are re-implementations of existing game concepts within my portable
58 puzzle framework. I do not claim credit, in general, for inventing the
59 rules of any of these puzzles. (I don't even claim authorship of all
60 the code; some of the puzzles have been submitted by other authors.)
62 This collection is distributed under the \i{MIT licence} (see
63 \k{licence}). This means that you can do pretty much anything you like
64 with the game binaries or the code, except pretending you wrote them
65 yourself, or suing me if anything goes wrong.
67 The most recent versions, and \i{source code}, can be found at
68 \I{website}\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}.
70 Please report \I{feedback}\i{bugs} to
71 \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\cw{anakin@pobox.com}.
72 You might find it helpful to read this article before reporting a bug:
74 \W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html}
76 \ii{Patches} are welcome. Especially if they provide a new front end
77 (to make all these games run on another platform), or a new game.
80 \C{common} \ii{Common features}
82 This chapter describes features that are common to all the games.
84 \H{common-actions} \I{controls}Common actions
86 These actions are all available from the \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu
87 and via \I{keys}keyboard shortcuts, in addition to any game-specific
90 (On \i{Mac OS X}, to conform with local user interface standards, these
91 actions are situated on the \I{File menu}\q{File} and \I{Edit
92 menu}\q{Edit} menus instead.)
94 \dt \ii\e{New game} (\q{N}, Ctrl+\q{N})
96 \dd Starts a new game, with a random initial state.
98 \dt \ii\e{Restart game}
100 \dd Resets the current game to its initial state. (This can be undone.)
104 \dd Loads a saved game from a file on disk.
108 \dd Saves the current state of your game to a file on disk.
112 The Load and Save operations preserve your entire game
113 history (so you can save, reload, and still Undo and Redo things you
114 had done before saving).
118 \dt \I{printing, on Windows}\e{Print}
120 \dd Where supported (currently only on Windows), brings up a dialog
121 allowing you to print an arbitrary number of puzzles randomly
122 generated from the current parameters, optionally including the
123 current puzzle. (Only for puzzles which make sense to print, of
124 course \dash it's hard to think of a sensible printable representation
127 \dt \ii\e{Undo} (\q{U}, Ctrl+\q{Z}, Ctrl+\q{_})
129 \dd Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of the
132 \dt \ii\e{Redo} (\q{R}, Ctrl+\q{R})
134 \dd Redoes a previously undone move.
138 \dd Copies the current state of your game to the clipboard in text
139 format, so that you can paste it into (say) an e-mail client or a
140 web message board if you're discussing the game with someone else.
141 (Not all games support this feature.)
145 \dd Transforms the puzzle instantly into its solved state. For some
146 games (Cube) this feature is not supported at all because it is of
147 no particular use. For other games (such as Pattern), the solved
148 state can be used to give you information, if you can't see how a
149 solution can exist at all or you want to know where you made a
150 mistake. For still other games (such as Sixteen), automatic solution
151 tells you nothing about how to \e{get} to the solution, but it does
152 provide a useful way to get there quickly so that you can experiment
153 with set-piece moves and transformations.
157 Some games (such as Solo) are capable of solving a game ID you have
158 typed in from elsewhere. Other games (such as Rectangles) cannot
159 solve a game ID they didn't invent themself, but when they did
160 invent the game ID they know what the solution is already. Still
161 other games (Pattern) can solve \e{some} external game IDs, but only
162 if they aren't too difficult.
164 The \q{Solve} command adds the solved state to the end of the undo
165 chain for the puzzle. In other words, if you want to go back to
166 solving it yourself after seeing the answer, you can just press Undo.
170 \dt \I{exit}\ii\e{Quit} (\q{Q}, Ctrl+\q{Q})
172 \dd Closes the application entirely.
174 \H{common-id} Specifying games with the \ii{game ID}
176 There are two ways to save a game specification out of a puzzle and
177 recreate it later, or recreate it in somebody else's copy of the
180 The \q{\i{Specific}} and \q{\i{Random Seed}} options from the
181 \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu (or the \q{File} menu, on \i{Mac OS X}) each
182 show a piece of text (a \q{game ID}) which is sufficient to
183 reconstruct precisely the same game at a later date.
185 You can enter either of these pieces of text back into the program
186 (via the same \q{Specific} or \q{Random Seed} menu options) at a
187 later point, and it will recreate the same game. You can also use
188 either one as a \i{command line} argument (on Windows or Unix); see
189 \k{common-cmdline} for more detail.
191 The difference between the two forms is that a descriptive game ID
192 is a literal \e{description} of the \i{initial state} of the game,
193 whereas a random seed is just a piece of arbitrary text which was
194 provided as input to the random number generator used to create the
195 puzzle. This means that:
197 \b Descriptive game IDs tend to be longer in many puzzles (although
198 some, such as Cube (\k{cube}), only need very short descriptions).
199 So a random seed is often a \e{quicker} way to note down the puzzle
200 you're currently playing, or to tell it to somebody else so they can
201 play the same one as you.
203 \b Any text at all is a valid random seed. The automatically
204 generated ones are fifteen-digit numbers, but anything will do; you
205 can type in your full name, or a word you just made up, and a valid
206 puzzle will be generated from it. This provides a way for two or
207 more people to race to complete the same puzzle: you think of a
208 random seed, then everybody types it in at the same time, and nobody
209 has an advantage due to having seen the generated puzzle before
212 \b It is often possible to convert puzzles from other sources (such
213 as \q{nonograms} or \q{sudoku} from newspapers) into descriptive
214 game IDs suitable for use with these programs.
216 \b Random seeds are not guaranteed to produce the same result if you
217 use them with a different \i\e{version} of the puzzle program. This
218 is because the generation algorithm might have been improved or
219 modified in later versions of the code, and will therefore produce a
220 different result when given the same sequence of random numbers. Use
221 a descriptive game ID if you aren't sure that it will be used on the
222 same version of the program as yours.
224 \lcont{(Use the \q{About} menu option to find out the version number
225 of the program. Programs with the same version number running on
226 different platforms should still be random-seed compatible.)}
228 \I{ID format}A descriptive game ID starts with a piece of text which
229 encodes the \i\e{parameters} of the current game (such as grid
230 size). Then there is a colon, and after that is the description of
231 the game's initial state. A random seed starts with a similar string
232 of parameters, but then it contains a hash sign followed by
235 If you enter a descriptive game ID, the program will not be able to
236 show you the random seed which generated it, since it wasn't
237 generated \e{from} a random seed. If you \e{enter} a random seed,
238 however, the program will be able to show you the descriptive game
239 ID derived from that random seed.
241 Note that the game parameter strings are not always identical
242 between the two forms. For some games, there will be parameter data
243 provided with the random seed which is not included in the
244 descriptive game ID. This is because that parameter information is
245 only relevant when \e{generating} puzzle grids, and is not important
246 when playing them. Thus, for example, the difficulty level in Solo
247 (\k{solo}) is not mentioned in the descriptive game ID.
249 These additional parameters are also not set permanently if you type
250 in a game ID. For example, suppose you have Solo set to \q{Advanced}
251 difficulty level, and then a friend wants your help with a
252 \q{Trivial} puzzle; so the friend reads out a random seed specifying
253 \q{Trivial} difficulty, and you type it in. The program will
254 generate you the same \q{Trivial} grid which your friend was having
255 trouble with, but once you have finished playing it, when you ask
256 for a new game it will automatically go back to the \q{Advanced}
257 difficulty which it was previously set on.
259 \H{common-type} The \q{Type} menu
261 The \I{Type menu}\q{Type} menu, if present, may contain a list of
262 \i{preset} game settings. Selecting one of these will start a new
263 random game with the parameters specified.
265 The \q{Type} menu may also contain a \q{\i{Custom}} option which
266 allows you to fine-tune game \i{parameters}. The parameters
267 available are specific to each game and are described in the
270 \H{common-cmdline} Specifying game parameters on the \i{command line}
272 (This section does not apply to the \i{Mac OS X} version.)
274 The games in this collection deliberately do not ever save
275 information on to the computer they run on: they have no high score
276 tables and no saved preferences. (This is because I expect at least
277 some people to play them at work, and those people will probably
278 appreciate leaving as little evidence as possible!)
280 However, if you do want to arrange for one of these games to
281 \I{default parameters, specifying}default to a particular set of
282 parameters, you can specify them on the command line.
284 The easiest way to do this is to set up the parameters you want
285 using the \q{Type} menu (see \k{common-type}), and then to select
286 \q{Random Seed} from the \q{Game} or \q{File} menu (see
287 \k{common-id}). The text in the \q{Game ID} box will be composed of
288 two parts, separated by a hash. The first of these parts represents
289 the game parameters (the size of the playing area, for example, and
290 anything else you set using the \q{Type} menu).
292 If you run the game with just that parameter text on the command
293 line, it will start up with the settings you specified.
295 For example: if you run Cube (see \k{cube}), select \q{Octahedron}
296 from the \q{Type} menu, and then go to the game ID selection, you
297 will see a string of the form \cq{o2x2#338686542711620}. Take only
298 the part before the hash (\cq{o2x2}), and start Cube with that text
299 on the command line: \cq{PREFIX-cube o2x2}.
301 If you copy the \e{entire} game ID on to the command line, the game
302 will start up in the specific game that was described. This is
303 occasionally a more convenient way to start a particular game ID
304 than by pasting it into the game ID selection box.
306 (You could also retrieve the encoded game parameters using the
307 \q{Specific} menu option instead of \q{Random Seed}, but if you do
308 then some options, such as the difficulty level in Solo, will be
309 missing. See \k{common-id} for more details on this.)
311 \H{common-unix-cmdline} \i{Unix} \i{command-line} options
313 (This section only applies to the Unix port.)
315 In addition to being able to specify game parameters on the command
316 line (see \k{common-cmdline}), there are various other options:
322 \dd These options respectively determine whether the command-line
323 argument is treated as specifying game parameters or a \i{save} file
324 to \i{load}. Only one should be specified. If neither of these options
325 is specified, a guess is made based on the format of the argument.
327 \dt \cw{--generate }\e{n}
329 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being displayed,
330 a number of descriptive game IDs will be \I{generating game IDs}invented
331 and printed on standard output. This is useful for gaining access to
332 the game generation algorithms without necessarily using the frontend.
336 If game parameters are specified on the command-line, they will be
337 used to generate the game IDs; otherwise a default set of parameters
340 The most common use of this option is in conjunction with \c{--print},
341 in which case its behaviour is slightly different; see below.
345 \dt \I{printing, on Unix}\cw{--print }\e{w}\cw{x}\e{h}
347 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being displayed,
348 a printed representation of one or more unsolved puzzles is sent to
349 standard output, in \i{PostScript} format.
353 On each page of puzzles, there will be \e{w} across and \e{h} down. If
354 there are more puzzles than \e{w}\by\e{h}, more than one page will be
357 If \c{--generate} has also been specified, the invented game IDs will
358 be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, a list of game IDs
359 is expected on standard input (which can be descriptive or random
360 seeds; see \k{common-id}), in the same format produced by
365 \c PREFIX-net --generate 12 --print 2x3 7x7w | lpr
367 will generate two pages of printed Net puzzles (each of which will
368 have a 7\by\.7 wrapping grid), and pipe the output to the \c{lpr}
369 command, which on many systems will send them to an actual printer.
371 There are various other options which affect printing; see below.
375 \dt \cw{--save }\e{file-prefix} [ \cw{--save-suffix }\e{file-suffix} ]
377 \dd If this option is specified, instead of a puzzle being
378 displayed, saved-game files for one or more unsolved puzzles are
379 written to files constructed from the supplied prefix and/or suffix.
383 If \c{--generate} has also been specified, the invented game IDs will
384 be used to generate the printed output. Otherwise, a list of game IDs
385 is expected on standard input (which can be descriptive or random
386 seeds; see \k{common-id}), in the same format produced by
391 \c PREFIX-net --generate 12 --save game --save-suffix .sav
393 will generate twelve Net saved-game files with the names
394 \cw{game0.sav} to \cw{game11.sav}.
400 \dd Prints version information about the game, and then quits.
402 The following options are only meaningful if \c{--print} is also
405 \dt \cw{--with-solutions}
407 \dd The set of pages filled with unsolved puzzles will be followed by
408 the solutions to those puzzles.
410 \dt \cw{--scale }\e{n}
412 \dd Adjusts how big each puzzle is when printed. Larger numbers make
413 puzzles bigger; the default is 1.0.
417 \dd Puzzles will be printed in colour, rather than in black and white
418 (if supported by the puzzle).
423 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.net}
425 (\e{Note:} the \i{Windows} version of this game is called
426 \i\cw{NETGAME.EXE} to avoid clashing with Windows's own \cw{NET.EXE}.)
428 I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{FreeNet}
429 \k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans; there are several other
430 implementations under the name \i{NetWalk}. The computer prepares a
431 network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then
432 shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is to
433 rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be an
434 entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{The latter
435 clause means that there are no closed paths within the network.
436 Could this be clearer? "No closed paths"?} As a visual aid,
437 all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are
440 \B{FreeNet} \W{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}\cw{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}
442 \H{net-controls} \i{Net controls}
444 \IM{Net controls} controls, for Net
445 \IM{Net controls} keys, for Net
446 \IM{Net controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Net
448 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. The
451 \dt \e{Select tile}: mouse pointer, arrow keys
453 \dt \e{Rotate tile anticlockwise}: left mouse button, \q{A} key
455 \dt \e{Rotate tile clockwise}: right mouse button, \q{D} key
457 \dt \e{Rotate tile by 180 degrees}: \q{F} key
459 \dt \e{Lock (or unlock) tile}: middle mouse button, shift-click, \q{S} key
461 \dd You can lock a tile once you're sure of its orientation. You can
462 also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't accidentally
465 The following controls are not necessary to complete the game, but may
468 \dt \e{Shift grid}: Shift + arrow keys
470 \dd On grids that wrap, you can move the origin of the grid, so that
471 tiles that were on opposite sides of the grid can be seen together.
473 \dt \e{Move centre}: Ctrl + arrow keys
475 \dd You can change which tile is used as the source of highlighting.
476 (It doesn't ultimately matter which tile this is, as every tile will
477 be connected to every other tile in a correct solution, but it may be
478 helpful in the intermediate stages of solving the puzzle.)
480 \dt \e{Jumble tiles}: \q{J} key
482 \dd This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random
485 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
487 \H{net-params} \I{parameters, for Net}Net parameters
489 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
492 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
494 \dd Size of grid in tiles.
496 \dt \e{Walls wrap around}
498 \dd If checked, flow can pass from the left edge to the right edge,
499 and from top to bottom, and vice versa.
501 \dt \e{Barrier probability}
503 \dd A number between 0.0 and 1.0 controlling whether an immovable
504 barrier is placed between two tiles to prevent flow between them (a
505 higher number gives more barriers). Since barriers are immovable, they
506 act as constraints on the solution (i.e., hints).
510 The grid generation in Net has been carefully arranged so that the
511 barriers are independent of the rest of the grid. This means that if
512 you note down the random seed used to generate the current puzzle
513 (see \k{common-id}), change the \e{Barrier probability} parameter,
514 and then re-enter the same random seed, you should see exactly the
515 same starting grid, with the only change being the number of
516 barriers. So if you're stuck on a particular grid and need a hint,
517 you could start up another instance of Net, set up the same
518 parameters but a higher barrier probability, and enter the game seed
519 from the original Net window.
523 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
525 \dd Normally, Net will make sure that the puzzles it presents have
526 only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
527 difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
528 feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. (Also, finding \e{all}
529 the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an
535 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.cube}
537 This is another one I originally saw as a web game. This one was a
538 Java game \k{cube-java-game}, by Paul Scott. You have a grid of 16
539 squares, six of which are blue; on one square rests a cube. Your move
540 is to use the arrow keys to roll the cube through 90 degrees so that
541 it moves to an adjacent square. If you roll the cube on to a blue
542 square, the blue square is picked up on one face of the cube; if you
543 roll a blue face of the cube on to a non-blue square, the blueness is
544 put down again. (In general, whenever you roll the cube, the two faces
545 that come into contact swap colours.) Your job is to get all six blue
546 squares on to the six faces of the cube at the same time. Count your
547 moves and try to do it in as few as possible.
549 Unlike the original Java game, my version has an additional feature:
550 once you've mastered the game with a cube rolling on a square grid,
551 you can change to a triangular grid and roll any of a tetrahedron, an
552 octahedron or an icosahedron.
554 \B{cube-java-game} \W{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}\cw{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}
556 \H{cube-controls} \i{Cube controls}
558 \IM{Cube controls} controls, for Cube
559 \IM{Cube controls} keys, for Cube
560 \IM{Cube controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Cube
562 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
564 Left-clicking anywhere on the window will move the cube (or other
565 solid) towards the mouse pointer.
567 The arrow keys can also used to roll the cube on its square grid in
568 the four cardinal directions.
569 On the triangular grids, the mapping of arrow keys to directions is
570 more approximate. Vertical movement is disallowed where it doesn't
571 make sense. The four keys surrounding the arrow keys on the numeric
572 keypad (\q{7}, \q{9}, \q{1}, \q{3}) can be used for diagonal movement.
574 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
576 \H{cube-params} \I{parameters, for Cube}Cube parameters
578 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
581 \dt \e{Type of solid}
583 \dd Selects the solid to roll (and hence the shape of the grid):
584 tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, or icosahedron.
586 \dt \e{Width / top}, \e{Height / bottom}
588 \dd On a square grid, horizontal and vertical dimensions. On a
589 triangular grid, the number of triangles on the top and bottom rows
593 \C{fifteen} \i{Fifteen}
595 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.fifteen}
597 The old ones are the best: this is the good old \q{\i{15-puzzle}}
598 with sliding tiles. You have a 4\by\.4 square grid; 15 squares
599 contain numbered tiles, and the sixteenth is empty. Your move is to
600 choose a tile next to the empty space, and slide it into the space.
601 The aim is to end up with the tiles in numerical order, with the
602 space in the bottom right (so that the top row reads 1,2,3,4 and the
603 bottom row reads 13,14,15,\e{space}).
605 \H{fifteen-controls} \i{Fifteen controls}
607 \IM{Fifteen controls} controls, for Fifteen
608 \IM{Fifteen controls} keys, for Fifteen
609 \IM{Fifteen controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Fifteen
611 This game can be controlled with the mouse or the keyboard.
613 A left-click with the mouse in the row or column containing the empty
614 space will move as many tiles as necessary to move the space to the
617 The arrow keys will move a tile adjacent to the space in the direction
618 indicated (moving the space in the \e{opposite} direction).
620 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
622 \H{fifteen-params} \I{parameters, for Fifteen}Fifteen parameters
624 The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
625 menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. (Once
626 you've changed these, it's not a \q{15-puzzle} any more, of course!)
629 \C{sixteen} \i{Sixteen}
631 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.sixteen}
633 Another sliding tile puzzle, visually similar to Fifteen (see
634 \k{fifteen}) but with a different type of move. This time, there is no
635 hole: all 16 squares on the grid contain numbered squares. Your move
636 is to shift an entire row left or right, or shift an entire column up
637 or down; every time you do that, the tile you shift off the grid
638 re-appears at the other end of the same row, in the space you just
639 vacated. To win, arrange the tiles into numerical order (1,2,3,4 on
640 the top row, 13,14,15,16 on the bottom). When you've done that, try
641 playing on different sizes of grid.
643 I \e{might} have invented this game myself, though only by accident if
644 so (and I'm sure other people have independently invented it). I
645 thought I was imitating a screensaver I'd seen, but I have a feeling
646 that the screensaver might actually have been a Fifteen-type puzzle
647 rather than this slightly different kind. So this might be the one
648 thing in my puzzle collection which represents creativity on my part
649 rather than just engineering.
651 \H{sixteen-controls} \I{controls, for Sixteen}Sixteen controls
653 Left-clicking on an arrow will move the appropriate row or column in
654 the direction indicated. Right-clicking will move it in the opposite
657 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the position indicator
658 around the edge of the grid, and use the return key to move the
659 row/column in the direction indicated.
661 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
663 \H{sixteen-params} \I{parameters, for Sixteen}Sixteen parameters
665 The parameters available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
668 \b \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory.
670 \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on
671 the grid. By default, Sixteen will shuffle the grid in such a way
672 that any arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can
673 override this by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to
674 be performed. Typically your aim is then to determine the precise
675 set of shuffling moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer
676 (say) a four-move shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the
677 more moves you ask for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter
678 than the target length will turn out to be possible.
681 \C{twiddle} \i{Twiddle}
683 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.twiddle}
685 Twiddle is a tile-rearrangement puzzle, visually similar to Sixteen
686 (see \k{sixteen}): you are given a grid of square tiles, each
687 containing a number, and your aim is to arrange the numbers into
690 In basic Twiddle, your move is to rotate a square group of four
691 tiles about their common centre. (Orientation is not significant in
692 the basic puzzle, although you can select it.) On more advanced
693 settings, you can rotate a larger square group of tiles.
695 I first saw this type of puzzle in the GameCube game \q{Metroid
696 Prime 2}. In the Main Gyro Chamber in that game, there is a puzzle
697 you solve to unlock a door, which is a special case of Twiddle. I
698 developed this game as a generalisation of that puzzle.
700 \H{twiddle-controls} \I{controls, for Twiddle}Twiddle controls
702 To play Twiddle, click the mouse in the centre of the square group
703 you wish to rotate. In the basic mode, you rotate a 2\by\.2 square,
704 which means you have to click at a corner point where four tiles
707 In more advanced modes you might be rotating 3\by\.3 or even more at
708 a time; if the size of the square is odd then you simply click in
709 the centre tile of the square you want to rotate.
711 Clicking with the left mouse button rotates the group anticlockwise.
712 Clicking with the right button rotates it clockwise.
714 You can also move an outline square around the grid with the cursor
715 keys; the square is the size above (2\by\.2 by default, or larger).
716 Pressing the return key or space bar will rotate the current square
717 anticlockwise or clockwise respectively.
719 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
721 \H{twiddle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Twiddle}Twiddle parameters
723 Twiddle provides several configuration options via the \q{Custom}
724 option on the \q{Type} menu:
726 \b You can configure the width and height of the puzzle grid.
728 \b You can configure the size of square block that rotates at a time.
730 \b You can ask for every square in the grid to be distinguishable
731 (the default), or you can ask for a simplified puzzle in which there
732 are groups of identical numbers. In the simplified puzzle your aim
733 is just to arrange all the 1s into the first row, all the 2s into
734 the second row, and so on.
736 \b You can configure whether the orientation of tiles matters. If
737 you ask for an orientable puzzle, each tile will have a triangle
738 drawn in it. All the triangles must be pointing upwards to complete
741 \b You can ask for a limited shuffling operation to be performed on
742 the grid. By default, Twiddle will shuffle the grid so much that any
743 arrangement is about as probable as any other. You can override this
744 by requesting a precise number of shuffling moves to be performed.
745 Typically your aim is then to determine the precise set of shuffling
746 moves and invert them exactly, so that you answer (say) a four-move
747 shuffle with a four-move solution. Note that the more moves you ask
748 for, the more likely it is that solutions shorter than the target
749 length will turn out to be possible.
752 \C{rectangles} \i{Rectangles}
754 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.rectangles}
756 You have a grid of squares, with numbers written in some (but not all)
757 of the squares. Your task is to subdivide the grid into rectangles of
758 various sizes, such that (a) every rectangle contains exactly one
759 numbered square, and (b) the area of each rectangle is equal to the
760 number written in its numbered square.
762 Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine \i{Nikoli}
763 \k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle
764 Palace} \k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's
765 implementation, my version automatically generates random grids of
766 any size you like. The quality of puzzle design is therefore not
767 quite as good as hand-crafted puzzles would be, but on the plus side
768 you get an inexhaustible supply of puzzles tailored to your own
771 \B{nikoli-rect} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm}
773 \B{puzzle-palace-rect} \W{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en}\cw{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en}
775 \H{rectangles-controls} \I{controls, for Rectangles}Rectangles controls
777 This game is played with the mouse or cursor keys.
779 Left-click any edge to toggle it on or off, or left-click and drag to draw
780 an entire rectangle (or line) on the grid in one go (removing any existing
781 edges within that rectangle). Right-clicking and dragging will allow you
782 to erase the contents of a rectangle without affecting its edges.
784 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the position indicator
785 around the board. Pressing the return key then allows you to use the
786 cursor keys to drag a rectangle out from that position, and pressing
787 the return key again completes the rectangle. Using the space bar
788 instead of the return key allows you to erase the contents of a
789 rectangle without affecting its edges, as above.
791 When a rectangle of the correct size is completed, it will be shaded.
793 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
795 \H{rectangles-params} \I{parameters, for Rectangles}Rectangles parameters
797 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
800 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
802 \dd Size of grid, in squares.
804 \dt \e{Expansion factor}
806 \dd This is a mechanism for changing the type of grids generated by
807 the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few large
808 rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask
809 Rectangles to essentially generate a \e{smaller} grid than the size
810 you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and columns.
814 The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will
815 simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing
816 further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means that
817 each dimension of the grid will be expanded to half again as big
818 after generation. In other words, the initial grid will be 2/3 the
819 size in each dimension, and will be expanded to its full size
820 without adding any more rectangles.
822 Setting an expansion factor of around 0.5 tends to make the game
823 more difficult, and also (in my experience) rewards a less deductive
824 and more intuitive playing style. If you set it \e{too} high,
825 though, the game simply cannot generate more than a few rectangles
826 to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes trivial.
830 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
832 \dd Normally, Rectangles will make sure that the puzzles it presents
833 have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
834 difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
835 feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. Also, finding \e{all} the
836 possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an advanced
837 player. Turning off this option can also speed up puzzle generation.
840 \C{netslide} \i{Netslide}
842 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.netslide}
844 This game combines the grid generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the
845 movement of Sixteen (see \k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but
846 instead of rotating tiles back into place you have to slide them
847 into place by moving a whole row at a time.
849 As in Sixteen, \I{controls, for Netslide}control is with the mouse or
850 cursor keys. See \k{sixteen-controls}.
852 \I{parameters, for Netslide}The available game parameters have similar
853 meanings to those in Net (see \k{net-params}) and Sixteen (see
856 Netslide was contributed to this collection by Richard Boulton.
859 \C{pattern} \i{Pattern}
861 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pattern}
863 You have a grid of squares, which must all be filled in either black
864 or white. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the
865 runs of black squares on that row; above each column are listed the
866 lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to
867 fill in the entire grid black or white.
869 I first saw this puzzle form around 1995, under the name
870 \q{\i{nonograms}}. I've seen it in various places since then, under
873 Normally, puzzles of this type turn out to be a meaningful picture
874 of something once you've solved them. However, since this version
875 generates the puzzles automatically, they will just look like random
876 groupings of squares. (One user has suggested that this is actually
877 a \e{good} thing, since it prevents you from guessing the colour of
878 squares based on the picture, and forces you to use logic instead.)
879 The advantage, though, is that you never run out of them.
881 \H{pattern-controls} \I{controls, for Pattern}Pattern controls
883 This game is played with the mouse.
885 Left-click in a square to colour it black. Right-click to colour it
886 white. If you make a mistake, you can middle-click, or hold down
887 Shift while clicking with any button, to colour the square in the
888 default grey (meaning \q{undecided}) again.
890 You can click and drag with the left or right mouse button to colour
891 a vertical or horizontal line of squares black or white at a time
892 (respectively). If you click and drag with the middle button, or
893 with Shift held down, you can colour a whole rectangle of squares
896 You can also move around the grid with the cursor keys. Pressing the
897 return key will cycle the current cell through empty, then black, then
898 white, then empty, and the space bar does the same cycle in reverse.
900 Moving the cursor while holding Control will colour the moved-over
901 squares black. Holding Shift will colour the moved-over squares
902 white, and holding both will colour them grey.
904 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
906 \H{pattern-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pattern}Pattern parameters
908 The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
909 menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory.
914 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.solo}
916 You have a square grid, which is divided into as many equally sized
917 sub-blocks as the grid has rows. Each square must be filled in with
918 a digit from 1 to the size of the grid, in such a way that
920 \b every row contains only one occurrence of each digit
922 \b every column contains only one occurrence of each digit
924 \b every block contains only one occurrence of each digit.
926 \b (optionally, by default off) each of the square's two main
927 diagonals contains only one occurrence of each digit.
929 You are given some of the numbers as clues; your aim is to place the
930 rest of the numbers correctly.
932 Under the default settings, the sub-blocks are square or
933 rectangular. The default puzzle size is 3\by\.3 (a 9\by\.9 actual
934 grid, divided into nine 3\by\.3 blocks). You can also select sizes
935 with rectangular blocks instead of square ones, such as 2\by\.3 (a
936 6\by\.6 grid divided into six 3\by\.2 blocks). Alternatively, you
937 can select \q{jigsaw} mode, in which the sub-blocks are arbitrary
938 shapes which differ between individual puzzles.
940 Another available mode is \q{killer}. In this mode, clues are not
941 given in the form of filled-in squares; instead, the grid is divided
942 into \q{cages} by coloured lines, and for each cage the game tells
943 you what the sum of all the digits in that cage should be. Also, no
944 digit may appear more than once within a cage, even if the cage
945 crosses the boundaries of existing regions.
947 If you select a puzzle size which requires more than 9 digits, the
948 additional digits will be letters of the alphabet. For example, if
949 you select 3\by\.4 then the digits which go in your grid will be 1
950 to 9, plus \cq{a}, \cq{b} and \cq{c}. This cannot be selected for
953 I first saw this puzzle in \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-solo}, although it's
954 also been popularised by various newspapers under the name
955 \q{Sudoku} or \q{Su Doku}. Howard Garns is considered the inventor
956 of the modern form of the puzzle, and it was first published in
957 \e{Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games}. A more elaborate treatment
958 of the history of the puzzle can be found on Wikipedia
961 \B{nikoli-solo} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm}
963 \B{wikipedia-solo} \W{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku}\cw{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku}
965 \H{solo-controls} \I{controls, for Solo}Solo controls
967 To play Solo, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
968 type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you
969 make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press
970 Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
972 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
973 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
974 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares
975 containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks.
977 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
978 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
979 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
980 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
981 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
983 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
984 the same number again.
986 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
987 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
988 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
990 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the mark around the grid.
991 Pressing the return key toggles the mark (from a normal mark to a
992 pencil mark), and typing a number in is entered in the square in the
993 appropriate way; typing in a 0 or using the space bar will clear a
996 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
998 \H{solo-parameters} \I{parameters, for Solo}Solo parameters
1000 Solo allows you to configure two separate dimensions of the puzzle
1001 grid on the \q{Type} menu: the number of columns, and the number of
1002 rows, into which the main grid is divided. (The size of a block is
1003 the inverse of this: for example, if you select 2 columns and 3 rows,
1004 each actual block will have 3 columns and 2 rows.)
1006 If you tick the \q{X} checkbox, Solo will apply the optional extra
1007 constraint that the two main diagonals of the grid also contain one
1008 of every digit. (This is sometimes known as \q{Sudoku-X} in
1009 newspapers.) In this mode, the squares on the two main diagonals
1010 will be shaded slightly so that you know it's enabled.
1012 If you tick the \q{Jigsaw} checkbox, Solo will generate randomly
1013 shaped sub-blocks. In this mode, the actual grid size will be taken
1014 to be the product of the numbers entered in the \q{Columns} and
1015 \q{Rows} boxes. There is no reason why you have to enter a number
1016 greater than 1 in both boxes; Jigsaw mode has no constraint on the
1017 grid size, and it can even be a prime number if you feel like it.
1019 If you tick the \q{Killer} checkbox, Solo will generate a set of
1020 of cages, which are randomly shaped and drawn in an outline of a
1021 different colour. Each of these regions contains a smaller clue
1022 which shows the digit sum of all the squares in this region.
1024 You can also configure the type of symmetry shown in the generated
1025 puzzles. More symmetry makes the puzzles look prettier but may also
1026 make them easier, since the symmetry constraints can force more
1027 clues than necessary to be present. Completely asymmetric puzzles
1028 have the freedom to contain as few clues as possible.
1030 Finally, you can configure the difficulty of the generated puzzles.
1031 Difficulty levels are judged by the complexity of the techniques of
1032 deduction required to solve the puzzle: each level requires a mode
1033 of reasoning which was not necessary in the previous one. In
1034 particular, on difficulty levels \q{Trivial} and \q{Basic} there
1035 will be a square you can fill in with a single number at all times,
1036 whereas at \q{Intermediate} level and beyond you will have to make
1037 partial deductions about the \e{set} of squares a number could be in
1038 (or the set of numbers that could be in a square).
1039 \#{Advanced, Extreme?}
1040 At \q{Unreasonable} level, even this is not enough, and you will
1041 eventually have to make a guess, and then backtrack if it turns out
1044 Generating difficult puzzles is itself difficult: if you select one
1045 of the higher difficulty levels, Solo may have to make many attempts
1046 at generating a puzzle before it finds one hard enough for you. Be
1047 prepared to wait, especially if you have also configured a large
1053 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.mines}
1055 You have a grid of covered squares, some of which contain mines, but
1056 you don't know which. Your job is to uncover every square which does
1057 \e{not} contain a mine. If you uncover a square containing a mine,
1058 you lose. If you uncover a square which does not contain a mine, you
1059 are told how many mines are contained within the eight surrounding
1062 This game needs no introduction; popularised by Windows, it is
1063 perhaps the single best known desktop puzzle game in existence.
1065 This version of it has an unusual property. By default, it will
1066 generate its mine positions in such a way as to ensure that you
1067 never need to \e{guess} where a mine is: you will always be able to
1068 deduce it somehow. So you will never, as can happen in other
1069 versions, get to the last four squares and discover that there are
1070 two mines left but you have no way of knowing for sure where they
1073 \H{mines-controls} \I{controls, for Mines}Mines controls
1075 This game is played with the mouse.
1077 If you left-click in a covered square, it will be uncovered.
1079 If you right-click in a covered square, it will place a flag which
1080 indicates that the square is believed to be a mine. Left-clicking in
1081 a marked square will not uncover it, for safety. You can right-click
1082 again to remove a mark placed in error.
1084 If you left-click in an \e{uncovered} square, it will \q{clear
1085 around} the square. This means: if the square has exactly as many
1086 flags surrounding it as it should have mines, then all the covered
1087 squares next to it which are \e{not} flagged will be uncovered. So
1088 once you think you know the location of all the mines around a
1089 square, you can use this function as a shortcut to avoid having to
1090 click on each of the remaining squares one by one.
1092 If you uncover a square which has \e{no} mines in the surrounding
1093 eight squares, then it is obviously safe to uncover those squares in
1094 turn, and so on if any of them also has no surrounding mines. This
1095 will be done for you automatically; so sometimes when you uncover a
1096 square, a whole new area will open up to be explored.
1098 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the minefield.
1099 Pressing the return key in a covered square uncovers it, and in an
1100 uncovered square will clear around it (so it acts as the left button),
1101 pressing the space bar in a covered square will place a flag
1102 (similarly, it acts as the right button).
1104 All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.
1106 Even Undo is available, although you might consider it cheating to
1107 use it. If you step on a mine, the program will only reveal the mine
1108 in question (unlike most other implementations, which reveal all of
1109 them). You can then Undo your fatal move and continue playing if you
1110 like. The program will track the number of times you died (and Undo
1111 will not reduce that counter), so when you get to the end of the
1112 game you know whether or not you did it without making any errors.
1114 (If you really want to know the full layout of the grid, which other
1115 implementations will show you after you die, you can always use the
1118 \H{mines-parameters} \I{parameters, for Mines}Mines parameters
1120 The options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
1123 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1125 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1129 \dd Number of mines in the grid. You can enter this as an absolute
1130 mine count, or alternatively you can put a \cw{%} sign on the end in
1131 which case the game will arrange for that proportion of the squares
1132 in the grid to be mines.
1136 Beware of setting the mine count too high. At very high densities,
1137 the program may spend forever searching for a solvable grid.
1141 \dt \e{Ensure solubility}
1143 \dd When this option is enabled (as it is by default), Mines will
1144 ensure that the entire grid can be fully deduced starting from the
1145 initial open space. If you prefer the riskier grids generated by
1146 other implementations, you can switch off this option.
1149 \C{samegame} \i{Same Game}
1151 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.samegame}
1153 You have a grid of coloured squares, which you have to clear by
1154 highlighting contiguous regions of more than one coloured square;
1155 the larger the region you highlight, the more points you get (and
1156 the faster you clear the arena).
1158 If you clear the grid you win. If you end up with nothing but
1159 single squares (i.e., there are no more clickable regions left) you
1162 Removing a region causes the rest of the grid to shuffle up:
1163 blocks that are suspended will fall down (first), and then empty
1164 columns are filled from the right.
1166 Same Game was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1168 \H{samegame-controls} \i{Same Game controls}
1170 \IM{Same Game controls} controls, for Same Game
1171 \IM{Same Game controls} keys, for Same Game
1172 \IM{Same Game controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Same Game
1174 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1176 If you left-click an unselected region, it becomes selected (possibly
1177 clearing the current selection).
1179 If you left-click the selected region, it will be removed (and the
1180 rest of the grid shuffled immediately).
1182 If you right-click the selected region, it will be unselected.
1184 The cursor keys move a cursor around the grid. Pressing the Space or
1185 Enter keys while the cursor is in an unselected region selects it;
1186 pressing Space or Enter again removes it as above.
1188 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1190 \H{samegame-parameters} \I{parameters, for Same Game}Same Game parameters
1192 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1195 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1197 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1199 \dt \e{No. of colours}
1201 \dd Number of different colours used to fill the grid; the more colours,
1202 the fewer large regions of colour and thus the more difficult it is to
1203 successfully clear the grid.
1205 \dt \e{Scoring system}
1207 \dd Controls the precise mechanism used for scoring. With the default
1208 system, \q{(n-2)^2}, only regions of three squares or more will score
1209 any points at all. With the alternative \q{(n-1)^2} system, regions of
1210 two squares score a point each, and larger regions score relatively
1213 \dt \e{Ensure solubility}
1215 \dd If this option is ticked (the default state), generated grids
1216 will be guaranteed to have at least one solution.
1220 If you turn it off, the game generator will not try to guarantee
1221 soluble grids; it will, however, still ensure that there are at
1222 least 2 squares of each colour on the grid at the start (since a
1223 grid with exactly one square of a given colour is \e{definitely}
1224 insoluble). Grids generated with this option disabled may contain
1225 more large areas of contiguous colour, leading to opportunities for
1226 higher scores; they can also take less time to generate.
1233 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.flip}
1235 You have a grid of squares, some light and some dark. Your aim is to
1236 light all the squares up at the same time. You can choose any square
1237 and flip its state from light to dark or dark to light, but when you
1238 do so, other squares around it change state as well.
1240 Each square contains a small diagram showing which other squares
1241 change when you flip it.
1243 \H{flip-controls} \i{Flip controls}
1245 \IM{Flip controls} controls, for Flip
1246 \IM{Flip controls} keys, for Flip
1247 \IM{Flip controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Flip
1249 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1251 Left-click in a square to flip it and its associated squares, or
1252 use the cursor keys to choose a square and the space bar or Enter
1255 If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, it will mark some of
1256 the squares in red. If you click once in every square with a red
1257 mark, the game should be solved. (If you click in a square
1258 \e{without} a red mark, a red mark will appear in it to indicate
1259 that you will need to reverse that operation to reach the solution.)
1261 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1263 \H{flip-parameters} \I{parameters, for flip}Flip parameters
1265 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1268 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1270 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1274 \dd This control determines the shape of the region which is flipped
1275 by clicking in any given square. The default setting, \q{Crosses},
1276 causes every square to flip itself and its four immediate neighbours
1277 (or three or two if it's at an edge or corner). The other setting,
1278 \q{Random}, causes a random shape to be chosen for every square, so
1279 the game is different every time.
1284 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.guess}
1286 You have a set of coloured pegs, and have to reproduce a
1287 predetermined sequence of them (chosen by the computer) within a
1288 certain number of guesses.
1290 Each guess gets marked with the number of correctly-coloured pegs
1291 in the correct places (in black), and also the number of
1292 correctly-coloured pegs in the wrong places (in white).
1294 This game is also known (and marketed, by Hasbro, mainly) as
1295 a board game \q{\i{Mastermind}}, with 6 colours, 4 pegs per row,
1296 and 10 guesses. However, this version allows custom settings of number
1297 of colours (up to 10), number of pegs per row, and number of guesses.
1299 Guess was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1301 \H{guess-controls} \i{Guess controls}
1303 \IM{Guess controls} controls, for Guess
1304 \IM{Guess controls} keys, for Guess
1305 \IM{Guess controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Guess
1307 This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
1309 With the mouse, drag a coloured peg from the tray on the left-hand
1310 side to its required position in the current guess; pegs may also be
1311 dragged from current and past guesses to copy them elsewhere. To
1312 remove a peg, drag it off its current position to somewhere invalid.
1314 Right-clicking in the current guess adds a \q{hold} marker; pegs
1315 that have hold markers will be automatically added to the next guess
1318 Alternatively, with the keyboard, the up and down cursor keys can be
1319 used to select a peg colour, the left and right keys to select a
1320 peg position, and the space bar or Enter key to place a peg of the
1321 selected colour in the chosen position. \q{D} or Backspace removes a
1322 peg, and \q{H} adds a hold marker.
1324 When the guess is complete, the smaller feedback pegs will be highlighted;
1325 clicking on these (or moving the peg cursor to them with the arrow keys
1326 and pressing the space bar or Enter key) will mark the current guess,
1327 copy any held pegs to the next guess, and move the \q{current guess}
1330 If you correctly position all the pegs the solution will be displayed
1331 below; if you run out of guesses (or select \q{Solve...}) the solution
1332 will also be revealed.
1334 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1336 \H{guess-parameters} \I{parameters, for Guess}Guess parameters
1338 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1339 \q{Type} menu. The default game matches the parameters for the
1340 board game \q{Mastermind}.
1344 \dd Number of colours the solution is chosen from; from 2 to 10
1347 \dt \e{Pegs per guess}
1349 \dd Number of pegs per guess (more is harder).
1353 \dd Number of guesses you have to find the solution in (fewer is harder).
1355 \dt \e{Allow blanks}
1357 \dd Allows blank pegs to be given as part of a guess (makes it easier, because
1358 you know that those will never be counted as part of the solution). This
1359 is turned off by default.
1363 Note that this doesn't allow blank pegs in the solution; if you really wanted
1364 that, use one extra colour.
1368 \dt \e{Allow duplicates}
1370 \dd Allows the solution (and the guesses) to contain colours more than once;
1371 this increases the search space (making things harder), and is turned on by
1377 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pegs}
1379 A number of pegs are placed in holes on a board. You can remove a
1380 peg by jumping an adjacent peg over it (horizontally or vertically)
1381 to a vacant hole on the other side. Your aim is to remove all but one
1382 of the pegs initially present.
1384 This game, best known as \I{Solitaire, Peg}\q{Peg Solitaire}, is
1385 possibly one of the oldest puzzle games still commonly known.
1387 \H{pegs-controls} \i{Pegs controls}
1389 \IM{Pegs controls} controls, for Pegs
1391 To move a peg, drag it with the mouse from its current position to
1392 its final position. If the final position is exactly two holes away
1393 from the initial position, is currently unoccupied by a peg, and
1394 there is a peg in the intervening square, the move will be permitted
1395 and the intervening peg will be removed.
1397 Vacant spaces which you can move a peg into are marked with holes. A
1398 space with no peg and no hole is not available for moving at all: it
1399 is an obstacle which you must work around.
1401 You can also use the cursor keys to move a position indicator around
1402 the board. Pressing the return key while over a peg, followed by a
1403 cursor key, will jump the peg in that direction (if that is a legal
1406 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1408 \H{pegs-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pegs}Pegs parameters
1410 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1413 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1415 \dd Size of grid in holes.
1419 \dd Controls whether you are given a board of a standard shape or a
1420 randomly generated shape. The two standard shapes currently
1421 supported are \q{Cross} and \q{Octagon} (also commonly known as the
1422 English and European traditional board layouts respectively).
1423 Selecting \q{Random} will give you a different board shape every
1424 time (but always one that is known to have a solution).
1427 \C{dominosa} \i{Dominosa}
1429 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.dominosa}
1431 A normal set of dominoes \dash that is, one instance of every
1432 (unordered) pair of numbers from 0 to 6 \dash has been arranged
1433 irregularly into a rectangle; then the number in each square has
1434 been written down and the dominoes themselves removed. Your task is
1435 to reconstruct the pattern by arranging the set of dominoes to match
1436 the provided array of numbers.
1438 This puzzle is widely credited to O. S. Adler, and takes part of its
1439 name from those initials.
1441 \H{dominosa-controls} \i{Dominosa controls}
1443 \IM{Dominosa controls} controls, for Dominosa
1445 Left-clicking between any two adjacent numbers places a domino
1446 covering them, or removes one if it is already present. Trying to
1447 place a domino which overlaps existing dominoes will remove the ones
1450 Right-clicking between two adjacent numbers draws a line between
1451 them, which you can use to remind yourself that you know those two
1452 numbers are \e{not} covered by a single domino. Right-clicking again
1455 You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor around the grid.
1456 When the cursor is half way between two adjacent numbers, pressing
1457 the return key will place a domino covering those numbers, or
1458 pressing the space bar will lay a line between the two squares.
1459 Repeating either action removes the domino or line.
1461 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1463 \H{dominosa-parameters} \I{parameters, for Dominosa}Dominosa parameters
1465 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1468 \dt \e{Maximum number on dominoes}
1470 \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by controlling the size of the
1471 set of dominoes used to make it. Dominoes with numbers going up to N
1472 will give rise to an (N+2) \by (N+1) rectangle; so, in particular,
1473 the default value of 6 gives an 8\by\.7 grid.
1475 \dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
1477 \dd Normally, Dominosa will make sure that the puzzles it presents
1478 have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
1479 difficult and sometimes more subtle, so if you like you can turn off
1480 this feature. Also, finding \e{all} the possible solutions can be an
1481 additional challenge for an advanced player. Turning off this option
1482 can also speed up puzzle generation.
1485 \C{untangle} \i{Untangle}
1487 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.untangle}
1489 You are given a number of points, some of which have lines drawn
1490 between them. You can move the points about arbitrarily; your aim is
1491 to position the points so that no line crosses another.
1493 I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{Planarity}
1494 \k{Planarity}, written by John Tantalo.
1496 \B{Planarity} \W{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity}\cw{http://home.cwru.edu/~jnt5/Planarity}
1498 \H{untangle-controls} \i{Untangle controls}
1500 \IM{Untangle controls} controls, for Untangle
1502 To move a point, click on it with the left mouse button and drag it
1503 into a new position.
1505 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1507 \H{untangle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Untangle}Untangle parameters
1509 There is only one parameter available from the \q{Custom...} option
1510 on the \q{Type} menu:
1512 \dt \e{Number of points}
1514 \dd Controls the size of the puzzle, by specifying the number of
1515 points in the generated graph.
1518 \C{blackbox} \i{Black Box}
1520 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.blackbox}
1522 A number of balls are hidden in a rectangular arena. You have to
1523 deduce the positions of the balls by firing lasers positioned at
1524 the edges of the arena and observing how their beams are deflected.
1526 Beams will travel straight from their origin until they hit the
1527 opposite side of the arena (at which point they emerge), unless
1528 affected by balls in one of the following ways:
1530 \b A beam that hits a ball head-on is absorbed and will never
1531 re-emerge. This includes beams that meet a ball on the first rank
1534 \b A beam with a ball to its front-left square gets deflected 90 degrees
1537 \b A beam with a ball to its front-right square gets similarly deflected
1540 \b A beam that would re-emerge from its entry location is considered to be
1543 \b A beam which would get deflected before entering the arena by a
1544 ball to the front-left or front-right of its entry point is also
1545 considered to be \q{reflected}.
1547 Beams that are reflected appear as a \q{R}; beams that hit balls
1548 head-on appear as \q{H}. Otherwise, a number appears at the firing
1549 point and the location where the beam emerges (this number is unique
1552 You can place guesses as to the location of the balls, based on the
1553 entry and exit patterns of the beams; once you have placed enough
1554 balls a button appears enabling you to have your guesses checked.
1556 Here is a diagram showing how the positions of balls can create each
1557 of the beam behaviours shown above:
1570 As shown, it is possible for a beam to receive multiple reflections
1571 before re-emerging (see turn 3). Similarly, a beam may be reflected
1572 (possibly more than once) before receiving a hit (the \q{H} on the
1573 left side of the example).
1575 Note that any layout with more than 4 balls may have a non-unique
1576 solution. The following diagram illustrates this; if you know the
1577 board contains 5 balls, it is impossible to determine where the fifth
1578 ball is (possible positions marked with an \cw{x}):
1591 For this reason, when you have your guesses checked, the game will
1592 check that your solution \e{produces the same results} as the
1593 computer's, rather than that your solution is identical to the
1594 computer's. So in the above example, you could put the fifth ball at
1595 \e{any} of the locations marked with an \cw{x}, and you would still
1598 Black Box was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1600 \H{blackbox-controls} \i{Black Box controls}
1602 \IM{Black Box controls} controls, for Black Box
1603 \IM{Black Box controls} keys, for Black Box
1604 \IM{Black Box controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Black Box
1606 To fire a laser beam, left-click in a square around the edge of the
1607 arena. The results will be displayed immediately. Clicking or holding
1608 the left button on one of these squares will highlight the current go
1609 (or a previous go) to confirm the exit point for that laser, if
1612 To guess the location of a ball, left-click within the arena and a
1613 black circle will appear marking the guess; click again to remove the
1616 Locations in the arena may be locked against modification by
1617 right-clicking; whole rows and columns may be similarly locked by
1618 right-clicking in the laser square above/below that column, or to the
1619 left/right of that row.
1621 The cursor keys may also be used to move around the grid. Pressing the
1622 Enter key will fire a laser or add a new ball-location guess, and
1623 pressing Space will lock a cell, row, or column.
1625 When an appropriate number of balls have been guessed, a button will
1626 appear at the top-left corner of the grid; clicking that (with mouse
1627 or cursor) will check your guesses.
1629 If you click the \q{check} button and your guesses are not correct,
1630 the game will show you the minimum information necessary to
1631 demonstrate this to you, so you can try again. If your ball
1632 positions are not consistent with the beam paths you already know
1633 about, one beam path will be circled to indicate that it proves you
1634 wrong. If your positions match all the existing beam paths but are
1635 still wrong, one new beam path will be revealed (written in red)
1636 which is not consistent with your current guesses.
1638 If you decide to give up completely, you can select Solve to reveal
1639 the actual ball positions. At this point, correctly-placed balls
1640 will be displayed as filled black circles, incorrectly-placed balls
1641 as filled black circles with red crosses, and missing balls as filled
1642 red circles. In addition, a red circle marks any laser you had already
1643 fired which is not consistent with your ball layout (just as when you
1644 press the \q{check} button), and red text marks any laser you
1645 \e{could} have fired in order to distinguish your ball layout from the
1648 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1650 \H{blackbox-parameters} \I{parameters, for Black Box}Black Box parameters
1652 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1655 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1657 \dd Size of grid in squares. There are 2 \by \e{Width} \by \e{Height} lasers
1658 per grid, two per row and two per column.
1660 \dt \e{No. of balls}
1662 \dd Number of balls to place in the grid. This can be a single number,
1663 or a range (separated with a hyphen, like \q{2-6}), and determines the
1664 number of balls to place on the grid. The \q{reveal} button is only
1665 enabled if you have guessed an appropriate number of balls; a guess
1666 using a different number to the original solution is still acceptable,
1667 if all the beam inputs and outputs match.
1672 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.slant}
1674 You have a grid of squares. Your aim is to draw a diagonal line
1675 through each square, and choose which way each line slants so that
1676 the following conditions are met:
1678 \b The diagonal lines never form a loop.
1680 \b Any point with a circled number has precisely that many lines
1681 meeting at it. (Thus, a 4 is the centre of a cross shape, whereas a
1682 zero is the centre of a diamond shape \dash or rather, a partial
1683 diamond shape, because a zero can never appear in the middle of the
1684 grid because that would immediately cause a loop.)
1686 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-slant}.
1689 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/39/index.htm}
1692 \H{slant-controls} \i{Slant controls}
1694 \IM{Slant controls} controls, for Slant
1696 Left-clicking in a blank square will place a \cw{\\} in it (a line
1697 leaning to the left, i.e. running from the top left of the square to
1698 the bottom right). Right-clicking in a blank square will place a
1699 \cw{/} in it (leaning to the right, running from top right to bottom
1702 Continuing to click either button will cycle between the three
1703 possible square contents. Thus, if you left-click repeatedly in a
1704 blank square it will change from blank to \cw{\\} to \cw{/} back to
1705 blank, and if you right-click repeatedly the square will change from
1706 blank to \cw{/} to \cw{\\} back to blank. (Therefore, you can play
1707 the game entirely with one button if you need to.)
1709 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
1710 return or space keys will place a \cw{\\} or a \cw{/}, respectively,
1711 and will then cycle them as above.
1713 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1715 \H{slant-parameters} \I{parameters, for Slant}Slant parameters
1717 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1720 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1722 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1726 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Hard level,
1727 you are required to do deductions based on knowledge of
1728 \e{relationships} between squares rather than always being able to
1729 deduce the exact contents of one square at a time. (For example, you
1730 might know that two squares slant in the same direction, even if you
1731 don't yet know what that direction is, and this might enable you to
1732 deduce something about still other squares.) Even at Hard level,
1733 guesswork and backtracking should never be necessary.
1736 \C{lightup} \i{Light Up}
1738 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.lightup}
1740 You have a grid of squares. Some are filled in black; some of the
1741 black squares are numbered. Your aim is to \q{light up} all the
1742 empty squares by placing light bulbs in some of them.
1744 Each light bulb illuminates the square it is on, plus all squares in
1745 line with it horizontally or vertically unless a black square is
1748 To win the game, you must satisfy the following conditions:
1750 \b All non-black squares are lit.
1752 \b No light is lit by another light.
1754 \b All numbered black squares have exactly that number of lights adjacent to
1755 them (in the four squares above, below, and to the side).
1757 Non-numbered black squares may have any number of lights adjacent to them.
1759 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-lightup}.
1761 Light Up was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
1764 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/32/index-e.htm}
1767 \H{lightup-controls} \i{Light Up controls}
1769 \IM{Light Up controls} controls, for Light Up
1771 Left-clicking in a non-black square will toggle the presence of a light
1772 in that square. Right-clicking in a non-black square toggles a mark there to aid
1773 solving; it can be used to highlight squares that cannot be lit, for example.
1775 You may not place a light in a marked square, nor place a mark in a lit square.
1777 The game will highlight obvious errors in red. Lights lit by other
1778 lights are highlighted in this way, as are numbered squares which
1779 do not (or cannot) have the right number of lights next to them.
1781 Thus, the grid is solved when all non-black squares have yellow
1782 highlights and there are no red lights.
1784 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1786 \H{lightup-parameters} \I{parameters, for Light Up}Light Up parameters
1788 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1791 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1793 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1795 \dt \e{%age of black squares}
1797 \dd Rough percentage of black squares in the grid.
1801 This is a hint rather than an instruction. If the grid generator is
1802 unable to generate a puzzle to this precise specification, it will
1803 increase the proportion of black squares until it can.
1809 \dd Allows you to specify the required symmetry of the black squares
1810 in the grid. (This does not affect the difficulty of the puzzles
1815 \dd \q{Easy} means that the puzzles should be soluble without
1816 backtracking or guessing, \q{Hard} means that some guesses will
1817 probably be necessary.
1822 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.map}
1824 You are given a map consisting of a number of regions. Your task is
1825 to colour each region with one of four colours, in such a way that
1826 no two regions sharing a boundary have the same colour. You are
1827 provided with some regions already coloured, sufficient to make the
1828 remainder of the solution unique.
1830 Only regions which share a length of border are required to be
1831 different colours. Two regions which meet at only one \e{point}
1832 (i.e. are diagonally separated) may be the same colour.
1834 I believe this puzzle is original; I've never seen an implementation
1835 of it anywhere else. The concept of a \i{four-colouring} puzzle was
1836 suggested by Owen Dunn; credit must also go to Nikoli and to Verity
1837 Allan for inspiring the train of thought that led to me realising
1838 Owen's suggestion was a viable puzzle. Thanks also to Gareth Taylor
1839 for many detailed suggestions.
1841 \H{map-controls} \i{Map controls}
1843 \IM{Map controls} controls, for Map
1845 To colour a region, click the left mouse button on an existing
1846 region of the desired colour and drag that colour into the new
1849 (The program will always ensure the starting puzzle has at least one
1850 region of each colour, so that this is always possible!)
1852 If you need to clear a region, you can drag from an empty region, or
1853 from the puzzle boundary if there are no empty regions left.
1855 Dragging a colour using the \e{right} mouse button will stipple the
1856 region in that colour, which you can use as a note to yourself that
1857 you think the region \e{might} be that colour. A region can contain
1858 stipples in multiple colours at once. (This is often useful at the
1859 harder difficulty levels.)
1861 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the map: the colour of
1862 the cursor indicates the position of the colour you would drag (which
1863 is not obvious if you're on a region's boundary, since it depends on the
1864 direction from which you approached the boundary). Pressing the return
1865 key starts a drag of that colour, as above, which you control with the
1866 cursor keys; pressing the return key again finishes the drag. The
1867 space bar can be used similarly to create a stippled region.
1868 Double-pressing the return key (without moving the cursor) will clear
1869 the region, as a drag from an empty region does: this is useful with
1870 the cursor mode if you have filled the entire map in but need to
1873 If you press L during play, the game will toggle display of a number
1874 in each region of the map. This is useful if you want to discuss a
1875 particular puzzle instance with a friend \dash having an unambiguous
1876 name for each region is much easier than trying to refer to them all
1877 by names such as \q{the one down and right of the brown one on the
1880 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1882 \H{map-parameters} \I{parameters, for Map}Map parameters
1884 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1887 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1889 \dd Size of grid in squares.
1893 \dd Number of regions in the generated map.
1897 \dd In \q{Easy} mode, there should always be at least one region
1898 whose colour can be determined trivially. In \q{Normal} and \q{Hard}
1899 modes, you will have to use increasingly complex logic to deduce the
1900 colour of some regions. However, it will always be possible without
1901 having to guess or backtrack.
1905 In \q{Unreasonable} mode, the program will feel free to generate
1906 puzzles which are as hard as it can possibly make them: the only
1907 constraint is that they should still have a unique solution. Solving
1908 Unreasonable puzzles may require guessing and backtracking.
1915 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.loopy}
1917 You are given a grid of dots, marked with yellow lines to indicate
1918 which dots you are allowed to connect directly together. Your aim is
1919 to use some subset of those yellow lines to draw a single unbroken
1920 loop from dot to dot within the grid.
1922 Some of the spaces between the lines contain numbers. These numbers
1923 indicate how many of the lines around that space form part of the
1924 loop. The loop you draw must correctly satisfy all of these clues to
1925 be considered a correct solution.
1927 In the default mode, the dots are arranged in a grid of squares;
1928 however, you can also play on triangular or hexagonal grids, or even
1931 Credit for the basic puzzle idea goes to \i{Nikoli}
1934 Loopy was originally contributed to this collection by Mike Pinna,
1935 and subsequently enhanced to handle various types of non-square grid
1939 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/3/index-e.htm}
1942 \H{loopy-controls} \i{Loopy controls}
1944 \IM{Loopy controls} controls, for Loopy
1946 Click the left mouse button on a yellow line to turn it black,
1947 indicating that you think it is part of the loop. Click again to
1948 turn the line yellow again (meaning you aren't sure yet).
1950 If you are sure that a particular line segment is \e{not} part of
1951 the loop, you can click the right mouse button to remove it
1952 completely. Again, clicking a second time will turn the line back to
1955 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
1957 \H{loopy-parameters} \I{parameters, for Loopy}Loopy parameters
1959 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
1962 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
1964 \dd Size of grid, measured in number of regions across and down. For
1965 square grids, it's clear how this is counted; for other types of
1966 grid you may have to think a bit to see how the dimensions are
1971 \dd Allows you to choose between a selection of types of tiling.
1972 Some have all the faces the same but may have multiple different
1973 types of vertex (e.g. the \e{Cairo} or \e{Kites} mode); others have
1974 all the vertices the same but may have different types of face (e.g.
1975 the \e{Great Hexagonal}). The square, triangular and honeycomb grids
1976 are fully regular, and have all their vertices \e{and} faces the
1977 same; this makes them the least confusing to play.
1981 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle.
1982 \#{FIXME: what distinguishes Easy, Medium, and Hard? In particular,
1983 when are backtracking/guesswork required, if ever?}
1986 \C{inertia} \i{Inertia}
1988 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.inertia}
1990 You are a small green ball sitting in a grid full of obstacles. Your
1991 aim is to collect all the gems without running into any mines.
1993 You can move the ball in any orthogonal \e{or diagonal} direction.
1994 Once the ball starts moving, it will continue until something stops
1995 it. A wall directly in its path will stop it (but if it is moving
1996 diagonally, it will move through a diagonal gap between two other
1997 walls without stopping). Also, some of the squares are \q{stops};
1998 when the ball moves on to a stop, it will stop moving no matter what
1999 direction it was going in. Gems do \e{not} stop the ball; it picks
2000 them up and keeps on going.
2002 Running into a mine is fatal. Even if you picked up the last gem in
2003 the same move which then hit a mine, the game will count you as dead
2004 rather than victorious.
2006 This game was originally implemented for Windows by Ben Olmstead
2007 \k{bem}, who was kind enough to release his source code on request
2008 so that it could be re-implemented for this collection.
2010 \B{bem} \W{http://xn13.com/}\cw{http://xn13.com/}
2012 \H{inertia-controls} \i{Inertia controls}
2014 \IM{Inertia controls} controls, for Inertia
2015 \IM{Inertia controls} keys, for Inertia
2016 \IM{Inertia controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Inertia
2018 You can move the ball in any of the eight directions using the
2019 numeric keypad. Alternatively, if you click the left mouse button on
2020 the grid, the ball will begin a move in the general direction of
2023 If you use the \q{Solve} function on this game, the program will
2024 compute a path through the grid which collects all the remaining
2025 gems and returns to the current position. A hint arrow will appear
2026 on the ball indicating the direction in which you should move to
2027 begin on this path. If you then move in that direction, the arrow
2028 will update to indicate the next direction on the path. You can also
2029 press Space to automatically move in the direction of the hint
2030 arrow. If you move in a different direction from the one shown by
2031 the arrow, the hint arrows will stop appearing because you have
2032 strayed from the provided path; you can then use \q{Solve} again to
2033 generate a new path if you want to.
2035 All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.
2036 In particular, if you do run into a mine and die, you can use the
2037 Undo function and resume playing from before the fatal move. The
2038 game will keep track of the number of times you have done this.
2040 \H{inertia-parameters} \I{parameters, for Inertia}Inertia parameters
2042 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2045 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2047 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2052 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.tents}
2054 You have a grid of squares, some of which contain trees. Your aim is
2055 to place tents in some of the remaining squares, in such a way that
2056 the following conditions are met:
2058 \b There are exactly as many tents as trees.
2060 \b The tents and trees can be matched up in such a way that each
2061 tent is directly adjacent (horizontally or vertically, but not
2062 diagonally) to its own tree. However, a tent may be adjacent to
2063 other trees as well as its own.
2065 \b No two tents are adjacent horizontally, vertically \e{or
2068 \b The number of tents in each row, and in each column, matches the
2069 numbers given round the sides of the grid.
2071 This puzzle can be found in several places on the Internet, and was
2072 brought to my attention by e-mail. I don't know who I should credit
2075 \H{tents-controls} \i{Tents controls}
2077 \IM{Tents controls} controls, for Tents
2079 Left-clicking in a blank square will place a tent in it.
2080 Right-clicking in a blank square will colour it green, indicating
2081 that you are sure it \e{isn't} a tent. Clicking either button in an
2082 occupied square will clear it.
2084 If you \e{drag} with the right button along a row or column, every
2085 blank square in the region you cover will be turned green, and no
2086 other squares will be affected. (This is useful for clearing the
2087 remainder of a row once you have placed all its tents.)
2089 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
2090 return key over an empty square will place a tent, and pressing the
2091 space bar over an empty square will colour it green; either key will
2092 clear an occupied square.
2094 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2096 \H{tents-parameters} \I{parameters, for Tents}Tents parameters
2098 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2101 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2103 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2107 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult
2108 puzzles require more complex deductions, but at present none of the
2109 available difficulty levels requires guesswork or backtracking.
2112 \C{bridges} \i{Bridges}
2114 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.bridges}
2116 You have a set of islands distributed across the playing area. Each
2117 island contains a number. Your aim is to connect the islands
2118 together with bridges, in such a way that:
2120 \b Bridges run horizontally or vertically.
2122 \b The number of bridges terminating at any island is equal to the
2123 number written in that island.
2125 \b Two bridges may run in parallel between the same two islands, but
2126 no more than two may do so.
2128 \b No bridge crosses another bridge.
2130 \b All the islands are connected together.
2132 There are some configurable alternative modes, which involve
2133 changing the parallel-bridge limit to something other than 2, and
2134 introducing the additional constraint that no sequence of bridges
2135 may form a loop from one island back to the same island. The rules
2136 stated above are the default ones.
2138 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-bridges}.
2140 Bridges was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2143 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/14/index-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/14/index-e.htm}
2145 \H{bridges-controls} \i{Bridges controls}
2147 \IM{Bridges controls} controls, for Bridges
2149 To place a bridge between two islands, click the mouse down on one
2150 island and drag it towards the other. You do not need to drag all
2151 the way to the other island; you only need to move the mouse far
2152 enough for the intended bridge direction to be unambiguous. (So you
2153 can keep the mouse near the starting island and conveniently throw
2154 bridges out from it in many directions.)
2156 Doing this again when a bridge is already present will add another
2157 parallel bridge. If there are already as many bridges between the
2158 two islands as permitted by the current game rules (i.e. two by
2159 default), the same dragging action will remove all of them.
2161 If you want to remind yourself that two islands definitely \e{do
2162 not} have a bridge between them, you can right-drag between them in
2163 the same way to draw a \q{non-bridge} marker.
2165 If you think you have finished with an island (i.e. you have placed
2166 all its bridges and are confident that they are in the right
2167 places), you can mark the island as finished by left-clicking on it.
2168 This will highlight it and all the bridges connected to it, and you
2169 will be prevented from accidentally modifying any of those bridges
2170 in future. Left-clicking again on a highlighted island will unmark
2171 it and restore your ability to modify it.
2173 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid: if possible
2174 the cursor will always move orthogonally, otherwise it will move
2175 towards the nearest island to the indicated direction. Pressing the
2176 return key followed by a cursor key will lay a bridge in that direction
2177 (if available); pressing the space bar followed by a cursor key will
2178 lay a \q{non-bridge} marker.
2180 You can mark an island as finished by pressing the return key twice.
2182 Violations of the puzzle rules will be marked in red:
2184 \b An island with too many bridges will be highlighted in red.
2186 \b An island with too few bridges will be highlighted in red if it
2187 is definitely an error (as opposed to merely not being finished
2188 yet): if adding enough bridges would involve having to cross another
2189 bridge or remove a non-bridge marker, or if the island has been
2190 highlighted as complete.
2192 \b A group of islands and bridges may be highlighted in red if it is
2193 a closed subset of the puzzle with no way to connect it to the rest
2194 of the islands. For example, if you directly connect two 1s together
2195 with a bridge and they are not the only two islands on the grid,
2196 they will light up red to indicate that such a group cannot be
2197 contained in any valid solution.
2199 \b If you have selected the (non-default) option to disallow loops
2200 in the solution, a group of bridges which forms a loop will be
2203 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2205 \H{bridges-parameters} \I{parameters, for Bridges}Bridges parameters
2207 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2210 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2212 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2216 \dd Difficulty level of puzzle.
2220 \dd This is set by default. If cleared, puzzles will be generated in
2221 such a way that they are always soluble without creating a loop, and
2222 solutions which do involve a loop will be disallowed.
2224 \dt \e{Max. bridges per direction}
2226 \dd Maximum number of bridges in any particular direction. The
2227 default is 2, but you can change it to 1, 3 or 4. In general, fewer
2230 \dt \e{%age of island squares}
2232 \dd Gives a rough percentage of islands the generator will try and
2233 lay before finishing the puzzle. Certain layouts will not manage to
2234 lay enough islands; this is an upper bound.
2236 \dt \e{Expansion factor (%age)}
2238 \dd The grid generator works by picking an existing island at random
2239 (after first creating an initial island somewhere). It then decides
2240 on a direction (at random), and then works out how far it could
2241 extend before creating another island. This parameter determines how
2242 likely it is to extend as far as it can, rather than choosing
2247 High expansion factors usually mean easier puzzles with fewer
2248 possible islands; low expansion factors can create lots of
2249 tightly-packed islands.
2254 \C{unequal} \i{Unequal}
2256 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.unequal}
2258 You have a square grid; each square may contain a digit from 1 to
2259 the size of the grid, and some squares have clue signs between
2260 them. Your aim is to fully populate the grid with numbers such that:
2262 \b Each row contains only one occurrence of each digit
2264 \b Each column contains only one occurrence of each digit
2266 \b All the clue signs are satisfied.
2268 There are two modes for this game, \q{Unequal} and \q{Adjacent}.
2270 In \q{Unequal} mode, the clue signs are greater-than symbols indicating one
2271 square's value is greater than its neighbour's. In this mode not all clues
2272 may be visible, particularly at higher difficulty levels.
2274 In \q{Adjacent} mode, the clue signs are bars indicating
2275 one square's value is numerically adjacent (i.e. one higher or one lower)
2276 than its neighbour. In this mode all clues are always visible: absence of
2277 a bar thus means that a square's value is definitely not numerically adjacent
2278 to that neighbour's.
2280 In \q{Trivial} difficulty level (available via the \q{Custom} game type
2281 selector), there are no greater-than signs in \q{Unequal} mode; the puzzle is
2282 to solve the \i{Latin square} only.
2284 At the time of writing, the \q{Unequal} mode of this puzzle is appearing in the
2285 Guardian weekly under the name \q{\i{Futoshiki}}.
2287 Unequal was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2289 \H{unequal-controls} \i{Unequal controls}
2291 \IM{Unequal controls} controls, for Unequal
2293 Unequal shares much of its control system with Solo.
2295 To play Unequal, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2296 type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you
2297 make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press
2298 Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
2300 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
2301 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
2302 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares
2303 containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks.
2305 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
2306 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
2307 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
2308 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
2309 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
2311 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
2312 the same number again.
2314 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
2315 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
2316 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
2318 As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the digit
2319 keys to set numbers or pencil marks. You can also use the 'M' key to
2320 auto-fill every numeric hint, ready for removal as required, or the 'H'
2321 key to do the same but also to remove all obvious hints.
2323 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the mark around the grid.
2324 Pressing the return key toggles the mark (from a normal mark to a
2325 pencil mark), and typing a number in is entered in the square in the
2326 appropriate way; typing in a 0 or using the space bar will clear a
2329 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2331 \H{unequal-parameters} \I{parameters, for Unequal}Unequal parameters
2333 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2338 \dd Mode of the puzzle (\q{Unequal} or \q{Adjacent})
2346 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Trivial
2347 level, there are no greater-than signs; the puzzle is to solve the
2348 Latin square only. At Recursive level (only available via the
2349 \q{Custom} game type selector) backtracking will be required, but
2350 the solution should still be unique. The levels in between require
2351 increasingly complex reasoning to avoid having to backtrack.
2355 \C{galaxies} \i{Galaxies}
2357 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.galaxies}
2359 You have a rectangular grid containing a number of dots. Your aim is
2360 to draw edges along the grid lines which divide the rectangle into
2361 regions in such a way that every region is 180\u00b0{-degree}
2362 rotationally symmetric, and contains exactly one dot which is
2363 located at its centre of symmetry.
2365 This puzzle was invented by \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-galaxies}, under
2366 the name \q{Tentai Show}; its name is commonly translated into
2367 English as \q{Spiral Galaxies}.
2369 Galaxies was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2371 \B{nikoli-galaxies} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/astronomical_show/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/astronomical_show/}
2373 \H{galaxies-controls} \i{Galaxies controls}
2375 \IM{Galaxies controls} controls, for Galaxies
2377 Left-click on any grid line to draw an edge if there isn't one
2378 already, or to remove one if there is. When you create a valid
2379 region (one which is closed, contains exactly one dot, is
2380 180\u00b0{-degree} symmetric about that dot, and contains no
2381 extraneous edges inside it) it will be highlighted automatically; so
2382 your aim is to have the whole grid highlighted in that way.
2384 During solving, you might know that a particular grid square belongs
2385 to a specific dot, but not be sure of where the edges go and which
2386 other squares are connected to the dot. In order to mark this so you
2387 don't forget, you can right-click on the dot and drag, which will
2388 create an arrow marker pointing at the dot. Drop that in a square of
2389 your choice and it will remind you which dot it's associated with.
2390 You can also right-click on existing arrows to pick them up and move
2391 them, or destroy them by dropping them off the edge of the grid.
2392 (Also, if you're not sure which dot an arrow is pointing at, you can
2393 pick it up and move it around to make it clearer. It will swivel
2394 constantly as you drag it, to stay pointed at its parent dot.)
2396 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares and
2397 lines. Pressing the return key when over a grid line will draw or
2398 clear its edge, as above. Pressing the return key when over a dot will
2399 pick up an arrow, to be dropped the next time the return key is
2400 pressed; this can also be used to move existing arrows around, removing
2401 them by dropping them on a dot or another arrow.
2403 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2405 \H{galaxies-parameters} \I{parameters, for Galaxies}Galaxies parameters
2407 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2410 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2412 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2416 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. More difficult
2417 puzzles require more complex deductions, and the \q{Unreasonable}
2418 difficulty level may require backtracking.
2422 \C{filling} \i{Filling}
2424 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.filling}
2426 You have a grid of squares, some of which contain digits, and the
2427 rest of which are empty. Your job is to fill in digits in the empty
2428 squares, in such a way that each connected region of squares all
2429 containing the same digit has an area equal to that digit.
2431 (\q{Connected region}, for the purposes of this game, does not count
2432 diagonally separated squares as adjacent.)
2434 For example, it follows that no square can contain a zero, and that
2435 two adjacent squares can not both contain a one. No region has an
2436 area greater than 9 (because then its area would not be a single
2439 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-fillomino}.
2441 Filling was contributed to this collection by Jonas K\u00F6{oe}lker.
2443 \B{nikoli-fillomino}
2444 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/fillomino/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/fillomino/}
2446 \H{filling-controls} \I{controls, for Filling}Filling controls
2448 To play Filling, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2449 type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square. By dragging the
2450 mouse, you can select multiple squares to fill with a single keypress.
2451 If you make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and
2452 press 0, Space, Backspace or Enter to clear it again (or use the Undo
2455 You can also move around the grid with the cursor keys; typing a digit will
2456 fill the square containing the cursor with that number, or typing 0, Space,
2457 or Enter will clear it. You can also select multiple squares for numbering
2458 or clearing by using the return key, before typing a digit to fill in the
2459 highlighted squares (as above).
2461 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2463 \H{filling-parameters} \I{parameters, for Filling}Filling parameters
2465 Filling allows you to configure the number of rows and columns of the
2466 grid, through the \q{Type} menu.
2471 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.keen}
2473 You have a square grid; each square may contain a digit from 1 to
2474 the size of the grid. The grid is divided into blocks of varying
2475 shape and size, with arithmetic clues written in them. Your aim is
2476 to fully populate the grid with digits such that:
2478 \b Each row contains only one occurrence of each digit
2480 \b Each column contains only one occurrence of each digit
2482 \b The digits in each block can be combined to form the number
2483 stated in the clue, using the arithmetic operation given in the
2488 \b An addition clue means that the sum of the digits in the block
2489 must be the given number. For example, \q{15+} means the contents of
2490 the block adds up to fifteen.
2492 \b A multiplication clue (e.g. \q{60\times}), similarly, means that
2493 the product of the digits in the block must be the given number.
2495 \b A subtraction clue will always be written in a block of size two,
2496 and it means that one of the digits in the block is greater than the
2497 other by the given amount. For example, \q{2\minus} means that one
2498 of the digits in the block is 2 more than the other, or equivalently
2499 that one digit minus the other one is 2. The two digits could be
2500 either way round, though.
2502 \b A division clue (e.g. \q{3\divide}), similarly, is always in a
2503 block of size two and means that one digit divided by the other is
2504 equal to the given amount.
2506 Note that a block may contain the same digit more than once
2507 (provided the identical ones are not in the same row and column).
2508 This rule is precisely the opposite of the rule in Solo's \q{Killer}
2509 mode (see \k{solo}).
2513 This puzzle appears in the Times under the name \q{\i{KenKen}}.
2516 \H{keen-controls} \i{Keen controls}
2518 \IM{Keen controls} controls, for Keen
2520 Keen shares much of its control system with Solo (and Unequal).
2522 To play Keen, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2523 type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square. If you make a
2524 mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press Space to
2525 clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
2527 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
2528 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
2529 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. Squares
2530 containing filled-in numbers cannot also contain pencil marks.
2532 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
2533 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
2534 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
2535 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
2536 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
2538 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
2539 the same number again.
2541 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
2542 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
2543 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
2545 As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the
2546 digit keys to set numbers or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys to
2547 move a highlight around the grid, and type a digit to enter it in
2548 the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the highlight into a
2549 mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks.
2551 Pressing M will fill in a full set of pencil marks in every square
2552 that does not have a main digit in it.
2554 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2556 \H{keen-parameters} \I{parameters, for Keen}Keen parameters
2558 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2563 \dd Specifies the size of the grid. Lower limit is 3; upper limit is
2564 9 (because the user interface would become more difficult with
2565 \q{digits} bigger than 9!).
2569 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Unreasonable
2570 level, some backtracking will be required, but the solution should
2571 still be unique. The remaining levels require increasingly complex
2572 reasoning to avoid having to backtrack.
2575 \C{towers} \i{Towers}
2577 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.towers}
2579 You have a square grid. On each square of the grid you can build a
2580 tower, with its height ranging from 1 to the size of the grid.
2581 Around the edge of the grid are some numeric clues.
2583 Your task is to build a tower on every square, in such a way that:
2585 \b Each row contains every possible height of tower once
2587 \b Each column contains every possible height of tower once
2589 \b Each numeric clue describes the number of towers that can be seen
2590 if you look into the square from that direction, assuming that
2591 shorter towers are hidden behind taller ones. For example, in a
2592 5\by\.5 grid, a clue marked \q{5} indicates that the five tower
2593 heights must appear in increasing order (otherwise you would not be
2594 able to see all five towers), whereas a clue marked \q{1} indicates
2595 that the tallest tower (the one marked 5) must come first.
2597 In harder or larger puzzles, some towers will be specified for you
2598 as well as the clues round the edge, and some edge clues may be
2601 This puzzle appears on the web under various names, particularly
2602 \q{\i{Skyscrapers}}, but I don't know who first invented it.
2605 \H{towers-controls} \i{Towers controls}
2607 \IM{Towers controls} controls, for Towers
2609 Towers shares much of its control system with Solo, Unequal and Keen.
2611 To play Towers, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then
2612 type a digit on the keyboard to fill that square with a tower of the
2613 given height. If you make a mistake, click the mouse in the
2614 incorrect square and press Space to clear it again (or use the Undo
2617 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
2618 number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
2619 have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square. A square
2620 containing a tower cannot also contain pencil marks.
2622 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
2623 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
2624 particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
2625 particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
2626 numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
2628 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
2629 the same number again.
2631 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
2632 a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
2633 pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
2635 As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the
2636 digit keys to set numbers or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys to
2637 move a highlight around the grid, and type a digit to enter it in
2638 the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the highlight into a
2639 mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks.
2641 Pressing M will fill in a full set of pencil marks in every square
2642 that does not have a main digit in it.
2644 Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark it
2645 if it is already marked.
2647 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2649 \H{towers-parameters} \I{parameters, for Towers}Towers parameters
2651 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2656 \dd Specifies the size of the grid. Lower limit is 3; upper limit is
2657 9 (because the user interface would become more difficult with
2658 \q{digits} bigger than 9!).
2662 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Unreasonable
2663 level, some backtracking will be required, but the solution should
2664 still be unique. The remaining levels require increasingly complex
2665 reasoning to avoid having to backtrack.
2668 \C{singles} \i{Singles}
2670 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.singles}
2672 You have a grid of white squares, all of which contain numbers. Your task
2673 is to colour some of the squares black (removing the number) so as to satisfy
2674 all of the following conditions:
2676 \b No number occurs more than once in any row or column.
2678 \b No black square is horizontally or vertically adjacent to any other black
2681 \b The remaining white squares must all form one contiguous region
2682 (connected by edges, not just touching at corners).
2684 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-hitori} who call it
2687 Singles was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2690 \W{http://www.nikoli.com/en/puzzles/hitori/index.html}\cw{http://www.nikoli.com/en/puzzles/hitori/index.html}
2693 \H{singles-controls} \i{Singles controls}
2695 \IM{Singles controls} controls, for Singles
2697 Left-clicking on an empty square will colour it black; left-clicking again
2698 will restore the number. Right-clicking will add a circle (useful for
2699 indicating that a cell is definitely not black).
2701 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
2702 return or space keys will turn a square black or add a circle respectively,
2703 and pressing the key again will restore the number or remove the circle.
2705 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2707 \H{singles-parameters} \I{parameters, for Singles}Singles parameters
2709 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2712 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2714 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2718 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle.
2721 \C{magnets} \i{Magnets}
2723 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.magnets}
2725 A rectangular grid has been filled with a mixture of magnets (that is,
2726 dominoes with one positive end and one negative end) and blank dominoes
2727 (that is, dominoes with two neutral poles).
2728 These dominoes are initially only seen in silhouette. Around the grid
2729 are placed a number of clues indicating the number of positive and
2730 negative poles contained in certain columns and rows.
2732 Your aim is to correctly place the magnets and blank dominoes such that
2733 all the clues are satisfied, with the additional constraint that no two
2734 similar magnetic poles may be orthogonally adjacent (since they repel).
2735 Neutral poles do not repel, and can be adjacent to any other pole.
2737 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Janko} \k{janko-magnets}.
2739 Magnets was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2742 \W{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Magnete/index.htm}\cw{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Magnete/index.htm}
2744 \H{magnets-controls} \i{Magnets controls}
2746 \IM{Magnets controls} controls, for Magnets
2748 Left-clicking on an empty square places a magnet at that position with
2749 the positive pole on the square and the negative pole on the other half
2750 of the magnet; left-clicking again reverses the polarity, and a third
2751 click removes the magnet.
2753 Right-clicking on an empty square places a blank domino there.
2754 Right-clicking again places two question marks on the domino, signifying
2755 \q{this cannot be blank} (which can be useful to note deductions while
2756 solving), and right-clicking again empties the domino.
2758 Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark it if
2759 it is already marked.
2761 You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor around the grid.
2762 Pressing the return key will lay a domino with a positive pole at that
2763 position; pressing again reverses the polarity and then removes the
2764 domino, as with left-clicking. Using the space bar allows placement
2765 of blank dominoes and cannot-be-blank hints, as for right-clicking.
2767 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2769 \H{magnets-parameters} \I{parameters, for Magnets}Magnets parameters
2771 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2774 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2776 \dd Size of grid in squares. There will be half \e{Width} \by \e{Height}
2777 dominoes in the grid: if this number is odd then one square will be blank.
2781 (Grids with at least one odd dimension tend to be easier to solve.)
2787 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle. At Tricky level,
2788 you are required to make more deductions about empty dominoes and
2793 \dd If true, some of the clues around the grid are removed at generation
2794 time, making the puzzle more difficult.
2797 \C{signpost} \i{Signpost}
2799 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.signpost}
2801 You have a grid of squares; each square (except the last one)
2802 contains an arrow, and some squares also contain numbers. Your job
2803 is to connect the squares to form a continuous list of numbers
2804 starting at 1 and linked in the direction of the arrows \dash so the
2805 arrow inside the square with the number 1 will point to the square
2806 containing the number 2, which will point to the square containing
2807 the number 3, etc. Each square can be any distance away from the
2808 previous one, as long as it is somewhere in the direction of the
2811 By convention the first and last numbers are shown; one or more
2812 interim numbers may also appear at the beginning.
2814 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Janko} \k{janko-arrowpath}, who call it
2815 \q{Pfeilpfad} (\q{arrow path}).
2817 Signpost was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
2820 \W{http://janko.at/Raetsel/Pfeilpfad/index.htm}\cw{http://janko.at/Raetsel/Pfeilpfad/index.htm}
2822 \H{signpost-controls} \I{controls, for Signpost}Signpost controls
2824 To play Signpost, you connect squares together by dragging from one
2825 square to another, indicating that they are adjacent in the
2826 sequence. Drag with the left button from a square to its successor,
2827 or with the right button from a square to its predecessor.
2829 If you connect together two squares in this way and one of them has
2830 a number in it, the appropriate number will appear in the other
2831 square. If you connect two non-numbered squares, they will be
2832 assigned temporary algebraic labels: on the first occasion, they
2833 will be labelled \cq{a} and \cq{a+1}, and then \cq{b} and \cq{b+1},
2834 and so on. Connecting more squares on to the ends of such a chain
2835 will cause them all to be labelled with the same letter.
2837 When you left-click or right-click in a square, the legal squares to
2838 connect it to will be shown.
2840 The arrow in each square starts off black, and goes grey once you
2841 connect the square to its successor. Also, each square which needs a
2842 predecessor has a small dot in the bottom left corner, which
2843 vanishes once you link a square to it. So your aim is always to
2844 connect a square with a black arrow to a square with a dot.
2846 To remove any links for a particular square (both incoming and
2847 outgoing), left-drag it off the grid. To remove a whole chain,
2848 right-drag any square in the chain off the grid.
2850 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares and
2851 lines. Pressing the return key when over a square starts a link
2852 operation, and pressing the return key again over a square will
2853 finish the link, if allowable. Pressing the space bar over a square
2854 will show the other squares pointing to it, and allow you to form a
2855 backward link, and pressing the space bar again cancels this.
2857 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2859 \H{signpost-parameters} \I{parameters, for Signpost}Signpost parameters
2861 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2864 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2866 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2868 \dt \e{Force start/end to corners}
2870 \dd If true, the start and end squares are always placed in opposite corners
2871 (the start at the top left, and the end at the bottom right). If false the start
2872 and end squares are placed randomly (although always both shown).
2876 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.range}
2878 You have a grid of squares; some squares contain numbers. Your job is
2879 to colour some of the squares black, such that several criteria are
2882 \b no square with a number is coloured black.
2884 \b no two black squares are adjacent (horizontally or vertically).
2886 \b for any two white squares, there is a path between them using only
2889 \b for each square with a number, that number denotes the total number
2890 of white squares reachable from that square going in a straight line
2891 in any horizontal or vertical direction until hitting a wall or a
2892 black square; the square with the number is included in the total
2895 For instance, a square containing the number one must have four black
2896 squares as its neighbours by the last criterion; but then it's
2897 impossible for it to be connected to any outside white square, which
2898 violates the second to last criterion. So no square will contain the
2901 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli}, who have variously called
2902 it \q{Kurodoko}, \q{Kuromasu} or \q{Where is Black Cells}.
2905 Range was contributed to this collection by Jonas K\u00F6{oe}lker.
2908 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/where_is_black_cells/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/where_is_black_cells/}
2910 \H{range-controls} \I{controls, for Range}Range controls
2912 Click with the left button to paint a square black, or with the right
2913 button to mark a square with a dot to indicate that you are sure it
2914 should \e{not} be painted black. Repeated clicking with either button
2915 will cycle the square through the three possible states (filled,
2916 dotted or empty) in opposite directions.
2918 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid squares.
2919 Pressing Return does the same as clicking with the left button, while
2920 pressing Space does the same as a right button click.
2922 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2924 \H{range-parameters} \I{parameters, for Range}Range parameters
2926 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2929 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
2931 \dd Size of grid in squares.
2935 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pearl}
2937 You have a grid of squares. Your job is to draw lines between the
2938 centres of horizontally or vertically adjacent squares, so that the
2939 lines form a single closed loop. In the resulting grid, some of the
2940 squares that the loop passes through will contain corners, and some
2941 will be straight horizontal or vertical lines. (And some squares can
2942 be completely empty \dash the loop doesn't have to pass through every
2945 Some of the squares contain black and white circles, which are clues
2946 that the loop must satisfy.
2948 A black circle in a square indicates that that square is a corner, but
2949 neither of the squares adjacent to it in the loop is also a corner.
2951 A white circle indicates that the square is a straight edge, but \e{at
2952 least one} of the squares adjacent to it in the loop is a corner.
2954 (In both cases, the clue only constrains the two squares adjacent
2955 \e{in the loop}, that is, the squares that the loop passes into after
2956 leaving the clue square. The squares that are only adjacent \e{in the
2957 grid} are not constrained.)
2959 Credit for this puzzle goes to \i{Nikoli}, who call it \q{Masyu}.
2962 Thanks to James Harvey for assistance with the implementation.
2965 \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/masyu/}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/puzzles/masyu/}
2967 \H{pearl-controls} \I{controls, for Pearl}Pearl controls
2969 Click with the left button on a grid edge to draw a segment of the
2970 loop through that edge, or to remove a segment once it is drawn.
2972 Drag with the left button through a series of squares to draw more
2973 than one segment of the loop in one go. Alternatively, drag over an
2974 existing part of the loop to undraw it, or to undraw part of it and
2975 then go in a different direction.
2977 Click with the right button on a grid edge to mark it with a cross,
2978 indicating that you are sure the loop does not go through that edge.
2979 (For instance, if you have decided which of the squares adjacent to a
2980 white clue has to be a corner, but don't yet know which way the corner
2981 turns, you might mark the one way it \e{can't} go with a cross.)
2983 Alternatively, use the cursor keys to move the cursor. Use the Enter
2984 key to begin and end keyboard `drag' operations. Use the Space key to
2985 cancel the drag. Use Ctrl-arrowkey and Shift-arrowkey to simulate a
2986 left or right click, respectively, on the edge in the given direction
2987 relative to the cursor, i.e. to draw a segment or a cross.
2989 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
2991 \H{pearl-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pearl}Pearl parameters
2993 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
2996 \C{undead} \i{Undead}
2998 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.undead}
3000 You are given a grid of squares, some of which contain diagonal
3001 mirrors. Every square which is not a mirror must be filled with one of
3002 three types of undead monster: a ghost, a vampire, or a zombie.
3004 Vampires can be seen directly, but are invisible when reflected in
3005 mirrors. Ghosts are the opposite way round: they can be seen in
3006 mirrors, but are invisible when looked at directly. Zombies are
3007 visible by any means.
3009 You are also told the total number of each type of monster in the
3010 grid. Also around the edge of the grid are written numbers, which
3011 indicate how many monsters can be seen if you look into the grid along
3012 a row or column starting from that position. (The diagonal mirrors are
3013 reflective on both sides. If your reflected line of sight crosses the
3014 same monster more than once, the number will count it each time it is
3015 visible, not just once.)
3017 This puzzle type was invented by David Millar, under the name
3018 \q{Haunted Mirror Maze}. See \k{janko-undead} for more details.
3020 Undead was contributed to this collection by Steffen Bauer.
3023 \W{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Spukschloss/index.htm}\cw{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Spukschloss/index.htm}
3025 \H{undead-controls} \I{controls, for Undead}Undead controls
3027 Undead has a similar control system to Solo, Unequal and Keen.
3029 To play Undead, click the mouse in any empty square and then type a
3030 letter on the keyboard indicating the type of monster: \q{G} for a
3031 ghost, \q{V} for a vampire, or \q{Z} for a zombie. If you make a
3032 mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press Space to
3033 clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
3035 If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a letter, the
3036 corresponding monster will be shown in reduced size in that square, as
3037 a \q{pencil mark}. You can have pencil marks for multiple monsters in
3038 the same square. A square containing a full-size monster cannot also
3039 contain pencil marks.
3041 The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
3042 them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a particular
3043 square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a particular
3044 monster, or you can use them as lists of the possible monster in a
3045 given square, or anything else you feel like.
3047 To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
3048 the same letter again.
3050 All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type a
3051 monster letter, or when you left-click and press Space. Right-clicking
3052 and pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
3054 As for Solo, the cursor keys can be used in conjunction with the letter
3055 keys to place monsters or pencil marks. Use the cursor keys to move a
3056 highlight around the grid, and type a monster letter to enter it in
3057 the highlighted square. Pressing return toggles the highlight into a
3058 mode in which you can enter or remove pencil marks.
3060 If you prefer plain letters of the alphabet to cute monster pictures,
3061 you can press \q{A} to toggle between showing the monsters as monsters or
3062 showing them as letters.
3064 Left-clicking a clue will mark it as done (grey it out), or unmark it
3065 if it is already marked.
3067 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
3069 \H{undead-parameters} \I{parameters, for Undead}Undead parameters
3071 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
3074 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
3076 \dd Size of grid in squares.
3080 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle.
3082 \C{unruly} \i{Unruly}
3084 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.unruly}
3086 You are given a grid of squares, which you must colour either black or
3087 white. Some squares are provided as clues; the rest are left for you
3088 to fill in. Each row and column must contain the same number of black
3089 and white squares, and no row or column may contain three consecutive
3090 squares of the same colour.
3092 This puzzle type was invented by Adolfo Zanellati, under the name
3093 \q{Tohu wa Vohu}. See \k{janko-unruly} for more details.
3095 Unruly was contributed to this collection by Lennard Sprong.
3098 \W{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Tohu-Wa-Vohu/index.htm}\cw{http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/Tohu-Wa-Vohu/index.htm}
3100 \H{unruly-controls} \I{controls, for Unruly}Unruly controls
3102 To play Unruly, click the mouse in a square to change its colour.
3103 Left-clicking an empty square will turn it black, and right-clicking
3104 will turn it white. Keep clicking the same button to cycle through the
3105 three possible states for the square. If you middle-click in a square
3106 it will be reset to empty.
3108 You can also use the cursor keys to move around the grid. Pressing the
3109 return or space keys will turn an empty square black or white
3110 respectively (and then cycle the colours in the same way as the mouse
3111 buttons), and pressing Backspace will reset a square to empty.
3113 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
3115 \H{unruly-parameters} \I{parameters, for Unruly}Unruly parameters
3117 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
3120 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
3122 \dd Size of grid in squares. (Note that the rules of the game require
3123 both the width and height to be even numbers.)
3127 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle.
3129 \dt \e{Unique rows and columns}
3131 \dd If enabled, no two rows are permitted to have exactly the same
3132 pattern, and likewise columns. (A row and a column can match, though.)
3136 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.flood}
3138 You are given a grid of squares, coloured at random in multiple
3139 colours. In each move, you can flood-fill the top left square in a
3140 colour of your choice (i.e. every square reachable from the starting
3141 square by an orthogonally connected path of squares all the same
3142 colour will be filled in the new colour). As you do this, more and
3143 more of the grid becomes connected to the starting square.
3145 Your aim is to make the whole grid the same colour, in as few moves as
3146 possible. The game will set a limit on the number of moves, based on
3147 running its own internal solver. You win if you can make the whole
3148 grid the same colour in that many moves or fewer.
3150 I saw this game (with a fixed grid size, fixed number of colours, and
3151 fixed move limit) at \W{http://floodit.appspot.com}\cw{floodit.appspot.com}.
3153 \H{flood-controls} \I{controls, for Flood}Flood controls
3155 To play Flood, click the mouse in a square. The top left corner and
3156 everything connected to it will be flood-filled with the colour of the
3157 square you clicked. Clicking a square the same colour as the top left
3158 corner has no effect, and therefore does not count as a move.
3160 You can also use the cursor keys to move a cursor (outline black
3161 square) around the grid. Pressing the return key will fill the top
3162 left corner in the colour of the square under the cursor.
3164 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
3166 \H{flood-parameters} \I{parameters, for Flood}Flood parameters
3168 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
3171 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
3173 \dd Size of the grid, in squares.
3177 \dd Number of colours used to fill the grid. Must be at least 3 (with
3178 two colours there would only be one legal move at any stage, hence no
3179 choice to make at all), and at most 10.
3181 \dt \e{Extra moves permitted}
3183 \dd Controls the difficulty of the puzzle, by increasing the move
3184 limit. In each new grid, Flood will run an internal solver to generate
3185 its own solution, and then the value in this field will be added to
3186 the length of Flood's solution to generate the game's move limit. So a
3187 value of 0 requires you to be just as efficient as Flood's automated
3188 solver, and a larger value makes it easier.
3192 (Note that Flood's internal solver will not necessarily find the
3193 shortest possible solution, though I believe it's pretty close. For a
3194 real challenge, set this value to 0 and then try to solve a grid in
3195 \e{strictly fewer} moves than the limit you're given!)
3199 \C{tracks} \i{Tracks}
3201 \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.tracks}
3203 You are given a grid of squares, some of which are filled with train
3204 tracks. You need to complete the track from A to B so that the rows and
3205 columns contain the same number of track segments as are indicated in the
3206 clues to the top and right of the grid.
3208 There are only straight and 90 degree curved rails, and the track may not
3211 Tracks was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
3213 \H{tracks-controls} \I{controls, for Tracks}Tracks controls
3215 Left-clicking on an edge between two squares adds a track segment between
3216 the two squares. Right-clicking on an edge adds a cross on the edge,
3217 indicating no track is possible there.
3219 Left-clicking in a square adds a colour indicator showing that you know the
3220 square must contain a track, even if you don't know which edges it crosses
3221 yet. Right-clicking in a square adds a cross indicating it contains no
3224 Left- or right-dragging between squares allows you to lay a straight line
3225 of is-track or is-not-track indicators, useful for filling in rows or
3226 columns to match the clue.
3228 (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
3230 \H{tracks-parameters} \I{parameters, for Tracks}Tracks parameters
3232 These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
3235 \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
3237 \dd Size of the grid, in squares.
3241 \dd Controls the difficulty of the generated puzzle: at Tricky level,
3242 you are required to make more deductions regarding disregarding moves
3243 that would lead to impossible crossings later.
3245 \dt \e{Disallow consecutive 1 clues}
3247 \dd Controls whether the Tracks game generation permits two adjacent
3248 rows or columns to have a 1 clue, or permits the row or column of the
3249 track's endpoint to have a 1 clue. By default this is not permitted,
3250 to avoid long straight boring segments of track and make the games
3251 more twiddly and interesting. If you want to restore the possibility,
3252 turn this option off.
3255 \A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence}
3257 This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2014 Simon Tatham.
3259 Portions copyright Richard Boulton, James Harvey, Mike Pinna, Jonas
3260 K\u00F6{oe}lker, Dariusz Olszewski, Michael Schierl, Lambros Lambrou,
3261 Bernd Schmidt, Steffen Bauer, Lennard Sprong and Rogier Goossens.
3263 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
3264 obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
3265 (the \q{Software}), to deal in the Software without restriction,
3266 including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
3267 publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,
3268 and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
3269 subject to the following conditions:
3271 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
3272 included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
3274 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED \q{AS IS}, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
3275 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
3276 MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
3277 NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
3278 BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
3279 ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
3280 CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
3283 \IM{command-line}{command line} command line
3285 \IM{default parameters, specifying} default parameters, specifying
3286 \IM{default parameters, specifying} preferences, specifying default
3291 \IM{generating game IDs} generating game IDs
3292 \IM{generating game IDs} game ID, generating
3294 \IM{specific} \q{Specific}, menu option
3295 \IM{custom} \q{Custom}, menu option
3297 \IM{game ID} game ID
3298 \IM{game ID} ID, game
3299 \IM{ID format} ID format
3300 \IM{ID format} format, ID
3301 \IM{ID format} game ID, format
3304 \IM{keys} shortcuts (keyboard)
3306 \IM{initial state} initial state
3307 \IM{initial state} state, initial
3309 \IM{MIT licence} MIT licence
3310 \IM{MIT licence} licence, MIT