CELLO TUTORIAL

Welcome to the CELLO online tutorial. This tutorial will teach you how to run the CELLO computer program. Several lessons are available. Click on a title to start the tutorial.

LESSON 1: Basic Game Play and Rules.

LESSON 2: More Advanced Features.

LESSON 3: Video Demonstration.

LESSON 1: Basic Game Play and Rules.

In this lesson you will learn the basic game rules, learn how to play the game, and become familiar with some basic features.
Start the cello application by running Cello.exe. (For installation related issues, see the readme.txt file). Cello is played on an eight by eight board, with blue and red markers. When Cello starts, it should appear as shown below:

The game window is divided into four major areas: the Main Menu, the Tool Bar, the Game Board, and the Status Bar. Most game play is conducted in the Game Board area. Using the mouse, click in the square labeled A. Notice that a (friendly) red marker is placed in the chosen square. All enemy (blue) markers "surrounded" by red markers are captured, and also turn red. Notice also that the computer, almost instantly, makes a counter-attack.

Cello board after red (user) move.

Cello board after computer counter-attack.

    For a move to be legal, you must capture at least one enemy marker by surrounding it. Surrounding an enemy marker consists of moving next to it. You must also have a friendly marker past the enemy markers on the same row. No empty squares can intervene. All enemy markers meeting this criteria are captured on the same move. Diagonal rows count as well... blah, blah, blah... - Try a few moves, and you will see. Cello enforces the rules!
   Try holding the mouse over the 'L' icon in the tool bar. Notice the context sensitive help information displayed in the left pane of the status bar. Try moving the mouse over some of the other icons on the tool bar (A complete description of each menu command can be found in the User Manual).
    Now change the level of play. Push the 'L' icon in the tool bar. This will cause the dialog box, shown below, to pop up on the screen.

Level of Difficulty Dialog Box Push the "Cadet" button. The dialog box will disappear. You are now playing Cello at an easier level, since the default level is "Veteran".

LESSON 2: More Advanced Features.

     Now that you are somewhat familiar with playing Cello, let's explore some more advanced features. First start Cello, and make a few moves. Suppose you accidentally selected the wrong location for a move. Wait until the computer is done moving, then select Game->Undo for another chance. Try it now. Notice that Cello takes back your last move, and the computer's response.
    Start a new game by selecting File->New from the menu. You will be promted to save the current game. Push "Yes". Choose a directory, and type in a file name using a .sav extension. Press "Save" to save the game. This time let the computer move first by selecting Game->Pass from the menu. The computer will move, and it is your turn. You will also need to pass if (and only if) you have no legal moves sometime during a game. The program will prompt you to pass.
    To see how this works, load "pass.sav" from the Cello/Help subdirectory using File->Open. The board will look like this:

File pass.sav Move at the location marked 'A'. After the computer moves, you will be prompted to pass. Click 'OK'. Then select Game->Pass. The computer will move, and it will be your turn again.

LESSON 3: Video Demonstration.

Enough talk. This video, Cello.avi (.avi - Microsoft video for windows) demonstrates several features of Cello.