═══ 1. Help for MineSweeper Help ═══ Use these choices to find out how to use help, to get extended help, to go to a list of keys, or to go to the help index. Help for help Provides detailed information on the kinds of help available and how to use help. Extended help Displays general help. Keys help Displays a list of keys. Help index Displays the help index. ═══ 2. Help for Help ═══ Use this choice to obtain information on how to use the Help facility. ═══ 3. Help for Extended Help ═══ Use this choice to obtain general information on the tasks you can perform while you are viewing a help window. ═══ 4. Help for Help Index ═══ Use this choice to display the help index. The help index lists the titles of the help information that is available. ═══ 5. Help for Keys ═══ Use this choice to see a list of keys and a description of the function of the keys. ═══ 6. How to Play MineSweeper ═══ MineSweeper is a game of luck and strategy. The object is to clear every tile on the grid. To clear a tile, either "step" on it by clicking with mouse button 1, or "mark" it by clicking with mouse button 2. You step on tiles that you believe have no mine, and you mark tiles that you believe DO have mines. (Note that you can unmark a marked tile by reclicking mouse button 2.) Cleared tiles are indicated with either an , which means that you've marked that tile as containing a mine, or with a digit (such as or ) which means that you've stepped on that tile. These digits are key. They indicate how many of the eight adjacent tiles contain mines. A tile has only one mine adjacent to it, for example. A blank tile () indicates that NO adjacent tiles contain mines. If you step on one of these, the surrounding eight tiles are "stepped on" automatically also, as a convenience. If one of those eight tiles is also blank, the process repeats recursively. This is the cause of those exciting cascades that happen now and then. The first few moves of a game depend on luck. After them, however, strategy comes in to play: deduce the contents of tiles from the surrounding, already-exposed ones. To get you started, the 1st move of the game always succeeds. For example: If the grid had the following sequence of tiles: , you could deduce that the blank tile was in fact safe to step on, since the one adjacent mine was already accounted for by the marked tile. If you enable the "Mark with 3 states, not 2" option (in the Options... dialog box), MB2 will toggle among three states, instead of merely "marked" and "unmarked". The new state is "questionable", and can be used to indicate a tile you aren't sure about. A "questionable" tile is the same as a "marked" tile in that you can't step on it and die. However, you can not win if any "questionable" tiles exist; you must eventually resolve them all. If you die, your wrong move will be highlighed by , and the rest of the board will (optionally) be exposed: unmarked tiles will be indicated by , and tiles incorrectly marked will be indicated by . Your final score depends on the length of time you take to solve the puzzle. The top scores in each difficulty level are saved. ═══ 7. Mouse Operations ═══ The 1st mouse button (usually the left one) "steps" on a tile. The 2nd mouse button (usually the right one) toggles a tile among the "marked" and "unmarked" (and optionally "questionable") states. Clicking either button on an already-cleared tile clears the surrounding 8 tiles, but only if you've marked any surrounding mines correctly. If you've marked other than the indicated number of mines, the command is ignored. If you've marked enough tiles, but any are wrong, you die. A questionable tile is counted as marked. After dying, you can restart a new game by clicking on the play grid. This shortcut is equivalent to selecting "Restart" from the Game menu. ═══ 8. High score name entry ═══ Type in your name, and press Enter, or click OK. ═══ 9. High score display ═══ Up to 15 high scores are displayed per difficulty level. Press Enter or click OK to dismiss the dialog. ═══ 10. About dialog ═══ Tells about me. Press Enter or click OK to dismiss it. ═══ 11. Hidden dialog ═══ Congratulations, you found it! Press Enter or click OK to dismiss it. ═══ 12. You Win dialog ═══ This lets you know you won. Press Enter or click OK to dismiss it. ═══ 13. Game Options ═══ Several aspects of the game's operation are configurable. These options are saved, and so are remembered for future games. Difficulty Three levels are available. Harder levels include larger boards and greater density of mines. High scores for each level are maintained separately. When this option is changed, the game is reset, without warning. Sound When checked, sound is enabled. Hiscores at Death When checked, the high score table will be displayed after you die, even if you don't make the high score list. Most people find this behavior annoying. When not checked, the table will be displayed only when you get a high score, and when requested via the "High Scores..." menu option. Mark with 3 states, not 2 When checked, the 2nd mouse button (usually the right button) will rotate among , , and , rather than just and . The "questioned" state provides a way of visualizing tile configurations, while reminding you that you aren't certain... Large Bitmaps When checked, larger tiles are used for the board. This can help, for example, people with high resolution monitors on which the smaller tiles are hard to see and play. Expose all at Death When checked, the whole board will be exposed when you die. The location of all the tiles, and your errors, will be revealed. Some people prefer to try to figure out their errors for themselves, however; hence, this option. ═══ 14. Credits ═══ The game was written by Bill Warner, with the core game logic by Al Liss. The game was compiled with IBM's beta C/C++ compiler, with their PM resource tools. Some of the Container code (for the high-score display) was taken from an "OS/2 Monthly" magazine article (issue six). Thanks to the following people for comments and suggestions: Al Liss, John Love, John Haritos, Gregory Bailey, J. P. Fagerback, Kenneth Porter, David Weston, Diane Reese, David Birnbaum. ═══ 15. Scoring ═══ Your score depends on how fast you clear the grid. Lower scores, obviously, are better. The top several scores in each difficulty level are stored. ═══ 16. Help for Key Assignments ═══ The list of keys is arranged in groups. ACCELERATOR KEYS Alt-o Bring up game options dialog Alt-s Bring up list of high scores Alt-p Pause the game Alt-r Restart the game, using current settings Alt-x Exit program HELP KEYS F1 Get help F2 Get extended help (from within any help window) Alt+F4 End help F9 Go to a list of keys (from within any help window) F11 Go to the help index (from within any help window) Esc Previous Help Panel, or End help if only one panel Alt+F6 Go to/from help and programs Shift+F10 Get help for help SYSTEM KEYS Alt+F6 Switch to the next windowed program Alt+Esc Switch to the next program, including full-screen programs Ctrl+Esc Switch to the Task List WINDOW KEYS F3 Close a window F10 Go to/from the action bar Arrow keys Move among choices End Go to the last choice in a pull-down Esc Cancel a pull-down or the system menu Home Go to the first choice in a pull-down PgUp Scroll the contents of the window up one page PgDn Scroll the contents of the window down one page Underlined letter Move among the choices on the action bar and pull-downs Alt+F10 Go to/from the action bar Alt+F4 or F3 Close the window Alt+F5 Restore the window Alt+F7 Move the window Alt+F8 Size the window Alt+F9 Minimize the window Alt+F10 Maximize the window Ctrl+PgDn or Shift+F8 Scroll the contents of the window right one page Ctrl+PgUp or Shift+F7 Scroll the contents of the window left one page Shift+Esc or Alt+Spacebar Go to/from the system menu Shift+Esc or Alt Go to/from the system menu of a text window