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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
NAME
reve - an othello game.
SYNOPSIS
reve [ -animate ] [ -bestmove ] [ -black ] [ -clock ] [ -d
difficulty ] [ -e edgefile ] [ -g geometry ] [ -h helpfile ]
[ -help ] [ -i ] [ -last ] [ -load gamefile ] [ -log ] [ -m
] [ -notes ] [ -number ] [ -opponent user@host ] [ -props ]
[ -quick ] [ -r reve_proc ] [ -v ] [ -white ] [ -? ] [ -Wi ]
[ -Wp x y ] [ -WP x y ]
DESCRIPTION
Reve is a version of the popular Othello game. It contains
graphical interfaces for SunView, X11 and XView, as well as
being able to function on normal display terminals using a
termcap interface.
Reve is played on an 8 x 8 board, with stones which should
be considered to be black on one side and white on the
other. A legal move consists of placing a stone of one's own
color on the board so as to "sandwich" one or more rows
(orthogonal or diagonal) of stones of the opposite color
between the stone just placed and another stone of the same
color. All stones so sandwiched are flipped over to reveal
the color of the other side (your own color).
The object of the game, is to have more stones than the
opponent at the end of the game (ie. when the board is full
or neither side has a legal move). If you have no legal
move, you simply miss a turn. Black goes first.
With reve, to place one of your own stones simply click with
the mouse over the square in which you want your stone to
go. Note that it is also possible to supply a number and a
letter pair, to indicate where you would like your new stone
to go. This is the only method to place stones with the dumb
tty interface. The square containing the last move will be
shown with a black outline. This is updated with each new
move. If you hold the mouse button down as you move around
the board, the square you are currently over will be
highlighted.
There are various buttons, choice, toggles and cyclic selec-
tions available. Their meanings are given below, plus an
indication of their keyboard equivalents. With the cyclic
selections, clicking over the left half of the cycle item
increments the selection, and clicking over the right half
of the cycle item decrements the selection. Control-l is a
keyboard accelerator for redrawing the reve windows.
By default, a human will play black, and the computer will
play white. If you want a human vs human startup or some
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
other combination, then you should use the appropriate com-
mand line options (see below).
REVE BUTTONS
With the graphics versions, there are ten buttons that are
normally displayed at the top of the reve window. Each of
these buttons, has a keyboard equivalent which is given in
brackets below. Note that the XView version has a slightly
different appearance, but it should be easy to deduce what
each option does.
load [ L ] Load a game file. The format of this game
file is given below. With the graphical
versions, a text field is displayed
between the done and quit buttons for you
to enter the filename of this game file.
Clicking over the cancel button or press-
ing the Escape key will cancel the load
operation. When you press the Return key,
filename entry is complete, and the pro-
gram will try to load this file. If it's
unsuccessful, it will stop on the invalid
line, and display an error message. As
each line is successfully read from the
game file, the stone is displayed on the
board, and the appropriate stones flipped.
moves? [ A ] Show all the valid moves for the current
board. This is useful for beginners, and
for teaching purposes.
new game [ n ] Start a new game of reve
help [ H ] Display a window containing the online
reve help information. A cycle at the top
of this window allows you to page through
this file.
redo [ r ] Redo the last "move". If the opponent is
the computer, then two "moves" are redone.
A "move" is considered to be all consecu-
tive moves by the opponent. To redo a
move, you must have undone a move.
props [ p ] Display a property sheet containing
choices and toggles which will alter vari-
ous reve properties.
save [ S ] Save the current game to file. See the
entry for the load button above for
details of how to enter the filename.
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
suggest [ s ] Let the computer suggest a good move for
you. This move will be dependent upon the
current level of difficulty set.
print [ P ] Print the current game to a PostScript
printer. The default print command is
"trans | lpr", but this can be over-ridden
for the X11 and XView versions with an X
resource (see below).
undo [ u ] Undo the last "move". If the opponent is
the computer, then two "moves" are undone.
A "move" is considered to be all previous
consecutive moves by the opponent.
quit [ q ] Exit the reve program.
REVE PROPERTY SHEET SELECTIONS
With the graphical versions, there is a property sheet win-
dow which can be displayed. The property sheet has two
choice items, one cyclic item, and six toggle items. Click
with the left mouse button over the option you want from the
choice items. With the cyclic items, click with the left
mouse button over the appropriate half, to either increment
or decrement the current value. Clicking left over the tog-
gle item boxes, will toggle the value of that item on or
off. The choice and toggle items also have keyboard
equivalents which are given in brackets below. The choice
items must be followed by the value of the new selection you
wish to make. The dumb tty version has the equivalent of
these items displayed to the right of the reve board
display.
Computer plays: [ C ]
A choice item which selects what color[s]
the computer should play. The keyboard
equivalents are 'b' for black, 'w' for
white, 'n' for neither, and 'a' for all
(both).
Difficulty: [ D ] A choice item which sets the degree of
difficulty for the computers moves. Key-
board selection values are in the range
'1' to '9'. The computer move is deter-
mined on a time basis. The degree of dif-
ficulty determines the total amount of
time that the computer will take to make
all its moves. Here are the time periods
for each level of difficulty:
Difficulty Time
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
1 Time allocation disabled (fast simple move).
2 1 minutes.
3 3 minutes.
4 5 minutes.
5 10 minutes.
6 15 minutes.
7 20 minutes.
8 30 minutes.
9 60 minutes.
Level eight is tournament level.
Set search depth: [ No keyboard equivalent ]
A cyclic item which sets the maximum
search depth for each and every computer
move. By default this option is turned
off, and the computer uses a clock to time
it's moves. Depending on where in the game
you are, the search depth usually varies
by one or two plys. Turning on this option
disables the clock.
Animate move option. [ O followed by a or A ]
A toggle item for animating the computer
move and the dragging of human pieces.
Show current best move option. [ O followed by b or B ]
A toggle item for showing the current best
move as the computer makes it's move.
Show last move option. [ O followed by l or L ]
A toggle item for outlining the square
containing the last move.
Show evaluation information option. [ O followed by e or E ]
A toggle item for displaying evaluation
information for each computer move. In
short, a positive number indicates a good
move for the computer, and a negative
number is good for the opponent. The
evaluation information also includes the
depth to which the computer searched for
it's move. If that depth value is nega-
tive, it indicates the search was not com-
pleted at that depth, due to the timer
expiring.
Number last move option. [ O followed by n or N ]
A toggle item for number the last move
stone.
Don't show flip option. [ O followed by f or F ]
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
A toggle item to prevent the flip of the
stones as a turn is completed.
Invalid move shows legal moves option. [ O followed by m or M ]
A toggle item which will show all the pos-
sible legal moves if the user makes an
invalid move.
Use Clocks to Time Moves. [ O followed by c or C ]
A toggle item to display timer clocks for
each player. If timer clocks are shown,
then each player is allowed a certain
amount of time to play all their moves.
This amount of time depends on the current
level of difficulty.
OPTIONS
-animate
Show animation. The computer's stone will glide in from
the top left corner of the board, and when you hold the
left mouse button down, your stone is dragged around.
-bestmove
As the computer is making it's move, continually show
the position of the best move found so far.
-black
Black will be played by a human.
-clock
Display clocks to time each move. A total amount of
time is allowed for each player depending upon the
level of difficulty. When that time has expired, then
the game is over.
-d difficulty
The level of difficulty for computer moves. See the
Difficulty: cyclic item description above for more
information.
-e edgefile
Specify an alternate location for the reve edge stabil-
ity table file. Normally the location of this file is
compiled in when the program is created, but reve will
search every directory on your search path looking file
a file called reve.edgetable.
-g geometry
Used with the X11 variant of reve to give geometry
information.
-h helpfile
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
Specify an alternate location for the reve online help
file. Normally the location of this file is compiled in
when the program is created, but reve will search every
directory on your search path looking file a file
called reve.help.
-help
Initially show the reve help window.
-i Invert the reve window before displaying it. For use by
people who started their graphics environment in
inverse mode. This option is currently only implemented
for the SunView version.
-last
Show where the last stone was placed, by outlining the
square.
-load gamefile
Load a game file. The format of this game file is given
below. The board will be setup with these stones.
-log Save a log of computer move information to the file
reve.res as the game progresses. This information is
probably only useful to people trying to improve the
computer algorithm.
-m Always display in monochrome, even on a color screen.
-notes
Display computer notes.
-number
Show the move number on the last stone placed.
-opponent user@host
Play a game against another human on another networked
machine. Reve will send an invitation to that person
asking if the want to play, and they will then invoke
reve on their machine (using your username and host-
name), and the connection is established. Note that
both machines need to have the reve network daemon con-
figured. See the README file for information on how to
do this.
-props
Initially show the reve property window.
-quick
Play a quick game. Don't flash the stones as they are
being turned.
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
-r reve_proc
Full pathname of the computer strategy reve_proc pro-
gram.
-? Print the version number and usage message for this
release of the reve program.
-v Print the version number and usage message for this
release of the reve program.
-white
White will be played by a human.
-Wi Start the reve program up in iconic form. The SunView
and XView version of reve will automatically uses this
flag, but the X11 version will also.
-Wp x y
Start the open window position at x y
-WP x y
Start the icon position at x y
RESOURCES
On startup, the X11 and XView version of reve will use the
following X resources. These resources can be placed in all
the normal X places. You can also set a REVEDEFAULTS
environment variable to point to a file containing them, or
place them in a .reverc file in your home directory.
Resource: reve.animate
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether various animation effects
are shown.
Resource: reve.bestmove
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether to continually show the
best move so far, as the computer is making
it's move.
Resource: reve.boardSize
Values: Board size (numeric)
Description The initial size in pixels of the reve game
board.
Resource: reve.difficulty
Values: Difficulty value (numeric)
Description The computer difficulty level.
Resource: reve.last
Values: True, False (False)
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
Description Indicates whether the position of the last
stone placed is shown by a square.
Resource: reve.log
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether to save a log of computer
information to the file reve.res/
Resource: reve.notes
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether todisplay computer notes.
Resource: reve.number
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether the last stone placed in
numbered.
Resource: reve.quick
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether a quick game should be
played. Stones are not flashed as they are
placed, if this resource is set true.
Resource: reve.properties
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether the properties window is
initially displayed.
Resource: reve.showClocks
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether timer clocks for each
player are initially displayed.
Resource: reve.showHelp
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether the online help window is
initially displayed.
Resource: reve.showLegalMoves
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether an invalid move should show
all legal moves.
Resource: reve.iconiseForOpponentMove
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether the reve window should be
closed during the opponents move.
Resource: reve.bellAfterOpponentMove
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether there should be a beep
sounded after the opponents move.
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REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
Resource: reve.raiseAfterOpponentMove
Values: True, False (False)
Description Indicates whether the reve window should be
automatically raised to the top after the
opponents move.
Resource: reve.panelColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The background color of the main and property
panels.
Resource: reve.boardColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The color of the reve playing board.
Resource: reve.boardBorderColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The border color of the reve playing board.
Resource: reve.gridColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The color of the grid lines on the reve play-
ing board.
Resource: reve.textColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The color of all text panel text items.
Resource: reve.itemColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The background color of the button and cycle
items.
Resource: reve.blackStoneColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The color of the "black" stones.
Resource: reve.whiteStoneColor
Values: Color name string or hexadecimal color
specification string
Description The color of the "white" stones.
Resource: reve.blackStoneName
Values: Black stone name string
Description The name to be displayed in all "black" stone
Sun Release 4.1 Last change: 13 November 1991 9
REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
messages.
Resource: reve.whiteStoneName
Values: White stone name string.
Description The name to be displayed in all "white" stone
messages.
Resource: reve.printCommand
Values: Print command string
Description The print command to use to print reve game
transcripts.
Resource: reve.boardFont
Values: Font name string
Description The name of the font used to display text on
the reve game board.
Resource: reve.boldFont
Values: Font name string
Description The name of the font used to display bold
text.
Resource: reve.helpFont
Values: Font name string
Description The name of the font used to display the
online help information.
Resource: reve.normalFont
Values: Font name string
Description The name of the font used to display normal
text.
REVE GAMES FILE FORMAT
Reve has the ability to load or save games. The format of
the games files are:
1, <C-4> - [ remarks field ]
2, - <E-3> [ remarks field ]
There is one move per line. Lines starting with a '#' and
blank lines are ignored. The first field of each line is the
move number. This will be present before the comma. It is
used as a consistency check. Next are the black and white
fields. If the '<' character is present before the white.
The three characters between the '<' and '>' are the move,
and give the column and row. The column letter can be in
either lower or upper case.
It is possible for one player to have two or more consequen-
tive moves, hence the need for the above scheme. Reve is
flexible about white space (except between the '<' and '>'
characters). The remarks field is ignored. The program will
stop on the first line it thinks is in error, and display
the reason for this. As valid lines are read from a game
file, the board is updated.
Sun Release 4.1 Last change: 13 November 1991 10
REVE(6) GAMES AND DEMOS REVE(6)
FILES
/usr/local/lib/reve.edgetable
/usr/local/lib/reve.help
~/.reverc
edge stability table for all possible edge combina-
tions.
/etc/services
/etc/inetd.conf
BUGS
See the TODO file for the list of known problems.
AUTHORS
Computer strategy: Yves Gallot (no net address at
present).
Graphics interface: Rich Burridge richb@Aus.Sun.COM
Sun Release 4.1 Last change: 13 November 1991 11