┌──────────┐ │ Anciento │ ┌──────────┴──────────┴────────────┐ │ Written by Gabor G. Laufer, M.D. │ └───────┬───────────────┬──────────┘ │ Instructions │ └───────────────┘ Hardware Anciento can be played by using the keyboard or the mouse. If you want to use the mouse, you must load your own mouse driver. If a mouse driver is loaded, the program will default to use the mouse. Description of the game It is a Single player game. However, scores, as well as any individual game can be saved and the exact same game "called upon", thus real competition between 2 or more people is possible. There is an 8 x 8 (squares) board. The squares on the 'edge' of the board are grey. There are 72 "stones", 36 types, two of each. Each "stone" has a SHAPE and an INSIDE PATTERN There are 6 type of SHAPES and 6 type of INSIDE PATTERNS (36 combinations) The idea is to place the "stones" on the board and score the most points. The game starts out with 6 of the stones already placed on the board and it is Your Turn to move (for the rest of the game) You can place a "stone" NEXT TO 1,2,3 or 4 other stones. Neighboring stones must match either in SHAPE or in INSIDE PATTERN Rules of matching Only horizontal and vertical match counts, not diagonal. 1 match= Either the SHAPE or the PATTERN must be the same. 2 matches= It must be similar to the SHAPE of one and the PATTERN of the other 3 matches= 2 SHAPE and 1 PATTERN or 1 SHAPE and two PATTERN must match. 4 matches = Must match the SHAPE of 2 AND the PATTERN of the other 2 Placing a "4 match" is called Quatro Scoring Any stone placed on the the grey edge of the board: 0 points Otherwise, placing a 1 match = 1 point x BONUS 2 match = 2 points x BONUS 3 match = 4 points x BONUS 4 match = 8 points x BONUS (Quatro) BONUS starts out as 1 and doubled every time you place a "4 match". The doubling will take effect AFTER the move. The game ends when either all stones are placed or the next stone can't be placed anywhere on the board. The ending of the game is not automatic, because take-back is allowed. If you decide not to take back a piece, press the F10 key to end the game and receive the final score. Additional Bonuses at the conclusion of the game: 25 points for 1 Quatro (4 ways placement). Double for each additional Quatro (50,100,200,400,800....sky is the limit) The other additional bonus is for putting down ALL pieces:1000 points If there is only 1 stone was not placed, the bonus is 500 If there is only 2 stone was not placed, the bonus is 100 Attention: Putting a stone on the frame, is allowed, but no score! Main Menu Selections This menu selections will work BEFORE you start playing the game. You will notice menu commands vertically on the right edge of the screen and some others horizontally on the bottom of the screen. 1. Random game:The program will pick a random sequence of the 72 'stones'. Don't choose that if you plan to compete with someone else. 2. Pick a Game:Same as above, but the game will have a number, based on which, it can be identified and played by others. (the exact same set and sequence) 3. Select a Game: You must enter a number between 1 and 32000. Entering the same number, will give the sequence, specific to that number. This is how you can play a game, which was played by someone else. 4. Set Timer:If you don't use this option, there is no time limit. If you do, you have to enter the number of minutes, after which the game is over (whether you like it or not). 5. Saved Games: Gives you a list of the saved games. 6. Load Game: Will allow you to enter the name of one of the saved games to be loaded. Once it is loaded, you can view the game Step by step: Keep pressing the ENTER key or Left Mouse button Jump to the last move: F1 (that is how you can continue an unfinished saved game) 7. HELP: Will bring up this file. Pressing letter H (Help) will also work 8. Hall of Fame: Will display the scores, from the highest to the lowest 9. Quit: Will just do that. The Cursor keys: Will change the color of the playing board and the pieces. It is not recommended until you understand the game, the need to have a different color "edge of the board" and the need to have 6 easily distinguishable playing piece, both on the middle of the board, as well as on the "edges". R= Reset Colors: Will reset colors to a default setting. B= Black&White: Press it if you have a monochrome monitor. S= Save Setup: Once you learned how to change color, change sound from within the game and some of the other parameters, press S to save such setup. When you do, you will be prompted to press a letter or a number. The 26 letters and the numbers from 0-9 allows 36 different setup to be saved. It is an overkill, but what the heck. L= Load Setup: That is how you can invoke a setup, described above. D= Start Demo: Will start a demo game, showing the squares where the pieces will be placed, the score and the "match". It is a good idea to watch through the demo game, it will make the understanding of the game a lot easier. Incidentally, the demo game is the best performance, the highest score up to date (7/19/1993) K= Keyboard: This menu item will be visible, only if a mouse driver is loaded. In this case the game will default to using the mouse, but if you press letter K, you can use the keyboard. M= Mouse: This menu item will be visible, only if a mouse driver is loaded and letter K was pressed (see previous item). If you press M, you can use the mouse again (switches back from keyboard to mouse). Function (F-keys) keys during play This keys will work AFTER you started to play the game. During play, on the last line on the screen, only the numbers appear for the Function keys. However, the numbers corresponds to Function keys. 1=Jump: Use this key after loading a saved game, to jump to to end of the game. From that point on, you may resume playing. 2=Skip: Defaults to Off. If On, the cursor jumps over the already occupied squares. 3=Wait: Timeout in a timed game. It stops only the countdown timer (which limits the game in time), not the forward timer, which is there for reference purpose only. 4=Save: At any point, will save the game in progress. Use option 6 in the opening Menu to reload such saved game. You will be prompted for a name, under which the game will be saved. You can have several saved games (finished or unfinished). 5=Timer: Defaults to Off. If you set the Timer in the opening Menu (which will limit the amount of time you can play), F5 will REMOVE that timer (and the limit), in case you changed your mind. If and when you press it again it puts back the clock, with no time elapsed on it. 6=Check: Will display all legal moves on the board, one by one. There is no score deduction for using this feature. It will come handy quite often. 7=Sound: Defaults to On Toggle most sounds Off or On. If you want total silence, start game by typing: ANCIENTO/NS 8=Setup: In the opening Menu you can set the colors, here you can set the "Sound On or Off" status, the "Skip occupied squares" status, the "Timer On or Off" status, the default Tune (described later), the "Cursor blink rate" (described later), the "Easy mode On or off" status (described later). Pressing F8 will prompt you to press a letter or a number (the same way as S= Save does in the opening Menu) and will save all these as defaults for a later game. Use L=Load Setup from the opening Menu, to invoke a particular set of defaults, next time you play. 9=Reset: Upon pressing F9, to choice will appear on the right side of the screen: R=Reset M=Menu R will reset the game to the title screen. M will reset the game to the Main Menu. (use it if you started the game with ANCIENTO/PN and you want to break out from the PN (Play Next) cycle.) 10=End: Terminates the game and calculates the final score. MUST BE USED! The game can end two different ways: a) All pieces are played out b) The next playing piece can't be placed on the board, no legal move is possible. Neither case will automatically terminate the game, because a Take Back Move feature is available throughout the game and it is also available on the last move, as well as in those situations where a previous placement made the next one impossible to place. It is legal to take back a move. Therefore, the F10 key is the manual End of Game key. Press it when you really have no other moves or played out all the pieces and don't care about taking back any moves. Other keys (non F-keys) to use during game This keys will work AFTER you started to play the game. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Keyboard Mode (when mouse driver is not loaded or mouse is de-activated): │ │ │ │ CURSOR keys will carry the rectangular cursor around the board. │ │ ENTER or the Ins key will PLACE the "stone". │ │ Home,End,PgUp,PgDn keys will jump the cursor to the corners of the board │ │ Gray Minus Takes Back a move │ │ Gray Plus will Put Back such move │ │ Gray * will bring the cursor 'home' │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Mouse Mode: │ │ │ │ Move mouse pointer to any of the squares and press the Left Button to │ │ place the "stone", press the Right Button to take back a move. │ │ In Mouse Mode, there will be no rectangular cursor present, but the mouse │ │ pointer instead. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ H= Help: Will invoke a single screen reminder of the most important keys. E= Easy Mode Toggle Easy Mode On and Off. In Easy Mode you can see the next 4 stones. 1,2,3,4,0= Set Tune There are 4 different tunes which sounds when a piece is played and the move resulted only in 1 point gain. 1-4 sets any of the 4 tunes, 0 turns it off (only for this particular situation. All other sounds will be still on.) <>= Set Blink Rate: This menu item will be visible only in Keyboard Mode. The square graphic cursor blinks and with the unshifted <> you can change this blink rate to your likings. CTRL-Q= Quit Game: Will interrupt the game, will NOT save anything and will put you to DOS. Sample Game If you want to see how a Master plays this game, press 6 from the Main Menu, type in SAMPLE and press the ENTER key. When you see the playing field, press ENTER or the Left Mouse button to view this game move by move. The final score is over 43,000, something which you may have to practice for a while before you can match it. You can try to play the exact same sequence of "stones" by pressing 3 from the Main Menu, type in 505 and press the ENTER key.
