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1992-06-01
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102 lines
CHESS PUZZLE by Richard Bell
INTRODUCTION
This program simulates a puzzle that I can remember playing years ago.
It consisted of an 8 x 8 wooden chess board that had been cut into 12
irregular shaped pieces. The aim was to reconstruct the chess board.
It looked simple but it was impossible and annoyingly addictive!
The computer version simulates the game using the original pieces but
it can also generate random pieces for increased variety. There are
65536 random piece selections.
The game will run on any PC which supports either EGA or CGA graphics
(colour or monochrome). The operating speed is not important. It is
40k in length and requires no more than 70k to run.
INSTRUCTIONS
To load the game type CHESSPUZ followed by <RETURN>. There are a few
command line options which are described later. The game will load and
the title and instruction screen will be displayed. You will be given
four options, preset pieces (the original shapes from the wooden
puzzle), random pieces (the computer randomly chooses one of 65536
possible piece combinations), select pieces (allows the user to choose
one of the 65536 piece combinations) or load in a saved game.
To make your choice hit one of the following letters 'P', 'R', 'S' or
'L'. If you press 'S' (select) you will be asked to enter the piece
combination identification. This is a number between 0 and 65535.
If you hit 'L' (load) you will be asked to enter the file name of the
saved game that you wish to continue with. Whichever option you
choose, the screen will clear and an 8 x 8 grid will be drawn with 12
bins at the bottom containing the pieces. A crosshair at the top left
of the grid shows your current position. You can move it around using
the cursor keys.
To pick up a piece move your crosshair down until it is on one of the
bins at the bottom. Move left and right until you are over the piece
you wish to pick up. Press 'Z' and the piece will be picked up. You
will jump back to the bottom line of the grid.
To rotate the piece hit 'X'. Move and rotate the piece until it is in
the desired position and orientation then hit 'Z' to drop it. The box
at the bottom left informs you if you can drop the piece. If dropping
it would mean it would be over a piece already on the grid, 'NO' will
be displayed in the box and you will be prevented from dropping it.
If it is clear to drop the piece, 'OK' will be displayed in the box.
To pick up a piece from the grid press 'Z' when you are over it. To
put a piece back in a bin, pick up a piece and take it down to the
bins and it will be dropped automatically. The game continues in this
way until you either complete the puzzle (very unlikely!) or you give
up (more likely!).
A game can be saved at any time by pressing 'S'. You will be prompted
to enter the filename to save it under. You are not allowed to specify
an extension since it will be given a .PUZ extension automatically.
You can quit at anytime by hitting ESC. This will return you to DOS.
If you hit ESC in the middle of a game and the auto save feature is
enabled (which is the default) the current state of your game will be
saved in a file ESC.PUZ which can be loaded like any other saved game.
A saved game can be loaded at anytime by pressing 'L' and then
entering the filename at the prompt.
If you are stuck, pressing 'H' when you have selected a piece will
give you some help. If the piece needs rotating, you will be told. If
it is already in the correct orientation, you will be told in which
quarter of the grid it must go. Cheats be warned, you are only allowed
to use help 5 times. If you get so annoyed with the selection of
pieces you have been given, pressing 'N' will start a new game.
If you don't believe the puzzle is possible with your selection of
pieces, press 'R' to reveal the solution. This will also terminate the
game.
The score at the bottom right is related to the number of moves you
make and the number of pieces you put on the grid. If you complete a
puzzle you also get a bonus.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
To get a list of the options type
CHESSPUZ ?
and a list will be given. The options are
e EGA colour graphics
c CGA colour graphics
m CGA monochrome graphics (4 grey levels)
s disable shading of placed pieces (when a pieces is placed
on the grid it is shaded to make it more clear that is on
the grid.)
q quit without saving (disables the auto save feature when
you hit ESC.)