Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/games/mahjj28.zip/MAHJONGG.DOC

Text File | 1988-09-26 | 16KB | 379 lines

                                MAH JONGG
                    Release 2.8,  September 12, 1988

                              Nels Anderson
                             92 Bishop Drive
                          Framingham, MA  01701



MAH JONGG is an ancient Chinese game whose origins are supposed to date back
some 3000 years.  This version has similarities to solitaire played with cards
and also with dominoes since it is played with tiles.  When I first discovered
the game my initial impression was that the game would quickly become dull but
having played it for a while and having given it to friends we've all found
that it is quite addictive despite its apparent simplicity.

This version requires a PCompatible with an EGA card/monitor.  If you're
still running an older display adapter I'm afraid you're out of luck.  I had
never seen a game that used the full EGA capabilities (640x350, 16 colors)
and I thought it would be nice if there was one.  I don't have versions for
other video adapters and I don't have any plans for them since I don't
consider any of the lower resolutions adequate.

Since I do not program games for a living but still put quite a bit of effort
into MAH JONGG I am releasing the program as shareware.  If you enjoy the
game, as I think you will, an $8 donation to reward my efforts would be
appreciated.  Please let me know what version you have and I'd also be
interested in knowing where you got it from.  Make sure you put your name
and address on your letter.

If you have any suggestions or discover any problems with the program you
can reach me via the )(evious BBS system (300 baud, 8N1) at 508-875-3618
or 617-449-7322.  Use the command FDBACK to reach me or send email to
"THE FENIX".

If you're connected to one of the minicomputer nets (InterNet, uucp...)
you can try reaching me at one of these addresses:

                ima!primerd!en-m32.prime.com!nja
                uunet!en-m32.prime.com!nja
                csnet-relay!en-m32.prime.com!nja
                [e-mail]
                [e-mail]


Most of the instructions you'll need for playing the game are built into
it; just type H when prompted at the title screen.  Or you can read the
instructions below.  There is quite a bit of strategy involved if you are
to do well but I'll leave the strategies up to you to discover.  Besides,
I'm no expert in playing the game either.


*****************************************************************************
*                             PLAYING THE GAME                              *
*****************************************************************************


OBJECT:

The object of the game is to remove as many of the tiles from the
playing board as possible within the rules of the game.  Tiles are
always removed in pairs and can only be removed from the left or
the right edges. Any tile that is not on a left or right edge is
considered blocked and cannot be removed. Note though that the tiles
are arranged in 5 levels and each level has a left and right edge so
there are many more unblocked tiles than it would first appear. Note
that the tile on the top of the pile blocks all four tiles below it,
and tiles on row 5 block both rows 4 and 6.

SUITS OF TILES:

There are many different suits of tiles and the suit of a tile
determines the rule used for determining matching pairs that can be
removed together.

MATCHING RULES:

Most of the tile suits require an exact match. This means that you must
match a tile to another that is exactly the same. For example a Bamboo 1
matches another Bamboo 1 but does not match a Bamboo 3 or a Dot 1. The
other matching rule allows any tile in the same suit to match any other
tile in that suit. Thus, any of the four seasons (SUM, AUT, WIN, SPR)
match each other and any of the four flowers (MUM, PLUM, BAM, ORC) match
each other.

NUMBER OF TILES:

There is only one each of SUM, AUT, WIN, SPR, MUM, PLUM, BAM, and ORC.
There are four of each of the other tiles for a total of 144 tiles on
the board. A counter keeps track of how many tiles are left in play.
If you want to see what tiles you have removed so far, hit F2 (though
some might consider this cheating!).

BOARD LAYOUT:

If you're using a mouse to play you don't need to worry about the
board coordinates; you just point and click.  The game commands are
also there as "keys" that can be clicked on.  If you don't have a
mouse, read on...

The game board is a grid marked by letters and numbers. You select
tiles by entering a letter for the column and a number for the row.
Order doesn't matter, entering A5 is the same as 5A. The single tile
on the topmost level is H5.

The numbering of the rows is a bit confusing. Row 5 only exists at the
very top level and at the extreme left and right edges. Rows 4 and 6 are
actually adjacent to each other.

If after you've selected your first tile you change your mind, just
hit 'Enter' instead of your second tile selection. After you've
selected both tiles you are asked to confirm your selection with a
Y or N before the tiles are removed.

COMMANDS:

There are commands you can enter in addition to just selecting tile
coordinates. You can quit the game at any time by entering Q. You can
get help by entering H when asked for the tile selection. If you ask
for help when selecting the 1st tile it will first tell you whether
there are any valid moves and then you may choose to see any or all of
them by hitting Y or N when asked. If you ask for help when selecting
the 2nd tile it will show you any available matches for the first tile
selected. You can save your game by entering S and restore an old game
by entering R. You can start a new game by entering N or play the same
board again by entering A.

Hitting F1 will display a summary of commands and other game information.
Hitting F2 will show the tiles you've removed so far.

If you have a mouse, just slide the cursor over the command you want
and click. Hitting the right mouse button is a short-cut way of asking
for help.

In summary, the commands are:

               Q:  Quit       N:  New game (new board)
               H:  Help       A:  Again (replay same board)
               S:  Save       R:  Restore
               F1: Commands   F2: Tiles played so far

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:

There are several options you can give when starting the game. You can
skip the title screen by using -n (No title). You can play a specific
board by entering -bx where x is any number between 0 and 65535. For
example, you can replay the previous game by noting the board number in
the lower left hand corner before quitting and using that. Or you can
play against another person by both choosing the same board number and
seeing who can remove the most tiles. You can play timed games by
entering -tx where x is the number of minutes you want the game to be.
This is primarily for competitive games. You can still continue to play
the game after the time runs out. The amount of time left to play is
shown in the upper right corner of the screen just above the number of
tiles left. Using -r allows you to restore a saved game. Using -cx allows
you to set the background color and -dx the mouse cursor color, where x
is a number between 0 and 15. Using -m selects mouse control instead of
keyboard.

The command line options are done in a standard way but if you're not
familiar with this sort of thing they may be somewhat confusing so here
are some examples.

Command line option examples:

If you want to play a game that will be timed for 10 minutes, the command
line would be:

                             MAHJONGG -T10

Notice there is no space between the -T and the number of minutes (10).
The other commands work the same way.  To play board number 12345 the
command line would be:

                            MAHJONGG -B12345

You can combine commands too, so to play board 12345 as a 10 minute timed
game the command line would be:

                         MAHJONGG -T10 -B12345

There is also a setup screen that allows you to select any of the options
that are available on the command line.  Just hit S from the title screen
to go to setup.

If you forget the command line options, just start up the game with an
invalid option and it will give you the proper usage (i.e., try using
"mahjongg -help" which since it is not a valid option with give the valid
option list).

In summary, the command line options are:

       -n   No_title page
       -r   Restore saved game
       -m   use Mouse
       -bx  play Board x (0 <= x <= 65535)
       -tx  Timed game (x=length in minutes)
       -cx  background Color x (0 <= x <= 15)
       -dx  mouse cursor color x (0 <= x <= 15)\n


TOURNAMENTS:

You can play Mah Jongg as a tournament against other players. You first
select T for tournament from the title screen. The first player sets up
the tournament by selecting the board number (or by just leaving the one
that was randomly chosen) and whether or not the game will be timed. After
the selections are made the first player enters his name and plays the game.
A record is kept of his results and the results of each additional player
who plays the tournament.

If you go to the tournament screen by accident or just to see the current
standings, you can return to the title screen without entering the
tournament by entering Q.

If there is already a tournament started but you want to start a new one,
enter 'N'.  This will let you set up a new tournament as was described
above.  Tournament records are kept in a file called "mah.trn" so you can
also start a new tournament by deleting this file.

USING A MOUSE:

To use a mouse, you must either select it from the setup screen or use
the -m option on the command line.  The game was tested using a Mouse
Systems PC Mouse but any Microsoft-compatible mouse will probably work.
When using a mouse all commands can be issued using the mouse.  You must
have your mouse driver installed as a device in your config.sys file for
Mah Jongg to be able to use the mouse.

The mouse interface is a bit different from what you're probably used to but
it seems to be easy enough to use.  Tiles are selected by moving a colored
outline over them and clicking once.  To de-select the first tile, just
click on it a second time.  After selecting both tiles a line with the
options "Y/N" (yes/no) comes up.  If you just click without moving the mouse
you'll select yes and the tiles will be removed.  Slide the mouse left and
right to change your selection.

The commands available during the game (help, new, again, load, save, quit)
are available as "keys" along the left side of the screen.  Move the outline
over the command you want and click once.  All these commands require a yes
or no confirmation so you won't do one of them by accident.  Slide the mouse
left and right to select yes or no and then click.  The help command first
asks if you want to see matching tiles (if there are no more matches it will
tell you that instead) and then prompts for a yes or no to see each additional
matching pair of tiles.  If you ask for help after you've already selected the
first tile a search for a matching free tile takes place.  If a match is
found, it is highlighted and all you need to do is confirm to remove the pair
of tiles.  If no match is found it puts you back to select the first tile
again.  There is a short-cut for mouse users to invoke help.  Just hit the
right mouse button to get help in selecting either tile.  This is the only
place where it matters which mouse button you hit.

Any error messages that appear during the game (i.e. "Invalid Selection")
normally stay visible for a few seconds before allowing play to continue.
To immediately remove a message and resume play just click the mouse or
hit a key.

NEW FEATURES:

Many new features have been added since the original release of the game.
These include:

  NEW SINCE 2.6:

    Fixed bug in tournament mode (stats weren't being saved)

    A list of all pairs of tiles played so far is available by
    hitting the F2 key

  NEW SINCE 2.5:

    Mouse cursor color is now selectable from command line or
    setup screen

    When playing a tournament game your score was not always saved
    if you completed the board; this is now fixed

  NEW SINCE 2.3:

    Help screen -- hit F1 to get a list of commands, options, and
    some basic playing tips

    "Boss Mode" -- hit F10 to hide the game and display a harmless
    looking disk directory

    New tournaments can be started from within the tournament
    setup screen

    After winning a game, answering "Y" to play again gives you a
    different board instead of the same one over again

    Requesting to quit when selecting the second tile now asks for
    a confirmation

  NEW SINCE 2.2:

    Columns entered as letters instead of numbers; rows and columns can
    be entered in any order as a result

    Several tiles redrawn

  NEW SINCE 2.1:

    ATI EGAWonder card problem workaround added

    Mouse cursor display sped up (possible fix to NEC EGA card problem of
    not showing mouse cursor)

  NEW SINCE 2.0:

    Help on 2nd tile selection (find match to 1st tile if any)

    Help available with right mouse button as a short-cut

    Error messages can be cancelled by clicking the mouse

    Confirmation required for mouse action "keys" to prevent accidents

  NEW SINCE 1.0:

    Mouse support

    Setup screen, allows access to all game options more easily
    than through command line options

    Tournament play

    Selectable background color

    New commands during play
      A  (play same board Again)
      N  (play New board)

    More command line options
      -cx (background Color)
      -r  (Restart saved game)
      -m  (use Mouse)

    More authentic tile appearance

    Faster tile displaying


WINNING


Not all boards are win-able but during testing a number of boards that are
beatable were found.  In addition, many people who have written to register
their copy of Mah Jongg have included lists of boards they have completed.
If you want to play a board that definately can be won, try one of the
following:

55598, 49070, 64856, 15784, 29514, 54176, 40060, 8, 44213, 21, 43, 148, 290,
302, 329, 364, 370, 386, 410, 421, 459, 560, 627, 634, 656, 695, 735, 743,
795, 819, 827, 839, 858, 876, 888, 890, 905, 936, 952, 985, 1034, 1037, 1066,
1101, 1104, 1138, 1145, 1149, 1154, 1207, 1241, 1244, 1296, 1313, 1346, 1365,
1390, 1392, 1428, 1430, 1490, 1543, 55309, 43924, 47924, 38313, 23986, 45355,
55082, 6843, 52079, 50333, 24654, 64557, 14, 54438, 2, 52916, 32141, 62500,
50408, 5119, 8694, 12224, 27869, 47615, 49522, 56447, 4113, 6108, 36785,
38382, 54586, 36607, 63202, 4540, 21015, 1132, 37696, 20009, 19619, 42246,
56809, 5336, 61319, 15037, 33357, 52158, 63866, 41619, 48165, 13692, 17604,
40284, 47779, 57572, 13932, 4236, 4243, 24942, 15318, 59498, 50542, 41121.

Enjoy!


INCOMPATIBILITIES:

Early versions of MAHJONGG had problems running on an ATI EGA Wonder card.
The problem is with the BIOS ROM on the card, not with the game.  ATI
should by now have an upgrade ROM available to fix their bug so you may
want to contact them about it.  MAHJONGG Release 2.1.1 and later should
work properly on the ATI card even without the BIOS upgrade.

I've also heard that an NEC built EGA card (not sure of model) does not
display the mouse cursor.  I think I've done something in Rev. 2.1.1 that
will prevent the problem but I don't have the proper system to test it on.