Version 1.0c Manual

FreeJongg is an adaptation of the classic game of Mahjongg Solitaire. Your objective is to remove all the tiles from the playing field by following a simple set of matching rules.

Features:



Freeware Notice

Due to the lack of Freeware Mahjongg Solitaire games for PalmOS Devices, I have decided to distribute FreeJongg as Freeware!

You may freely use this software for as long as you want. You may freely distribute this software to anyone, as long as all of the original files are included.

FreeJongg can be downloaded from http://www.palmgear.com



Updates

I will no longer be sending out individual email messages when a new version of FreeJongg is released.

If you wish to be notified when when a new version of FreeJongg is released, you can subscribe to the FreeJongg email list by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freejongg/ or by filling out the following form:

Subscribe to FreeJongg
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Installation

FreeJongg requires a Color or Grayscale Palm OS device running OS 3.5 or later. FreeJongg also requires at least 350 KB of free memory after installation. Using a device capable of displaying 320x320 High-res graphics is highly recommended, but not required.

Note: FreeJongg will not function properly on the Handera 330.

In the ZIP archive you should find the following files:
You must install both FreeJongg.prc your Palm OS device in order to run FreeJongg.

Warning: All Versions of FreeJongg prior to 1.0b had a Memory leak. To reclaim lost memory, I highly recommended that you do a soft-reset before installing an updated version of FreeJongg. If you are unsure how to perform a soft-reset, please consult the manual for your device.

If you are upgrading from a version of FreeJongg prior to 1.0c, I highly recomend that you remove the old version of FreeJongg from your device before installing the new version. (Previous versions of FreeJongg used a seperate graphics database that is no longer needed, this step ensures that this extra database is removed.)



Objective

The goal of the game is to clear the board by removing all 144 tiles from the table.

Tiles must be removed in pairs. A pair consists of two tiles which both are both free and match each other.

A tile is free when: Generally, a tile matches another if both tiles are identical. Exceptions to this rule are the Flowers and Seasons tiles.

A Flower tile (BAM, MUM, ORC, PLUM) will match any other Flower tile.
A Season tile (WIN, SPR, SUM, AUT) will match any other Season tile. All other suites require an exact match.

Each tile appears four times in a given board. The only exceptions to this are the Flowers and Seasons tiles which appear only once each.



Controls

Select a tile by tapping on it. You can remove tiles from the board by tapping on a tile and then tapping on a matching tile. If the match is legal, the tiles will be removed from the board.

You can deselect the currently selected tile by tapping on it a second time.

Sometimes it can be difficult to see the pattern that is on a tile that is partially covered by other tiles. You can get a close up view of the pattern on a particular tile by doing a tap-and-hold on the tile (tap the tile, but do not lift the stylus from the screen). The results should look like the screen shot below:


The status bar at the bottom contains several pieces of important information. On the left side of the bar you will see a T: followed the total number of tiles left on the board.

Immediately to the right of the number of tiles, you will see a ~ followed by the number of possible moves you can currently make.

Next to this number you will see a # followed by the current game number. This is a unique number that you can use to replay the current board in the future.



New Game

The New Game dialog box contains several options.


Here you can select one of the 15 board layouts. If you set the layout to Random, FreeJongg will randomly select one of the 15 board layouts every time you play.

When the Game # drop down is set to Random, a new random game is started. When the drop down is set to Custom you can replay a specific game by entering the game number in the field on the right.

The Disable Hints box will disable all hint functions for the duration of the game.



Tools

FreeJongg offers many different options in the menus. You can open the menu by tapping on the menu silk-screen icon usually located on the left side of the Graffiti area. If you have a Tungsten C, you can open the menu by pressing the blue Fn button followed by the the menu button (located next to the home button).

You can undo or redo a move by using the options on the Tools menu. You can also undo or redo a move by using the Page Up, or Page Down buttons on your device. For devices equiped with a 5-way navigator, you can also use Left and Right on the nav pad to Undo or Redo a move.


If you are having trouble finding a valid move, you can use the Hint option. This will display one of the possible moves you can make. If you do not like the move that is displayed, you can choose the Hint option again to display a different move (Assuming there is more than one valid move!).

The Find Match option will attempt to find a valid match for the currently selected tile. This option will only display the matching tile if it is a valid move.

The Shuffle Board option will shuffle all the tiles on the board. Use this only if you are stuck, and wish to keep playing the current board.



Preferences

You can change the background pattern by using the Preferences dialog under the Game menu.


The Show Time checkbox determines whether or not the current time is shown in the lower-right corner of the status bar.

The Left Handed Mode checkbox makes the Tile Info box appear on the right side of the screen for left handed players.



Change Log

Version 1.0c:

Version 1.0b:

  • Fixed a bug that caused some season and flower tiles to appear too many times
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Tile Info Box to view tiles that were underneath other tiles
  • Random Layout option added
  • Added ability to Undo and Redo moves using Page Up, Page Down, or a 5-Way Navigator
  • Shuffle Board Option Added
  • Added Left Handed option to make Tile Info Box appear on the right, instead of the left
  • Fixed Memory Leak for devices running OS 3.5 and 4
  • Graphics Database has been optimized, and is now about 20 Kb smaller
  • Hi-res Backgrounds Added
Version 1.0a:

  • Fixed Auto Power Down Bug
  • Fixed graphics bug on low-res OS 5 devices
Version 1.0:

  • Initial Public Release


Support Information

FreeJongg requires some free memory to function properly. If you experience lockups and freezes when playing FreeJongg, check to make sure that you have at least 350 KB of memory free.

FreeJongg does not function properly on Handera 330 devices. If you attempt to run FreeJongg on a Handera 330 you may experience slow performance and various graphical glitches.

Due to performance reasons, FreeJongg does not support Hi-Res graphics on Sony Clie devices running PalmOS 4. On these devices, Low-res graphics will be used instead.

If you still experience problems, email me at wbo@freeshell.org Be sure to include the Model and OS version of your PalmOS device, and a listing of any Hacks or Extensions that you are using.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me via email at wbo@freeshell.org