Copyright: (c) 1995 GEKKO Software GmbH


Contents
Basic Rules

Special Features of the Variations

Time Variations

Interna

Points

Hall of Fame

Passage plus - The Competition

Troubleshooting


Basic Rules

Passage plus is a strategy board game with three different game variations. Each variation can be played in three time modes; so altogether you can choose from 9 game variations!

We would like to introduce the basic rules on the bases of the classic-version.The variations light and flash are just modifications and therefore base on the classic-version.

Looking at all the variations you have to follow the same basic principle:

Set one stone next to another stone so they correspond (either) in color and/or in motive. The grey stone fits everywhere, so you can put every stone next to a grey stone.

Example (compare graphics): The bike does not fit in color but in motive to the stone adjoining at the right hand side.

Start a new game with File/New Game or by F2. Choose the variation Classic Standard (upper left button) and confirm by pressing Ok.

A grey stone appears and will be randomly placed on the board. This is the stone to begin with. You can set the following stone on each side of it.

In the middle of the panel that informs you about everything of any importance you can see the next stone to be set.

It will be chosen on the bases of the following principle: Passage plus uses a set of 72 stones - 12 different motives, each of them in 6 colors.

This set of stones is - similar to a card game - "shuffled" each time before you start a new game. The computer "draws" the "top card" in order to present you the next stone to be set on the board.

Now you should click on one of the fields next to the grey stone.

The stone fits on each side of the grey stone, because a stone carrying the color grey is a joker: Every stone regardless his color or motive fits on a completely or partly grey stone.

Attention: It might be helpful to activiate the training mode in the Options menu during the first games. This option shows you all the places on the board, where the actual stone would fit (but it does not give you hints, which place would be best choice!).

In case you try to lay a stone on a place where you are not allowed to (because neither the color nor the motive is compatible to all adjoining stones), you will hear a short sound. This sound indicates the mistake you made. At the same time the computer will substract a bonus point:

You will find the bonus points on the panel at the very left. Starting a new game, you have 30 bonus points at your disposal. The game is over when you have used up all bonus points.

It might be possible that you are presented a stone that does not fit on the board at all. In this case you can easily give it back with the right mouse button. This stone will then, coming back to the idea of a card game, be put back to a coincidential chosen position in the "pile". Of course, this stone will appear again during the game.

This means that in the classic-version all 72 stones will appear as long as you have not placed them on the board. No stone exists twice!

If you give back a stone that would fit somewhere on the board you will lose three bonus points. If the stone does not fit and you therefore give it back you are not substracted any bonus points. Whatever, sometimes it might be tactically necessary to give back a stone although it matches on the board - but we will come back to this point later!

After having played for a while you will come across different special stones: These special stones appear coincidentially and additional to the normal set of stones. The number of special stones varies from game to game (the paragraph Interna of this help contains the details about the likeliness of special stones).

All special stones are to be laid on the board in the same way as "normal" stones. Of course, they must only match in color, because they do not wear any motive.

Special stones can be easily used to link between two different colors, because most of these stones wear at least one grey side which means that this side of the stone is compatible to every color!

Another type of special stones will appear with a certain probability: the bombs. With the help of a bomb you can get rid of a stone on the board (this stone, taken away by a bomb will not appear again, because it was already laid on the board once).

Sometimes the computer removes one or two stones arbitrarily. Do not bother about this! It might be useful for you when the board is packed and you desperately need spare room. Besides, the probability of the removal of stones is a constant quantity for every player.

Your aim while playing the classic-version should be to build passages in order to gain as many points as possible: If you lay stones together in one line from one side of the board to the other you have built a passage.

A vertical line (8 stones) is called a small passage, while a horizontal line (12 stones) is a great passage. If you place a stone at the junction of a small and a great passage, you have created a double passage which is rewarded with extra points.

These were all basic rules needed for playing Passage plus! In the following section (called Special Features of the Variations) you will find the destinctive features of each variation of the game.


Special Features of the Variations

Classic

The classic-version finishes when you have managed to place all 72 stones on the board. The number of stones remaining to be placed appears on the panel (rest).

Attention: It is not your aim to place the stones as quickly as possible! Keep your score in mind - you cannot reach a high score if you do not play tactically clever.

Remember that building passages are your key to a great score. A passage once finished can be opened by a bomb and built again by a matching stone. You should try to use bombs especially at junctions of passages in order to create a double passage!

Tip: Try to build four horizontal and at least three vertical passages!

This is your basic structure. Continue the game by re-opening and closing the passages again and again until you have used up you bonus points.

If you have played cleverly, you will have one stone left that does not fit anywhere on the board. Each time you give it back, the computer offers you an alternative (special stones, bombs, jokers). This makes it easy for you to extend the game for a long time. Extending the game means more passages and thus you will be rewarded by a higher score.

For beginners, classic might be the most difficult version of Passage plus. To reach a high score the player has to play tactically clever which means that he has to keep in mind (again similar to a card game) the stones already on the board. So he will know the remaining ones and can wait for them to be offered sooner or later by the computer. A stone that is already on the board does not appear again - even if it fitted perfectly in a gap between two stones! All you can do in this case is to watch out for a grey or a partly grey stone.

Tip: All demo games show the classic-version. Do not miss them for tactics!

Light

In the light-version it is your aim to place stones on all the positions of the board that are marked by a special pattern within a given time. If you succeed in completing a level, the game offers to you more than 100 different levels.

In contrast to the classic-version where a fixed set of 72 stones is used, here you will find an endless number of stones. This includes that a stone can appear several times while others perhaps do not appear at all!

Of course this means a complete change in tactics: Your first priority should be to fill the marked positions in a way so you can solve the level. This can even mean giving back a matching stone in order not to make the level more difficult than necessary.

A difficult situation might be for example if you depend on a completely grey stone (joker) to finish the level. There is no guarantee for a joker at any time, so be aware of this problem and do not mess around with "matching theoretically" stones. And: Always keep your remaining time in mind!

By the way: Your bonus will automatically increase for 15 points after every 10 levels.

Special

Similar to the light-version in this variation the computer chooses from an endless number of stones. The difference is that stones building a passage are removed completely from the board.

As your aim is again to reach a high score, you must try to have a long lasting game without losing your bonus points too early.

You will quickly find out that the free space remaining on the board to place stones shrinks both constantly and rapidly! Make sure that your focus is on building passages (small passages are much easier than great ones) because they will disappear after being completed and so offer space for the following stones.

The special-version of Passage plus asks for constant concentration and therefore is the most challenging of the variations. Real "professionals" even may try Special Flash!

As you now know everything about the special features of the game´s variations you should continue reading the paragraph Time Variations.


Points

The number of points you get for your actions in the game depends on the time variations. The points differ from the variation Standard (where time is not important at all) to the variations Time Bonus and Flash (where you are rewarded for you speed).

Action	Points
	Standard	Time Bonus/Flash
placing a stone adjacent to one other	5	10
placing a stone adjacent to two others	10	20
placing a stone adjacent to three others	20	40
placing a stone adjacent to four others	40	80
small passage	75	150
great passage	100	200
double passage	200	400
time bonus	-	0-99
The points you get for placing the stone, passages and time bonus are automatically added for every stone laid down on the board. Points for placing and passages are added, the time bonus is indicated solitarily.

Example:

MESSAGE:	double passage 480 points + 73 time bonus

In this case a stone was placed in a way that he has four adjoining stones and closes a double passage. The time bonus is rather high because the player has found a matching place in a short time. Altogether he is given 553 points for this action.


Interna

In order to avoid any idea of "injustice", the following table offers the likelinesses of bombs, special stones and the removal of stones.

Hereby rest indicates the number of remaining stones in the classic-version, num the number of stones already placed on the board (not shown in the panel).

After having given back a stone the likeliness of the appearance of special stones, bombs etc. follows the principles of the second/forth column. The actual score does not influence the likelinesses at all.

Of course the results given in the table can only be a statistical average. This explains that the detailled statistics shown after playing differ from game to game.

Action	Likeliness in %
	Classic	Classic	Light/Special	Light/Special
	(rest > 10)	(rest <= 10)	(num < 60)	(num >= 60)
special stones	8,25	17,5	8,25	12
grey stones	2,25	7,5	2,25	12
bombs	3	15	3	8
removal of stones	2,5	10	2,5	8


Time Variations

Standard

If you play the time variation Standard you are under no pressure at all. You do not get any extra points if you hurry yourself. Relax!

Time Bonus

In the Time Bonus mode the computer automatically measures the time you need to find an appropriate place for your stone on the board. The less time you need, the more points you will get.

The clock in the middle of the panel (above the display of the actual stone) runs back for five seconds and offers you between 0 and 99 extra points for every stone.

After five seconds without placing the stone you have missed the time bonus and no extra points are added to your score.

Flash

Flash was created for "professional" Passage-players with strong nerves. The basic idea is the same as in the Time Bonus mode, but if you did not manage to lay down the stone after five seconds the computer offers a new stone and at the same time punishes you by substracting one bonus point.

So make sure to place the actual stone on the board within five seconds or give it back quickly. You have to make your decisions under extreme time pressure.

Tip: If you want to give back a matching stone for tactical reasons, do not use the right mouse button (in this case the computer would substract three bonus points) but wait for five seconds and you will only lose one point!


Competition

Passage plus - The Competition

Every registered user of Passage plus is entitled to take part in The Competition.

Just print your high scores reached in one or several variations of the game by choosing Extras/Print Highscore and send them to:

GEKKO Software GmbH

P.O. Box 24 24

D-55014 Mainz

Germany

Perhaps your score is even high enough to be be listed in the Hall of Fame, which shows the 10 best players ever of the different variations!

At the end of every year we give away a lot of prizes to a number of competitors (drawing is independent of the score sent in).


Hall of Fame

The following table shows the best scores ever reached by Passage-players who have sent their results to us. Actually, we did not yet receive scores for all 9 variations of the game.

The Hall of Fame will be kept up to date. If you want your score to be listed please contact us by e-mail (100316.3247@compuserve.com) or by snail-mail (GEKKO Software GmbH, P.O. Box 24 24, D-55014 Mainz, Germany).

Variation	Name	Score	Date
Classic Standard	Thomas Paubel	16025	Oct 03, 95
Classic Time Bonus	Michael Rössler	59536	Nov 15, 95
	Hanne Ptok	54365	Sep 23, 95
Special Flash	Hanne Ptok	273012	Dec 12, 95
	Michael Wehr	151900	Dec 19, 95
	Joachim Sopha	115084	Sep 17, 95


Sound & Graphics

Troubleshooting

Graphics

Passage plus was planned to be played on computers with a color depth of at least 256 colors. Though the package contains all graphics for a 16-colors-environment, this special version of the game is of course not as attractive and even a little more complicated (for the different colors of the stones can not be distinguished as easy as in the 256 colors- version).

Nearly everly modern VGA-graphics adaptor offers a color depth of 256 colors at least in the resolution of 640x480 points. We therefore recommend to configure your windows with a color depth of at least 256 colors.

If you are using Windows 95, configuring the graphics adaptor should be no problem: Click on START/SYSTEM/CONTROL PANEL/DISPLAY and choose the register PROPERTIES. Change the COLOR PALETTE to 256 colors or more.

On a system running with Windows 3.1 or 3.11 the configuration could be a little more complicate: Almost every producer of graphics devices offers another method of installing the proper drivers. So please refer to the manual of your graphics card for further information about installing the driver. Often especially the drivers supplied with so-called "accelerator cards" offer a lot of features which will help you to change the configuration of the display very easily.

Sound/Music

In the Options menu of Passage plus you can configure if sound (digital sound effects) and/or music (MIDI) shall be performed during the game. If an option is activated, it is marked by a small hook.

If you are using Windows 95 your sound device (hopefully) will have been recognized during the installation process of the operation system and the drivers have already been configured correctly.

During the installation of Windows 3.1 or 3.11 the device drivers for sound cards are usually not configured automatically: Therefore if the sound option of Passage plus can not be activated (i.e. it is shown in grey color instead of black), maybe the drivers of your sound device are not yet installed correctly - or not at all - so Windows can not access the hardware.

In this case, install (or re-install) the device drivers for Windows 3.1/3.11 supplied with your sound card.

If you hear the sound effects (e.g. the bomb), but the music can not be activated, probably Windows´ MIDI-Mapper is not properly configured. You can check this by opening the MIDI-Mapper, that usually is found in the System-group of Windows 3.1/3.11 (screenshot taken from a German version):

Choose the button Edit ("Bearbeiten" in German). A table is shown in which at least the channels 1 to 10 must be occupied (Extended MIDI). If this is not the case, choose another Setup matching these needs by browsing the Name-list in the MIDI-Mapper´s main window. Usually the name of the Setup will give you a hint how to find a suitable entry: If it contains Ext or All, it should match the purpose.

The manual supplied with your sound device surely contains further information about the MIDI-capabilities of the card.