Contents

Making moves

Cancelling a move

Undo (reverse) a move

Auto Moving

Auto Skill setting

Must jump rule

Entering Player names


Making Moves
Moving pieces

To move a piece one space (not a jump):

       1.	Click on the piece with either mouse button.  The piece turns light blue.

       2.	Click on the new location with either mouse button.  The piece moves there.

To jump over one of your opponent's pieces:

       1.	Click on the piece which you are going to move with either mouse button.  The piece turns light blue.

       2.	Click on the new location with the left mouse button.  The piece moves there, the jumped opponent's piece disappears, and your Pieces captured score increases by one.

To jump over more than one of your opponent's pieces:

       1.	Click on the piece which you are going to move with either mouse button.  The piece turns light blue.

       2.	Click on the first new location with the right mouse button.  Another blue piece appears there, indicating the first jump.

       3.	If more than two jumps, repeat step #2 for all but the last jump.

       4.	Click on the last location with the left mouse button.  The piece moves there, the jumped opponent's pieces disappear, and your Pieces captured score increases by the number of pieces you jumped.

See also:

Changing your mind before you finish a move

Undo (reverse) a move


Cancelling a Move

After you select the piece to move (turning it light blue), you can cancel the move by clicking on the light blue piece with either mouse button.  The piece returns to its original color and you can start the move again.

If you're in the middle of a multiple-jump move, you can cancel the steps in reverse order: click the last location (light blue piece), it disappears.  If you continue back to where the piece was when the move started, it returns to its original color and you can start the move again.


Undo (reverse) a Move

The button marked Undo allows you to reverse the last move completed.  It returns the moved piece to its original location, and replaces any pieces which were captured by a jump.

When the last player to move is a real person:

Press Undo to reverse the last move.  The player can then move again.

When one of the players is the computer (Auto button down):

Press Undo to reverse the last move.  The computer will immediately move again (not necessarily making the same move!).  If you want to avoid having the computer player move right away, press its Auto button (so that it's up) before pressing Undo.  When you're ready for the computer player to move again, press its Auto button back down.


Auto Moving

To have the computer automatically move one of the players, press the Auto button (located next to the Player Name box and the Auto Skill Level) so that it's in the down position.

To turn off automatic moving at any time, press the Auto button again (returning it to the up position).

The Auto Skill Level settings determine how smart the computer is when moving.


Player Name box

The Player Name boxes are located below (for Red player) and above (for Black player) the Pieces captured indicators.

If you click in the box, then type in the name of the player, the name will be used to prompt for moves, and shown in the winner dialog box.


Auto Skill Levels

The Auto Skill Level settings determine how the computer determines the next move for a player when the Auto button for that player is down.

The level corresponds to how far ahead the computer looks at possible sequences of moves before selecting the combination which it feels maximizes its chances to capture pieces!

Level 0 is the stupid setting - the computer only looks at whether it has any immediate opportunities to jump; Level 5 is the smartest setting, and Levels 2, 3, and 4 are, of course, in between.

Note: at levels 4 and 5, you might find yourself waiting for the computer to make up its mind, especially if Must jump is not selected.


Must Jump rule

In tournament play, if you have the opportunity to jump one of your opponent's pieces, you must do so.  This allows additional strategy (and challenge) as you can sacrifice your own pieces to force your opponent to make particular moves.

By default this rule is turned on.  If you turn it off, you'll find that Automatic play may be slower, since the computer has to consider more possible moves (with Must jump on, it won't bother considering non-jump moves when jumps are available).