The C Users' Group Library 1994 August/wc-cdrom-cusersgrouplibrary-1994-08.iso/vol_200/240_01/pc_gamn.doc

Text File | 1987-07-30 | 15KB | 393 lines

                      PC-Gammon Version 6.0 with *Color*
                               USER'S MANUAL

                                     by
                               David C. Oshel




PC-Gammon 6.0, the LampLighter edition, is a WARP-SPEED full screen
backgammon game for PC clones.  This edition, now with COLOR, has pleasant
sound effects and takes full advantage of the IBM standard screen characters.
You may alter any or all of the colors/attributes to suit your own taste,
and PC-Gammon distinguishes between CGA and Monochrome.

There is no meaningful way to slow the game down.  Sorry.




1. Installation & System Requirements
-------------------------------------
PC-Gammon runs on 100% IBM PC compatibles.  PC-Gammon uses the ordinary IBM
screen graphics characters to draw its playing board, so no special hardware,
such as a graphics card, is needed.  This program has been tested on the Epson
Equity I and on the NCR PC Model 3.  PC-Gammon should run in less than 256k.

No special installation is needed.  (An earlier version of PC-Gammon required
the ANSI.SYS driver.  Versions 4.0 and up totally ignore ANSI.SYS, if present.)











2.  Starting the Game
---------------------
Just type BACKGMMN at your DOS prompt and hit the ENTER (or Return) key.

Method (1):             A>backgmmn <ENTER>

If you have a "two-color" monitor, i.e., b&w or greenscreen etc., but you have
to use a color graphics adapter, you may force PC-Gammon into B&W mode with:

Method (2):             A>backgmmn b&w <ENTER>

PC-Gammon will automatically detect a monochrome adapter, if that's what
you've got, so not to worry:  Use method (1).

Helpful information early on:  When in trouble, when in doubt, hit ESC.  The
ESC key is your "bailout" key.   It gets you out of any jam PC-Gammon can get
into, except for peanut butter in the keyboard or something like that.



3.  Command Lines
-----------------
PC-Gammon is very friendly.  When you start up the program, you will
eventually see the PC-Gammon command line.  This is it:


     Select:  Play, Arrange, New, Reverse, Swap, Hilite, Quit


The first letter of each of the command words is high lighted.  Type P, for
example, to Play a game of backgammon.

If you type anything else, such as the spacebar, you will see a second line of
perfectly valid commands:


     Select: Use your dice, Opponent, Xpert, Tone, Count, Zero, Quit


If you press the spacebar again, you will flip back to the first command line.
(A helpful hint:  If you DO NOT see the command line, you're in "expert mode",
so press the ESC key.  The command lines will return.)

4.  The Commands and Their Meanings
-----------------------------------

The first command line:

     P            Commence playing backgammon.  If you have not chosen
                  an opponent yet, you will first chose your opponent.

     A            Arrange the playing board as you would like.  You may
                  begin from the new board position.  Also known as
                  cheating.  Or study.

     N            Remove the current board arrangement and start over
                  from scratch, as though the last game were finished.
                  The score does not change.

     R            Reverse the board position.  Play resumes from left to
                  right, if it was right to left, and vice versa.  This
                  happens automatically every time a game concludes.  So
                  you can use R to put the board back the way you like it.
                  Truly excellent backgammon players know the board from
                  both sides, and don't care.

     S            Swap stones with the computer.  Swap again and you get
                  a different style of stone.  Keep swapping and you cycle
                  through all the options.

     H            Hilite, or Hues.  Allows you to change the screen colors
                  (or screen attributes, if you have the monochrome
                  adapter.) For color, note that the F9 key switches between
                  foreground ("obverse") and background ("inverse").  The F9
                  key with the monochrome adapter just toggles the "reverse"
                  feature.  The F1 key controls brightness, F2 controls
                  blink.  F10 calls up the help reminder, and ESC quits.
                  Use the arrow keys to cycle through the various color
                  options.  Your color changes take effect immediately, as
                  soon as you leave the popout window.  Strike any key to
                  get past the help messages when the window pops out.

     Q            Quit, return to the system.



The second command line:

     U            You have the option of using real dice, and entering
                  the actual dice rolls into the computer.  Switches
                  back and forth between your real dice and the computer's
                  fake, but nice, dice.

     O            If you've already chosen your opponent, you can
                  choose somebody else with this command.  You can't
                  switch during play, however.  If you do, it's the same
                  as hitting the New command.

     X            Xpert ("expert") mode gives VERY brief messages and
                  volunteers no help at all.  Type ESC at the main command
                  line, or X again, to get out of Xpert mode.  Also known
                  as the "wizard" or "drip under pressure" key.  It's just
                  there to confuse you and take you down a notch.

     T            The Tone command turns the sound effects on and off.
                  Most useful if you're supposed to be doing something else,
                  like working or sleeping.

     C            Turn the pip counters on the left side of the screen
                  on and off.  These indicate the total points on the dice,
                  or pips on the board, you need to bring all your stones
                  safely Home.

     Z            Sets the score at the top right of the screen back to
                  zero.

     Q            Quit.














                              FUNCTION KEYS

As it happens, the function keys on a PC clone keyboard are also defined to
match these commands.  F1 means Play if the first command line is visible,
but F1 means Use your dice if the second command line is visible.  F10 always
means Quit.  F2 means Arrange or Opponent, F3 means New or Xpert, and so on
through each command line, in order from F1 to F6.

The function keys aren't especially useful, but they're there if you like
to use them.

For Xperts only, Shift-Fn always means the second command line.  Unshifted Fn
keys have the meaning defined by the command line, whichever it happens to be.
In Xpert mode, the command line is, of course, totally invisible.







5.  Styles of Play
------------------

PC-Gammon has three different STYLES of play, as contrasted with different
LEVELS of play.  The difficulty level of all three styles is about equal, but
the mannerism varies.   If you are a good-to-superb backgammon player, you
will not have much trouble polishing off PC-Gammon.  If you're a novice,
sometimes you'll win, sometimes you'll lose.  Hopefully, you'll have fun!

When you begin a game, the first thing that happens is you get to read a
little story, and then chose your computer opponent from one of three nice
people:  Louisa Parini, Anthony Villiers, or Torve the Trog.

These characters are freely adapted from a long out-of-print travelogue
written about thirteen years ago by Alexei Panshin.  Good grief, if you ever
find an Anthony Villiers novel, buy it, read it, keep it, and share it with a
friend.

You select your opponent from these three by hitting either the L, V or T key,
and upper or lower case doesn't matter.



6.  Entering Your Moves
-----------------------
We'll assume you're using the computer's dice, for the moment.  You always
move your stones in a U-turn loop around the board, in the direction of
numbers going from High to Low.  Whichever way that is, the NUMBERS always go
from High to Low.  You have to get ALL of your stones to your inner table,
and then bear them off the playing field ("go HOME") one at a time.  If you
get hit (which can only happen if your stone is all by itself on a point), you
get sent to the BAR.  The BAR is as far away from HOME as you can be.

Play commences according to Official Backgammon Rules with a "rolloff", and
whoever get the high die moves first, using the two rolloff dice.  If you get
doubles during the rolloff, the doubling cube gets bumped.

When it's your turn to move, you'll see this message:

                 Move from?

Type in the number of the point you want to move FROM, and hit the ENTER key.
You'll see, assuming you chose to move from point 13:

                 Move from? 13 To?

Type in the number of the point you want to move TO, and hit the ENTER key.
The stones will move.  You'll see:

                 All ok?

If you type N for NO, you can take the move back and start over.  If you type
Y for YES, or just hit ENTER for "Sure, why not?", well then that's it.  Your
turn is over and the computer goes next.





                         ROLLING THE DICE


The next time your turn comes around, you'll see the message:

         You Roll:  Peek, Double, Quit or <Anykey> to Roll

You should strike the spacebar to roll the dice.  You may hit P to look at
what the dice generator WOULD have rolled just then, or D to offer the
Doubling Cube, or Q to Quit AND GIVE UP.  If you Quit, the computer assumes it
just won the game.



                            ON THE BAR


If you're on the BAR, you must move that stone first.  Therefore, the command
might look like:

                 Move from?  BAR  To?   24

You have to move into your OPPONENT'S inner table, that is, onto the points
numbered from 24 to 19.  A 6 takes you to point 19, a 5 takes you to point 20,
a 4 takes you to point 21, a 3 takes you to point 22, a 2 takes you to point
23, and so on.



                            GOING HOME


If you're completely in your inner table (all your stones are on points 6 or
less), you can go HOME.  In this case, the command might be:

                 Move from?  7  To?  HOME

You get an error message for this (obviously).  Do you see why?  (You can't go
home unless everyone is on point 6 or less.)

You take stones home from the point they're on, using the exact roll of the
dice.  You take a 6 stone HOME if you roll a 6.  You take a 3 stone HOME if
you roll a 3.  If there's nothing on the point, AND NOTHING HIGHER, you can
take the highest stone you DO have HOME.  So if you have a stone on point 4,
and nothing on points 5 or 6, and you roll a 6, you can take the 4 HOME.



                                HELP

You may abbreviate BAR and HOME to B and H.  The computer will understand you.

If you're stuck, you may also type:

                  Move from?  HELP

and you'll get a message that may or not actually be useful, but it will help
you to see how the command should work.



7.  More About Help
-------------------
If you type numbers that don't make sense, such as entering the number of a
FROM point you don't have any stones on, or a TO point that your opponent has
already covered safe, or a TO point backwards from the FROM point, you'll hear
about it.

You'll get a message, and a suggestion for a LEGAL move.  Be warned that the
computer's advice is not necessarily good.  But it is a good model for the
kinds of legal numbers you can enter.

Sometimes, the computer won't take your move at all.  At that time, you may
type HELP or ? or something more imaginative, and you MAY (not always) receive
the message that you're on the BAR and should move the BAR stone first.  In
this case, the computer fills in the "From? BAR" part of the command you
should enter -- you just fill in the "To?" part.

If the computer insists that you have a legal move, it's always right.  Keep
looking.  If all else fails, follow the advice.

If you hear the normal KEYBOARD BEEP, as opposed to the musical game tones,
you have made a typing error.  Sometimes, this can be caused by leaning the
palm of your hand on the ALT key during the heat of battle.  Watch your typing
posture!




8.  Using your own dice
-----------------------
If you decide to roll your own dice, for some reason, you may choose the U
option on the second main command line.

The computer will ask you about each roll.

         <>  My Roll, using your dice:  First?

Type a number from 1 to 6, because there's no 7 on a single die.  Do NOT type
the ENTER key after typing the number key.  The computer runs away with the
number as soon as you type it.  (It's not a two-digit number, so why wait
around, just to slow down the game?)

         <>  My Roll, using your dice:  First?  3  Second?

Again, type a number from 1 to 6, whatever your real, actual, more-than-honest
perfect physical dice show.

         <>  My Roll, using your dice:  First? 3  Second? 5  All Ok? Y

Again, Y or ENTER means all is ok.  N allows you take the roll back and start
over.

Any error in input is a signal to start from scratch, so if you don't like
what you typed for the first dice, just hit ENTER for the second.  Most people
do this anyway, the first time they try it.  It's not a bug, it's a feature.




9.  The Doubling Cube
---------------------

The computer knows about the doubling cube, but not very much.  You can offer
a double when it's your turn, and the computer will try to make an informed
guess about whether to accept the cube.

If the computer offers you the cube, take it.  It's bluffing.  Well, most of
the time it's bluffing!  No, actually, the computer NEVER bluffs, and ALWAYS
believes it has a won game if it offers the cube.

Personally, I'd take it.

PC-Gammon will politely decline to offer you the cube again if your gambling
frenzy has bumped it all the way up to 256.

              == The END of The PC-Gammon User's Manual ==