Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection/BS1 part 45.zip/BS1 part 45/Ishido - The Way of Stones (1990)(Accolade)[cr PDX].7z/Ishido - The Way of Stones (1990)(Accolade)[cr PDX].adf/RULES

Text File | 1990-07-01 | 7KB | 289 lines

                               Ishido
                           Game Rules


Welcome to Ishido!

From the first move of this ancient
game and beautiful puzzle your deepest
powers of strategy and concentration
will be called upon as you match 72
stones on a board of 96 squares.


Stones & Game Board

*  A Stoneset consists of 72 stones.
Every stone has two attributes: a
color and a symbol/shape.  There are 6
colors and 6 symbols/shapes in each
stoneset, thus creating 36 unique
stones.  Each stone comes in a pair,
hence 72 stones in each stoneset.

*  The Game Board is 8 squares high by
12 squares wide.

*  The "Beyond" is the dark squares
around the outer edges of the board,
and the "Within" consists of the light
interior squares.  Only stones placed
in the Within score points.  Stones
placed in the Beyond do not score
points, but are strategically
valuable.

*  The Touchstone displays the next
stone to be played.

*  The Scoreboard shows the number of
points scored (at the top) and the
number of 4-Way matches achieved (at
the bottom).

*  The Pouch shows a representation of
the number of stones remaining to be
played.

NOTE:  It is possible to see the
actual stones and their order of play
by pointing at the pouch and pressing
the left mouse button.


The Basic Game

To begin play, select New Game under
the File option in the menu.

The game begins with the unique
opening tableau of six stones on the
board and a pouch of randomly ordered
stones.  The opening tableau consists
of stones placed at each of the four
corners and at two center squares.
Each of the 6 symbols/shapes and 6
colors are represented.

The basic objective of the game of
Ishido is to empty the pouch of
stones, placing them all on the board.
Certain rules must be followed, and
the more "4-Way Matches" that are
achieved, the better the game.

In the Modern mode, the higher the
score the better the game.  The
highest scores are achieved when the
pouch is emptied and a significant
number of "4-Ways" have been made.


Rules for Placing Stones

Stones are placed on the board, one at
a time, after first being displayed on
the Touchstone.  The stone is placed
from the Touchstone to the board by
pointing the cursor arrow at the
square where the stone is to be placed
and then pressing the left mouse
button.

Each stone must be placed adjacent
(above, below, to the left or right--
not diagonal) to another stone.

A stone can only be placed beside
another stone when the two stones have
at least one of the two attributes in
common.

If a stone is placed such that its
sides are adjacent to two other stones
(2-Way match), it must match a
different attribute in each of those
two stones (symbol/shape of one, color
of the other).  The same attribute
cannot be used to match both adjoining
stones.

For instance, if a black stone with a
circle were placed next to a white one
with a circle and a gray one with a
circle, it would not be an allowable
move because it matched both stones
with the same attribute--the circle.

If a black stone with a square were
placed next to a white stone with a
square and a black stone with a
circle, that would be a legal move--it
matched one stone with the square, and
the other stone with the black.

A 3-Way match requires each of the two
attributes to be present.  For
example, a white stone with a square
could be placed next to a grey stone
with a square, a red stone with a
square and a white stone with a
circle--it matched two stones with the
symbol and one stone with the color.

A 4-Way match, when a stone is placed
in the center of four other stones,
requires matching two of the stones
with one attribute and matching the
other two with the second attribute.

4-Way matches are rare, and it takes
practice to learn how to create them.
Yet,they are desirable and a primary
goal of the game.


Within and Beyond

When playing the Modern mode, players
receive points only when they place a
stone Within (light region).  There is
no score if a stone is placed in the
Beyond (dark border region).


Scoring

In the Modern mode scoring for a legal
match is determined by the number of
sides the stone touches other stones
(above, below, left, right) as it is
played:

   1 point for matching a single side
   2 points for a 2-Way (two-sided)
      match
   4 points for a 3-Way (three-sided)
      match
   8 points for a 4-Way (four-sided)
      match

When a 4-Way is made, a bonus is paid
and the points made for subsequent
matches are thereafter doubled (ie.,
after the first 4-Way is scored, a
single-sided match is now worth 2
points, a 2-Way is given 4 points, a
3-Way is scored 8 points and a 4-Way
is worth 16.  After the second 4-Way
this is again doubled, and so on.)

Bonus points paid are:

   25 points for the 1st 4-Way
   50 points for the 2nd 4-Way
   100 points for the 3rd 4-Way
   200 points for the 4th 4-Way
   400 points for the 5th 4-Way
   600 points for the 6th 4-Way
   800 points for the 7th 4-Way
   1,000 points for the 8th 4-Way
   5,000 points for the 9th 4-Way
   10,000 points for the 10th 4-Way
   25,000 points for the 11th 4-Way
   50,000 points for the 12th 4-Way

There is a bonus given at the end of
the game when there are fewer than
three stones left in the pouch:

   100 points with 2 stones left
   500 points with 1 stone left
   1000 points if the pouch is
        emptied


Ending the Game

The game ends when:

*  The player finds no more stones can
be played and chooses "End Game" from
the "File" area.

*  A stone cannot be placed legally.

*  The entire pouch of 72 stones has
been emptied.


Winning

In the Ancient mode the player wins
whenever the pouch is emptied.
However, emptying the pouch with three
4-Ways is a more skillful win than
emptying it with one 4-Way.

In the Modern mode any score of over
300 with two to four 4-Ways (without
emptying the pouch) should be
considered good, as should scores of
over 1300 when the pouch is emptied.

As skill develops the player will be
able to attain scores of over 2000
points with five to six 4-Ways.

Ultimately, the player will discover
that eight (or more) 4-Ways are
possible with scores of over 7000
points.  The Legend of Ishido mentions
players who have achieved nine--even
ten 4-ways--in a game.  A nine 4-Way
game would score approximately 10,000
points.

Patience, practice, concentration and
the luck of the draw are all critical
in attaining these higher levels of
play.


Other Games

Ishido can be played as a Solitaire
game or in three other ways:

Cooperative

This game is the same as Solitaire
except that players take turns placing
the stones.  The players work together
to score the highest possible score.

Tournament

In Tournament play, you and any number
of players take turns playing entire
identical games, with each player
receiving the same opening tableau and
drawing the stones in the exact same
order.

Each player earns a separate score and
the player scoring the highest is
determined the winner.  There is a
separate scoreboard for Tournament
Play.

Challenge

In Challenge play, you and one other
player take turns placing the stones
to complete one game.  You can also
play against the computer.


Good Luck!