MacGrid is an addictive program based on simple logic. Your objective is to determine which squares on a grid contain mines and which do not.
To do this, begin by clicking on any square in the grid. Hopefully it will not contain a mine, but will instead change to either a number or a blank square. This number or empty square tells you how many mines are in the immediately surrounding squares. If the square is empty, it means that there are NO mines in the surrounding squares. You then continue clicking on squares using the numbers they provide, trying to click on all safe squares and avoiding all squares with mines.
To aid you in remembering which squares have mines, you can hold down the Command key and click on a square that you think contains a mine. This will put a "flag" on that square, and from then on you cannot click on the square accidentally (the game just won't let you!) If you think you "flagged" a square incorrectly, simply Command-Click it again, and the flag will disappear.
At the bottom of the game board, you will see an icon for a watch, a mine, and a <R>estart button. The timer on the left starts when you click on the first square. You can 'pause' the game if necessary, either by selecting 'Pause' in the Game menu or by clicking outside MacGrid's game window. The board will be hidden until you 'unpause', either by clicking back in the MacGrid window or by selecting 'Pause' from the menubar again. The Restart button lets you abort and restart the same level. The mine icon and associated number indicate how many mines you have left to flag. Note: the number is based on the number of flags you have set -- it doesn't care if the flags are right or not!
The game ends when either you reveal a mine, or you have found ALL the safe squares AND have flagged ALL the mine squares, or when 10 minutes has elapsed. If you reveal a mine, the program will "explode," and then show you where all the mines are. Any squares that you marked as mines that are not really mines will have an X on them. If you want to continue playing MacGrid, you have to start a new game. If you win, and your score is fast enough, you will be asked for your name. (If you want to clear the high scores, simply drag the 'MacGrid Prefs/Highs' file that is in "System Folder:Preferences" folder to the Trash. The game will automatically create a new, empty file.) Your name and time will be placed in the appropriate Roster for the level you completed. You can then start a new game, or quit.
The Preferences option lets you set the following: Custom Board parameters, speedy clicks, initial level on startup, sound, and hand pointer defaults. The latter four are self explanatory. Speedy Clicks are not very noticable, but when on, MacGrid will remember any clicks that occur while it is preparing the game board. As soon as the board is ready, it will process them. This can give you a slight speed advantage, but can also end the game if you click too fast and hit a mine! The custom parameters are up to you, subject to a few rules. The X parameter must be between 8 and 37, and the Y parameter must be between 8 and 24, inclusive. The number of mines must be at least 15% of the total number of squares and not more than the value of (X*Y). If the numbers you enter are not within these ranges, MacGrid will tell you, and will adjust them as close as possible to what you requested, subject to these restrictions.
2) MacGrid v2.0.2 should support all Mac's with any form of QuickDraw, Color or not. I have no way of testing this, as I use a IIsi with CQD built-in. I have tried to anticipate and code for machines like the Plus, Classic, and PowerBook 100 that do not have CQD, but I make NO guarantees that it will work. PLEASE let me know if you experience ANY trouble with MacGrid on machines like these OR if you find problems with MacGrid running in Black & White on Mac's that do have CQD.
This game was written in THINK Pascal 4.0 because I missed playing "Minesweeper" for Windows™ in the PC world. I therefore decided to challenge myself to implement my own version for the Macintosh.
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If you come across a February 1993 version called MacMines with my name on it, please trash it and use this version, for two reasons. One, this is the newer version of the program, no matter what the version number may say, and two, Cary Torkelson has his own version of MineSweeper by that name.
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My profound thanks go to Ron of HP for his invaluable assistance in testing MacGrid on a PowerBook 100. I finally got the Color bugs out (I HOPE!!!) A round of applause goes to Lim Unlimited for Lloyd Lim's "Default CDEF," a very handy routine for putting outlines around the default button in a dialog box. (The "Default CDEF" documentation is included in the official release of this package, and you can extract the CDEF using ResEdit -- its the only CDEF in MacGrid.)
MacGrid has been written and tested on a Mac IIsi under System 7.1, and tested on Mac LC II's, IIvx's, IIci's, PowerBook 100's, and SE/30's. I have no access to any Quadras or the newer Centrises, Performas, etc., so while I have tried to ensure compatibility, I make no promises. I have run MacGrid under B&W, 4, 16, and 256 colors with no problems (it looks MUCH better in 256) and it seems to background with no problems. However, I take NO RESPONSIBILITY for any problems occurring due to the use of MacGrid.
You can use MacGrid for as long as you like, but if you find yourself playing extensively (read "Are you addicted yet?"), please send me a postcard or even just e-mail! I'd like to see how far this thing gets, not to mention bug notifications and those really cool ideas you come up with while playing at 2:00 am! -- If you come across any bugs, typos, etc, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
MacGrid may be distributed as often as you like, provided that it is unmodified and is accompianied by all the README files associated with it. NO money may be charged for the use of MacGrid, except for online and disk-copying charges, or various User Group dues.
I'm a 19-yr-old sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and will be majoring in Computer Science. I program mostly in Pascal, and occasionally fiddle with C and the Unix environment.
Home address (mail will be forwarded to me at college):
Erik Schwiebert
R.D. #1 Box 1326
Brandon, VT 05733
E-mail:
Internet: evs1@cornell.edu
Fidonet: Erik Schwiebert @ 1:325/202 or 1:325/111
(I don't read my Fidonet mail much anymore, but I do check into the above places about once a month. I read my internet mail about 3x a day usually, so that's the fastest way to reach me! Please note that over the summer I will only be checking e-mail once every week or so, as it is a long distance call from home to college. If you do write to me at my home address, please indicate on the outside of the envelope that my parents are to forward it to me at college (note: my parents, not the Post Office!) Again, the internet is probably the fastest, and I can ALMOST guarantee a response!)
I actually got rid of the B&W/Color bug. Turns out I had three other instructions in the game setup code that were not compatible with the older machines. Now MacGrid works around these three places if Color Quickdraw is not available!
*** Note: If you use the TeMPLate resource in the Prefs/Highs file to edit the Preferences via ResEdit, it is now out-of-date. You will need to copy the new one from the Application file to the high scores file, or trash the high scores file in order to use the newer template. DO NOT use the older template, or you will corrupt the PREF resource. (The template was changed because lots more info was put into the PREF resource starting with version 2.0.) Don't worry about the PREF resource itself, the application will update it automatically. ***
