The object of MacMines is to locate all the mines on the playing field as quickly as possible.
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As you uncover squares (hopefully those without a mine), a number may be revealed. This number tells you how many mines are located adjacent to the square with the number. For example, if a square has a 2 in it, there are two mines in the 8 surrounding squares. Your job is to use the information provided by these numbers to correctly locate all the mines on the playing field.
Playing: To start the game, simply click on one of the squares to uncover it. The timer will start. If you want to start a new game (either in the middle of a game or after finishing a game), select New Game from the file menu (or use the play button to the left of the timer). Note that you can not lose on the very first move (I make no guarantees about the second, though) as this can become very frustrating, especially for those who are unlucky (like me!).
Winning: To win, you must correctly mark all mines (via shift-clicking) and uncover all the unmined squares on the playfield.
Pause: You can pause a game in progress to go answer the phone, get a drink, or scream loudly. Pausing a game will stop the timer, giving you time to contemplate life without negative effect on your time. However, the playfield will be covered while the game is paused since otherwise, it would kind of defeat the purpose of a timer, now, wouldn't it?
Game Settings: All game settings, including skill level (custom level too), game options, and click options are saved for you when you quit MacMines. This assumes, of course, that the game is on a writable volume.
>Topic<Game Options
Sound: If you have system 6.0.2 or later, you can optionally have digitized sound.
Stupidity Avoidance: This prevents you from uncovering a square you have marked as a mine (a pretty stupid thing to do much of the time).
Click Options: See the next section, Click Options.
Export Scores: This feature allows you to save the Best Times and Statistics to a file.
Import Scores: This feature allows you to load a previously saved Best Times and Statistics file. This allows you to share high scores with a friend, or keep your high scores when upgrading to anew version of MacMines. When loading scores, you can either replace all the current high scores with the scores in the file, or combine the two lists. A combined list keeps the 10 best times from the two lists and combines the statistics from both lists.
The following game options add a little variety to the game and require using different strategies.
Craters: This option will place a number of craters on the playfield (see skill levels for how many). Craters do not contain mines, but they don't give you any information about how many mines are located in the surrounding squares either. Kind of like a dead zone.
Moving Mines: This option will allow a single mine to move from one location to another hidden location (it won't move to a spot you've already uncovered) at periodic intervals (see skill levels for how often). Be careful, a place you correctly marked as a mine before may no longer be correct if that mine decided to move.
Randomizer: This places a single randomizer square on the playfield. When you uncover this square, all the mines will move from their present locations to new locations (following the same rules as for the moving mines option).
>Topic<Click Options
Here are the default actions taken for clicking on the minefield:
Click: Uncover square
Shift-Click: Mark square as mine
Control-Click: Mark square as mine
Option-Click: Mark square as questioned
Command-Click: Mark square as mine
If you wish to change any of these actions, select Click Options from the Options Menu. From this dialog, use the pop-up menus to select the action to be taken for each type of click. This will be saved for you so that next time you play, the same options will be in effect. Select Defaults from this dialog to get back to the defaults described above. Note that MacMines must be on a writable volume for these changes to be saved.
>Topic<Super-Click
A super-click is accomplished by clicking on a number in the minefield (in other words, an already uncovered square that has at least one mine next to it). Let's call this square the super-clicked square. All unmarked squares next to the super-clicked square will be shown. If you have already marked as mines the number of adjacent squares indicated in the super-clicked square, all unmarked adjacent squares will be uncovered (be careful since if you made a mistake in marking the squares, a mine might be automatically uncovered and you'll lose). If the number uncovered squares equals the number indicated in the super-clicked square (minus any already marked adjacent squares), all unmarked squares will be marked as mines. Try it out to really get the feel for it! This can be a great time saver, but please don't abuse it!!
>Topic<Skill Levels
Easy: Hides 10 mines on an 8x8 field. The craters option creates 5 craters, and the moving mines options moves mines every 10 seconds.
Intermediate: Hides 45 mines on an 16x16 field. The craters option creates 20 craters, and the moving mines options moves mines every 20 seconds.
Difficult: Hides 99 mines on an 30x16 field. The craters option causes 40 creates, and the moving mines options moves mines every 30 seconds.
Custom: You get to specify the above parameters! High scores and level statistics are not kept for custom levels (but they can still be fun).
>Topic<Best Times and Statistics
For every combination of skill level and options, the best 10 scores and level statistics are kept (number of attempts, number of successes, and average time per success). Since there are 3 skill levels, and 3 options which can be mixed/matched, there are 3 X 8 or 24 best times and statistics lists. When you bring up the best times and statistics list, the best times and statistics for the current skill level and options set are shown (if you are using a custom level, the easy level for the same set of options will be shown).
The skill level is indicated at the top left of the window by three buttons labelled "E"asy, "I"ntermediate, and "D"ifficult. Only one skill level can be viewed at a time (thus only one button can be depressed at a time). The options set is indicated at the top right of the window by three buttons labelled "C"raters, "M"oving mines, and "R"andomizer square. Any combination of these three indicaters is allowed (example: craters and moving mines). Click on a options set button to toggle its state (on/off) or on a skill level button to see any list you desire. You can also use the keyboard to select an option or skill level.
Finally, you can clear the best times and statistics for the level you're currently viewing by clicking the Clear button. If you want to clear the best times and statistics for all levels, click Clear All. Pressing return or clicking OK will dismiss this screen.
