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option from the title screen or by hitting F7 at any time
during a game. The first player sets up the tournament by
selecting the board number (or by just leaving the one that
was randomly chosen) and whether or not the game will be
timed. After the selections are made the first player enters
his name and plays the game. A record is kept of his results
and the results of each additional person who plays the
tournament.
If you go to the tournament screen by accident or just to see
the current standings, you can leave the screen without
entering the tournament by entering Q.
If there is already a tournament started but you want to start
a new one, enter 'N'. This will let you set up a new
tournament as was described above. Tournament records are
kept in a file called "mah.trn" so you can also start a new
tournament by deleting this file.
USING A MOUSE:
If you have a mouse driver installed on your computer it will
automatically be detected when the game starts and mouse play
will be selected. If for some reason your mouse is not being
automatically detected you can still select it from the setup
screen or by using the -m option on the command line. You can
also use the setup screen to turn off the mouse if you wish.
The game was tested using a Mouse Systems PC Mouse and a Genius
GM-6 mouse but any Microsoft-compatible mouse will probably
work. When using a mouse most commands can be issued using the
mouse. You must have your mouse driver installed as a device
in your config.sys file for Mah Jongg to be able to use the
mouse.
The mouse interface is a bit different from what you're
probably used to but it seems to be easy enough to use. Tiles
are selected by moving a colored outline over them and then
clicking once. To de-select the first tile, just click on it
a second time. After selecting both tiles a line with the
options "Y/N" (yes/no) comes up. If you just click without
moving the mouse you'll select yes and the tiles will be
removed. Slide the mouse left and right to change your
selection.
Several people suggested going away with the Y/N move confirm-
ation, so it's now optional. Disable Y/N prompts either with
the command line option "-y" or through the setup screen.
Many commands available during the game (help, new, undo, file,
setup, quit) are available as "keys" along the left side of
the screen. Move the outline over the command you want and
click once.
"Help" and "Quit" require a yes or no confirmation so you
won't do them by accident. Slide the mouse left and right to
select yes or no and then click. The help command first asks
if you want to see matching tiles (if there are no more
matches it will tell you that instead) and then prompts for a
yes or no to see each additional matching pair of tiles. If
you ask for help after you've already selected the first tile
a search for matching free tiles takes place. If a match is
found, it is highlighted and all you need to do is confirm to
remove the pair of tiles. If no match is found it puts you
back to select the first tile again. There is a short-cut for
mouse users to invoke help. Just hit the right mouse button
to get help in selecting either tile. Normally it doesn't
matter which mouse button you use.
"New" lets you end the current game and either replay the same
board or go on to the next board. You will be prompted to
select either "next" or "again" to either go on to the next
consecutive board or to play the same board again.
"Undo" replaces the last two tiles you removed. You can undo
as many times as you want until all 144 tiles are back on the
board. Undo does not ask for any confirmation. Undo actually
allows you to replay your entire game both forward and
backward. Clicking the left mouse button restores tiles that
were removed and clicking the right mouse button takes the
tiles back off again.
"File" lets you either save the game at its current point or
load a previously saved game. You are prompted to choose
between "load" and "save" and finally to confirm that you
really want to do it.
"Setup" brings you to the set up screen, the same as hitting
"S" from the title screen. You can then change colors, set
timed games, disable the mouse, select a specific board, etc.
Changing colors, enabling the mouse or changing tile sets will
not effect the game in progress; when you exit set up you will
be back at the same point in the game that you were at when
you entered set up.
Any error messages that appear during the game (i.e. "Invalid
Selection") normally stay visible for a few sec¬¬¬¬¬¬wpêwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwpêDDwwwwwwGwtwwwwwpêGwGwwwwwGwwwwwwwpêGwGGttdGGtttDwtdpêDDwGttwwGGttwGGtpêGwGGttwwDwttwGGtpêGwGGttwwGGttwGGtpêDDwdDtwwGtttwGtdpêwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwpêwwwDDGwwwwwwwwwwpêwwwGwwwwwwwwwwwwpêwwwGwwFGdDwDwwwwpêwwwDGtwGGwtwGwwwpêwwwGwtwGdFtwGwwwpêwwwGwtwGwttwGwwwpêwwwGwwFGDFwDwwwwpêwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwpê Çêêêêêêêêêêêêêêêêê êêêêêêêêêêêêêêêêÇ êêêêêêêêêêêêêêêêê wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwp wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwp êwonds before
allowing play to continue. To immediately remove a message
and resume play just click the mouse or hit a key.
USING STATGEN:
Since v3.2, Mah Jongg has come with a utility called
statgen.exe. This program allows you to analyze and modify
the statistics file that is kept each time you play the game.
To run the statistics generator, just type "statgen" on a
line by itself. You'll be prompted for the filename of your
statistics file and you'll be asked if you want to edit
(enter a letter E) or just display (enter a D) your current
statistics.
If you select display, you'll be shown your total games
played, average score, number won and worst score. Then a
list of all board numbers won and another list of additional
boards played will be shown.
If you select edit you can change the list of boards played
and won to include boards you played before v3.2. Just
select edit and you'll first be prompted for the boards
you've won. Enter one board number per line and finally
enter a -1 when you're done. Then you'll enter the list of
additional boards played but not won in the same way. Again
you enter a -1 when done. After you're done editing statgen
will show you your current stats so you can confirm that
you've entered everything correctly.
You can also enter statgen's parameters from the command
line. The first parameter is the statistics file name and
the second is either -e (to edit) or -d (to display). If
you only enter one parameter display is assumed. For
example, to edit the statistics file "stats.me" the command
line would be
statgen stats.me -e
There is also a "batch mode" available for those of you who
have kept your records in a database. You'll need to transfer
your games played and games won list into a straight ASCII text
file with one board number per line and a -1 after the end of
the won board list and another -1 at the end of the file. For
example, if you've played boards 100, 101 and 102 and played
and won boards 200 and 201 your file would look like this:
200
201
-1
100
101
102
-1
Save this file under whatever name you choose. For this example
we'll say it was saved with the filename "temp". Then, to read
these board numbers into your statistics, run statgen as follows:
statgen mahstats -b < temp
This assumes that statgen is in your current directory, your
stats file is called mahstats and it also is in the current
directory and your list of boards is in the file temp. After
temp has been read in, your new stats will be displayed to
verify that everything worked. Suggestion: before running in
batch mode, make a backup copy of your stats file in case
something goes wrong.
USING TILEMAKER:
The Tile Maker utility allows you to make your own sets of
tiles or modify sets made by others including the standard
Chinese mahjongg tiles.
The utility is similar to many paint programs with which
you might be familiar, though because of its specialized
nature it includes less functions. Tile Maker can be
controlled with your mouse or keyboard, but unlike Mah
Jongg itself it only supports EGA (no Hercules).
How tiles are stored on disk:
First, some basics about working with tile sets. A Mah
Jongg tile set includes 42 different tiles. Eight of them
are in the "wild card" suits (normally the flowers and
seasons suits) where any tile in the suit matches any
other. The other 34 tiles use the standard matching rule
where there are four of each tile on the board and the
tiles must be matched exactly to be removed. You'll want
to keep the game rules in mind when designing your tiles.
All 42 tiles are stored in a single disk file. You'll
need to know how the tiles are numbered so that you store
your new tiles in the proper place. For reference, the
standard tile set is numbered as follows:
Tiles 1 - 9: suit of dots
Tile 10: white dragon
Tiles 11 - 19: suit of bamboo
Tile 20: green dragon
Tiles 21 - 29: suit of characters
Tile 30: red dragon
Tiles 31 - 34: suit of winds
Tiles 35 - 38: suit of seasons
Tiles 39 - 42: suit of flowers
You have three sets of tiles that you can start with. The
file "mahjongg.til" is the standard tile set. The file
"flags.til" is a tile set made out of world flags. Note
how the flags are organized into suits: countries in the
Americas are tiles 1-9, countries in Europe are tiles
11-19, countries in Asia are tiles 21-29, African
countries replace the dragons and winds, and special flags
and compass points are used for the wild card suits so
they look distinctly different from the normal suits.
Finally, the file "blank.til" is a full set of blank
tiles. Also included is a file with only a single tile,
"temp.til" which is a template for making the world flags
set. Using a template like this is important to ensure
that the object on the tiles align properly.
Getting Started:
Start up tilemakr.exe by typing "tilemakr" on the command
line; there are no command line options. Note the drawing
area on the left and the command area on the right. If
you're using a mouse you can just point to a command and
click; if you're using the keyboard use the letter next to
the command.
Most of the commands are self-explanatory. Reading a tile
file will first show you all tiles in the file and then
allow you to select by number the tile you want. When
saving a file you'll need to remember the numbered
position in the file that you want to save it to. The
number of the last tile read in is displayed in the lower
right corner of the screen.
After you've loaded a file once you can use the "re-read"
command to get a new tile without waiting for disk access.
You can also review the complete set of current tiles
using the "view last images" command. The full tile set
is always kept in memory to let you access it. This screen
is not updated by the save command however.
Drawing:
Normal drawing can be done with the keyboard or mouse.
Using the mouse, select the desired color by pointing at
the color chart and clicking. Then to draw just point at
the drawing area and click on each spot where you want to
draw.
If you're drawing with a mouse there are a few basic drawing
shapes available in addition to the simple dot. Under the
drawing area is a set of push buttons where you can select
dots, line, circle, rectangle, filled circle or box. Click
on the desired button and you'll see it push in to confirm
proper selection.
When using the line or rectangles, move the mouse cursor to
one end (corner) and hold down the mouse button. Then move
to the other end (corner) and release the button. When using
the circles you start in the center and pull away until the
circle is the desired size. You can pull in any direction
since the circle is symmetrical.
Drawing with the keyboard requires typing the letter or
number of the desired color, then moving the cursor around
with the arrow keys and finally hitting space when you
want to draw a dot.
Additional Drawing Functions:
The "fill" command works a bit differently from paint
programs, because it only fills up from the starting
point. This is handy at times because you don't have to
close off the bottom of the area you're going to fill. If
you have a very irregularly shaped area you may have to
use fill more than once to fill it all. Note that fill
works from the position of the keyboard cursor, not from
where the mouse points.
The "flip", "rotate" and "shift" functions all work with
only the face of the tile. They also force a one pixel
border around the edge of the tile surface, so you'll want
to be careful not to shift things past this border (unless
that's what you want to do!).
When you're done with your tile set, use the "N" (add Name)
function. The name you enter will be displayed at the
bottom of the screen when playing Mah Jongg.
The best thing to do is get the tile maker running and
experiment. You'll find designing good tiles is quite a
challenge, but it will allow you to have your own
personalized version of the game when you're done.
Share Your Creations!
If you develop any tile sets you'd like to share please
upload them to the support BBS (Xevious: 508-875-3618) or
mail them to the author on a diskette. I'd suggest that
you include a text file describing your tile set and of
course you should include your name in it. I'm looking
forward to seeing what you come up with!
TECHNICAL NOTES
Many people write asking about how certain aspects of Mah
Jongg work. This section is intended to cover the most
asked questions.
"How are the different boards created?"
There are 65,536 different board layouts available. The
arrangements are random or at least as random as possible.
The game starts with a scrambled pile containing all 144
tiles (an array for you programmer types). Then, it goes
through and takes the tiles one at a time at random from
the pile and places them on the board.
"OK, if the boards are random how is it that board #1 is
always the same?"
Computer random number generators don't generate truly
random numbers. They actually generate a specific series
of numbers that are essentially distributed randomly. For
most purposes the distinction doesn't make a difference.
Random number generators are generally started up by
giving them a "seed". The seed itself needs to be
somewhat random since the same seed will always generate
the same series of numbers.
Mah Jongg takes advantage of this feature. The board
number is actually the random number generator seed and so
each seed always generates the same series of numbers and
thus the same board layout. The Turbo C language allows
seeds to be values from 0 to 65535 which is why Mah Jongg
has 65536 possible boards.
"Can all boards be won?"
Definitely not. But then that's true of just about any
type of solitaire game. After playing enough boards
you're certain to run into situations where three of the
same tile are stacked on top of each other or similar
things that result in a board that cannot be beaten.
It appears, though, that a large percentage of boards can
be beaten. A number of people have put great effort into
solving series of consecutive boards, playing the same
board over and over until beaten. Their results indicate
that 50-75% of all boards can be won.
"Can I get a CGA version?"
CGA? Blech. Would you really want to play Mah Jongg on a
screen with only 1/4th the pixels and only four ugly
colors? It just wouldn't be the same...
Actually, several people have attempted to do it. The
results are about what you'd expect though.
"OK, how about a VGA version?"
Sure, this could be done but would it really be worth it?
The appearance of the board would not be significantly
different from the EGA version, since VGA is still limited
to 16 colors. The vertical resolution does improve from
350 to 480 pixels but that would be about the only
difference, and from what I've seen comparing other
programs it wouldn't be all that noticeable.
Now SuperVGA is a different story. The problem here is
that SuperVGA is not a standard (IBM invented VGA but does
not support SuperVGA). But what mode to support? 640x480?
800x600 (wouldn't THAT be nice)? Having 256 colors would
make some really beautiful tile sets possible, but until a
real standard is available it's just too difficult to try
to support all the different video boards.
"What language is Mah Jongg written in?"
Mah Jongg is written in Turbo C. I originally used v1.0
but am now using v2.0. Since Turbo C v1.0 did not have
the graphics library that later versions include, Mah
Jongg is done entirely with my own graphics routines.
"Can I get the source code?"
Sorry, the source code is not available.
REVISION HISTORY:
NEW IN 3.3:
Alternate tile sets can be used
Y/N prompts can be disabled
New "victory" screen
Hercules mode bug fix
NEW IN 3.2:
"Boss Mode" has been replaced by a true shell to DOS
Records kept of boards played and won:
If the current board has been played before, an asterisk
will appear next to the board number; if the board has
been won, the word "WON" will appear next to the board
number
Separate statistics generator program displays your stats
plus list of boards played and won
Improved accuracy of average score statistic
Automatically enables mouse play if mouse driver detected
Exit screen written directly to memory instead of using ANSI
NEW IN 3.1:
Stats no longer overflow
Stats now correctly update when you win a game
Tournament set up screen now available during game
Automatically detects EGA and Hercules cards
Monochrome EGA selectable for LCD laptop computers
Command line parameters can be made permanent using
setup program (available to registered users only)
NEW IN 3.0:
Runs in Hercules graphics mode
Game statistics kept for current game and for all games
played
Undo command (both forward and backward)
Set up screen available during game
Tile corners now display properly
NEW SINCE 2.6:
Fixed bug in tournament mode (stats weren't being saved)
A list of all pairs of tiles played so far is available by
hitting the F2 key
NEW SINCE 2.5:
Mouse cursor color is now selectable from command line or
setup screen
When playing a tournament game your score was not always
saved if you completed the board; this is now fixed
NEW SINCE 2.3:
Help screen -- hit F1 to get a list of commands, options,
and some basic playing tips
"Boss Mode" -- hit F10 to hide the game and display a
harmless looking disk directory
New tournaments can be started from within the tournament
setup screen
After winning a game, answering "Y" to play again gives
you a different board instead of the same one over again
Requesting to quit when selecting the second tile now asks
for a confirmation
NEW SINCE 2.2:
Columns entered as letters instead of numbers; rows and
columns can be entered in any order as a result
Several tiles redrawn
NEW SINCE 2.1:
ATI EGAWonder card problem work around added
Mouse cursor display sped up (possible fix to NEC EGA
card problem of not showing mouse cursor)
NEW SINCE 2.0:
Help on 2nd tile selection (find match to 1st tile if any)
Help available with right mouse button as a short-cut
Error messages can be cancelled by clicking the mouse
Confirmation required for mouse action "keys" to prevent
accidents
NEW SINCE 1.0:
Mouse support
Setup screen, allows access to all game options more easily
than through command line options
Tournament play
Selectable background color
New commands during play
A (play same board Again)
N (play New board)
More command line options
-cx (background Color)
-r (Restart saved game)
-m (use Mouse)
More authentic tile appearance
Faster tile displaying
WINNING
Not all boards are win-able but during testing a number of
boards that are beatable were found. In addition, many people
who have written to register their copy of Mah Jongg have
included lists of boards they have completed. If you want to
play a board that definitely can be won, try one of the
