Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
MAH JONGG
Release 3.2, October 10, 1989
0 0
Nels Anderson
92 Bishop Drive
Framingham, MA 01701
0 0 8
0 0
0 0
Or
*****************************************************************************
*
PLAYING THE GAME
*
*****************************************************************************
OBJECT:
The object of the game is to remove as many of the tiles from
the playing board as possible within the rules of the game.
Tiles are always removed in pairs and can only be removed from
the left or the right edges. Any tile that is not on a left or
right edge is considered blocked and cannot be removed. Note
though that the tiles are arranged in 5 levels and each level
has a left and right edge so there are many more unblocked
tiles than it would first appear. Note that the tile on the
top of the pile blocks all four tiles below it, and tiles on
row 5 block both rows 4 and 6.
SUITS OF TILES:
There are many different suits of tiles and the suit of a tile
determines the rule used for matching tiles that can be removed
together.
MATCHING RULES:
Most of the tile suits require an exact match. This means that
you must match a tile to another that is exactly the same. For
example a Bamboo 1 matches another Bamboo 1 but does not match
a Bamboo 3 or a Dot 1. The other matching rule allows any tile
in the same suit to match any other tile in that suit. Thus,
any of the four seasons (SUM, AUT, WIN, SPR) match each other
and any of the four flowers (MUM, PLUM, BAM, ORC) match each
other.
NUMBER OF TILES:
There is only one each of SUM, AUT, WIN, SPR, MUM, PLUM, BAM,
and ORC. There are four of each of the other tiles for a
total of 144 tiles on the board. A counter keeps track of how
many tiles are left in play. If you want to see what tiles
you have removed so far, hit F2 (though some might consider
this cheating!).
BOARD LAYOUT:
If you're using a mouse to play you don't need to worry about
the board coordinates; you just point and click. Many game
commands are also there as "keys" that can be clicked on. If
you don't have a mouse, read on...
The game board is a grid marked by letters and numbers. You
select tiles by entering a letter for the column and a number
for the row. Order doesn't matter, enteri.g A5 is the same as
5A. The single tile on the topmost level is H5.
The numbering of the rows is a bit confusing. Row 5 only
exists at the very top level and at the extreme left and right
edges. Rows 4 and 6 are actually adjacent to each other.
SENT
0.0
RETURN
END
C--------------------------------------------------------------------C
SUBROUTINE BMARCH
C--------------------------------------------------------------------C
INCLUDE 'COMMON.FOR'
C....................................................................C
C
C
C
Provides time dependent driving parameters
C
C
C
C
FRS
= net solar absorbed in the point
C
C
SABVEG = vegetation absorbed
C
C
SOLIS = shortwave solar incident
C
C................................................................... C
C
C
C
C--------------------------------------------------------------------C
C
Interpolation
C--------------------------------------------------------------------C
C
Quit
Help
Save
Commands
Set up
Stats
DOS shell
N:
A:
R:
F2:
F4:
F6:
F7:
seeing who can remove the most tiles. You can play timed games
by entering -tx where x is the number of minutes you want the
game to be. This is primarily for competitive games. You can
still continue to play the game after the time runs out. The
amount of time left to play is shown in the upper right corner
of the screen just above the number of tiles left. Using -cx
allows you to set the background color and -dx the mouse
cursor color, where x is a number between 0 and 15. Using -m
selects mouse control instead of keyboard. Using -fn selects a
file named n as the file in which your statistics will be kept
instead of the default file "\mahstats"; n can be complete
with disk and path names. Using -f with no file name disables
keeping of statistics.
The command line options are done in a standard way but if
you're not familiar with this sort of thing they may be
somewhat confusing so here are some examples.
Command line option examples:
If you want to play a game that will be timed for 10 minutes,
the command line would be:
MAHJONGG -T10
Notice there is no space between the -T and the number of
minutes (10). The other commands work the same way. To play
board number 12345 the command line would be:
MAHJONGG -B12345
You can combine commands too, so to play board 12345 as a 10
minute timed game the command line would be:
MAHJONGG -T10 -B12345
There is also a setup screen that allows you to select any of
the options that are available on the command line. Just hit
S from the title screen to go to setup. You can also access
setup at any time during a game by hitting the F3 key.
If you forget the command line options, just start up the game
with an invalid option and it will give you the proper usage
(i.e., try using "mahjongg -?" which since it is not a valid
option with give the valid option list).
In summary, the command line options are:
-n
-m
-bx
-tx
-cx
-dx
-fn
-h
-e
-l
-li
No title page
use Mouse
play Board x (0 <= x <= 65535)
Timed game (x=length in minutes)
background Color x (0 <= x <= 15)
mouse cursor color x (0 <= x <= 15)
File n is the statistics file
run in Hercules graphics mode
run in full color EGA graphics mode
run in Laptop (monochrome EGA) mode
run in Laptop mode with inverse video
STATISTICS:
It seems that a lot of players are interested in game
statistics, so the game now keeps track of some statistics for
you automatically. A file is made that keeps track of all the
board numbers you've played, which ones you've won, your best
and worst scores, etc.
You can view some of your stats from within the game by hitting
the F5 key. The separate utility program, "statgen" can be run
on your stats file to give a more complete report. Just type
"statgen" to run it, give it the path and name of your stats
file when requested, and a complete report will be shown on
your screen. For more details, see the section on statgen later
in these docs.
If you have several people playing on the same PC they can each
have their own statistics by using the select statistics file
command line option, -fn where n is the name of the file. For
example, if Fred and Dick both use the same PC, Fred might start
the game as:
MAHJONGG -FFRED.STT
and Dick might start the game as:
MAHJONGG -F\DICKSDIR\DICK.STT
To disable keeping of statistics, use -f with no file name on
your command line.
TOURNAMENTS:
You can play Mah Jongg as a tournament against other players.
In a tournament each person plays a single board under the
exact same conditions (same board number and same time limit,
if any), allowing their results to be compared and a winner to
be determined.
You enter the tournament set up screen either by using the T
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 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.
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
-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.
NEW FEATURES:
Many new features have been added since the original release
of the game. These include:
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 workaround added
Mouse cursor display sped up (possible fix to NEC EGA
13692,
15318,
16496,
54491,
20926,
53751,
17604,
59498,
16213,
43421,
1, 23,
58094.
Enjoy!
INCOMPATIBILITIES:
Early versions of MAHJONGG had problems running on an ATI EGA
Wonder card. The problem is with the BIOS ROM on the card,
not with the game. ATI should by now have an upgrade ROM
available to fix their bug so you may want to contact them
about it. MAHJONGG Release 2.1.1 and later should work
properly on the ATI card even without the BIOS upgrade.
I've also heard that an NEC built EGA card (not sure of model)
does not display the mouse cursor. I think I've done
something in Rev. 2.1.1 that will prevent the problem but I
don't have the proper system to test it on.