WARNING: This file, Read Me...NOT, should NOT be read until you have at least tried the game. The game contains brief instructions, and the game is simple to learn, so give the game a try before you read this documentation. The details below are not necessary to play, but please leave them with the game when you give it to someone else.
Ñ HARDWARE
Nubb should work on all Macintoshes. Nubb was designed and tested on both a LC III and a Plus. If you use a color monitor, you should get color. If you have a black and white screen, you probably won't get any color.
Computer chip speed will have little effect on the playing speed of the game.
Please report any hardware problems.
Ñ GAME OBJECTIVES
1. Clear screen of pieces.
2. Clear screen of filled pieces.
3. Complete filled loops to clear part of loop.
4. Connect nubbs (end pieces) to filled pieces to clear pieces.
Ñ MOVEMENT
CLOCKWISE: left arrow, J, 4
COUNTERCLOCKWISE: right arrow, L, 6
DROP: space bar, enter, return
Ñ LEVELS
You can choose from three starting levels: ell, tee, and nubb. The level gives you an indication on what pieces will be randomly selected. Each time you clear the screen of all pieces, you will progress to the next level.
The levels are grouped into three sets.
1. Starting at the beginning, the ells, you will have the four elbows to work with, for four levels (pretty boring). Following the ell levels, you have two line levels.
2. Starting at tee, you will have four tee pieces in addition to the elbows and lines. After four tee levels you will also have a cross piece to deal with.
3. Starting at nubb, you will have all the possible pieces to work with, including the four nubbs, or ends.
After the nubb levels, the starting piece will start again at the ells, but you will continue to have all the 15 different pieces coming at you until you die.
Ñ SPEEDS
You can choose from three starting speeds: slow, medium, and fast. The slow speed gives you about 34 seconds to drop each piece, which is entirely too much time to be challenging, but is good to get the hang of the game. The medium speed is actually on the slow side, giving you 12 seconds to drop each piece, which is plenty once you get the used to the game. The fast speed (6 seconds to drop) keeps your attention, but should be no problem for experienced players. If you want it faster, let me know.
The game increases in speed every eighty pieces that you drop. The step up in speed does not start until 160 pieces on the medium speed, and not until 320 pieces on the fast starting speed. The background pattern behind the next piece will change each time the speed increases. The speed stops increasing at the eighth speed level.
Ñ PLAYING
Move the current piece around the perimeter of the board and drop it against another piece to place it. If the piece is dropped, and there are no pieces to stop it, it will fall to the other side of the perimeter.
The current piece must be dropped before the next piece reaches the board, or the current will be dropped automatically. Automatically dropped pieces will fall until they hit another piece or hit the far edge of the board. If a piece is blocked from falling automatically, the game is lost. As a safety feature, the game will enter the pause mode after a forced fall.
Drop pieces so that they connect. When pieces connect, and at least one of the pieces is filled, all the connected pieces will fill.
Ñ LOOPS
The object of the game is to fill loops and nubbs. When you fill a loop, it will break and clear itself. Please note that loops do not necessarily break at the longest section of the loop, but the breakpoint is predictable. Filled nubbs will clear themselves when connected to another piece. When you fill more than one loop at a time, only one loop will clear each drop.
Ñ CLEAR FILLING
When you clear the board of all filled pieces, any unfilled piece on the edge of the board will be examined, and any arms that extend to the edge will be amputated. If a nubb is amputated, it will be cleared.
Ñ PAUSING
The game can be paused by choosing Pause from the Game menu. Press the Continue button to resume play. The game pauses automatically after a forced fall.
Ñ LOSING
While there are several ways that the program will detect that you have lost the game, there are more ways that you will be in a situation that you're dead and you will need to choose Resign from the Game menu to get out of the game and record your top score. Choosing Quit from the Game menu will cause you to exit the program completely, without giving you a chance to record your top score or try again.
Ñ TOP SCORES
If you get a top eleven score, you can add your name to the top list. If a top score file (Top Nubb) is not in the current folder, a new file will be created.
Ñ VERSION HISTORY
Nubb 1.22 is the first Macintosh release.
Ñ SO YOU GOT THIS FAR...
Nubb is a shareware program. If you like and use this program, please send five bucks. If you don't like it, let me know why and I will try to fix it. If you are anywhere in between, send me a hometown post card.
Benn Blincoe
laughing fish
HC 72 Box 27211
Benton, California 93512-9803
When you pass this program on to others, please include this unchanged file.
Check GEnie or America Online for the most current version.
Last, but not least, I wish to thank Alexy Pazhitnov for inspirating me to write this game.
