home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- DYNAMO DRAUGHTS
- -----------------
- Welcome to DYNAMO DRAUGHTS! THe aim of this program is to introduce
- the CONTINENTAL version of draughts to the UK/USA, and hopefully get
- people interested in this game. DRAUGHTS has always suffered in
- comparison with CHESS - this is a great shame, as both the ENGLISH
- 8 by 8 and the CONTINENTAL 10 by 10 are very subtle and complex games
- - indeed the 10x10 game aurguably offers more permutations than CHESS,
- and is very highly regarded in Europe. Please give the SHAREWARE
- version to your friends - it is limited to 10 seconds maximum move
- time, but you will need to be a good player to beat it!
- Note how powerful the sweeping kings are in the continental game
- - the side that gets an early king usually has a decisive advantage.
- One rule that throws beginners is the one that stipulates that you
- MUST jump the maximum number of opponents, when given a choice.
- This is necessary to enable the winning side to force some of the
- endgames - you will get the idea when you are on the recieving end
- of the computers shots! If you ever find yourself unable to make
- a move, don't blame the program - you are probably trying to make
- an illegal move! You can hit F1 to display all possible moves.
- DYNAMO can also play the SPANISH, POOL, and RUSSIAN variants of
- draughts - see below for details on these games. The ENGLISH version
- of draughts is implemented in our BLITZ and SAGE programs - see our
- adverts for details..
-
-
- PLAYING THE GAME
- ------------------
-
- EUROPEAN DRAUGHTS is traditionally played on the BLACK squares of a
- 10 by 10 board - DYNAMO can re-size the board, but for clarity let us
- discuss the European game. The squares are numbered from 1 (top left) to
- 50 (bot right), with black men on squares 1-20 and white on squares
- 31-50. Men can move diagonally forward 1 step onto empty squares, or
- jump over and capture an adjacent opponent's piece IN ANY DIRECTION,
- if there's a clear space immediately behind it - Note that men can
- leap BACKWARDS, unlike the ENGLISH game. One VERY important rule -
- IF YOU CAN JUMP, YOU MUST! If, after jumping, the same piece can make
- futher leaps - IT MUST DO SO. Futhermore, if you have an option of
- more than one series of jumps, YOU MUST TAKE THE OPTION(S) THAT
- CAPTURES THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PIECES!
- When a man reaches the top row of the board, it becomes a KING.
- In European draughts, Kings can sweep ANY distance along a diagonal,
- rather like BISHOPS in chess. Futhermore they can leap an opponent,
- land on ANY space beyond, and then make futher leaps - in a different
- direction if necessary. You are still forced to make moves that jump
- the MAXIMUM number of opponents!
- One final rule - a man is not crowned until the END of a multijump
- sequence - ie. a man can leap into and then backwards out of the KING
- ROW without being crowned - it is only crowned if it finally comes
- to rest on the king row.
-
- You have the option to select other games from the title screen:-
- The SPANISH game is played on an 8x8 board, with one unusual feature:
- the long diagonal runs from bottom right to top left - ie. the board is
- 'inverted'. While this looks unusual, historically this setup is the
- original. The other difference in SPANISH draughts is that men are not
- allowed to make backward jumps. In other respects the game is the same
- as European (International) Draughts, ie. kings sweep diagonals, and
- you are obliged to take the maximum number of pieces.
- The POOL DRAUGHTS game is played on a normal 8x8 board. In this game
- you are NOT obliged to take the route that jumps the maximum number
- of pieces - you have a free choice. However you still forced to jump
- when you can, and kings may NOT pass-up jumps in a multi-jump sequence
- by landing on 'quiet' squares - they must take all opportunities until
- the sequence is over. This rule is easier to see than describe - try
- it out!
- The RUSSIAN DRAUGHTS game is essentially the same as POOL DRAUGHTS
- with one difference - a man is crowned INSTANTLY on entering the
- king-row, and can then go on to make futher leaps AS A KING within
- the same turn. These are called FLYING KINGS.
- There are other variants of draughts - ie. the Canadian 12x12 game,
- and I understand there are Portugese, Polish and French versions too.
- If you are a Shareware version user, I may have added some of these
- versions by the time you read this, so REGISTER!
- Well, that's the rules. Confused? This sort of thing is easier to
- see than describe, so play some experimental games, or set AUTO-PLAY
- and watch the computer play itself!
- When playing, move your cursor by using the numbers around the
- '5' on the numeric keypad and hit RETURN to select piece. If that
- piece can move in more than one direction, you will then need to
- select a direction key (1,3,7,9) - ie. 7 moves up-left. KING moves
- may require you to select a DESTINATION and hit RETURN. If you have
- a MOUSE you can simply click the left button on source and
- destination squares. You can use the right mouse-button to get
- pull-down menus. To abort the computers thinking, hit the ESC
- key ONCE, or hit CTRL-F to force an early move.
-
- Just as a little sample, here is a game of SPANISH draughts illustrating
- a neat little trap.
- Note how the 17-13 move forces the advantage - all captures are compulsory!
- Once black has that early king, white is powerless. You can play this
- game on DYNAMO by using two-player mode (Hit F5).
-
- 10-14, 22-18, 12-15, 23-20, 5-10, 27-22, 1-5, 20-16, 14-19, 21-17, 10-14,
- 25-21, 5-10, 30-27, 7-12, 16-7, 3-12, 27-23, 12-16?, 17-13!,10-17, 23-20,
- 16-23, 24-20, 15-24, 22-15, 11-20, 28-19-10-3=K.. for black win.
-
- + C O M M A N D S U M M A R Y +
-
- ESC - Abort back to main menu.
- -,+ - Alter average response time in seconds. (Zero for EASYMODE)
- F1 - Show moves, ie. all of your movable pieces.
- F2 - Make me take your go.
- F3 - Auto-play. (Hit ESC to end)
- F5 - Toggle Two-player/Setup mode on/off - Allows moves without comp reply.
- F6 - Invert board, so that BLACK is at bottom.
- F7 - Switch sound on/off.
- m - Toggle graphics for MONO-VGA.
- SPACE - Toggles the Computers Best line of play THINK-DISPLAY on/off.
- While the computer is thinking CTRL-F forces an 'early' move, or
- ESC will abort its move.
-
- + EXTRA commands on FULL NON-SHAREWARE VERSION...
-
- F4 - Change IQ (Only used if TIME is zero) WARNING - very high IQ's
- can take forever! Generally you should set a target response time.
- u - Undo a move.
- s,l - Save/Load game to disk. Enter a filename when prompted.
- o - Output game moves to screen. (Hit SHIFT-PRTSC to print)
- r - Replay game - SPACE for next move, ESC to abort (and play on..)
- c - Change/Enter Game-comment text.
- x - Exchange side to play.
- & - (SHIFT-7) Clears the whole board.
- e,k,w,b,W,B - Set current square to empty/killed/white/black Man/K.
- To use the above command, move the CURSOR to the square you want
- to edit, and hit e/k/w/b/W/B. When you KILL a square it becomes
- non-playable - ie. for novelty board shapes, etc. NOTE - when
- you edit the board, you lose stored moves up to that point -
- ie. the board becomes a new START POSITION.
-
- SHAREWARE VERSION USERS NOTE:-
-
- This version of DYNAMO is released as shareware. You may distribute
- it as long as you don't charge more than a small disk-copying fee for it,
- or alter it in any way.
- PC SOLUTIONS holds all rights to this program, and we reserve the right
- to withdraw permission to use or distribute this program from any individual
- or organisation, if we feel they are abusing this privilege.
- People often ask how we generate such small, fast programs - well special
- thanks must go to Borland and thier excellent Turbo-C compiler - this can
- generate much, much faster/smaller code than, say, Quickbasic. Forget the
- rest, Turbo-C is the best! Contact Borland on Freephone 0800 212727
- (or 0734 321150) for futher info. You will find some of our own special
- C-Tools for Turbo-C on our Util-Pack..
- If you like DYNAMO, please buy the full version on GAMES-PACK-4
- which has extra Strength Levels above 10 secs/move, position
- Edit, Game Replay/Load/Save/Backtrack and more. It also plays a MUCH
- stronger, faster game. In addition we are constantly updating and
- improving our programs - by the time you get this program, it is probably
- already out of date! Remember SHAREWARE IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, FREE SOFTWARE
- - IT IS TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!! If you like and use this program you are
- OBLIGED to register!
- PLEASE support quality shareware like this!!
-
- NEWSFLASH
- -----------
- If you are using a shareware program and want to get the full version,
- note that we can now take registrations in FRENCH Francs, US Dollars, or
- GERMAN D.Mark - Prices as follows:-
-
- TOTAL for any SOFTWARE-PACK:-
-
- UK 7.95 pounds plus 1.20 pounds UK Post (or 4 pounds overseas).
- USA $15.00 plus $9 Post/Money Conversion.
- France 79.00 Fr plus 19 Fr. Post/Money Conversion.
- Germany 23.00 Dm plus 7 Dm. Post/Money Conversion.
- Netherlands 28.00 Fl plus 9 Fl. Post/Money Conversion.
-
- BUY TWO or more packs, and Post/Money conversion is FREE!
- Just use your normal cheques - NO MONEY ORDER NECESSARY!!
- BUT PLEASE SPECIFY DISK SIZE WHEN ORDERING! Also indicate where you saw
- our advert.