After getting addicted to the Windows game at a friend's house, I returned home to find that no decent game of Mines exists for the mac. So I wrote this one, in about 3 days – don't expect much, except your standard mines game. Fun!
Here's the summary of how to play:
Somewhere in the grid are mines. Find out where they are by clicking around them, but don't step on a mine. If you click on a non-mine, you will either get a blank space (which means that there are no mines near that space), or a number. A number means that there are that many mines next to the space where the number appears. Try and locate all the mines by clicking around them as fast as possible.
Use the SHIFT KEY to mark a sqare. For example, if you are sure a particular square has a mine on it, click on it with the SHIFT KEY to put a flag there. You don't _have_ to mark known mines with flags, but it helps many people to keep track of their situation. If you hold down the SHIFT KEY, and click on a square with a flag on it, the flag turns to a question mark – which means that you aren't sure if a mine is there or not. Again, the mark only serves as a reminder to yourself. Finally, SHIFT-clicking a question mark will erase the mark completely.
Use the COMMAND (OPEN APPLE) KEY to reveal adjacent squares to a satisfied number. In other words, suppose that you have a configuration like this:
*****
*1 *
11 *
**
Clicking on the "1" on the second line while holding down the command key will do nothing. But suppose you have the following, where "F" is a flag:
*****
F1 *
11 *
**
Now, when you COMMAND-click the "1", LandMines™ will know that the "1" has been satisfied by the flag next to it, and will open up all squares surrounding the "1". Be careful, because if you mark an incorrect location with a flag and then use the COMMAND key, you will be killed.
The upper left number in the window is the number of mines that you haven't marked with flags; remember that you don't have to mark all mines with flags – just locate them. The rightmost number in the window is your time, in seconds. Try and get small times.
The smiley face in the middle of the screen lets you restart your game by clicking on it (even while you are playing). If you win, it wears shades. If you die, it squirts blood out in all directions, causing many players to spew :-)
Other items of interest are the Custom Level: You can choose any size you want for a level (minimum 8*8*10 mines, maximum will depend on your screen size); Volume lets you set the overall volume of the game; Best Times lets you see the high scorers; Watch Computer lets you watch the computer try to (fairly!) beat a level, but the computer isn't very brilliant: just fast; Question Marks allows you to choose if you want to use question marks or not; Quit lets you... um, well... you figure it out.
Send any comments, hate mail, love mail, and mutual mail to mines@goober.mbhs.edu
LandMines™ was written by David Peck and Nathan Cook
Oh yeah, one more thing: If you want a real brain teaser, check out Q Software's game Infotron™. You can find it at http://www.mbhs.edu/~dpeck/info/infotron.html
It was written by the same people (+Brooke Nelson), but is 3MB in size, with a full musical score, awesome full-screen graphics, 50 mind-bending levels, and it took a LOT longer than 3 days to write (read: over a year). Have fun!
Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any damage caused to your computer through the use, misuse, or non-use of this product.
