
               RiscOS Solitaire and Colotaire

                   Player's  Instructions

           Version 7.18,  dated 21st November, 2002
                   by R.I.D.Macfarlane



PLAYING THE GAME

Play can be effected solely by using the mouse and its
buttons.  The SELECT button is used to click on the selected
ball to be moved.  The pointer will then be changed to a
ball, which can be dragged to the chosen hollow by retaining
finger pressure on the button and then releasing it.

The righthand ADJUST button can be clicked to backtrack on
the play by one step at a time. During the Playback and
Solution modes the pointer changes to pointer from the other
side with either an 'S' or a 'P' beneath it.  The middle
button is used to bring up the icon bar menu.



MENU OPTIONS from the icon bar

    Icon Bar Menu

      Info  ->
      Help
      Quit

The Info item leads to a second menu, which shows the
information which is available about the application.  This
includes program status and the veneer loaded.

The Help item brings up the !Help file either as a browser
window or as a text file. This also happens if the function
key F1 is pressed.

The Quit item removes the application from the desktop.



THE CONTROL WINDOW

This section describes all the functions that are available
from the control window.  Note that some functions are not
available for the control windows of some veneers; the
veneer's Choices file will dictate which options are
selected in this case.

The pointer should be kept in this window whilst making
choices, since as soon as the pointer moves into the play
window, play is started and the control window is removed
from view.  Bring the window back by pressing the Escape
key.  Note if another window has the input focus, the Escape
key will not work.  Click SELECT over the playing window to
restore the input focus (the Title bar background will
become yellow) and use the Escape key again.


Game Types
~~~~~~~~~~
Solitaire or Colotaire
Choosing either of the two games of Solitaire or Colotaire
will invoke a new board.  The Colotaire game provides the
novice with an easier route to the solution by restricting
the choice of possible moves.

Since it is important to know what colour is to be removed
next in the Colotaire game, an extra coloured ball is
displayed in the top left hand corner of the main window.
This can be switched on or off by clicking the SELECT
button when the pointer is over the ball.

Normal, Blind, Ghost, Daft
There are in fact four ways in which each game can be
played.  As well as the normal type, the experienced
Solitaire buff may like to try to achieve the solution by
having a reduced amount of information displayed or in the
case of the 'daft' option, a confusing number of false
balls.  The small Pilot window (see below) will always
display the correct state of play. 


Colotaire Types
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six patterns are selectable, all of which contain solutions
to Solitaire.  The Random selection will choose a pattern
for you.  When this section is missing from the window, the
value from the Choices file of the selected veneer will be
used.  If this is set to 'R' then a different pattern will
be selected each time the Colotaire button is selected.


Special Mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Playback
The playback option allows the player to return to the
start of his solution attempt so long as he hasn't changed
the Solitaire/Colotaire selections.  The pointer moves over
the first and each successive ball that had been moved, so
that clicking the SELECT button will recreate the play.  By
pressing the Escape key, the play will revert to the normal
mode at any stage.

Solution
The solution option is similar to the playback option and
differs only in that the corresponding solution is loaded.
The pointer will change for both of these functions,
pointing from a different direction than normal and having
either a 'P' or an 'S' beneath it.


Controls
~~~~~~~~
Sound
The sound option will switch the sound on or off.

Pilot
The Pilot button is greyed out for Normal play but for
Blind, Ghost and Daft the button is selectable and when
selected will show a small pilot window on the main play
window.  This pilot window will show the actual state of
play.

Help
There are two buttons associated with the help function. The
first is a filetype icon, which will toggle between the HTML
and Text icons.  However if a browser is not currently
running then this button is greyed out and the help text
will be displayed by a text processor, which defaults to
Acorn's Edit application.

The second menu button should be clicked on with the SELECT
button and brings up a menu of four files:-

  Help
  Game Play
  Solitaire
  Colotaire

The 'Help' file gives general details about the application.

The 'Game play' file is the one you are reading.

The 'Solitaire' and 'Colotaire' files give very brief
instructions on the rules of each game and how to play.

Quit Game
This button may be present to provide a quick removal of the
application from the desktop.  Note that using the playing
window's close icon in the normal way will hide the window
from view, but doesn't remove the application from the
desktop.



APPLICATION MESSAGES

The program keeps a check on the play and will display a
message if the player attempts to move a ball into an
incorrect position.  If the wrong colour is attempted to be
removed in Colotaire the display of the indicating ball in
the top left hand corner is switched on.

Messages which are more descriptive are available to
ACORN's Interactive Help application; this is available from
the Resources:$.Apps folder.  This Help application has a
window which displays messages from the part of the screen
that is pointed to by the mouse pointer.  All the !Solitaire
error messages will be displayed in this window rather than
in a central error window, if this Help application is
active.                