
                       !Merrills
                       =========

!Merrills is a PUBLIC DOMAIN version of the board game of the same name.  It
was written by Michael Ellis and remains my copyright HOWEVER :-

i) it may be freely distributed as long as it is not done for profit.  This
means you may not charge for the software, though any costs incurred in
distribution may be charged for.

ii) these conditions are applied to the person to whom you give a copy.

iii) the utility CHKSPR was originally written by Emmet Spier and was placed
in the public domain by him.  Any queries regarding this utility should be
addressed to :-

6 Parklands Place, 
Guildford, 
Surrey, GU1 2PS.

He can also be reached on

Archive BBS         (0603)-745-932  mailbox 23  
Arcade  BBS         (081)-654-2212  mailbox 23
The World of Cryton (0749)-679794   mailbox 143

iv) the whole application is supplied COMPLETE and with ALL the files in an
UNALTERED state (!RUN and !BOOT files excepted.)  Any modifications or
improvements you make to the application can be sent to me at :-

33, Barnfield Avenue, 
Kingston upon Thames, 
Surrey, 
ENGLAND, KT2 5RD.

This is so that I can give your modified program a version number so that no
confusion arises out of different people changing the program(s) in
different ways and calling it the same version as someone else.
                     
v) this program took a long time to write, therefore I reserve the right to
change any of the above conditions should I deem misuse of this program.
That said, please feel free to distribute this program to all your friends
and to write to me with any ideas/suggestions for improvements (or bugs,
preferably including fixes!!).  You may also use parts of this program in
your own projects PROVIDED that I get credit for the routine and that the
resultant program is placed in the public domain with conditions similar to
those set out above.  I am in the process of writing routines to allow the
computer to play a human or another computer, but sorry, I can't give a date
yet.

=============================================================================

                       UPDATES
                       =======

version 1.00     NO KNOWN BUGS
                 if you know differently, write to me at the above address!  

=============================================================================

Now the boring stuff is out of the way :
                   

                        RULES
                        =====

The primary objective of the game is to reduce the number of your opponents
counters to two.  As the board initially starts blank you will be forgiven
for thinking that this is an easy task!  

At the start of a game, each player (starting with RED) takes turns to place
nine pieces on unoccupied positions on the board.  If the piece you place
makes a line of three (or even two lines of three) horizontally or
vertically (but not diagonally) you can remove (by clicking) one (or two) of
your opponents pieces.  You cannot, however,  remove a piece that is itself
in a line of three (called a MILL).  Thus any piece in a mill is safe,  and
this is true in the later stages of the game as well.

When both players have placed nine pieces, the second part of the game
begins.  Players take it in turns to move (by dragging) pieces along the
lines. Again, the idea is to form a mill and capture one of your opponents
pieces.

When one of the players only has three pieces left,  they may jump from one
position to any other vacant position on each move.  The other player is
still limited to moving along the lines until they also are reduced to three
pieces.

A player wins by either reducing the number of their opponents pieces to two
OR by boxing them in.  That is to say, if a player cannot move on their
turn, they have automatically lost.  The computer detects when either of
these conditions is true (or imminent and unavoidable) and informs the
winner.  Clicking MENU while in the main window when someone has won will
start a new game. Alternatively,  a new game may be started at any time by
using the menu from the icon on the icon bar.

More help can be obtained by using the !HELP application (RISC OS
Applications Disc 1).

NB.This application does NOT run under ARTHUR.