mancala(6) [debian man page]

MANCALA(6)							   Games Manual 							MANCALA(6)

NAME

       mancala - simple board game for human player and computer

SYNOPSIS

       mancala level-top level-bottom number-of-stones
       xmancala [-stones N]
       mancala-text

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page documents briefly the mancala and xmancala commands.	This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution
       because the original program does not have a manual page.

       mancala runs the game in the console, while xmancala is a fancy X-interface.  mancala-text is a shell script to run mancala  in	a  console
       from the Debian menu system.

       When run as xmancala the program has no options, and should be self-explanatory.  Built in buttons and sliders control the difficulty level
       (default 4), and bring up the rules of the game.

       The console version, mancala, has no access to the rules, and the difficulty level can only be set on the command line (see  below).   When
       it  is your turn to play, you enter the letter of the cell that you want to move the stones from, A to F (case insensitive).  The rules are
       contained in the file /usr/share/doc/mancala/RULES.

OPTIONS

       When run as mancala, the program normally takes two arguments, level-top and level-bottom, one of which should be 0 to represent the  human
       player  (you), and the other should be in the range 1 to 9, to represent the skill level of the computer player.  The first argument repre-
       sents the top player, who starts.

       Alternatively, you can give a single argument or two non-zero arguments, to watch the computer playing itself, or two  zero  arguments,	to
       play against another human player on the same console.

       For  the console version, you can add a third argument to specify the number of stones per hole. For xmancala you can specify the number of
       stones per hole using the -stones N argument.

       On Debian systems, the shell script mancala-text is provided to facilitate running mancala in a console, from the Debian menu system.  This
       script  will  run  mancala  with  a difficulty level of 4, and will pause when the game is finished, to enable the player to view the final
       screen.

SEE ALSO

       <http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala>

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Andrew Gray <ajpg@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

								   13 March 2001							MANCALA(6)

BACKGAMMON(6)							 BSD Games Manual						     BACKGAMMON(6)

NAME

     backgammon -- the game of backgammon
     teachgammon -- learn to play backgammon

SYNOPSIS

     backgammon [-] [-nrwb] [-pr] [-pw] [-pb] [-t term] [-s file]
     teachgammon

DESCRIPTION

     This program lets you play backgammon against the computer or against a "friend".	All commands are only one letter, so you don't need to
     type a carriage return, except at the end of a move.  The program is mostly self-explanatory, so that a question mark (?) will usually get
     some help.  If you answer `y' when the program asks if you want the rules, you will get text explaining the rules of the game, some hints on
     strategy, instructions on how to use the program, and a tutorial consisting of a practice game against the computer.  A description of how to
     use the program can be obtained by answering `y' when it asks if you want instructions.

     The possible arguments for backgammon (most are unnecessary but some are very convenient) consist of:

     -n      don't ask for rules or instructions

     -r      player is red (implies n)

     -w      player is white (implies n)

     -b      two players, red and white (implies n)

     -pr     print the board before red's turn

     -pw     print the board before white's turn

     -pb     print the board before both player's turn

     -t term
	     terminal is type term, uses /usr/share/misc/termcap

     -s file
	     recover previously saved game from file

     Any unrecognized arguments are ignored.  An argument of a lone `-' gets a description of possible arguments.

     If term has capabilities for direct cursor movement (see termcap(5)) backgammon ``fixes'' the board after each move, so the board does not
     need to be reprinted, unless the screen suffers some horrendous malady.  Also, any `p' option will be ignored.  (The `t' option is not neces-
     sary unless the terminal type does not match the entry in the /usr/share/misc/termcap data base.)

QUICK REFERENCE

     When the program prompts by typing only your color, type a space or carriage return to roll, or

     d	     to double

     p	     to print the board

     q	     to quit

     s	     to save the game for later

     When the program prompts with 'Move:', type

     p	     to print the board

     q	     to quit

     s	     to save the game

     or a move, which is a sequence of

     s-f     move from s to f

     s/r     move one man on s the roll r separated by commas or spaces and ending with a newline.  Available abbreviations are

	     s-f1-f2
		     means s-f1,f1-f2

	     s/r1r2  means s/r1,s/r2

     Use b for bar and h for home, or 0 or 25 as appropriate.

AUTHOR

     Alan Char

FILES

     /usr/games/teachgammon   rules and tutorial
     /usr/share/misc/termcap  terminal capabilities

BUGS

     The program's strategy needs much work.

BSD
								   May 31, 1993 							       BSD