     XMAHJONGG(6)                    Version 3.7                    XMAHJONGG(6)
                                     5 Jan 2000

     NAME
          xmahjongg - colorful solitaire Mah Jongg game

     SYNOPSIS
          xmahjongg [--display display] [options]

     DESCRIPTION
          Real Mah Jongg is a social game that originated in China thousands of
          years ago. Four players, named after the four winds, take tiles from a
          wall in turn. The best tiles are made of ivory and wood; they click
          pleasantly when you knock them together. Computer Solitaire Mah Jongg
          (xmahjongg being one of the sillier examples) is nothing like that but
          it's fun, or it must be, since there are like 300 shareware versions
          available for Windows.  This is for X11 and it's free.

     HOW TO PLAY
          The object is to remove all Mah Jongg tiles from the playing field by
          taking one matching pair at a time. Generally, two tiles match if they
          have identical pictures on top. There are some exceptions: any season
          tile (spring, summer, autumn, or winter) matches any other season, and
          any flower tile (bamboo, orchid, plum, or chrysathemum) matches any
          other flower. There are 144 tiles in all -- one of each season and
          flower, and four copies of each of the following: 1 to 9 dots; 1 to 9
          bamboo sticks; characters for 1 to 9; the four winds (north, south,
          east, and west); and three dragons (red, green, and white).

          Only free tiles can be removed. A tile is free if its entire top face
          is unobstructed and either its left or its right edge is open. (When
          looking at the left and right edges, only tiles on the same level
          count.)

          The rules are simple, but winning, it turns out, can be pretty hard.
          It's easy to make a move that causes a stalemate thirty or more moves
          later.  What's worse, the --any-boards option lets xmahjongg create
          boards that cannot be solved at all!

     CONTROLS AND APPEARANCE
          To select a free tile, simply click it with the left mouse button and
          it will light up. Click it again to deselect it. If you try to select
          a non-free tile, xmahjongg will beep at you. To remove a matched pair,
          just select one of the pair and click on the other one. The number in
          the upper left corner tells you how many tiles you have left. This is
          all you really need to know to play the game.

          Xmahjongg comes with several features that may dismay purists, but
          make the game more pleasant to play. First is the match count, an
          array of small gold coins in the upper middle. Each coin represents
          one potential match on the board. (If three mutually matching tiles
          are free, it counts as three matches, and if four are free, that's six
          matches.) This will let you know when the game is over (no gold coins
          means no matches -- a dead end) and when you're getting close.

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     XMAHJONGG(6)                    Version 3.7                    XMAHJONGG(6)
                                     5 Jan 2000

          The five buttons along the top right have the following functions:

          New (keystroke: n)
               Start a new game.

          Quit (keystroke: q)
               Quit xmahjongg.

          Undo (keystroke: u)
               Undoes your last move. You can undo multiple moves by clicking
               multiple times. If you change your mind about undoing a move,
               hold down Shift while you click the Undo button (or press r) to
               redo it.

          Hint (keystroke: h)
               Gives you a hint by flashing a set of free matching tiles. You
               can cycle through all existing matches by clicking multiple
               times. If you select a tile and then click Hint, xmahjongg will
               flash any free tiles that match that tile, or beep if there
               aren't any.

          Clean (keystroke: c)
               Cleans the board by automatically removing obvious matches. A
               match is obvious if it involves all the remaining tiles of a
               given type. (For example, if there are 2 green dragons left and
               they are both free, they form an obvious match; but if there are
               4 left and only 3 are free, they don't.) Cleaning the board is
               guaranteed not to cause a stalemate later.

          Solve (no button; keystroke: s)
               If you get stuck, press the s key. After the board is restored to
               its original state, xmahjongg will show you one way to solve it
               by removing tiles two at a time. Press s again to speed up the
               solution, or press Esc to stop. This won't work if you gave the
               --any-boards option (see below).

          Additionally, the Escape key deselects any selected tile.

     KEYBOARD TRAVERSAL
          You can use the arrow keys and the spacebar to play xmahjongg without
          using the mouse. These keys control the cursor, which is shown as a
          flashing tile. The arrow keys move the cursor around on the board in
          the obvious directions. The spacebar is like clicking the mouse button
          on the cursor tile: it either selects the tile or removes a matching
          pair.

          The hint key, `h', is also useful for playing without the mouse.
          Experiment with `h', the spacebar, and the Return key to see how this
          works. When a hint is active, the spacebar is like clicking on one of
          the flashing hint tiles, while the Return key is like clicking on two
          of them (so it removes the tiles in one stroke). This method gives the

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     XMAHJONGG(6)                    Version 3.7                    XMAHJONGG(6)
                                     5 Jan 2000

          fastest playing speed.

     OPTIONS
          If you get bored with xmahjongg's original layout and appearance,
          never fear: it comes with several tilesets (tile images) and layouts
          (tile arrangements). In addition to these, xmahjongg can read layout
          files from the original xmahjongg, KDE Mahjongg, and Kyodai Mahjongg,
          and tilesets in KDE Mahjongg, Gnome Mahjongg, and Kyodai Mahjongg
          format. (However, tilesets must be converted to GIF format before
          xmahjongg can read them.) See the -l and -t options.

          Long option names can be abbreviated to their unique prefixes.

          --number N
          -n N Start with board number N.
          -l layout
          --layout layout
               Use the specified game layout.  xmahjongg comes with several
               layouts. The normal layout is called default; to see the other
               ones' names, run `xmahjongg --list'.  You can also use an
               arbitrary layout by giving its filename. Xmahjongg can read
               layouts in its own simple format, in KDE kmahjongg format, or in
               Kyodai Mahjongg format. (Kyodai Mahjongg is one of the more
               popular Windows Mah Jongg solitaire games. It's got 3D tiles and
               all sorts of stuff. See http://www.kyodai.com for more
               information. You can download a zip archive with more than 100
               different layouts, mostly usable with xmahjongg, from
               http://www.kyodai.com/.)

          --tileset tileset
               Use the specified tileset to draw the Mah Jongg tiles.  Xmahjongg
               comes with several extra tilesets, particularly small (perfect
               for smaller screens). There are others too; run `xmahjongg
               --list' for a complete listing.

          --background image
          --bg image
               The background image is set to image.  Run `xmahjongg --list' to
               see the backgrounds that come with xmahjongg, or use an arbitrary
               GIF as a background image by giving its filename.

          --list
               Lists all the layouts, tilesets, and backgrounds that came with
               xmahjongg, then exits.

          --solvable-boards
               Always create solvable boards. This is the default.

          --any-boards
               Allow any legal board, some of which will be solvable and some of
               which won't.

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     XMAHJONGG(6)                    Version 3.7                    XMAHJONGG(6)
                                     5 Jan 2000

          --display display
               Sets the X display to display.

          --name name
               Specifies the application name under which resources are found,
               rather than the default ``xmahjongg''. Since xmahjongg itself
               does not use the resource database, this is mostly useful for
               communication with your window manager.

          --geometry geometry
               This standard X option specifies the preferred size and position
               for the xmahjongg window.

          --help
               Prints usage information and exits.

          --version
               Prints the version number and some quickie warranty information
               and exits.

     BUGS
          Please email suggestions, additions, patches and bugs to
          eddietwo@lcs.mit.edu. The following features have not made it into 3.0
          as of yet:

          * Tournament mode.

          * Board setup mode.

     HISTORY
          xmahjongg version 3 is a complete rewrite by Eddie Kohler
          <eddietwo@lcs.mit.edu> of xmahjongg versions 1 and 2 by Jeff S. Young
          <jsy@cray.com>.

          The default tileset was originally created in color by Dorothy
          Robinson <mokuren@teleport.com> with Mark A. Holm <markh@aracnet.com>.
          The publically available version was in black-and-white. Holm
          copyrighted the tiles in 1988, giving permission to copy and
          distribute for non-profit purposes. The significantly altered color
          version that comes with xmahjongg was created by Eddie Kohler in 1993.
          The `small' tileset was found at http://www.mahjongg.com/, and is
          presumably by Berrie Bloem. The `gnome' and `gnome2' tilesets were
          created by Jonathan Buzzard and Max Watson. The `dorothys' and
          `dorwhite' tilesets were made by Dorothy Robinson
          <mokuren@teleport.com>. The `real' tileset was scanned by Mark
          Sanctuary <sanctuary@jps.net>.

          Many of the layouts are based on layouts designed for Kyodai Mahjongg,
          a fun Windows Mah Jongg game. In particular, `arena', `ceremonial',
          `deepwell', `farandole', and `theater' are by Naoki Haga, and
          `hourglass' and `papillon' are by Vincent Krebs. Kyodai Mahjongg's Web

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     XMAHJONGG(6)                    Version 3.7                    XMAHJONGG(6)
                                     5 Jan 2000

          homepage is http://www.kyodai.com/.

     AUTHOR
          Eddie Kohler, eddietwo@lcs.mit.edu
          http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~eddietwo/

          http://www.lcdf.org/~eddietwo/xmahjongg/
          The xmahjongg home page.

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