COLUMNS - A Tetris-Like Game
Version 1.01

COLUMNS is a single-player game in which one attempts to manipulate multi-
colored tiles in order to form sequences of three boxes of the same color
-- arranged horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

The COLUMNS game board is a 6 x 18 array of squares. The playing tiles
drop from the top of the screen, and are comprised of 3 boxes arranged in a
column -- each box has one of 6 possible colors.

Tiles drop one at a time, and may be manipulated in one of four different
ways: 1) moving the tile one column to the left (the left command), 2)
moving the tile one column to the right (right), 3) cycling the colors
downward within the tile (cycle), and 4) dropping the tile straight down
into place (drop). You can apply the right, left, and cycle commands as
often as you wish while the tile is falling.

The game ends when a tile is placed and -- after counting all sequences and
removing the boxes involved -- a box remains touching the ceiling line at
the top of the game board.

RUNNING COLUMNS

To run COLUMNS:

COLUMNS [/T] [/G] [/S] [/M] [/C ]

/T: Force COLUMNS to run in text mode. This is the default on the CGA
display

/G: Force COLUMNS to run in graphics mode. This is the default on the
EGA and VGA displays.

/S: Silent. Beep option is initially off. When on, this option causes
COLUMNS to beep whenever points are scored.

/M: Monochrome. Only meaningful in graphics mode. Replaces the six
colors with six different monochrome crosshatch patterns. This is
the only graphics mode available for COLUMNS on the CGA display.

/C: On COLUMNS startup, cut the Top Ten scores file to contain only the
top scores per person. For example, if player "jsmith"
occupies five of the Top Ten spots, "COLUMNS /C 3" will remove his
two lowest scores from the file. The option does not affect
administration of the Top Ten file while COLUMNS is running -- only
what is done at startup time.












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KEYS

The following keys are active during the game:

4, 5, 6, 2:

These are the left, cycle, right, and drop commands as mapped onto
a numeric keypad.

J, K, L, :

These are the left, cycle, right, and drop keyboard commands for a
right-handed player.

S, D, F, :

These are the left, cycle, right, and drop keyboard commands for a
left-handed player.

Q:

Quit COLUMNS immediately.

R:

End the current game, reset the game board, and start over.

P:

Pause. Pressing any key while paused resumes the game.

B:

Toggle the beep option.

+:

Increase the difficulty level by 1.





















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SCORING

The object of the game is to arrange the tiles on the game board such that
boxes of the same color line up in sequences of three or more boxes. A
sequence may be formed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Points are
earned when such a sequence is formed: the scoring is a function of the
number of boxes in the sequence, the current level of difficulty, and, if
the drop command is used, how far the current tile dropped.

Any time a sequence of three or more boxes is formed, the boxes in the
sequence are removed from the board, and all boxes located above those
removed collapse to occupy the vacated squares on the game board. If the
new arrangement of boxes (after the collapse) forms more sequences, these
are also removed and points are scored.

DIFFICULTY LEVELS

COLUMNS has ten difficulty levels -- the higher the level, the faster the
tiles fall. You choose the starting level at the beginning of each game.
If you start at 0 (the easiest), the level will increase by one for every
fifty boxes removed. If you start at a higher level, the difficulty will
remain the same until the appropriate number of boxes has been removed,
then will start increasing. (For example, if you start at 2, the level
will stay there until 150 boxes have been removed.)

THE TOP TEN

COLUMNS keeps track of the top ten scores and displays them before each
game. After a score that qualifies you to enter the top ten, COLUMNS
prompts for your name. If you play more than one game during a session,
COLUMNS remembers the name and offers it as the default input on future
name input prompts. If, when prompted for your name, you press the
backspace key before any other keys, COLUMNS will erase the default input
and give you a clear line on which to enter a new name.

The Top Ten record is kept in a plaintext file called COLUMNS.HIS.

AUTHORS

COLUMNS was invented for the X Windows system by Jay Geertsen of Hewlett-
Packard Co. It was ported to DOS and enhanced by Nathan Meyers of Hewlett-
Packard Co.

LICENSE

Permission is granted to freely distribute this game without charge.













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