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NAME

       xbomb  -  a  version of the popular minesweeper program with some novel
       features.

SYNOPSIS

       xbomb [-hexagon|-square|-triangle] [-1|-2|-3] [-hiscore]

OPTIONS

       -hiscore
              command line option displays the current hi-score table  without
              starting the game.

       -hexagon | -square | -triangle
              Selects the type of grid to use when starting the game.

       -1 | -2 | -3
              Selects the level to use when starting the game.

       The standard X window options also apply to this program.

DESCRIPTION

       A  game of logical deduction against the clock. The purpose of the game
       is to find the location of the hidden bombs in a  grid.   Each  of  the
       locations  in the grid is initially covered, by uncovering a locations,
       a number or a bomb will be revealed underneath.  If a bomb is  revealed
       then  the  game is finished.  A number indicates the number of adjacent
       locations that contain bombs.  Locations that have not  been  uncovered
       but are thought to contain bombs can be marked as such so that they can
       be identified.

       There is a choice of hexagonal, square or triangular units that make up
       the  grid,  the  level  of difficulty increasing as the number of sides
       decreases.  In all cases the grids are of the same size and contain the
       same number of bombs for the same levels.

       There are three levels to the game:

       Easy   8 by 8 grid with 10 bombs.

       Medium 16 by 16 grid with 40 bombs.

       Difficult
              30 by 16 grid with 99 bombs.

       A high score table is maintained for each of the levels for each of the
       grid types, storing the username, the time to complete the  puzzle  and
       the date that it was finished.

MOUSE OPERATION

       The  game  is  played  with  the  mouse,  with all three buttons having
       different actions.

       Left Button
              Uncover the hidden location. The first selection made in a  game
              is always a ’safe’ square.

       Middle Button
              Uncover  all  surrounding  locations  if  all of the surrounding
              bombs have been located.

       Right Button
              Mark the current grid location as having a hidden bomb (toggle).

KEYSTROKES

       There are a number of keystroke shortcuts for the game:

       1 2 3  Select level 1, 2 or 3 for the next game.

       s      Start a new game.

       q      Quit the program.

       h      Print the high-scores.

       H or Control-H
              Use the grid of hexagons for the next game.

       S or Control-S
              Use the grid of squares for the next game.

       T or Control-T
              Use the grid of triangles for the next game.

       X RESOURCES
              The  name  of the class used is XBomb, the widget hierarchy used
              is (Widget-Class:name):

                   XBomb
                        Form:form
                             Command:start
                             MenuButton:menu
                                  SimpleMenu:levelmenushell
                                       smeBSBObject:Easy
                                       smeBSBObject:Medium
                                       smeBSBObject:Difficult
                             MenuButton:menu
                                  SimpleMenu:typemenushell
                                       smeBSBObject:Hexagon
                                       smeBSBObject:Square
                                       smeBSBObject:Triangle
                             Command:hiscore
                             Command:quit
                             Core:grid
                             Command:clock
                             Command:uxb

       The extra resources that are available for the grid are:

       grid.bomb
              The colour of the bombs - default black.

       grid.bombreal
              The colour of the real bombs - default red.

       grid.bombmark
              The colour of the bombs that are marked by the  user  -  default
              orange.

       grid.number
              The  colour  of the numbers that are drawn in the grid - default
              blue.

       grid.hidden
              The colour of the hidden squares - default grey50.

       grid.correct
              The colour of the squares that were correctly guessed -  default
              green

       grid.font
              The  font  that  is  used  for  the number in the grid - default
              lucidasans-24

BUGS

       None known.

AUTHOR

       Andrew M. Bishop (A.K.A AMB Software)

                               January 13, 1995                       XBomb(1)