# The &kreversi; Handbook

## Introduction

### What is &kreversi;?

&kreversi; is a simple one player strategy game played against the computer. The playing field is an 8 by 8 square board divided into 64 squares. The game piece used is a colored stone - one side of it is red, the other blue. If a piece is captured by an opposing player, that piece is turned to reveal the color of that player. A winner is declared when one player has more pieces of his own color on the board and if there are no more possible moves.

### Object of the game

The object of the game is to control the majority of squares on the board.

## Playing

### Basics

A move consists of outflanking your opponents disc(s), then flipping the outflanked disc(s) to reveal your color. A move is performed by placing the mouse pointer over the desired square then &LMB; click.

To outflank means to place a disc on the board so that your opponent's row(s) of disc(s) is bordered at each end by a disc of your color. A row may be made up of one or more discs.

The game starts with each player having two discs automatically placed in the center four squares of the board in the following pattern:

&kreversi; opening position &kreversi; opening position

Board Layout

Menu Bar

- The Menu Bar contains four choices of drop-down menus. These are File, Game, Settings, and Help. &LMB; click or &Alt;the underlined letter to show the drop-down menu.

The toolbar

- Provides the player with icon shortcuts for commonly used actions. These are Stop Thinking, Undo Move, Shrink Board, Enlarge Board, Get Hint, and Get Help. Place the mouse pointer over any of these icons and &LMB; click to activate.

Game Board

- The game board consists of a 8 by 8 square board divided into 64 squares.

Status Bar

- The status bar contains useful information such as whose turn it is, whicn color represents each player and the number of squares each player controls on the board.

### Rules

Blue always moves first.

If on your turn you cannot outflank and flip at least one opposing disc, your turn is forfeited and your opponent moves again. However, if a move is available to you, you may not forfeit your turn.

A disc may outflank any number of discs in one or more rows in any number of directions at the same time - horizontally, vertically or diagonally. A row is defined as one or more discs in a continuous straight line.

You may not skip over your own color disc to outflank an opposing disc.

Discs may only be outflanked as a direct result of a move and must fall in the direct line of the disc placed down.

All discs outflanked in any one move must be flipped, even if it is to the player's advantage not to flip them.

Once a disc is placed on a square, it can never be moved to another square later in the game.

When it is no longer possible for either player to move, the game is over. Discs are then counted and the player with the majority of his or her color discs on the board is declared the winner.

It is possible for a game to end before all 64 squares are filled.

### Tips

Try to place pieces on the edges whenever possible. Your opponent cannot outflank these pieces.

Avoid placing pieces on one of the three neighbor fields of a corner unless you are absolutely sure that your opponent will not be able to put a piece on a corner.

Sometimes it is better to offer some pieces to your opponent

Try to put pieces on fields which prevent your opponent from moving.

Try to force your opponent to put a piece in a neighboring field of a corner.

## User Interface

### File Menu

&Ctrl;N File New Game

- Starts a new game.

&Ctrl;L File Load Game

- Loads a saved game.

&Ctrl;S File Save Game

- Saves the current game.

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quits &kreversi;.

### Game menu

Game Get Hint

- The computer will provide a hint for your next move.

&Esc; Game Stop thinking

- Stops the computer's depth search, then you choose the computer's next move.

Game Continue

- Continues play.

&Ctrl;U Game Undo Move

- Removes your last move as well as the computer's last move from the board.

Game Switch Sides

- Will make you the opposite color.

Game Hall of Fame...

- A new window will appear with a list of the top ten scores.

### Settings Menu

&Ctrl;1-7 Settings Skill

- Sets the difficulty from 1, being the easiest, to 7, being the most difficult.

&Ctrl;- Settings Shrink Board

- Reduces the game board by twenty percent.

&Ctrl;+ Settings Enlarge Board

- Enlarges the game board by twenty percent.

Settings Set Size

- Allows you to shrink or enlarge the game board.

Settings Select Background Color...

- Allows you to change the background color.

Settings Select Background Image

- Allows you to select a background image.

Settings Grayscale

- Sets the color settings to grayscale.

Settings Animations

- Animates the discs as their being flipped.

Settings Animation Speed

- Allows you to set the animation speed, 1 being the fastest and 10 being the slowest.

### Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Credits and License

Program Copyright 1998-2000 Mario Weilguni

Mats Luthman - Designer of the move engine.

Original documentation by Mario Weilguni

Edited by Robert Williams

Documentation re-written and updated for &kde; 2.0 by Clay Pradarits gasky@winfire.com

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

&install.intro.documentation;

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;
&documentation.index;