5ball Manual

5ball Manual

Section: Misc. Reference Manual Pages (6x)
Updated: A simple logic game with balls

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NAME

5ball - A simple logic game with balls  

SYNOPSIS

5ball [options]  

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents 5ball. 5ball is a simple logic game. The goal of this game is to make the highest score by matching a number of balls of the same color in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. For further information on how to play this game refer to the rules section in this manual page.  

OPTIONS

--display [hostname:dpy]

Specify what display 5ball should use. See X (1x) for more information on the syntax of hostname and display.

 

RULES

The standard play area of 5ball is a 9x9 grid (it can be changed through "Rules" option in the game menu). When 5ball is first started a number of different color balls are placed in a random manner on the grid. You may move balls on the grid by selecting them and then selecting an empty square on the grid for the ball move to.... balls will only move if they are not blocked by other balls.

  Each time you move a ball (unless you score some points) new balls  appear in a random manner on the grid. If the grid is full then the game is lost. This is inevitable... your goal is to score as high as possible before that happens.

  Balls are removed from the board by making a row of 5 (the default)  of the same color in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal direction. The length a line can also be changed through the "Rules" option in the game menu. In order to help you decide which ball to move, there is an indicator on top of the grid which shows what colors the next three balls will be.  

USING THE INTERFACE

5ball is a graphical program using the Gtk+ windowing toolkit. This section describes it's user interface.  

THE GAME MENU

New

Selecting this menu entry will abandon the current game and start a new one or start another game if you just finished one. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-N to do this also.

Rules

Selecting this menu entry will open "Rules" dialog box, where you can set board width and height, number of different objects to appear on the board, number of objects that will appear on the board after each turn and number of objects that must form the line to eliminate it. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-R to do this also.

Save

Selecting this menu entry will open "Save game" dialog box, where you can save current game to play it later. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-S to do this also.

Load

Selecting this menu entry will open "Load game" dialog box, where you can load previously saved game. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-L to do this also.

Hall Of Fame

Selecting this menu entry will open a dialog box showing the high scores. Only the ten best scores are shown. This dialog also displays the name of the person who achieved a high score and it's date. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-H to do this also.

Quit

Selecting this menu entry will quit 5ball. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-Q to do the same thing.

 

THE EDIT MENU

Undo

Selecting this menu entry will undo your last move. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-U to do this also.

 

THE SETTINGS MENU

Preferences

Selecting this menu entry will open the "Preferences" dialog box. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-P to open it also. This dialog box allows you to set some options. Click on a check box to activate or deactivate them. Click on the theme name to select it. Then click on the Apply button to save your settings or click on Ok button to save your settings and close this dialog box. You can disable the showing of footprints, path of the ball, color of the next balls indicator, animation of disappearing of the ball and set time limit per move from this dialog box.

 

THE HELP MENU

Rules

Selecting this menu entry will display a dialog box describing rules of the game. You may use the keyboard shortcut F1 to open it also.

About

Selecting this menu entry will display a dialog with the logo and the copyright information of 5ball. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-A to open it also. For more details on the license, click on the Show license button. This will open another dialog box where you can read the GNU General Public License.

 

SEE ALSO

The 5ball web page is located at
http://www.pcbypaul.com/software/5ball.html  

AUTHORS

5ball by Paul Sherman
<psherma1@rochester.rr.com>
gtkBalls was originally created by Eugene Morozov
<jmv@online.ru>.
This manual page was created by Christoph Thompson
<obituary@freshmeat.net>.
Current maintainer of 5ball and this manual page is
Paul Sherman <psherma1@rochester.rr.com>.  

COPYRIGHT

5ball is copyright 2004 by Paul Sherman. gtkBalls is copyright 1998, 1999 Eugene V. Morozov under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 5ball is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the license, or (at your option) any later version.