# The &kshisen; Handbook

Dirk
Doerflinger

    ddoerflinger@web.de

Frerich
Raabe
Reviewer

    raabe@kde.org

2003-03-03
1.03.01

This Handbook describes &kshisen; Version 1.4.2

KDE
kdegames
kshisen
game
shisen-sho

## Introduction

&kshisen; is a single-player-game similar to Mahjongg and uses the same set of tiles as Mahjongg.

The object of the game is to remove all tiles from the field.

## Playing &kshisen;

### Rules

The aim of the game is to remove all tiles from the board. Only two matching tiles can be removed at a time. Two tiles can only be removed if they can be connected with a maximum of three connected lines. Lines can be horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal.

You don't have to draw the lines by yourself, the game does this for you. Just mark two matching tiles on the board, if they can be connected with a maximum of three lines, the lines will be drawn and the tiles are removed.

Remember that lines only may cross the empty border. If you are stuck, you can use the Hint feature to find two tiles which may be removed. Clicking a tile with the &RMB; will show you all corresponding tiles, no matter if they are removable at the moment or not.

The game is over if no moves are possible and some tiles are left on the board (this should not happen if the option Disallow Unsolvable Games in the Settings menu is checked, since for these games there is at least one way to solve it, though it may happen that you choose the wrong way).

The resulting score S is calculated using the following formula, assuming that n represents the number of tiles present when the game started and t standing for the time (in seconds) it took to clear the field: S=(n/t)*sqrt(n/84)/0.0014 If you played with the Gravity setting enabled, this score will additionally get multiplied by two.

### The Game Menu

The Game menu lets you control the status of the current game:

&Ctrl; N Game New

  Finish the actual game set and start a new session with new tiles.

P Game Pause

  Pauses the entire game, especially the timer which affects the scoring. The menu entry then changes to Resume Game, which is used for resuming the game.

&Ctrl;H Game Show Highscores

  Shows the (local) Top-Ten charts of Shisen-Sho.

H Game Get Hint

  Show a tip, which two tiles to remove next.

&Ctrl; R Game Restart Game

  Restart the current game with the same tiles.

Game Is Game Solvable?

  Shows a dialog which tells you whether the game is solvable or not. If the menu entry Disallow Unsolvable Games in the Settings menu is checked, this option is absolutely useless.

Some of the menu items can also be controlled by hot-keys. See for a list.

### The Edit Menu

&Ctrl;Z Edit Undo

  Undo the last step. Same as the Undo button in the toolbar.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z Game Redo

  Redo the last step. Same as the Redo button in the toolbar.

## Configuration

### The Settings Menu

&kshisen; has several possibilities to change its behavior. All options can be changed from the menu Settings.

The options will be saved automatically.

Settings Size

  In the sub-menu Size you can change the number of tiles on the board. The more tiles you have, the harder (and longer) the game will be.

Settings Speed

  The sub-menu Speed sets the time for the tiles to disappear when connected correctly.

Settings Level

  Choose your game skill in the sub-menu Level.

Settings Gravity

  Checking this item makes the game even harder: If a tile is removed, all tiles lying above it will fall down one step.

Settings Disallow Unsolvable Games

  If this menu-item is checked, only solvable games will be created when a new game is started. Note: You may still choose the wrong way and have to try again if you didn't solve the game, but if it's checked, the game will be solvable.

### Key Bindings

Default key bindings are:

- New: &Ctrl;N
- Pause: P
- Show Highscores: &Ctrl;H
- Get Hint: H
- Restart Game: &Ctrl;R
- Quit: &Ctrl;Q
- Undo: &Ctrl;Z
- Redo: &Ctrl;&Shift;Z
- What's This?: &Shift;F1

## Credits and License

&kshisen; Copyright 1999 Mario Weilguni mweilguni@sime.com

Documentation Copyright 2000 Dirk Doerflinger ddoerflinger@gmx.net

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain Shisen-Sho

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

In order to successfully compile &kshisen;, you need &kde; 3.x. All required libraries as well as &kshisen; itself can be found on &kde-ftp;.

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;