@database Shanghai.guide @$VER: Shanghai.guide 40.1 (03/07/94) @node main "Shanghai" Shanghai is an ancient Chinese solitaire game. The original version was played with ivory or stone tiles by sailors thousands of years ago. With the advent of computers, dozens of computer versions of the game have appeared, some called Shanghai, some called Mah Jongg, but all equally fun. @{" About the game " link About} @{" How to play " link HowToPlay} @endnode @node About "About Shanghai" @next HowToPlay Shanghai is played with 144 tiles; the object is to remove all the tiles from the board. There are 42 distinct tiles: Craks - 1 through 9. These are the numerical digits of Chinese; each one has a Chinese character below the symbol for the number. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ | ___1| | ___2| | ___3| | ___4| |/__ 5| | ___6| | ___7| | /\ 8| | __ 9| | | | ___ | | ___ | | \_/ | ||++ | | / \ | | l_ | | | | |l | | | | | | ___ | | | | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| Dots - 1 through 9. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ | _ 1| | 2| | 3| | 4| | 5| | 6| | 7| | OO 8| | 9| | / \ | | O | | O | | O O | | O O | | O O | |O O O| | OO | | OOO | |( )| | | | O | | | | O | | O O | |O O | | OO | | OOO | | \_/ | | O | | O | | O O | | O O | | O O | |O O | | OO | | OOO | |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| Bamboos - 1 through 9. The 1 bamboo has a picture of a bird. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ | 1| | 2| | 3| | 4| | 5| | 6| | 7| | 8| | 9| | | | I | | I | | I I | | I I | | I I | | I | |I/\I | | III | | | | | | | | | | I | | I I | | III | | | | III | | | | I | | I I | | I I | | I I | | I I | | III | |I\/I | | III | |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| Dragons - 3 types. One looks like a grid; one is the familiar Chinese serpent; and one has a "C" in the upper right corner. Winds - North, South, East, and West, represented by the appropriate letter in the upper right corner and the Chinese character. Seasons - Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn. Summer is represented by a sun and "SUM"; Winter, by a snowflake and "WIN"; Spring, by a flower and "SPR"; and Autumn, by a leaf and "AUT". Flowers - 4 different flowers, represented by "MUM" (chrysanthemum), "PLUM" (plum), "ORC" (orchid), and "BAM" (bamboo). There are four of each tile, except for the seasons and flowers, of which there are only one each. The object of Shanghai is to remove all the tiles from the board. This is accomplished by finding two tiles that "match" and removing the pair. Any two identical tiles match; any season matches any other season, and any flower matches any other flower. In itself, this does not sound complex. However, there is an additional limitation on removing tiles: the tile must be "free", meaning that it must have at least one long edge free (i.e. one long edge that is not adjacent to any other tile), and it must not have any tiles on top of it. The initial setup of the board looks like this diagram: TOP VIEW __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || || || || || | __ |__||__||__||__||__|| __ ||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ | | __ __ __ __ __ | | __ __ __ __ __ | || | |__|| || || || || || |__| || || || || || ||__||__| |__||__||__||__||__||__ __||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ | || || || || || || || || || || || | |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| FRONT VIEW __ |__| __ __ |__||__| __ __ __ __ |__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ |__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__||__| SIDE VIEW __ |__| __ __ |__||__| __ __ __ __ |__||__||__||__| __ __ __ __ __ __ |__||__||__||__||__||__| __ __ __ _ __ _ __ __ __ |__||__||__||_|__|_||__||__||__| Note the four "special tiles": one on top that covers the four central tiles, and three on the sides that block the two central rows. These four tiles should be removed as soon as possible. @endnode @node HowToPlay @prev About @next Boards When Shanghai starts up, a random board number from 0 to 65535 will be chosen and displayed. Most of the time, this will be a board you have not played before. The playing screen looks like this: _______________________________________________________ | | | [Board displayed here] | | | | F1 - statistics F2 - undo move F3 - new board | | F4 - next board F5 - replay board Esc- exit | | | | Board 12345* Tiles left: 144 | |_______________________________________________________| The bottom line indicates which board number you are playing and how many tiles remain to be removed. A '*' following the board number indicates you have played the board before but have not won it; a '!' means that you have won the board. The controls for the game are: Left mouse button - select a tile to remove. If you have not selected any other tiles, the tile's border is highlighted to show that it is selected. If you then click on the same tile again, it is deselected and the border returns to the normal black. If, however, you have already selected a tile, then the tile already selected and the tile you clicked on are removed, assuming they are a legal match. Right mouse button - If you have not selected a tile, clicking the right mouse button will look for all the possible moves you can make, and show them to you one at a time. Press any key or click a mouse button to see the next one; press Esc to cancel. F1 - Show the statistics for the current game, and for all the boards that have been played. If you hold Shift while pressing F1, you will instead get a list of all the boards you have won and all the boards you have played but not won. F2 - Replaces the last pair of tiles you removed. You can keep doing this all the way back to the beginning of the game. F3 - Lets you pick a new board to play. The board number at the lower left corner of the screen will disappear; you can type in the board number you want, which must be between 0 and 65535 inclusive. Press Return to start playing the board F4 - Starts playing the next board (the board whose number is one greater than the current board). If you are on board 65535, this will take you to board 0. F5 - Starts the current board over again. Esc - exits the game. @endnode