# The &kappname; Handbook

John
Hayes
justlinux@bellsouth.net
Eugene
Trounev

    eugene.trounev@gmail.com

&FDLNotice;
2012-08-06
&kappversion; (&kde; 4.9)

This documentation describes the game of &kappname; version &kappversion;

KDE
kdegames
game
KMahjongg
board
arcade
tile game
tiles
one player

## Introduction

### Gametype:

Board, Arcade

### Number of possible players:

One

&kmahjongg; is a fun board game created after the famous oriental game of Mahjong (from Chinese 麻將). Unlike the original however, &kmahjongg; is a tile matching game for one or two players, a variation usually known as Mahjong Solitaire.

In &kmahjongg; the tiles are scrambled and stacked on top of each other to resemble a certain shape. The player is then expected to remove all the tiles off the game board by locating each tile's matching pair.

## How to play

### Objective:

Remove all tiles from the game board by locating each tile's matching pair as fast as possible.

&kappname; will load a default layout automatically once you start the game and you can start playing right away.

### Note:

The game timer will start immediately if the game is started.

You should carefully study the stack of tiles laid out on the game board and find two tiles matching exactly. When you have found such a pair use your mouse to select these.

### Note:

Bear in mind that you can only select the tiles which are Open. Tiles are considered Blocked when they are positioned behind other tiles, and when both the right and left sides of the tile are filled by others. If at least one of the lateral sides is empty then the tile is considered 'Open', and can be removed.

Once you have selected the right pair of tiles they will vanish off the game board, thus revealing the tiles previously located underneath, and opening the tiles adjacent to them.

Find as many matches as possible to remove all the tiles from the game board.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### The Game Screen

A screenshot of &kmahjongg; Screenshot A quick explanation of the parts of the game screen.

Game Screen

  The Game screen is in the center of the screen and is the largest section of the window. The background is populated with the game tiles.

Statusbar

  The Status bar is located at the bottom of the screen, and contains four panes. The first pane lists the removed/total tiles and the number of matching tiles that have free sides. The second pane gives the sequence number of the game you are playing. The third pane lets the player know when the game is ready, and the last pane displays the game timer, which keeps track of the elapsed time from the start of the game until the game is finished.

### Rules

Standard Mahjong set of tiles includes:

Group name | Tile name | Quantity in a set
Dots |  |
| 1 of Dots | 4
| 2 of Dots | 4
| 3 of Dots | 4
| 4 of Dots | 4
| 5 of Dots | 4
| 6 of Dots | 4
| 7 of Dots | 4
| 8 of Dots | 4
| 9 of Dots | 4
Bamboos |  |
| 1 of Bamboos | 4
| 2 of Bamboos | 4
| 3 of Bamboos | 4
| 4 of Bamboos | 4
| 5 of Bamboos | 4
| 6 of Bamboos | 4
| 7 of Bamboos | 4
| 8 of Bamboos | 4
| 9 of Bamboos | 4
Characters |  |
| 1 of Characters | 4
| 2 of Characters | 4
| 3 of Characters | 4
| 4 of Characters | 4
| 5 of Characters | 4
| 6 of Characters | 4
| 7 of Characters | 4
| 8 of Characters | 4
| 9 of Characters | 4
Winds |  |
| East Wind | 4
| South Wind | 4
| West Wind | 4
| North Wind | 4
Dragons |  |
| Red Dragon | 4
| Green Dragon | 4
| White Dragon | 4
Flowers |  |
| Plum (1) | 1
| Lily (2) | 1
| Chrysanthemum (3) | 1
| Bamboo (4) | 1
Seasons |  |
| Spring (1) | 1
| Summer (2) | 1
| Autumn (3) | 1
| Winter (4) | 1

- Only the open tiles can be selected.

- Open tile is the tile which has one of the tile's lateral sides open, meaning that no other tiles are located immediately next to it.

- Only when matching, open tiles can be removed from the game board.

- Matching tiles are those where the face pictograms match.

#### Note:

There are exceptions to this rule! In the traditional game of Mahjong each tile has a matching one except for the Flowers and Seasons tiles.

- The Flowers tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each-other.

- The Seasons tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each-other.

- Not every &kmahjongg; game can be finished. Sometimes the tiles are mixed in such a way that it may not be possible to find all the matches. This problem can be avoided. Please refer to this section of the configuration dialog.

- To be eligible for a place amongst the high scores the player has to complete a game instance within the shortest period of time possible.

#### Note:

If the player uses the Hint feature the record will not be considered as a high score.

## Interface Overview

### The Game Menu

&Ctrl;N Game New

  Starts a new game.

&Ctrl;O Game Load...

  Loads a saved game.

F5 Game Restart Game

  Restarts the current game.

Game New Numbered Game...

  Starts a specifically numbered game. Start a Numbered Game Dialog Start a Numbered Game Dialog

&Ctrl;S Game Save

  Saves the current game.

P Game Pause

  Pauses or resumes the game. While the game is paused, all tiles are hidden.

&Ctrl;H Game Show High Scores

  Shows the high score list. Show High scores Show High scores

  When your game scores exceed the top ten scores listed, you are prompted to enter your name.

Game Board Editor

  Shows the board editor.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

  Quits &kappname;.

### The Move Menu

&Ctrl;Z Move Undo

  Undo your last move.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z Move Redo

  Redo a move that was undone.

H Move Hint

  Gives a Hint by flashing a matching pair of tiles.

D Move Demo

  Starts the game Demo mode.

Move Shuffle

  Shuffles the tiles on the board.

### The View Menu

G View Rotate View Clockwise

  Rotates the tile viewing angle clockwise.

F View Rotate View Counter Clockwise

  Rotates the tile viewing angle counter clockwise.

### The Settings Menu

Settings Show Toolbar

  Shows or hides the Toolbar.

Settings Show Statusbar

  Shows or hides the Statusbar.

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

  Displays a standard &kde; shortcut configuration dialog to change the keyboard shortcuts for &kappname;.

Settings Configure Toolbars...

  Displays a standard &kde; dialog where you can configure the toolbar icons.

Settings Configure &kappname;...

  Opens a dialog to configure &kappname;. For details, see here.

### The Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Frequently asked questions

I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?

Yes. To change the way &kappname; looks use the menubar to open the configuration utility.

Can I use the keyboard to play the game?

No. This game does not feature a keyboard play mode yet.

## Game Configuration

Configure Dialog
Configure Dialog

Settings Configure &kappname;... opens the Configure - &kappname; dialog.

### General options

Blink matching tiles when first one is selected

  This setting will make the game highlight the selected tile on mouse click, and flash any matching tiles that have a free side at each move. No additional tiles will be highlighted if there are no matching tiles with a free side.

Generate solvable games

  Selects only games that can be solved when you start a new game.

### Board layout options

Random Layout

  Every new game will have a random layout of the existing one in the list.

Board Layout selector

  Use the Board Layout selector to pick a gameboard to play. Different boards provide variable difficulty, depending on the number of tiles and their position.

  Board Layout selector
  Board Layout selector

### Tiles options

Tiles selector

  Use the Tiles selector to choose graphics for the tiles.

  Tile selector
  Tiles selector

### Background options

Background selector

  Use the Background selector to choose a background graphic for the game.

  Background selector
  Background selector

### Default Keybindings

Settings Configure Shortcuts... allows you to change the default keyboard bindings.

Keybindings Configure Dialog
Keybindings Configure Dialog

The default kebindings are as follows:

D

  Plays the game in Demo mode.

H

  Gives you a hint by flashing two matching tiles.

F1

  Displays this handbook.

&Ctrl;O

  Loads a previously saved game.

&Ctrl;N

  Starts a new game.

P

  Pauses or resumes a game.

&Ctrl;Q

  Quits the game.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z

  Move redo.

F5

  Restart the game.

&Ctrl;S

  Saves the game.

&Ctrl;H

  Show the highscores.

&Ctrl;Z

  Move undo.

F

  Rotate the view angle clockwise.

G

  Rotate the view angle counter-clockwise.

&Shift;F1

  What's this? Help

## Credits and License

&kappname; for &kde;

Program Copyright © 1997 Mathias Mueller in5y158@public.uni-hamburg.de

Program Copyright © 2007 Mauricio Piacentini piacentini@kde.org

Contributors:

- David Black david.black@lutris.com

- Michael Haertjens mhaertjens@modusoperandi.com

- Osvaldo Stark starko@dnet.it

- Benjamin Meyer ben+kmahjongg@meyerhome.net

- Albert Astals Cid astals11@terra.es

- Raquel Ravanini raquel@tabuleiro.com

Documentation Copyright © 2005 John Hayes justlinux@bellsouth.net

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

&install.intro.documentation;

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;

&documentation.index;