[NOTES]

1. Sorry for my bad english. I write this text in a big hurry.
2. This file (HELP.TXT) si readable to both humans and computer.
3. Future  versions of GameMaster will be able to display this text from
within the program.

[CONTROL]

Mouse commands:
    Right mouse button moves windows.
    Left mouse button places/moves pieces in the game.
    Left  mouse  button  also activates icons (well, only one is working
now) and selects menu options.

Keyboard commands:
    Backspace ... undo a move (mouse must point to the board)
    K ........... kill the game mouse is pointing to
    Escape ...... end (probably won't be used by an intelligent user)

[GOMOKU]

    Rules of Five-in-a-row (also called free-style Gomoku or Pisqorky)
    -  Two  players alternate placing their stones on unoccupied squares
on 19x19 board
    -  The  one who forms a line of 5 stones of his color (uninterrupted
by opponent's stones or empty squares) wins

    Gomoku
    -  is  more  professional  variant of Five-in-a-row. The differences
are following:
    - the board is only 15x15
    -  opening  restrictions: the first move (by player1) must be to the
center  of  board,  the  second  (by  player2)  must  be to the one of 8
neighbouring  squares  and  the third must be outside of the 5x5 area in
the center of the board

    Connect-4
    -  A  game  with  slightly different rules, but absolutely different
strategy
    - The board is only 7x6
    -  Two players alternate placing their stones on unoccupied squares,
but the square "under" this square must be occupied (or it's an edge)
    -  The  one who forms a line of 4 stones of his color (uninterrupted
by opponent's stones or empty squares) wins

[PENTE]

    Pente (also called Ninuki)
    - very interesting Gomoku variant (played on 11x11 in GameMaster)
    There  is  only  one  more  rule  (read  gomoku rules, if you're not
familiar with it):
    - if you place your stone to the square where it "sandwiches" a pair
of  your  opponent's  stones  between  your stone and the stone you just
placed, you capture the opponent's stones, for example:

    X O O .             X O O X                    X . . X
    before       now you place it here       and this will happen

    HexaPente (actually, the name is quite an "oxymoron")
    - is just Pente on hexagonal board

[CHESS]

    Games from the chess family have following rules:

    -  Two  players  (white and black) alternately make their moves with
their own pieces
    -  There  are different types of pieces, each having a different way
of movement
    -  If  a  piece  moves  to the square occupied by an opponent piece,
opponent is removed from the board (captured)
    - The object of the game is to checkmate (force capturing) the enemy
king (most valuable piece)

    Standard chess:
    - is played on 8x8 board; each player has on the beginning 16 pieces
- 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen and 1 king
    -  Rooks  can move any number of squares in ortogonal (horizontal or
vertical) direction. All squares they pass must be unoccupied
    -  Bishops can move any number of squares in diagonal direction. All
squares  they pass must be unoccupied. It's clear they'll always stay on
the square of one color
    - The queen moves like a rook or a bishop - by any number of squares
in any of eight directions
    -  The  king can move to any of the 8 neighbouring squares - but not
to those that are attacked by the opponent
    -  The  knight moves two squares in one ortogonal direction and then
one  move  to  the  side  -  i.e. (+-2,+-1) or (+-1,+-2); the squares it
passes can be occupied
    -  The  pawn is the only piece which has different way of moving and
capturing.  It  moves one square forward (towards opponent) and captures
to  the square which is one square forward and one to the side. The only
exception  is  the  first  move - each pawn can move two squares forward
from  its  initial position (the interposing square must be empty). When
the  pawn gets to the last rank (when opponent's pieces were standing in
the beginning) it is "promoted" to any other piece
    - [en passant, castling, draw by repetition, fifty-move rule,...]

[REVERSI]

 ...

[HEX]

    The rules are simple:
    - Two players alternate placing their stones on unoccupied "hexes"
    -  The  object  is to form a "connection" by your stones between two
opposite  sides  of  the  board.  First  player  has  to make a vertical
connection and the second player horizontal connection. (Connection is a
chain of stones of one color that touch themselves)
    - In GameMaster it is played on 8x8 board

    Game theory:
    Three things can be easily proven about Hex:
    -  The game never ends in draw (When all hexes are occupied, exactly
one side has a connection)
    -  On  NxN  board, first player has theoretical win (but noone knows
the exact strategy for N>7)
    -  On MxN board, the player with shorter length to traverse can win,
even when playing second (the strategy is very easy)
