NAME

4s, 5s, ana, gnuchess, juggle, mandel, plumb, quiz, smiley, life, fsim, clock, catclock, fireworks, swar, zork − time wasters

SYNOPSIS

­games/4s
­games/5s
­games/ana [ ­fixwords ]
­games/fireworks
­games/gnuchess
­games/juggle [ ­-h ­nhand ] [ ­start ] ­pattern
­games/mandel
­games/plumb [ ­level ]
­games/quiz [ ­category1 category2 ]
­games/smiley
­games/life ­startfile
­games/fsim
­games/clock
­games/catclock [ ­-c ]
­games/swar

DESCRIPTION

There are a few games in /bin/games:

4s, 5s Try to fill complete rows using 4-square or 5-square tiles.  Move tiles left or right by moving the mouse.  Rotate tiles with buttons 1 and 3.  Drop tiles for more points with button 2 or the space bar. 

­ana Find anagrams for words typed on standard input.  Anagrams can contain several dictionary words.  The ­fixwords argument or numbers typed on standard input fix the number of words in the output anagrams. 

­gnuchess Play chess. Type ­help to list commands. 

­juggle Simulate a juggler.  The ­pattern lists the heights of a repeating sequence of throws.  At time t, hand (t mod nhand) throws.  At that time, it must hold exactly one ball, unless it executes a 0 throw, in which case it must hold no ball.  A throw of height h at time t lands at time t+h in hand ((t+h) mod nhand).  Some patterns require a ­start sequence of throws to get the balls into position. 

­mandel Compute and display Mandelbrot sets.  Menus on the mouse buttons control various things. 

­plumb Build a plumbing system. Keep ahead of the advancing oil and don’t waste pipe. The ­level argument lets you start at a harder level. 

­quiz gives associative knowledge tests on various subjects. 

­smiley A game of historical importance.  Type space to shoot, comma to move left, and period to go right. 

­life Play the game of life, given an initial position.  There is a library of interesting initial positions; the library is consulted if ­startfile cannot be found. 

­fsim Pretend you’re flying a Cessna. 

­clock

­catclock Display analog clocks.  Option ­-c makes ­catclock crosseyed. 

­fireworks Hoist the fiery blue peter. 

­swar Space war for two players called MCI and SPRINT.  One player types ­a or ­d to turn left or right, ­s to shoot, ­x to disappear briefly (“enter hyperspace”) and ­w to accelerate.  The other player uses k, ;, l, .  (the period) and o.  AT&T scores whenever either ship shoots itself or otherwise causes mayhem.  Hyperspace is occasionally fatal. 

­zork The venerable adventure game. 

FILES

­/sys/games/lib/4scores scores of ­4s games

­/sys/games/lib/5scores scores of ­5s games

­/sys/games/lib/plumb/scores
scores of ­plumb games

­/sys/games/lib/anawords used by ­ana

­/sys/games/lib/plumb/∗ miscellaneous files used by ­plumb

­/sys/games/lib/quiz/∗ miscellaneous files used by ­quiz

­/sys/games/lib/life/∗ interesting starting positions

Plan 9  —  January 03, 1993