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XPIPEMAN(6)			 Games Manual			   XPIPEMAN(6)

NAME
       xpipeman	- connect the pipes to stop the	leaks (X Windows)

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/games/xpipeman

DESCRIPTION
       Xpipeman	 is  a	game  of  skill	requiring the user to connect together
       pieces of a pipe	to allow a liquid to flow through without leaking out.
       The liquid flows	out of the block marked	with an	"S".  The aim  of  the
       game  is	to connect as many pieces of pipe to the start block as	possi-
       ble.

       A random	sequence of blocks is generated	and displayed down  the	 right
       hand  side  of the screen. The next pipe	block that has to be placed is
       under the arrow marked "next". After a block  has  been	placed	a  new
       block  is  displayed  on	the end	of the sequence	and the	next block ap-
       pears under the arrow.

       After a period of time the liquid starts	to flow. It first fills	up the
       "flow start" meter at the right of the screen. When  this  is  full  it
       then  begins  to	 flow  out of the start	block and into any pipe	blocks
       connected to it.

       To finish  successfully each level a certain number of blocks  have  to
       be  connected to	the start. This	is indicated by	the "Remaining"	count.
       This count is decremented as the	liquid flows through the blocks.  This
       is  the	minimum	 number	 of blocks that	must be	connected, any further
       blocks connected	generate extra points. The number of blocks that  must
       be connected increases with each	level.

       To  make	 life more difficult there are also object blocks where	pieces
       of pipe cannot be placed. The number of object  blocks  also  increases
       with each level.

       Blocks  can  be moved and placed	either by using	the mouse and its but-
       tons or by using	the keyboard. For the mouse, button 1 (left) moves the
       next pipe block to the position pointed to by the mouse.	Button 2 (mid-
       dle) places a piece of pipe. Pipes may  not  be	placed	on  the	 start
       block,  objects,	 or  any filled/partially filled pipe sections.	Once a
       block has been placed it	may NOT	be moved.

       At higher levels	some pieces of pipe only let the liquid	flow  one  di-
       rection.	 These	pipe sections have an arrow within them	indicating the
       allowed flow direction. Successful connection of	one of these  sections
       earns extra bonus points.

       The  game is over when the required number of blocks have not been con-
       nected or there are no more levels (I doubt the latter will happen  be-
       fore the	first!).

       The default keyboard setup is as	follows:

	      z	     move one square left

	      x	     move one square right

	      '	     move one square up

	      /	     move one square down

	      spc    place a piece of pipe

	      tab    speed up the flow

       If  no  more  blocks can	be placed then pressing	the tab	key will cause
       the flow	to speed up.

RESOURCES
       xpipeman.scorefile
	      Set this to the path of your personal score file.	 The file will
	      be created if it does not	exist.	The default: ./xpipescores

OPTIONS
       In addition to the normal XToolkit options,  xpipeman  accepts  command
       line options for	the following resource:scorefile

	      For example: xpipeman -scorefile myscorefile

SCORING
       Each  pipe  connected  to the flow scores 10 points. Any	pipe placed on
       top of another piece of empty pipe incurs a penalty of 20  points.  Any
       pipe  not connected to the flow also incurs a penalty, but this time of
       only 10 points. A bonus 40 points is awarded each time there is a  flow
       crossover  and  a  bonus	 of 10 points is awarded for each one way pipe
       used (later levels). The	name for the high score	list  comes  from  the
       USER environment	variable.

FILES
	 ./xpipescores -- the score file

BUGS
       Type  ahead  may	 be  a	problem	on some	slower machines. To reduce the
       problem try to use the mouse instead of the keyboard. (I	have a	SPARC-
       station	which  seems  to work fine!). Other tips to reduce type	ahead:
       plan the	flow by	looking	at the sequence	down the right	hand  side  of
       the screen and most of all don't	panic as the flow approaches!.

AUTHOR
       This was	written	by Nigel Paver

	      JANET: pavern@uk.ac.man.cs

	      INER: pavern%uk.ac.man.cs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk

       with acknowledgements to	Brian Warkentine (brianw@Sun.COM).

				  7 July 1991			   XPIPEMAN(6)

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