# BomberMaze Help: Numeric preferences

This section describes the settings on the Numeric page of the Preferences dialog.

### Initial number of bombs

This controls the maximum number of bombs that a player can drop at the beginning of a round. Once this number has been reached, a player must wait for some of the bombs to explode before being able to drop more.

During the course of a game, a player can increase his or her bomb-drop maximum by obtaining Extra Bomb power-ups.

(default = 1; max = 9; min = 1)

### Initial explosion size

When a bomb explodes, it emits fire in the four cardinal directions. This parameter controls the number of squares that the fire travels when unobstructed.

During the course of a game, a player can increase the explosion size of his or her bombs by obtaining Extra Range power-ups.

(default = 2; max = 9; min = 1)

### Bomb explosion delay (tenths of a second).

This controls how long it takes for a bomb to explode after it has been dropped. Note that this number is not exact. The actual delay may be slightly longer. See the description of the timeout interval in the animation parameters help page for details.

(default = 20 (~2 seconds); max = 600 (~1 minute); min = 1)

### Probability of power-ups (%)

Tbis controls the probability of a power-up appearing after a brick has been destroyed. The probability of getting a specific type of power-up, given that a power-up has appeared, can be customized via the Power-ups property page.

(default = 30%; max = 100%; min = 0%)

The remaining 4 parameters below are measured in terms of number of frames of animation. The frames per second rate is determined by the timeout interval, which is set on the Animation Parameters page.

### Bomb chain reaction delay (frames)

This determines how long it takes for a bomb to explode after it has been hit by fire. Prior to version 0.6.3 of bombermaze, this delay was hard-coded to 0. In other words, bombs exploded immediately, so that a chain reaction of bomb explosions completed itself instantaneously. By choosing a non-zero chain reaction delay, it is possible for quick players to avoid being toasted when they see a chain reaction starting.

(default = 1; max = 10; min = 0)

### Flame Duration (frames)

This controls how long a bomb blast explosion lasts. The duration of an explosion affects the freedom of the players to move around after a bomb or set of bombs has gone off.

(default = 25; max = 100; min = 1)

### Brick shatter duration (frames)

This controls how long it takes for the brick shatter animation to complete. Since the shatter animation consists of three stages, the amount of time spent on each pixmap frame is equal to the total shatter duration divided by three. Fractions are rounded down.

The smaller this value is, the sooner a brick ceases to be an obstacle after it has been hit by fire.

(default = 18; max = 54; min = 3)

### Power-up shatter duration (frames)

This controls how long it takes for the power-up shatter animation to complete. Since the shatter animation consists of three pixmap frames, the amount of time spent on each pixmap frame is equal to the total shatter duration divided by three. Fractions are rounded down.

(default = 18; max = 54; min = 3)

## More documentation

1. Introduction
2. Controls
3. Rules
4. Gameplay
5. Power-ups
6. Custom Mazes
7. Themes