GnomerMind Manual
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# Using GnomerMind

`GnomerMind` is a simple yet intriguing cunning and logic game. It disposes randomly a certain number of coloured tokens in a row. The objective of the game is to guess the disposition of the tokens.

In order to do the correct guess, you can count on logic, and a little bit of luck. Infact after every guess, `GnomerMind` will give you two hints: how many tokens you've put in the correct place (both the token's colour and its position are correct) and how many tokens are present in the solution row but not in the position you put them (i.e.: only the token's colour is correct.)

This section describes basic usage of `GnomerMind`.

## Basic usage

Starting `GnomerMind` opens the Game window and the Palette window. The game board is initially empty, while the palette window shows all the possible tokens and an operation icon.

Basically, the first thing to do is to select a token and place it in the "active" row. To do this, you have some different possibilities; just do whatever you want... GnomerMind is designed to allow you to do almost anything you can think of, to be just as immediate as possible!

Select a token from the palette, and put it in the row:

  You can select a token from the Palette window, by left-clicking on it (for left-handed mice, right-clicking). It will be "picked up" and an hole will appear instead; now you've selected it, you can click on any empty hole of the active row (the first without hint pins, starting from the bottom of the field) to place it there. The pin remains selected, after this, by default; in the Preferences dialog you can specify a different behaviour.

  To put down a token, just select another one, or click on the empty hole

Select a token from the game field:

  You can also select tokens from the active row, or from a row you've yet composed and evaluated: just click on the desired token. Of course, if you select one from a yet-done row, you won't get a hole in that row; and if you have another token still selected, and click on a token of the active row, you'll only place there the selected one.

"Direct" placing:

  If you right click on a token, either in the Palette window or in the Game field, you will directly place it in the first empty place. The currently selected colour won't change.

"Random" placing:

  If you right click on an empty hole, you will place in it a random token. This is somehow "smart"; infact, if the field to guess doesn't contain repetitions (that is, if the proper rule is set), it won't place repeated tokens; and the currently selected colour won't change.

Use the keyboard:

  You can play using the keyboard as well: use the default key-bindings or customize them via the Preferences Dialog to speed up the token selection and release operations. See next paragraph for further details.

When the row is complete, the check icon in the palette window will activate changing its shape. If you click on it, `GnomerMind` will evaluate your guess. On the left hand of the game window you will see some pins. Their colour and/or shape change when you change the theme. In any case, they will tell you how many correct guesses you did. You can read a "textual" evaluation of your guess in the application's statusbar, at the bottom of the main window. For instance, in the Classic theme, you will find black and white pins. Each black pin means: "both the colour and the position of one token are correct." Each white pin means: "the colour of one token is correct. Not its position."

| Note that you still have to guess which is the token the pin refers to: the position of the pins doesn't match tokens' positions.

When you'll have guessed all the tokens correctly, the solution will be displayed, and a nice jingle will be played. You'll have won! Rejoice! :)) Now, to start another game, just click on the action icon (whose shape will be different), or press the action key (see below), or just close the solution window.

If you finish all the available rounds, you'll lose! Again, the solution will be displayed, and you'll hear a teasing voice... ;) Don't get angry, and do the same as before to start another game!

## Default keys

To select a token from the palette:

  Numbers from 1 (1st position) to 0 (10th position)

To select a place in the board to put the token:

  Letters from Q (1st position) to Y (6th position)

To evaluate the guess/close the solution window:

  Spacebar

Anyway, you can see and change these bindings in the Preferences Dialog.

## Menus

The menu bar, located at the top of the Main Window, contains the following menus:

File

  This menu contains:

  - New Game — This starts a new game.

  - Save and Exit — This saves the current game and exit. Next time you run `GnomerMind` you will continue the old game, if you don't choose otherwise with a commandline switch.

  - Exit — This quits the game.

Game

  This menu contains:

  - Restart Game — This restarts the current game.

  - End Game — This closes the current game and show you the solution. You will lose!

  - Preferences — This opens the Preferences Dialog, which allows you to configure many settings.

Help

  This menu contains:

  - Gnomermind — This opens the `GNOME Help Browser` and displays this manual.

  - About — This opens the About dialog which shows basic informations about `GnomerMind`, such as the author's name, the application version number, and the URL for the application's Web page.

  - About theme — This opens another About dialog which shows informations about the current theme.

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