Barry Neilsen 1999

When you start the game, you will see a grid of tiles like this:

All you have to do is click on matching pairs of tiles to make them disappear.    The idea is to clear the board as quickly as possible.  However, there's a catch.  For a pair of tiles to be cleared, they must either be right next to each other, or there must be a route through clear space between them.  A 'route' in this case is a line with no more than three segments.  This is much easier to see than to describe, so have a look at the next picture so see what I mean:

And that's about all there is to it.  The program is menu driven.  You can choose several different board sizes - ranging from the small but tricky to the large and downright ridiculous.  There's a high score table to record the fastest times for each board size.  And there's a feature for game solving and finding the next move if you get stuck.  Not all games are soluble with smaller board sizes, and you can choose from a range of known soluble games to save yourself some torture.

If you want to have a go yourself, the program is free to download.  It's a Java application, and the download just contains a bunch of Java class files (no Windows executables, scripts or other macros).  I'm afraid you'll need to do a little hands on installation to get the thing up and running.  Though if you already know Java, this shouldn't be a problem.

As I just mentioned, the game is a Java application.  This means it needs a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in order to run.  Don't worry, one of these already comes with Windows.  (Of course, being a Java application the game should run on any platform that supports Java, but I haven't tried it anywhere else.)  Anyway, the JVM that comes with Windows is called JView.exe, and you should have it in your Windows folder.  If you don't have this program (or something like it), then I'm afraid you can go no further.  Otherwise, please follow these instructions:

• Download this zip file.  (It's just under 200K, most of which is the list of known soluble games!)
• Create a folder C:\JShisen on your hard drive.  (You may choose a different folder, see below.)
• Unzip the download file to this folder.
• Locate the example Windows shortcut in the files you just unzipped. 
• [ Optional: If you chose a different folder than C:\JShisen, modify the shortcut's Start in: field to match your folder. ]
• [ Optional: If the path to your JVM isn't C:\Windows\JView.exe, modify the shortcut's Target: field accordingly. ]
• Click on the shortcut to start the game.
• [ Optional: Copy the shortcut to your desktop to make it easier to find. ]

If you have any problems with the game, or would like to see the source code, please mail me.  If you're having trouble seeing the tiles on your display, here's an alternative set.

Have fun ...

BJN - October 99