# The &kjumpingcube; Handbook

## Introduction

### Gametype:

Strategy, Dice

### Number of possible players:

Two

&kjumpingcube; is a simple tactical game. You can play it against the computer or a friend - or you can set up a game between two computer players and just watch.

The playing area is a box of cubes containing points. When the game starts each cube has one point, no owner and a neutral color. If you click on a neutral cube it becomes yours, changes to your color and increases by one point. Your objective is to capture all the cubes, but now it is your opponent's turn.

Players move and add points by clicking on neutral cubes or their own cubes. The only way to capture your opponent's cubes and win the game is to increase cube values until they reach a maximum and expand into neighboring cubes. Then those cubes can become yours. Sometimes a neighbor will also reach a maximum value and a cascade of moves will spread across the board. Large numbers of cubes can suddenly change hands and this is where the game becomes interesting and challenging.

## How to Play

### Objective:

Take over all the cubes on the game board.

&kjumpingcube; loads directly into game mode, so you can start playing right away. If Player 1 is a computer player, you must click to get started.

You move by clicking on a neutral cube or one you already own. If you click on a neutral cube, you gain ownership over it and the cube’s color changes to your playing color. Each time you click on a cube, the value of the cube increases by one. If the cube's value reaches a maximum, some of its points move to the cube’s immediate neighbors (the points jump around). If a neighboring cube happens to be owned by the other player, it is captured, together with all of its points, and changes to your playing color.

### Example:

If a cube in the centre reaches five points, four of its points go to its four neighbors leaving the source cube with one point. It is possible to start a cascade of automatic moves if any of the neighbors cubes also reaches a maximum.

### Note:

Large parts of the playing area can change hands very rapidly. You can use animation settings to help you follow what is happening then. See the Game Configuration section for more details.

The winner is the player who ends up owning all the cubes on the board.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### Rules

1. A move consists of clicking on a cube that does not belong to your opponent.

2. The move increases the points in the cube by one.

3. At the start of the game, each cube has one point, is painted in a neutral color and has no owner.

4. Each player has a color to mark the ownership of cubes.

5. By clicking a cube that has no owner, the player becomes the owner of that cube and it changes its color to the player's color. Simultaneously the cube’s value is increased by one.

6. If a cube has more points than it has neighbors, one point jumps to each of the neighbors.

7. During such a move, all the neighboring cubes become owned by the player who moved and so do all of their points, even if the neighbors were neutral or owned by the other player.

8. Neighbors are the cubes located above, below, at left or at right, but not diagonally. Corner cubes have two neighbors, edge cubes have three and center cubes have four.

9. If a move leaves a neighbor with a maximum number of points, the move continues automatically to the neighbor's neighbors and so on, in a cascade. A large number of cubes can change ownership during such a move.

10. The winner is the player who ends up owning all the cubes.

11. You can use Settings Configure &kjumpingcube;... to select colors, computer players, move animations and board size. Each computer player can have its own style and skill level. If not playing, it can provide hints to the corresponding human player. You can also pit one computer player against another and watch the outcome. See the Game Configuration section for more details.

### Strategies and Tips

- If you have a cube which is right next to an opponent's cube, try to stay ahead by increasing before your opponent does.

- If such a cube is weaker or equal to the opponent's, try to avoid increasing: you cannot win that arms race.

- Look for opportunities to increase and capture, but beware of your opponent being able to reply by starting a cascade.

- Try to get control of the corner cubes first, then the edge cubes. You need fewer moves to make them reach a maximum and expand.

- Try not to play too close to your opponent, especially during the opening moves. Drop back a cube or two or pick a cube on the diagonal from your opponent.

- Keep an eye out for long chains of cubes that are almost at their maximum. If they are yours, you must guard them against cascading moves. If they are your opponent's, they can become ripe for capture by a cascading move, just as soon as they are close enough to your territory.

- Watch some demonstrations of one computer player against another, selecting a small board and slow animation, and you will see how the rules apply and how cascading moves work (especially near the end of the game).

## Interface Overview

### The Game Menu

&Ctrl;N Game New

- Start a new game.

&Ctrl;O Game Load...

- Open a previously saved game.

&Ctrl;S Game Save

- Save the current game.

Game Save As...

- Save the current game with a different name.

&Esc; Game Stop

- End the computer's calculation of a move or finish off the animation stage of a move. If calculating, the computer will choose the best move it has found so far. Note that this action and its toolbar button are disabled most of the time and are enabled only while the computer is calculating or animating a move.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

- Quits &kjumpingcube;.

### The Move Menu

&Ctrl;Z Move Undo

- Undo the last move you made. Only one move, the very last one, can be undone in this game.

H Move Hint

- Get a hint as to the best move to make next. The hint is calculated by computer player 1 or 2, depending on whether you are player 1 or 2. See the Game Configuration section for more details.

### The Settings Menu

Settings Show Toolbar

- Toggle the display of the toolbar.

Settings Show Statusbar

- Toggle the display of the status bar.

Settings Configure Shortcuts...

- Open a dialog where you can configure the shortcut keys for &kjumpingcube;.

Settings Configure Toolbars...

- Open a dialog where you can configure the toolbar actions for &kjumpingcube;.

Settings Configure &kjumpingcube;...

- Open a game configuration dialog. See the Game Configuration section for more details.

### The Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

### The &kjumpingcube; Toolbar

New

- Start a new game.

Save

- Save the current game.

Stop

- End the computer's calculation of a move or finish off the animation stage of a move. If calculating, the computer will choose the best move it has found so far. Note that this toolbar button is disabled most of the time and is enabled only while the computer is calculating or animating a move.

Hint

- Get a hint as to the best move to make next. The hint is calculated by computer player 1 or 2, depending on whether you are player 1 or 2. See the Game Configuration section for more details.

Undo

- Undo the last move you made.

## Frequently asked questions

I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?

Currently you can only change the player's colors, but not the game theme. To change the player's colors use the Game Configuration dialog.

Can I use the keyboard to play the game?

No. &kjumpingcube; cannot be played using the keyboard.

What does the Stop button do?

This button is enabled only while the computer is calculating or animating a move, usually very briefly. It can be used to interrupt the computer if it is taking too long, then it will choose the best move available to it so far or finish off the animation.

Where are the high scores?

&kjumpingcube; does not have such a feature.

## Game Configuration

To open the configuration dialog use the menubar option: Settings Configure &kjumpingcube;... On Apple Mac OS X use option: &kjumpingcube;Preferences.

The configuration dialog has panels of options for Computer Player 1, Computer Player 2, Board Size, Players' Colors, Cascade Move Display and Cascade Move Time.

The last two panels control the optional animation display when a cube reaches its maximum and spills over into neighboring cubes, possibly starting an extended cascade of moves. It is easiest at first to use the Scatter dots animation and a long move time when trying to follow the progress of cascade moves.

The first two panels control the style and level of each computer player's play and whether that player should actually play or just provide hints to human player 1 or 2.

Playing now

- Sets Computer Player 1 or 2 to be actively playing or just assisting a human player with hints. Normally you would set the computer to play one player and you would play the other, but you can have two computer players and just watch. Player 1 always starts first.

Style of Play

- Sets Computer Player 1 or 2 to play as Kepler or Newton. Kepler chooses moves by the same method as earlier versions of &kjumpingcube;. Newton uses a different method.

Computer Skill

- Lets you choose a computer player's playing skill from a slider. This decides how clever the computer opponent will be.

  You can choose from Beginner, Average or Expert.

Board Size

- Lets you choose the size of the play area.

  Use the slider to select a value between 3x3 cubes and 10x10 cubes.

Players' Colors

- Choose a color for each player and for the neutral cubes.

Cascade Move Display

- Choose an animation style for when a cube reaches its maximum and expands into neighboring cubes, possibly starting a cascade of such moves and covering a large area of the board.

  Use the radio buttons to select from None (no pauses), where the whole move is displayed instantaneously; Darken and pause, where each overloaded cube darkens until it is time for it to expand; Blink rapidly, where each overloaded cube darkens at first and then blinks rapidly when it is time for it to expand and Scatter dots, where each overloaded cube darkens at first and then fires dots into neighboring cubes when it is time for it to expand.

Cascade Move Time

- Use a slider to select from a range of times, from Short to Long, to be spent on animations. The times depend a little on the type of animation, but can range from 0.15 seconds to 1.5 seconds for each stage of a cascade move.

## Credits and License

&kjumpingcube; is Copyright 1998, 1999 &Matthias.Kiefer; &Matthias.Kiefer.mail;

&kjumpingcube; was inspired by a game that came out for the Commodore 64 and other early home computers. Unfortunately the original author's name is unknown.

In 2007, Ian Wadham took over maintenance of &kjumpingcube; for &kde; 4 and Eugene Trounev painted the first SVG theme.

In 2012, Ian developed version 2.0, adding the animation styles, allowing board sizes down to 3x3 and writing completely new artificial intelligence modules that offer more of a challenge to a human player.

Documentation Copyright 1999 &Matthias.Kiefer; &Matthias.Kiefer.mail;

Documentation updated for &kde; 2 and 3 by &Lauri.Watts; &Lauri.Watts.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

&install.intro.documentation;

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;
&documentation.index;