BSD 4_1_snap release
[unix-history] / usr / man / man6 / snake.6
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1.TH SNAKE 6
2.UC 4
3.SH NAME
4snake, snscore \- display chase game
5.SH SYNOPSIS
6.B /usr/games/snake
7[
8.BI \-w n
9] [
10.BI \-l n
11]
12.br
13.B /usr/games/snscore
14.SH DESCRIPTION
15Snake is a display-based game which must be played on a CRT terminal
16from among those supported by vi(1).
17The object of the game is to make as much money as possible without
18getting eaten by the snake.
19The
20.B \-l
21and
22.B \-w
23options allow you to specify the length and width of the field.
24By default the entire screen (except for the last column) is used.
25.PP
26You are represented on the screen by an I.
27The snake is 6 squares long and is represented by S's.
28The money is $, and an exit is #.
29Your score is posted in the upper left hand corner.
30.PP
31You can move around using the same conventions as vi(1),
32the h, j, k, and l keys work, as do the arrow keys.
33Other possibilities include:
34.IP sefc
35These keys are like hjkl but form a directed pad around the d key.
36.IP HJKL
37These keys move you all the way in the indicated direction to the
38same row or column as the money.
39This does
40.I not
41let you jump away from the snake, but rather saves you from having
42to type a key repeatedly.
43The snake still gets all his turns.
44.IP SEFC
45Likewise for the upper case versions on the left.
46.IP ATPB
47These keys move you to the four edges of the screen.
48Their position on the keyboard is the mnemonic, e.g.
49P is at the far right of the keyboard.
50.IP x
51This lets you quit the game at any time.
52.IP p
53Points in a direction you might want to go.
54.IP w
55Space warp to get out of tight squeezes, at a price.
56.IP !
57Shell escape
58.IP ^Z
59Suspend the snake game, on systems which support it.
60Otherwise an interactive shell is started up.
61.PP
62To earn money, move to the same square the money is on.
63A new $ will appear when you earn the current one.
64As you get richer, the snake gets hungrier.
65To leave the game, move to the exit (#).
66.PP
67A record is kept of the personal best score of each player.
68Scores are only counted if you leave at the exit,
69getting eaten by the snake is worth nothing.
70.PP
71As in pinball, matching the last digit of your score to the number
72which appears after the game is worth a bonus.
73.PP
74To see who wastes time playing snake, run
75.I /usr/games/snscore .
76.SH FILES
77.nf
78.ta \w'/usr/games/lib/snakerawscores 'u
79/usr/games/lib/snakerawscores database of personal bests
80/usr/games/lib/snake.log log of games played
81/usr/games/busy program to determine if system too busy
82.DT
83.fi
84.SH BUGS
85.PP
86When playing on a small screen,
87it's hard to tell when you hit the edge of the screen.
88.PP
89The scoring function takes into account the size of the screen.
90A perfect function to do this equitably has not been devised.