MASTERBALL(6)
NAME
xmball - Masterball X widget
SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/xmball [-geometry
[{width}][x{height}][{+-}{xoff}[{+-}{yoff}]]] [-display
[{host}]:[{vs}]] [-mono] [-{foreground|fg} <color>]
[-{background|bg} <color>] [-{border|bd} <color>]
[-wedge{0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7} <color>] [-wedges <int>] [-rings
<int>] [-[no]orient] [-[no]practice] [-username {string}]
DESCRIPTION
The original puzzle has 8 sectors on a sphere (longitudi-
nal cuts), with each sector divided into 4 segments (lati-
tudinal cuts). There are essentially 3 varieties: Geomas-
ter 8 colors (beachball, default colors in this puzzle),
Duomaster 2 colors (black and white beachball), and a
variety of picture Masterballs. For some reason, they say
the Geomaster is harder than the Duomaster. The picture
Masterballs are the hardest since all the pieces have a
set solved postion. On the Duo and Geo Masterballs pieces
could be swapped or in a different order and still be in a
solved postion. Zurick University's Mathematics faculty
has calculated that Masterball's 32 segments can be
arranged in 355,682,548,566,633,480,192,000,000 different
possible combinations. Masterball was invented by Dr.
Geza Gyovai Hungarian Engineer, manufactured by Whole Sys-
tems Design, Inc..
FEATURES
Press "mouse-left" button to move a sector. Release
"mouse-left" button on another piece and the pieces will
turn towards where the mouse button is released. Usually,
a click and release on the same wedge is ambiguous and the
puzzle will not turn.
Click "mouse-center", or press "P" or "p" keys to toggle
the practice mode (in practice mode the record should say
"practice"). One must double click on "mouse-center" if
the puzzle is being worked on. This is good for learning
moves and experimenting.
Click "mouse-right", or press "R" or "r" keys to randomize
(this must be done first to set a new record). One must
double click on "mouse-right" if the puzzle is being
worked on.
Press "I" or "i" keys to increase the number of rings.
Press "D" or "d" keys to decrease the number of rings.
Press "O" or "o" keys to toggle the orient mode. One has
to orient the wedges in orient mode, besides getting all
the wedges to be the same color. To do this one has to
get the numbers to be on the same side of the ball in
clockwise order.
Press "2", "4", "6", or "8" keys (not the keypad 2, 4, 6,
8) to change to 2, 4, 6, or 8 wedges, respectively. Note:
if there were odd number of wedges, there would be no 180
degree turn and therefore the puzzle would be inoperable.
"S" or "s" are reserved for the auto-solver (unimple-
mented).
Press "U" or "u" keys to undo move.
Press "G" or "g" keys to get a saved puzzle.
Press "W" or "w" keys to write or save a puzzle.
Press "Q", "q", or "CTRL-C" keys to kill program.
Use the key pad, "R" keys, or arrow keys to move without
mouse clicks.
Key pad is defined for Masterball as:
/ Counterclockwise
7 8 9 Upper Left, Up, Upper Right
^
4<5>6 Left, Clockwise, Right
v
1 2 3 Lower Left, Down, Lower Right
Use the control key and the left mouse button, keypad, or
arrow keys to move the whole Masterball. This is not
recorded as a turn.
The title is in the following format (non-motif version):
xmball.{2|4|6|8<wedges>}: <number of sectors per
wedge> @ (<Number of moves>/{<Record number of
moves> <username>|"NEVER noaccess"|"practice"}) -
<Comment>
If there is no record of the current puzzle, it displays
"NEVER noaccess".
OPTIONS
-geometry {+|-}X{+|-}Y
This option sets the initial position of the mas-
terball window (resource name "geometry").
-display host:dpy
This option specifies the X server to contact.
-mono This option allows you to access the mono mode on
a color monitor (resource name "mono").
-{foreground|fg} color
This option specifies the foreground of the mas-
terball window (resource name "foreground").
-{background|bg} color
This option specifies the background of the mas-
terball window (resource name "background").
-{border|bd} color
This option specifies the border color of the sec-
tors in the masterball window (resource name "bor-
derColor").
-wedge{0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7} <<color>>
This option allows you to change the color of a
wedge (resource name "wedgeColorN"). In mono-mode,
color is represented as the first letter of the
color name. The wedges are ordered clockwise. If
you have two colors that begin with the same let-
ter you should have one in uppercase and one in
lowercase to distinguish them in mono-mode. You
can change the colors of the wedges to make a
stupid Masterball (i.e. all White or in mono-mode
all "W"). Unfortunately, it will not normally say
its solved when its randomized. Similarly, with
the Duomasterball (black and white), it may be
solved color-wise but not by its internal repre-
sentation. This would be cheating.
-wedges <<int>>
This option allows you to change the number of
wedges (resource name "wedges").
-rings <<int>>
This option allows you to change the number of
rings (resource name "rings").
-[no]orient
This option allows you to access the orient mode
(resource name "orient").
-[no]practice
This option allows you to access the practice mode
(resource name "practice").
-username string
This option specifies the user name for any
records made or else it will get your login name
(resource name "userName").
SAVE FORMAT
The format is not standard. The reason for this is that
this is simple and I do not know what the standard is.
Masterball numbered clockwise, with default colors, not
randomized:
0 Y Yellow
7 1 D B Dark Green, Blue
6 2 C R Cyan, Red
5 3 O M Orange, Magenta
4 G Green
wedges: 1-8 <number of wedges around ball>
rings: 1-MAXINT <number of slices around ball>
orient: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true; if true then numbers
on puzzle to be oriented and ordered>
practice: 0-1 <0 false, 1 true>
moves: 0-MAXINT <total number of moves>
startingPosition: <2 dimensional array of sector
wedge position, if orient mode then orientation
number follows each wedge number>
This is then followed by the moves, starting from 1.
move #: <wedge> <ring> <direction> <control>
Each turn is with respect to a sector defined by wedge and
ring.
Direction is represented as 0 up, 1 right, 2 down, 3 left,
4 upper right, 5 lower right, 6 lower left, 7 upper left,
9 clockwise, and 15 counterclockwise.
Control is represented as 0 or 1, 1 if the whole ball is
moved at once, 0 if not. The xmball record keeper does
not count a control move as a move, but here we do.
Caution: the program may crash on corrupted input.
REFERENCES
http://wsd.com/masterball
SEE ALSO
X(1) xrubik(6) xskewb(6) xdino(6) xpyraminx(6)
xoct(6) xmlink(6) xpanex(6) xcubes(6) xtriangles(6)
xhexagons(6) xabacus(1)
COPYRIGHTS
(R) Copyright 1994-97, David Albert Bagley
BUG REPORTS AND PROGRAM UPDATES
Send bugs (or their reports, or fixes) to the author
David Albert Bagley, lt;bagleyd@bigfoot.com
The most updated source could be found on ftp.x.org under
/contrib/games/puzzles.