# The &kshisen; Handbook

## Introduction

### Gametype:

Arcade, Board

### Number of possible players:

One

&kshisen; is a solitaire-like game played using the standard set of Mahjong tiles. Unlike Mahjong however, &kshisen; has only one layer of scrambled tiles. You can remove matching pieces if they can be connected with a line with at most two bends in it. At the same time, the line must not cross any other tiles. To win a game of &kshisen; the player has to remove all the tiles from the game board.

## How to Play

&kshisen; gameboard

### Objective:

Remove all the tiles from the game board within the shortest time possible.

&kshisen; will load a default layout automatically once you start the game and you can start playing right away.

You should carefully study the tiles lied out on the game board and find two tiles matching exactly. When you have found such a pair use your mouse to select them.

Once you select a matching pair of tiles they will vanish from the game board. However, even if the tiles you select appear as open they will only be removed from the board if they can be connected with a line having at most two bends and not crossing any other tiles. Furthermore the line can only be drawn horizontally and vertically.

Find as many matches as possible to remove all the tiles from the game board.

## Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

### Rules

Standard Mahjong set of tiles includes:

Group name | Tile name | Quantity in a set
Dots |  |
| 1 of Dots | 2
| 2 of Dots | 2
| 3 of Dots | 2
| 4 of Dots | 2
| 5 of Dots | 2
| 6 of Dots | 2
| 7 of Dots | 2
| 8 of Dots | 2
| 9 of Dots | 2
Bamboos |  |
| 1 of Bamboos | 2
| 2 of Bamboos | 2
| 3 of Bamboos | 2
| 4 of Bamboos | 2
| 5 of Bamboos | 2
| 6 of Bamboos | 2
| 7 of Bamboos | 2
| 8 of Bamboos | 2
| 9 of Bamboos | 2
Characters |  |
| 1 of Characters | 2
| 2 of Characters | 2
| 3 of Characters | 2
| 4 of Characters | 2
| 5 of Characters | 2
| 6 of Characters | 2
| 7 of Characters | 2
| 8 of Characters | 2
| 9 of Characters | 2
Winds |  |
| East Wind | 2
| South Wind | 2
| West Wind | 2
| North Wind | 2
Dragons |  |
| Red Dragon | 2
| Green Dragon | 2
| White Dragon | 2
Flowers |  |
| Plum (1) | 1
| Lily (2) | 1
| Chrysanthemum (3) | 1
| Bamboo (4) | 1
Seasons |  |
| Spring (1) | 1
| Summer (2) | 1
| Autumn (3) | 1
| Winter (4) | 1

- Matching tiles are such tiles where the face pictograms match exactly.

#### Note:

There are exceptions to this rule. In the traditional game of Mahjong each tile has a matching one except for the Flowers and Seasons tiles.

- The Flowers tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each other.

- The Seasons tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each other.

- Tiles can only be removed if they can be connected with a maximum of three connected lines that do not cross any other tile. Lines can be horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal.

#### Note:

You do not have to draw the lines by yourself, the game does this for you. Just mark two matching tiles on the board, if they can be connected by a line with at most two bends, the line is drawn and the tiles are removed.

- Lines may only cross empty areas of the board.

- Some games are unsolvable. If you would like to avoid unsolvable games check the option Create solvable games only in the configuration dialog.

- The scores are awarded for the time the player needs to remove all the tiles from the game board. Games with more tiles give more scores.

- If you played with the Gravity setting enabled, the score will be doubled.

- To be eligible for a place amongst the high scores player has to complete a game instance within the shortest period of time possible.

#### Note:

If the player uses the Undo or Hint feature the record will not be considered as a high score.

### Tips

Click on a tile with the &RMB; to highlight all matching tiles on the board. Unlike using the Undo or Hint feature, this help is allowed without being considered cheating.

## Interface Overview

### Menu Items

#### The Game Menu

The Game menu lets you control the status of the current game:

&Ctrl;N Game New

- Finishes the current game and starts a new session with new tiles.

F5 Game Restart Game

- Restarts the current game with the same tiles.

P Game Pause

- Pauses the game, especially the timer which affects the scoring. The menu entry is also used for resuming the game.

&Ctrl;H Game Show High Scores

- Shows your top ten charts of &kshisen;.

&Ctrl;Q Game Quit

- Quits &kshisen;.

Some of the menu items can also be controlled by keyboard shortcuts. See key-bindings for a list.

#### The Move Menu

&Ctrl;Z Move Undo

- Undoes the last step. Same as the Undo button in the toolbar.

&Ctrl;&Shift;Z Move Redo

- Redoes the last step. Same as the Redo button in the toolbar.

H Move Hint

- Shows a hint, which two tiles to remove next.

#### The Settings Menu

Settings Play Sounds

- Plays a sound when you touch a tile by clicking with it the &LMB; and when a tile is falling down playing with Gravity enabled.

Settings Configure &kshisen;...

- Opens the configuration dialog to change &kshisen; settings.

Additionally &kshisen; has the common &kde; Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the &kde; Fundamentals.

### Default Key Bindings

Default shortcuts are:

New | &Ctrl;N
Restart Game | F5
Pause | P
Show High Scores | &Ctrl;H
Quit | &Ctrl;Q
Undo | &Ctrl;Z
Redo | &Ctrl;&Shift;Z
Hint | H
&kshisen; Handbook | F1
What's This | &Ctrl;&Shift;F1

## Frequently asked questions

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

Yes. To change the way &kshisen; looks use the menubar to open the configuration utility.

Can I use keyboard?

No. This game does not feature a keyboard play mode.

I have to quit the game now, but I am not finished yet. Can I save my progress?

No. This game does not feature a Save option.

## Game Configuration

Selecting the Settings Configure &kshisen;... menu item will open a configuration dialog which lets you alter the behavior of the game.

&kshisen; configuration dialog &kshisen; configuration dialog

## General page

Gravity

- Checking this makes the game even harder: If a tile is removed, all tiles lying above it will fall down one step.

Create solvable games only

- If checked, you will only be presented with games that are possible to solve. Note: Even in solvable games you can fail to complete if you remove the tiles in the wrong order.

Use Chinese style: any flower match any flower, any season match any season

- Use the traditional rules for matching the tiles. Previous version of &kshisen; used to allow only exact tiles matches, which is inconsistent with Mahjong rules. It is recommended to keep this option checked.

Tiles can slide, but you can connect only in 2 lines instead of 3

- This option changes the rules to the point where it almost becomes a completely different game. When it is active, you can remove the tiles only if they can be connected by a line consisting of one or two segments instead of the customary three. However, you are allowed to slide the tiles on the board, if the row or column where they are placed has some empty space. To make a sliding move, you have to click first on the tile in the column or row that can slide, and then on the matching tile. If there are two possible sliding moves, blue lines are shown indicating these moves. You then have to click on one of the two lines to choose your preferred move.

Board Difficulty

- The slider controls the difficulty of the board (i.e. how much the tiles are shuffled) from Easy to Hard.

Piece Removal Speed

- Adjusting this slider alters the speed at which the pieces are removed from the screen after a match has been made.

Board Size

- This slider allows you to change the number of tiles on the board. The more tiles you have, the harder (and longer) the game will be.

Tiles and Background page

- Select you favorite design for tiles and background.

Help

- Opens &kshisen; help pages (this document).

OK

- Saves your changes and closes the dialog.

Apply

- Saves your changes but does not close the dialog.

Cancel

- Discards all your changes and closes the dialog.

## Credits and License

&kshisen; Copyright 1997 &Mario.Weilguni; &Mario.Weilguni.mail;

&kshisen; Copyright 2002-2004 Dave Corrie kde@davecorrie.com

&kshisen; Copyright 2009-2012 &Frederik.Schwarzer; &Frederik.Schwarzer.mail;

Documentation Copyright 2000 &Dirk.Doerflinger; ddoerflinger@gmx.net

Documentation Copyright 2009-2010 &Frederik.Schwarzer; &Frederik.Schwarzer.mail;

&underFDL; &underGPL;
&documentation.index;