NAME

boggletool − play a game of boggle

SYNOPSIS

/usr/games/boggletool [ number ] [ +[+]] [ 16-character string ]

AVAILABILITY

This game is available with the Games software installation option.  Refer to Installing the SunOS for information on how to install optional software. 

DESCRIPTION

boggletool allows you to play the game of Boggle (TM Parker Bros.) against the computer.  The number argument specifies the time limit in minutes (the default is 3 minutes).  If a 16 character long string is placed on the command line, it is interpreted as a Boggle board: the first four letters form the top row, the next four letters the second row, etc.  If no letters are specified, a board is randomly rolled by the computer from a set of Boggle cubes.  The +[+] argument is explained below under Advanced Play . 

PLAYING THE GAME

Rules of the Game

The object of Boggle is to find as many words as possible in a 4 by 4 grid of letters within a certain time limit.  Words may be formed from any sequence of 3 or more adjacent letters in the grid.  The letters may join horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  Normally, no letter in the grid may be used more than once in a word (see Advanced Play for exceptions). 

Playing the Game

When invoked, boggletool displays a grid of letters and an hourglass.  To enter words, simply type in lower case letters to spell the word you want.  Use any whitespace (SPACE, TAB, or NEWLINE) to finish a word.  To correct mistakes you make, use BACKSPACE or DEL to delete the last character, or use CTRL-U to delete an entire word.  boggletool verifies that words you enter are both in the grid and are valid English words.  If you type in a character which would form a word which is not in the grid, the display will flash and the character you typed will not be echoed.  When you type any whitespace to end the current word, boggletool will verify that the word is three or more letters long and that it appears in the dictionary.  If the word you typed is illegal for either reason, the display will flash and you will have to either erase the word or change it.  If you try to enter a valid word which you have already entered, the display will flash and the previous occurrence of the word will be highlighted.  Again, you will have to erase the word before continuing.  As you enter words, the “sand” in the hourglass will fall.  At the end of the time limit, the display will flash and you will no longer be allowed to enter words.  After a moment, the computer will display two lists of words: the words you found, and other words which also appear in the grid.  To play another game, just type any capital letter (or use the pop-up menu). 

Using the Menu

The pop-up menu is invoked by pressing the RIGHT mouse button.  There are four items in it, and they work as follows. 

Restart Game
Create a new boggletool a new board, reset the timer, and allow you to start from scratch.

Restart Timer
Allows you to cheat by reseting the hourglass timer to zero.

Give Up
End the game and print the results immediately.

Quit Allows you to quit running the boggletool program.  A prompt appears asking you to confirm the quit; when it does, click the LEFT mouse button to quit or the RIGHT mouse button to abort the quit. 

Advanced Play

There are two options for advanced players.  If a single + appears on the command line, letters in the grid may be reused.  If two +’s are on the command line, letters may also be considered adjacent to themselves as well as to their neighbors.  Although it is far easier to find words with these two options, there are also many more possible words in the grid and it is therefore difficult to find them all. 

FILES

/usr/games/boggledict
dictionary file for computer’s words

Sun Release 4.0  —  Last change: 22 March 1989