PFP Software GmbH: Boards

W E L C O M E T O B O A R D S

BOARDS is a logic puzzle game for one player.
It is suitable for all ages.

Objective and Rules

The objective of the game is to form groups of five or more pieces of the same color. The pieces of a group must be connected vertically or horizontally. If the player manages to build such a group, all pieces in that group will be removed from the board and the score will be increased. Otherwise a number of new pieces will be placed automatically on the board at random positions.

The player can move one single piece per move. A move is permitted, only if there is a free path to the target point.

Well formed group
	These pieces will be removed because they are connected horizontally or vertically.

Invalid group
	These pieces will not be removed because the pieces in the lowest row are connected diagonally to the group.

Blocked path
	The path of the green piece to the upper left corner is blocked by the other pieces.

Usage

To move a piece, click on the piece, then click on the target point. The piece will be moved automatically to the target point, if a path is found. There must not be a piece at the target point.

Strategy hints

At the beginning of the game there are only few pieces on the board. It is easy to form groups, because the pieces can be moved freely across the board. But as the game progresses, the board is filled up with more and more pieces and finding a free path becomes harder and harder. Therefore, it is important, to remove groups of pieces regularly. The positions near the center of the board are more important than the positions near the edge. The player should try to keep the center positions clear.

System Requirements

BOARDS is a Java 2 application. In order to run BOARDS you must have a copy of the Java^TM 2 Runtime Environment version 1.4.0 or above (also called JRE 1.4) installed on your machine.

For MS Windows^TM compatible PCs PFP Software GmbH supplies Windows^TM-style installation programs for BOARDS with or without JRE included. If you already have a suitable JRE installed on your machine, you can use the smaller installer without the JRE.
For all other operating systems, visit Suns website at java.sun.com to find out how to obtain and install a JRE for your operating system. After installing the JRE on your machine, unpack the zip file edition of BOARDS into an empty directory.

If you have previously installed an older version of the JRE or Java 2 SDK, uninstall it before installing the JRE 1.4.

License

If you want to use BOARDS, you are bound by the provisions of the BOARDS license agreement (see BoardsLicense.txt). BOARDS is neither Freeware nor Shareware. Without prior written consent of PFP Software GmbH BOARDS must not be published on the internet or on CD-ROM.