http://www.mindsack.com/sg/index.htm
I haven't seen this game anywhere else. I think the author just made it up.
Click on his "Instructions" to get
http://www.mindsack.com/?p=10
but they are not very clear.
Select "View | Page Source" to see the Javascript code that runs the game.
That's not very clear either.
But it's the only way I could figure out what it actually does. It looks like ...
STAINED GLASS
This is a good game for painters and visual artists or
those who understand the primary colors (red, blue, yellow)
and their complements (green, orange, purple).
The point is to turn all the tiles black except the last one. Then you win.
It's not always possible, so when you get into a situation where
no more moves are available to you, the game will say
"Sorry, but you are stuck." Then you lose.
You play by moving one tile at a time, in one of eight directions,
hopping it over it's neighbor and onto a tile two spaces away.
Just like checkers.
But depending on the colors involved, only certain jumps are allowed,
so you have to be careful.
Tiles are "moved" by clicking on one of them (shown with a black-border),
and then clicking on a destination (shown with a red-border).
Briefly, what happens is the color of your tile is "subtracted" from whatever
tile you hop over, and "added" to the tile that you land on. There must
"be room" for your color in both places, or the move is not allowed.
That is, you can only hop over colors that contain yours
(so the subtraction can happen properly), and then land on either
your same color or a color that doesn't already contain yours
(so the addition can happen properly).
That's about it.
Go play.
If you're still wandering, then detailed instructions follow . . .
1) CONCEPT: COLOR ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION
Brush up on your painting. The game uses an artists palette,
adding and subtracting colored tiles the same way oil paints are mixed.
There are eight colors to understand.
The
Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.
Those are the base colors that cannot be broken down into other components.
Adding/mixing two primary colors makes a
Secondary color:
. . . red + blue = purple
. . . blue + yellow = green
. . . yellow + red = orange
Add all three primary colors to make white:
. . . red + blue + yellow = white
Remove all colors, and you have black (an empty space with no tile on it).
. . . white - red - blue - yellow = black
A secondary color and the primary color that it's MISSING
are called "complementary". Thus, adding a primary to it's
Complement
makes a complete collection of colors (seen as white)!
. . . Primary + Complement = white
. . . red + green = red + (yellow+blue) = white
. . . blue + orange = blue + (red+yellow) = white
. . . yellow + purple = yellow + (blue+red) = white
The same arithmetic works for subtraction too, if you remember that
. . . white = (blue+red+yellow)
If you subtract a primary color from white you get it's complement.
. . . white - Primary = Complement
. . . white - red = (blue+red+yellow) - red = blue+yellow leftover = green
. . . white - blue = (blue+red+yellow) - blue = red+yellow leftover = orange
. . . white - yellow = (blue+red+yellow) - yellow = red+blue leftover = purple
With this knowledge the game actually makes sense.
2) SELECT A TILE TO MOVE
As you move your mouse cursor around the board,
some squares are highlighted with gray or black borders.
The gray ones have "no moves available". But the black ones can
be selected, thus displaying the "possible moves" with a red-border.
The red-border tiles are the destinations to which you may move
the black-border one.
The destinations are always two positions away from the tile you selected.
Which destinations are legal/possible depends on the colors involved.
If you don't like your selection, click the black-border tile once more to un-select it.
3) MOVE THE TILE
Once a few other squares have a red-border, click one of them
to "move" your selection to that place.
Moving a tile does three things:
a) It removes all color from the first tile, making it black.
b) It adds THAT color to the destination tile, making it brighter or closer to white.
c) It subtracts THAT color from the middle tile (in between them), making it darker or closer to black.
So the more you move, the darker the board gets overall.
4) WHAT IS A LEGAL MOVE?
To be a legal (allowed) move,
it must be possible to subtract and add colors in this manner.
A) THE MIDDLE TILE gets color subtracted from it
so it must contain your initial color within it, for the subtraction to occur.
White contains all colors, so any color tile can jump over it.
. . . white - red = becomes green
. . . white - purple = becomes yellow
. . . white - yellow = becomes purple
Purple contains red and blue, so only red or blue or purple can jump over it.
Red contains only red, so only red can jump over it.
Black contains no color, so no colored tiles can jump over it
(No color can be extracted or subtracted from black).
The exception: all primary colors are considered equal here.
Any primary color can be subtracted from another primary, and becomes black.
B) THE DESTINATION TILE gets color added to it, so it must
be missing or "have space" for your initial color, for the addition to occur.
For example, YELLOW can move to red, blue, purple, or black
because there is no yellow in there yet.
. . . yellow + black = becomes yellow
. . . yellow + red = becomes orange
. . . yellow + blue = becomes green
. . . yellow + purple = yellow + (blue+red) = white
. . . yellow + yellow = stays yellow
. . . yellow + orange = yellow + (red+yellow) = still just orange (not allowed, no room for more yellow!)
. . . yellow + green = yellow + (blue+yellow) = still just green (not allowed, no room for more yellow!)
. . . yellow + white = not allowed, yellow is already there.
Anything can be added to black, to produce the same color.
Anything can be added to itself, to produce the same color.
At this point, you may tell me to shut up. I'd like to go for a swim now.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace