LABIRINT.
Multi player game in the maze.

WHERE IT CAME FROM?

Back in early 80's when I was a student at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology we used to play this game in the dorm. One person created a map of maze on a sheet of paper. The map was kept in secret from the players. Players declared their actions to 'christos' (that's how the map keeper was called). He announced results of their actions. That was a lot of fun for players, usually less for 'christos'. Some guys tried to make computer programs for 'christosing'. Well, there were no computers in the dorms and to use computer labs for this kind of entertainment was not very convenient. So the idea vanished. 
Some time ago I choose to make this program as an exercise while learning to program Newton. I found that the game still could be fun to play (now with my family). I decided to share it with the world - someone else might like it as well.

THE ROOLS

The action takes place inside square maze 10x10 cells. There are internal walls separating cells and external walls with exits. There are 4 exits - one in each wall. Players make their moves in turns. In one turn player can do any combination of following actions: try to move one cell in any direction, make one gun shot and explode one bomb. Actions and there results are declared publicly, so every player know everything what happen to others. In the beginning of the game each player knows his own position in the maze, but not positions of the others.

The object of the game is to find hidden treasure and take it out through the exit. Every player is equipped with bombs to demolish internal walls and a gun to shoot other players. Both bombs and gun shells are in limited supply, but can be obtained outside the maze. The player who has been shot reappears in some random place in the maze - empty. All the things he was carrying (including booty) are left at the place where he was shot. Anyone can peek up these left things, but the number of bombs and shells the player can carry is limited.

There are two other dangers aside from bloodthirsty competitors, which would cause you to loose track of your current position - trap holes and one-way path. These thing are fixed on the map though, so later after you explored the maze you can use them to hide you tracks from others or for quick transportation.

Trap hole has an entry and an exit. The player who moved on the cell with trap hole entry is immediately transported to the cell with its exit. There are 3 different trap holes in the maze.

One-way path works by moving the player in fixed direction every time the player tries to move anywhere. The player will know he was moving one-way only when he will step off the path. While on the path every intended move of the player is OK'ed by 'christos' (Newton), so the player thinks he is moving where he wants, while in fact he is moving along the path. There is only one path in the maze four cells long.

THE PROGRAM

There are three main areas on the screen. At the top there is a history area where actions of players are recorded. In the lower left is players table. It shows players names, number of bombs and gun shells the player has. The player carrying booty is marked in the table. In the lower right there are panels for selecting action and direction. To perform an action select the player in the table, select an action (move, shoot or explode) and push 'Do It' button. The result will be reported in top area.

There is one game menu. To start new game and create new maze select 'New game'. To end the game and see the map of the maze select 'End game'. The map will also be shown after one of the players brings booty through the exit, thus wining the game. Adding and removing players is straightforward. Do not forget to select your initial position, otherwise you will start in the dark.

FEW HINTS

Draw your movements and movements of other players on graph paper. Do not forget to mark walls. All players movements help to reveal the map of the maze.

Players are not required to share their knowledge of the map.

If the wall is still there after you exploded the bomb - it is an external wall.

If you do not hit the walls for some time, you might be on the one-way path.

The Newton can be held by only one player, who enters the actions for others and reads results out loud.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

Newton with OS2.0 or beter - one (required).
Graph paper and pencil with eraser - one for each player (recommended).
Beer - six-pack (optional).

WARRANTIES

Sorry, no warranties of any kind. 

CONDITIONS

The program is free for anyone to use and distribute without collecting money.

ENJOY

Send comments and bug reports to avdonin@usa.net

Vladimir Avdonin
Sunday, March 7, 1999