Big Bang Board Games

Table of Contents

Big Bang Board Games.....................................1Finding/Starting a Game...................................2Preferences.........................................................34-In-A-Row.........................................................6Tic Tac Toe..........................................................6Backgammon......................................................7Checkers.............................................................8Chess...................................................................9Mancala..............................................................11Reversi...............................................................12Technical Issues/Help......................................13Credits...............................................................14

Big Bang Board Games and the Macintosh

At the core of Big Bang Board Games is the use of Apple technology and the iApps. Casual games are not best played full screen. People like to play them while surfing, or iChatting or doing a bit of email. Big Bang Board Games recognizes this and becomes part of their Mac OS X experience. You can effortlessly send turns back and forth via email, invite your IM buddy to a match from within the game itself or just scan your local net-work–it’s never been this easy. And once the game starts, the tight integra-tion into Apple’s Address Book, iSight, and your iTunes playlists is just what you’d hope to find.The Big Bang Board games lets you enjoy a casual game within the context of all the great iApps that make using Mac OS X such a pleasure.

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Finding/Starting a Game

There are multiple ways you can start a game once you have launched the Big Bang Board Game:

Solo Game - just click the Solo button at the top of the main window, and a new solo Big Bang Board Game will begin. On the pane that asks which side you’d like to play, there is also a Hot Seat button. Clicking this button will enable two people to play at the same computer.

Multiplayer via iChat - when you start the application, if iChat is run-ning, you will see some of your available buddies displayed at the bottom of the main window. You can click the up and down arrows near them to scroll through the list. When you find a buddy you’d like to play against, move your mouse over their icon and click Invite if they already have the game and Share, if they don’t. When you click Share, a copy of that specific game will be sent to them via iChat, and when you click Invite your friend will be sent your game key. They simply need to accept the key file, double click it, and they’ll automatically join your game.

Multiplayer via Bonjour - For Bonjour LAN play, click the “Network” button.

Multiplayer via e-mail - Big Bang Games can be played by e-mail! Clicking the e-mail button at the top of the screen will start a new game and give you a chance to name it and enter an opponent’s email address. Af-ter you finish a turn, you will have a chance to add comments, and the game will automatically form an email to send the game file to your opponent.

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Preferences

There are a whole range of preferences you can set under the Preferences menu item. Each game has it’s own unique preferences, allowing you to taylor each game to your liking. Here’s a brief explanation of each one:

General

Maximize new game windows - uses a larger game board size for new games.

Close current game before starting a new game - if you don’t want to end up playing multiple games at once, check this box.

Use fantasy game pieces - select between beautiful fantasy pieces or traditional game pieces.

Use sticky piece movement - when enabled, a single click will pick up or put down pieces. No more dragging!

Display AI chat speech as text - when enabled, your opponent will use a chat bubble, instead of sound, to talk to you.

Show legal moves - when you pick up a piece, this option will highlight places that piece can move.

Graphics Quality - this slider controls the amount of graphical effects the game uses.

Bounce Pieces - this slider controls the amount of “bounce” the pieces have when they move.

Show previous moves - this slider limits the number of moves shown on the board. Previous moves will be shown with a series of arrows that grow more transparent as the game progresses, disappearing at the cutoff specified here.

Artificial Intelligence - this slider controls the ability of the computer in single player games.

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Address Book

The name field and icon will auto-fill with information from your address book, but you can feel free to change it.

Share my email with opponents - will send your email address to op-ponents you play against for their records.

Share my iChat handle with opponents - will send your iChat handle to opponents for their records.

Store past opponents in Address Book - will store any information your opponents send you in your Address Book.

iChat

iChat Buddies Enabled - when enabled, the iChat integration will be turned on.

Delete key files upon use - this option will automatically delete received game keys, keeping your downloads folder nice and tidy.

Automatically launch iChat - iChat will be launched when you start your Big Bang Game if it is not already. If you are behind a firewall or have a special network setup, you may need to enter your external IP address and a port you’d like to host on here, if you don’t want to automatically use the Big Bang Proxy Server hosted by Freeverse.

Mail

Automatically store all Play By Email files in my Documents - store your email games in your Documents folder by default, saving you a step.

Automatically quit when I finish my turn - if you open a Play By Email game, this option will automatically close the application when you’re done.

Use this email address... - choose the email address you use for the purpose of Play-By-Email games.

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iTunes

The three sliders at the top control the volume levels of the sound effects, the vocal comments, and the music, respectively.

Listen to Game Music / iTunes Playlist / No Music - select the radio button for how you’d like to be serenaded mid-game. If you choose iTunes, you may select a playlist from the popup menu below.

Mute game music when iTunes is playing - if you select Game Music, this option will automatically disable the in-game music if it detects you playing iTunes.

iSight

If you have a web cam plugged into your computer, you can send images to your opponent simply by choosing the camera “emoticon” that appears when you roll the mouse over your character (either Sun or Moon).

Block Opponents from sharing their picture - When checked, you will not receive any video images from your opponent.

Menu Items

Under the Game’s menu, the “Switch To...” menu item allows you to switch to other Big Bang games directly without having to find and launch them from the Finder.

Under the Window menu, you will fine shortcuts for bringing the title win-dow, or splash screen to the foreground, the GameSmith window if you’re playing online via GameSmith, and finally the option to Toggle the chat pane during network games.

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Big Bang 4-In-A-Row

Object:

Connect game pieces of your color so that a row of 4 game pieces is made. Rows may be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. The fi rst player to do so wins. Should no player make a four-piece row by the time the entire board is full, the match ends in a draw.

How to play: On your turn, click on any empty space directly above a space already fi lled. This ends your turn. It may seem simple to see a line of four, but it can be maddeningly diffi cult!

Strategy: Getting three pieces in a row with no blocks on either side is a guaranteed win. Try to maximize your chances at making these while not allowing your opponent to do the same.

Big Bang Tic Tac Toe

Object: Place three of your markers in a row.

How to play Play alternates, with X going fi rst. Each play-er places a marker only once during a turn.

Strategy Remember that there are eight possible ways to get three in a row once you have the middle, but that doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to win.

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Big Bang Backgammon

Object: Move all of your checkers into your home quadrant, and then off the board, “bear them off.” The fi rst player to bear off all pieces wins the game.

How to Play: The beginning:Players have dice that match the color of their

pieces. To begin each player rolls a single die. The higher roll goes fi rst and that initial roll is also used by the winning player as their fi rst roll of the game.

The player moves their piece(s) forward, one space (“pip”) per number rolled with the following conditions:

A piece may only move to a space that is not occupied by two or more of the opponent’s pieces.

Each die needs to be handled separately when moving. For example, if you roll a 2 and a 3, and the spaces 2 and 3 in front of your piece each is fi lled with multiple opponent pieces (so you can’t move there); you are not al-lowed to combine them to “jump” your piece 5 spaces ahead.

If you roll doubles, you play your move as if you had four dice of that amount instead of two.

Special Circumstances: If a piece lands on a single opponent piece, then that hit piece is placed on the center strip of the board, the bar.

Whenever a player has a piece or pieces on the bar, before they can make any other move they must get their pieces off the bar. This is accomplished by using a number rolled to move your piece from the Bar onto your opponent’s home quadrant.

Once a player has all of their pieces in their home quadrant, they may then “bear them off,” for game play purposes the piece repository is con-sidered to be one past the edge of the board, and you may “overshoot” to use a larger roll then necessary to move a piece into the repository.

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Strategy: It is much better to send your opponents pieces to the Bar when they are in your enemy’s home quadrant where they are sent the maximum distance back, and you risk being sent the least distance. (Odds are when you hit your opponent you will end up leaving that piece exposed to be hit in the subsequent turn.) If possible, fi ll as many pips as you can in your home quadrant with more than two pieces, thereby making it more diffi cult for your opponent to get off the Bar. Realize that at a certain point the game is just a horse race, so know when to stop trying to hinder your opponent and just get all your pieces off the board as quick as possible.

Big Bang Checkers (Draughts)

Object: Prevent the opponent from being able to move. Do this by either capturing all of his/her checkers, or by blocking his/her pieces so that they can not be moved. If nobody can do this, the game ends in a draw.

How to Play: Checkers (“men”) may only move in a forward diagonal direction. On a turn, a player must either move a piece into an adjacent diagonal unoccupied square, or “jump” an opposing piece in an adjacent diagonal square by land-ing in the unoccupied square immediately afterward. Men may only jump forward. Subsequent jumps are allowable so long as the piece encounters opposing pieces with unoccupied squares behind them. Any pieces which have been jumped are removed from the board. Pieces may never jump over pieces of the same color. Any piece that makes it to the opponent’s back row becomes a King piece. On the next move, a King piece gains the ability to move in any diagonal direction (rather than the forward ones). Players MUST make captures whenever they are able to. However, they may make the capture in the manner that they prefer and are not required to choose a sequence of jumps that result in more jumps than the sequence they chose. Once a sequence is chosen, it must be completed.

Strategy: The four back rows are unjumpable so it’s good to keep your pieces there as long as possible. Try to trigger movement in the opponent’s ranks by sacrifi cing checkers. Good luck!

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Big Bang Chess

Object: To win at Chess, you must trap your opponent’s king so that he is threat-ened, and has no legal moves that would make the king safe. This is called a “checkmate”.

How to Play Pieces are arranged on the board au-tomatically by the computer. If you decide to play on a chessboard, note that the Queen always takes her own color when arranging the back row. Also, the lighter squares should be in the lower right corner of the board. (if not, just rotate the board!)

White always goes fi rst, followed by black. Each player takes turns moving one piece.

Each piece has its own legal ways of movement. Moves can end either on a vacant space, or on a space occupied by an opponent’s piece. Ending a legal move on a square occupied by an opponent’s piece is called a “capture”, because the opponent’s piece must be removed from the board.

No piece may move over or through any other pieces, with the exception of the Knight.

Legal Moves Pawn - A pawn may move one square at a time, with the exception of its fi rst move, which may be two squares, though this leaves the pawn vulner-able to “en passant” capture for a single move only (see “special rules” be-low). Pawns may only move directly forward, with the exception of a move to capture, which must be a forward diagonal move of one square.

Rook - Shaped like a castle, the rook is one of the most powerful pieces in Chess. It can move in a straight line in any column or row. Rooks can not move diagonally.A Rook can also be moved on the same turn as a king, but only if the king is Castling (see “special rules” below).

Knight - Shaped like a horse, the Knight is the only piece on the board that may jump over other pieces (Or arguably, since it does not move in a straight line, it never actually meets the pieces it jumps over). Knights can move two squares in one direction, followed by one square in a perpen-dicular direction in a single move. A good way to visualize the sphere of 9

the knight’s movements is to consider the squares of the opposite color that aren’t next to the night, but aren’t more than 2 squares from the knight to be legal moves. (of course, the computer will make sure you make legal moves).

Bishop - Starting next to the knight, the bishop is like a rook, but it can only move diagonally, instead of horizontally and vertically.

Queen - Each side has only one Queen; it’s the most powerful piece on the board, because it can move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

King - Each side has only one King; it’s important to keep it safe, because his entrapment ends the game. Kings can move one square in any direction (unless they are castling; see “special rules” below.) A king may not move onto any square where he may be threatened by an opposing piece.

Special Rules Check - when a King is threatened by an opposing piece, he is “in check”. The opponent’s next maneuver must cause the king to no longer be threat-ened, by either moving the King out of harm’s way, or by moving another piece to eliminate the threat to the King.

Checkmate - When a King in check can not do anything to remove the threat, the game is over. The winner is the player who trapped the oppo-nent’s king.

Stalemate - If the King is not in check, but a player’s only legal move is to move the King into check, the game is a tie.Also, if there are not enough pieces on the board to allow a checkmate to ever occur, the game is also a stalemate.

Castling - The King may move two squares to the side, and the rook from that side may move to the square that the king moved through. But in order for this to happen, there may be no pieces obstructing either the king or the rook, and the King may not be in check, or travel through or into check, when castling.

Promotion - a pawn that reaches the last row on the other side of the board may be promoted to a knight, bishop, rook, or queen.

En passant capture - probably one of the most obscure things you’ll never have to learn about Chess. When a pawn moves two squares for-ward, any piece may capture the pawn in passing, “en passant” by landing on the space immediately behind the pawn (or, as if the pawn had only moved one square). 10

Big Bang Mancala

ObjectTo have the most stones in your Mancala (the bowl at the right of the board) when there are no more stones in play.

How to PlayIn this version, since we’re in space and Gods, the bowls appear as horizon-tal glass globes with players facing each other over the rows, larger globes (Mancalas) on either side. The closest row and the Mancala bowl to the right belongs to you. The players take turns picking up the stones (or in this case Will ‘o The Wisps) in one of the smaller globes on their side, and depositing them, one at a time, in the small globes going counter-clockwise around the board. If you pass your own Mancala, then you deposit a wisp, but never deposit wisps into the opponent’s Mancala. If the last wisp de-posited ends up in your Mancala, you get to take another turn. If the wisp lands in an empty globe on your side, and there are wisps in the opponent’s globe opposite, both that wisp and the opponent’s wisps in that globe go into your Mancala. If a player ends up with no wisps on their side, then all of the wisps in the opponent’s globes go to the opponent’s Mancala.

StrategyDo not think in terms of saving up your Will o’ The Wisps, but instead, think more Zen-like. The more you give away the more comes back to you. (Like the bluebird of happiness!)

Big Bang Reversi

ObjectHave the most pieces on the board with your own color.

How to Play Play alternates. Black goes fi rst. To make a legal move, surround a chip or line(s) of chips horizontally, verti-cally, or diagonally. All surrounded pieces become your color. If you can not surround any chips, you must pass. Play ends when both players pass, or when the board is full.

Strategy In the beginning of the game try to stay as close to the center of the board as possible. Corners are impossible to surround so try to seize them! 12

Technical Support/Help

Big Bang Board Games webpage: http://www.freeverse.com/bbbg/Visit for a complete listing of game rules, updates and demos.

Freeverse support webpage: http://www.freeverse.com/support/Access online technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Freeverse message board: http://forum.freeverse.com/Discuss classic and upcoming Freeverse titles

If the game runs slowly, reduce the window size by click and hold-ing down on the lower right corner and drag the window smaller. Additionally, under preferences, reduce Graphics Complexity under the General preference pane.

Internet play involves many variables outside of our control. If you exerience problems please check our message boards and FAQ, but realize depending on your network connections and firewall it may not be possible for us to address your specific issue.

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CREDITS

ProducersIan Lynch Smith & Colin Lynch Smith

Design, Programming, 3D ArtRocco Bowling, Feline Entertainment

2D ArtSteven Tzé and Chris Paretti

Additional ProgrammingDan Gelder

MusicAndrew Tokuda, 3rd Light Digital Media

Dori Eggan

TextDan Dickinson and Freeverse Staff

Universal Binary TestingMark Levin

Voice TalentJoanna Oltman Smith, Andrew Tokuda, Jared Smith

Big Bang Board Games are ©2005 by Freeverse, inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

“Big Bang Board Games”, the “Luna” and “Sol” voices and distinctive like-nesses are trademarked by Freeverse, inc.

iChat, Bonjour, Mail.app, iTunes, iSight, their names and icons are copyright Apple Computer. Used Descriptively.iChat, Bonjour, Mail.app, iTunes, iSight, their names and icons are copyright

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Software License Agreement

This is a legal agreement between you and Freeverse Software, Inc. covering your use of the Big Bang Board Games (the “Software”). Be sure to read the following agreement before using the Software. BY USING THE SOFTWARE (REGARDLESS IF YOU HAVE REGISTERED THE SOFTWARE OR NOT), YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE AND DESTROY ALL COPIES IN YOUR POSSESSION.

The Software is owned by Freeverse Software and is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat the Software like any other copyrighted material (e.g., a book or musical recording). Paying the license fee allows you the right to use one copy of the Software on a single computer. You may not network the Software or otherwise use it or make it available for use on more than one computer at the same time. You may not rent or lease the Software, nor may you modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software. If you violate any part of this agreement, your right to use this Software terminates automatically and you must then destroy all copies of the Software in your possession.

The Software and its related documentation are provided “AS IS” and without warranty of any kind and Freeverse Software expressly disclaims all other warran-ties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances shall Freeverse Software be liable for any incidental, special, or consequential damages that result from the use or inablility to use the Software or related documentation, even if Freeverse Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Freeverse Software’s liability exceed the license fee paid, if any.

This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of the Agreement, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision of the Agreement shall be en-forced to the maximum extent permissible so as to effect the intent of the parties, and the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.

The Software and documentation is provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, du-plication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause as 252.227-7013. Manufacturer is Freeverse Software, Inc., 447 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011, United States of America. Phone (212) 929-3549.

Freeverse Software reserves the right to make modifications or improvements to the Software at any time and without notice.

Big Bang Board Games are ©2005 by Freeverse, inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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Notes