Drawing moves is explained unter Rules of the Game. The buttons in the toolbar have the same meaning as entries in the File/Edit menu.
The File Menu
New Game - Start a new game even if a game is currently in play.
Stop Search - When the computer is thinking, his depth search is interrupted and he draws the best move he has found so far.
Take Back - Take back your previous move. Two (!) moves are undone: the opponents move and your last move. So it's your turn again. 100 moves are remembered; so don't hesitate to take back moves until you are at the beginning of the game (faster with the F2 key). When in Modify mode (see Menu Edit/Modify below), decrement move number of this position.
Forward - Only usefull in Modify mode: Increment move number of this position.
Hint - A hint for your next move is shown. Only possible if you play at level normal or above, the move number is 2 or greater and you do not undone your move.
Network - If this toggle is switched on, the application is in Network Mode. All running Abalone programs which are in Network Mode broadcast changed positions to each other. This way two humans can play against each other on different computers or one can observe the game play of another Abalone program.
To exchange positions, the Abalone programs have to know each other. If running on the same machine, nothing is needed (apart from switching to Network Mode). If running on different computers you have to specify the others machine on the command line with the -h switch.
For insiders: Abalone, when in Network Mode, listens on a TCP socket for position change commands by other Abalone programs. You can specify the port number with the -p command line switch. You need this if you want to play two different Abalone Network games.
Examples:
Chris on machine1 and Mary on machine2 want to play again each other: Mary simple starts Abalone, sets "Options/Computer plays" to "None" and switches to Network Mode. Chris starts Abalone with kabalone -h machine2, otherwise does the same. Now one of the two can start the game and draw a red move. Each time the position is changed in one program, it automatically changes in the other one too.
John wants to observe the game: He does the same as Chris, but doesn't draw a move himself.
Two different Abalone Network Games shall run among machines m1 and m2. To distinguish the games, we choose port number 12345 for one. On m1 we start as usual kabalone and (not so usual) kabalone -p 12345. On m2 we start kabalone -h m1 and kabalone -h m1:12345 (The dot separates host and port as in an URL).
Quit Quits the game.
The Edit Menu
Modify - Switches Abalone to Modify Mode. Now you can edit the actual board position by adding red or yellow pieces or deleting them. The status line shows the number of red and yellow pieces, the move number, the side which is to draw the next move, and if the position is valid: A exclamation sign means no, a checked symbol yes. If the position is invalid and you switch back to normal Play Mode, you can't play! Only valid positions can be used as a starting position for a game. Remark: When in Network mode, the position is broadcast when switching back to Play Mode. Take back and Forward simple decrement and increment the move number, but don't change any piece.
Usage: By pressing the left or the right mouse button on an empty or yellow field, you get in "Red piece Adding" mode; by pressing the middle button on an empty or red field, you get in "Yellow piece Adding" mode. Finally be pressing the left or the right mouse button on an red piece, or the middle mouse button on an yellow piece, you get in "Piece Deleting" Mode. While holding the mouse button down and dragging around, you will act on each field your mouse goes over. You end the modifying step be releasing the mouse button.
Copy Copy an ASCII representation of the actual board position into the X clipboard. Now you can paste it into any text editor by pressing the middle mouse button there.
Paste Interpret the content of the X clipboard as ASCII representation of an Abalone board the set the board position corresponding. A valid ASCII representation is generated by Copy.
This way you can exchange board positions of two Abalone programs by pressing Copy in one program and Paste in the other, but this is better done with Network Mode (see above). Another usage is to save positions into a text file (using Copy and your Editor of choice) and retrieve a position later by selecting it in the editor and press Paste in the Abalone program.
Save Position - You can save the actual position and retrieve it later with Restore position. The position is stored into the Abalone Configuration file.
The Options Menu
Level - The computer can play at four different levels. This influences the number of moves he searching in advance to calculate the best move. You can interrupt the search by pressing the S key.
Computer Plays - You can make the computer play Red, Yellow or both sides. Choose between these options before starting a new game. Of course it works in a game too if you want to change sides. Choose "None" to play against another human. This is very usefull in Network Mode.
Moving Slow - A move drawn by the computer normally (when this option is checked) is shown by blinking and highlighting of the pieces used in this move. Uncheck this option if you don't want to wait for this animation: Then only a quick highlighting is done.
Render balls - If checked, the pieces are rendered online by an internal simple ray tracer when needed (e.g. when resizing the window).
Spy - If option Spy is checked: If it is your turn, you can see the computer's rating of the move you want to play in the status bar. If it's the computer's turn you can see (in status bar and hightlighted pieces) the move he actually thinks is the best to play. Of course this changes along his search.
Save - Save options in the application's config file. Options are restored at the start of kabalone.