Pentiles

A game for all the family requiring skill, logic, memory and chance.

Pentiles are formed by five pixels joining together to form the eight shapes below:

General Introduction

Your objectives are to score as many points as possible, and to completely cover the red target zone.

To start the game, you will be asked to select your Skill Level (in the range 1-3) and Depth of target zone (3-6). The different Skill Levels are described later. As the target zone is of a constant area of 60 pixels, selecting Depth 3 will result in a rectangular zone 20 pixels wide by 3 pixels high, depth 4 in 15 pixels by 4 etc. Novices are advised to select Skill Level 1 and Depth 6.

Depending on the Skill Level chosen you will now be offered either a single Pentile, or a group of five Pentiles from which one must be selected.

At this point, the first five Pentiles as illustrated above can each be rotated through 90 degrees three times, to give all possible orientations. The next two Pentiles can also be rotated three times, after which they can be 'flipped over' and rotated three more times.

The final, cross-shaped, Pentile can not be rotated. To rotate the Pentile, press 'Y'. Once you have started to rotate a pentile, you will be unable to return to its original orientation. If you do not wish to rotate the Pentile, press 'N' or any of the cursor keys.

The Pentile should now be moved into the target zone, using the Cursor keys, and 'fixed' in the appropriate position by pressing COPY. When fixed, the Pentile changes colour from white to yellow. You will find that you cannot move a while Pentile across yellow pixels.

The game is completed when the target zone is completely covered by yellow pixels, you have exhausted your supply of Pentiles, or when you have 'fixed' previous Pentiles in such a way that you cannot move the next Pentile into the target zone.

Scoring

At the Pentile selection stage, the value of the shape is indicated by the thickness of the white pixel walls - increasing fullness denoting 10, 20, 50 and 100 points (a striped Pentile denotes the maximum value of 200 points). These points are added to your score when the Pentile is fixed, even if it is totally outside the target zone. An additional five points are gained for each pixel fixed within the target zone.

At the end of the game, a bonus of 200 points is awarded if all eight Pentile shapes have been wholly fixed within the target zone. An additional bonus of 100 points is gained if the target zone has been completely covered.

A time allowance of 600 points is added, from which 1 point is deducted for each second taken.

For each red pixel remaining in the target zone at the end of the game, a 25 point penalty is deducted. Points spent in Levels 2 and 3 are also regarded as penalty points.

A total score of 1,000 or more is good at Level 1, excellent at Level 2 and almost impossible at Level 3.

Skill Level 1

The target area will be completely covered by twelve Pentiles, but to allow for mistakes or bad luck, you are given 15 Pentiles for Depth 3 and 14 for other depths. Each of the shapes will occur once in the first eight Pentiles offered, so you should gain the 200 point bonus fairly easily. Each Pentile has a value of 20 points. At this level of play, concentrate on fixing the Pentiles in the best position - try to avoid leaving spaces in the middle!

Skill Level 2

At the start of the game, twelve pieces must be moved into the target zone but, to make life easier, you will be able to buy up to three extra pieces.

For the first four pieces you are presented with a random collection of five Pentiles, from which you must select one shape. If you are lucky, one of the shapes may occur more than once - giving a higher value.

From the fifth piece you are given the option of changing any of the displayed shapes and, after the tenth piece, this option is available indefinitely. Each shape changed will cost five points - beware of overspending!

Skill Level 3

The game is similar to Level 2, but you only have about five minutes before the progressing barrier blocks your way to the target zone. In addition, the pixel positions in the target zone are not indicated.

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