Using GnomerMind

GnomerMind is a simple yet intriguing cunning and logic game. It disposes randomly a certain number of colored tokens in a row. The objective of the game is to guess the disposition of the tokens.

In order to do the correct guess, you can count on logic, and a little bit of luck. Infact after every guess, GnomerMind will give you two hints: how many tokens you've put in the correct place (both the token's color and its position are correct) and how many tokens are present in the solution row but not in the position you put them (i.e.: only the token's color is correct.)

This section describes basic usage of GnomerMind.

Basic usage

Starting GnomerMind opens the Game window and the Palette window. The game board is initially empty, while the palette window shows all the possible tokens and an operation icon.

To start playing, just choose a token from the palette window by clicking on it. Choose the place in the first clear row in which you want to put the token, and click on it to actually put the token. If you change your mind before putting the token in a position, go back again in the palette window and choose another token. If you change your mind after putting down the token, you can substitute it by putting another one in the same position. It is easier to play than to say!! :-)

You can play using the keyboard as well: use the default key-bindings or customize them via the Preferences Dialog to speed up the token selection and release operations!

Moreover, if you have already completed at least one row, you can choose a token from that row.

When the row is complete, the check icon in the palette window will activate changing its shape. If you click on it, GnomerMind will evaluate your guess. On the left hand of the game window you will see some pins. Their color and/or shape change when you change the theme. In any case, they will tell you how many correct guesses you did. You can read a "textual" evaluation of your guess in the application's statusbar, at the bottom of the main window. For instance, in the Classic theme, you will find black and white pins. Each black pin means: "both the color and the position of one token are correct." Each white pin means: "the color of one token is correct. Not its position."

Note

Note that you still have to guess which is the token the pin refers to: the position of the pins doesn't match tokens' positions.

Default keys

To select a token from the palette:

Numbers from 1 (1st position) to 0 (10th position)

To select a place in the board to put the token:

Letters from Q (1st position) to Y (6th position)

To evaluate the guess/close the solution window:

Spacebar

Anyway, you can see and change these bindings in the Preferences Dialog.

Menus

The menu bar, located at the top of the Main Window, contains the following menus:

File

This menu contains:

  • New Game — This starts a new game.

  • Save and Exit — This saves the current game and exit. Next time you run GnomerMind you will continue the old game, if you don't choose otherwise with a commandline switch.

  • Exit — This quits the game.

Game

This menu contains:

  • Restart Game — This restarts the current game.

  • End Game — This closes the current game and show you the solution. You will lose!

  • Preferences — This opens the Preferences Dialog, which allows you to configure many settings.

Help

This menu contains:

  • Gnomermind — This opens the GNOME Help Browser and displays this manual.

  • About — This opens the About dialog which shows basic informations about GnomerMind, such as the author's name, the application version number, and the URL for the application's Web page.

  • About theme — This opens another About dialog which shows informations about the current theme.