Another
computer game distributed with
the
GNOME desktop environment. Not as
addictive
(IMHO) as
Glines
or
Minesweeper,
this game is a viable method for
frivolously wasting time.
The game begins with balls of 3 colors arrayed in
a 15 by 10 grid. The longer direction is horizontal.
By moving the mouse over the balls, one indicates a
"group" of balls, all of which are the same color and
are joined by virtue of being horizontally or vertically
next to another ball of the same color.
When a group is clicked it disappears from the board and
you earn points. The balls above then slide down, removing
any empty space. When an entire column is gone, the columns
to the right shift leftwards to remove the gap.
You can't remove any single balls.
The number of points you earn increases faster than
linearly with the number of balls: you get
( n-2 )2
points for removing n balls.
Therefore, the
strategy is to remove a few small groups in order to get
together one huge group, and repeat. You also get a
big bonus (1000 points)
for removing all the balls, avoiding any
leftover singletons.
My high score as of 7 March 2001 is 3550.
What's yours?