The Shisen-Sho Handbook

# The Shisen-Sho Handbook

Dirk Doerflinger `<ddoerflinger@web.de>`

Eugene Trounev `<eugene.trounev@gmail.com>`

Frederik Schwarzer `<schwarzerf@gmail.com>`

Reviewer: Frerich Raabe
Revision 1.10 (KDE Gear 21.08) (2021-06-15)

Legal Notice

This documentation describes the game of Shisen-Sho version 1.10

Chapter 1. Introduction
Introduction

# Chapter 1. Introduction

### Gametype:

Arcade, Board

### Number of possible players:

One

Shisen-Sho is a solitaire-like game played using the standard set of Mahjong tiles. Unlike Mahjong however, Shisen-Sho has only one layer of scrambled tiles. You can remove matching pieces if they can be connected with a line with at most two bends in it. At the same time, the line must not cross any other tiles. To win a game of Shisen-Sho the player has to remove all the tiles from the game board.

Chapter 2. How to Play
How to Play

# Chapter 2. How to Play

### Objective:

Remove all the tiles from the game board within the shortest time possible.

Shisen-Sho will load a default layout automatically once you start the game and you can start playing right away.

You should carefully study the tiles lied out on the game board and find two tiles matching exactly. When you have found such a pair use your mouse to select them.

Once you select a matching pair of tiles they will vanish from the game board. However, even if the tiles you select appear as open they will only be removed from the board if they can be connected with a line having at most two bends and not crossing any other tiles. Furthermore the line can only be drawn horizontally and vertically.

Find as many matches as possible to remove all the tiles from the game board.

Chapter 3. Game Rules, Strategies and Tips
Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

# Chapter 3. Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

## Rules

Standard Mahjong set of tiles includes:

Group name | Tile name | Quantity in a set
Dots |  |
| 1 of Dots | 2
| 2 of Dots | 2
| 3 of Dots | 2
| 4 of Dots | 2
| 5 of Dots | 2
| 6 of Dots | 2
| 7 of Dots | 2
| 8 of Dots | 2
| 9 of Dots | 2
Bamboos |  |
| 1 of Bamboos | 2
| 2 of Bamboos | 2
| 3 of Bamboos | 2
| 4 of Bamboos | 2
| 5 of Bamboos | 2
| 6 of Bamboos | 2
| 7 of Bamboos | 2
| 8 of Bamboos | 2
| 9 of Bamboos | 2
Characters |  |
| 1 of Characters | 2
| 2 of Characters | 2
| 3 of Characters | 2
| 4 of Characters | 2
| 5 of Characters | 2
| 6 of Characters | 2
| 7 of Characters | 2
| 8 of Characters | 2
| 9 of Characters | 2
Winds |  |
| East Wind | 2
| South Wind | 2
| West Wind | 2
| North Wind | 2
Dragons |  |
| Red Dragon | 2
| Green Dragon | 2
| White Dragon | 2
Flowers |  |
| Plum (1) | 1
| Lily (2) | 1
| Chrysanthemum (3) | 1
| Bamboo (4) | 1
Seasons |  |
| Spring (1) | 1
| Summer (2) | 1
| Autumn (3) | 1
| Winter (4) | 1

- Matching tiles are such tiles where the face pictograms match exactly.

### Note:

There are exceptions to this rule. In the traditional game of Mahjong each tile has a matching one except for the “Flowers” and “Seasons” tiles.

- The “Flowers” tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each other.

- The “Seasons” tiles have no doubles in the set and can be matched directly to each other.

- Tiles can only be removed if they can be connected with a maximum of three connected lines that do not cross any other tile. Lines can be horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal.

### Note:

You do not have to draw the lines by yourself, the game does this for you. Just mark two matching tiles on the board, if they can be connected by a line with at most two bends, the line is drawn and the tiles are removed.

- Lines may only cross empty areas of the board.

- Some games are unsolvable. If you would like to avoid unsolvable games check the option Create solvable games only in the configuration dialog.

- The scores are awarded for the time the player needs to remove all the tiles from the game board. Games with more tiles give more scores.

- If you played with the Gravity setting enabled, the score will be doubled.

- To be eligible for a place amongst the high scores player has to complete a game instance within the shortest period of time possible.

### Note:

If the player uses the “Undo” or “Hint” feature the record will not be considered as a high score.

Tips
Tips

## Tips

Click on a tile with the right mouse button to highlight all matching tiles on the board. Unlike using the “Undo” or “Hint” feature, this help is allowed without being considered cheating.

Chapter 4. Interface Overview
Interface Overview

# Chapter 4. Interface Overview

## Menu Items

### The Game Menu

The Game menu lets you control the status of the current game:

Game → New (Ctrl+N)

  Finishes the current game and starts a new session with new tiles.

Game → Restart Game (F5)

  Restarts the current game with the same tiles.

Game → Pause (P)

  Pauses the game, especially the timer which affects the scoring. The menu entry is also used for resuming the game.

Game → Show High Scores (Ctrl+H)

  Shows your top ten charts of Shisen-Sho.

Game → Quit (Ctrl+Q)

  Quits Shisen-Sho.

Some of the menu items can also be controlled by keyboard shortcuts. See the section called “Default Key Bindings” for a list.

### The Move Menu

Move → Undo (Ctrl+Z)

  Undoes the last step. Same as the Undo button in the toolbar.

Move → Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z)

  Redoes the last step. Same as the Redo button in the toolbar.

Move → Hint (H)

  Shows a hint, which two tiles to remove next.

### The Settings Menu

Settings → Play Sounds

  Plays a sound when you touch a tile by clicking with it the left mouse button and when a tile is falling down playing with Gravity enabled.

Settings → Configure Shisen-Sho…

  Opens the configuration dialog to change Shisen-Sho settings.

Additionally Shisen-Sho has the common KDE Settings and Help menu items, for more information read the sections about the Settings Menu and Help Menu of the KDE Fundamentals.

Default Key Bindings
Default Key Bindings

## Default Key Bindings

Default shortcuts are:

New | Ctrl+N
Restart Game | F5
Pause | P
Show High Scores | Ctrl+H
Quit | Ctrl+Q
Undo | Ctrl+Z
Redo | Ctrl+Shift+Z
Hint | H
Shisen-Sho Handbook | F1
What's This | Ctrl+Shift+F1

Chapter 5. Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions

# Chapter 5. Frequently asked questions

5.1. I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?
5.2. Can I use keyboard?
5.3. I have to quit the game now, but I am not finished yet. Can I save my progress?

5.1. | I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?
| Yes. To change the way Shisen-Sho looks use the menubar to open the configuration utility.
5.2. | Can I use keyboard?
| No. This game does not feature a keyboard play mode.
5.3. | I have to quit the game now, but I am not finished yet. Can I save my progress?
| No. This game does not feature a “Save” option.

Chapter 6. Game Configuration
Game Configuration

# Chapter 6. Game Configuration

Selecting the Settings → Configure Shisen-Sho… menu item will open a configuration dialog which lets you alter the behavior of the game.

General page

Gravity

  Checking this makes the game even harder: If a tile is removed, all tiles lying above it will fall down one step.

Create solvable games only

  If checked, you will only be presented with games that are possible to solve. Note: Even in solvable games you can fail to complete if you remove the tiles in the wrong order.

Show message if board can no longer be solved

  If checked, Shisen-Sho will try to analyze solvability of each game position and show a message to abort the game in case there are no possible moves left to win the game.

Use Chinese style: any flower match any flower, any season match any season

  Use the traditional rules for matching the tiles. Previous version of Shisen-Sho used to allow only exact tiles matches, which is inconsistent with Mahjong rules. It is recommended to keep this option checked.

Tiles can slide, but you can connect only in 2 lines instead of 3

  This option changes the rules to the point where it almost becomes a completely different game. When it is active, you can remove the tiles only if they can be connected by a line consisting of one or two segments instead of the customary three. However, you are allowed to slide the tiles on the board, if the row or column where they are placed has some empty space. To make a sliding move, you have to click first on the tile in the column or row that can slide, and then on the matching tile. If there are two possible sliding moves, blue lines are shown indicating these moves. You then have to click on one of the two lines to choose your preferred move.

Board Difficulty

  The slider controls the difficulty of the board (i.e. how much the tiles are shuffled) from Easy to Hard.

Piece Removal Speed

  Adjusting this slider alters the speed at which the pieces are removed from the screen after a match has been made.

Board Size

  This slider allows you to change the number of tiles on the board. The more tiles you have, the harder (and longer) the game will be.

Tiles and Background page

  Select you favorite design for tiles and background.

Help

  Opens Shisen-Sho help pages (this document).

OK

  Saves your changes and closes the dialog.

Apply

  Saves your changes but does not close the dialog.

Cancel

  Discards all your changes and closes the dialog.

Chapter 7. Credits and License
Credits and License

# Chapter 7. Credits and License

Shisen-Sho Copyright 1997 Mario Weilguni `(mweilguni AT sime.com)`

Shisen-Sho Copyright 2002-2004 Dave Corrie `(kde AT davecorrie.com)`

Shisen-Sho Copyright 2009-2012 Frederik Schwarzer `(schwarzerf AT gmail.com)`

Documentation Copyright 2000 Dirk Doerflinger `(ddoerflinger AT web.de)`

Documentation Copyright 2009-2010 Frederik Schwarzer `(schwarzerf AT gmail.com)`

This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.