EZ-GO Instructions copyright 1995 by Bruce Wilcox This is a shareware DOS go program. For information on registering, see below. The simplest way to start a game is to press BEGIN. EZ-GO will take Black and make the first move. After that just click on the intersection to make your move. When you want to pass at the end of the game, press PASS. After each move, EZ-GO displays the territory score for each side in the upper right (off board) black and white stones. Click on these stones and EZ-GO displays the prisoner counts instead. The turn number is displayed in the upper right of the icon panel. While EZ-GO is thinking, an image will be animated instead of the turn number. If you click on it, you stop EZ-GO in the midst of his thinking. If you want to vary the default game conditions, you must press one or more of these icons before you press BEGIN: 1. Size - changes the board size {9x9, 19x19} 2. Handicap - changes handicap {even, 1-9 stones} Note: a handicap of 0 means 5 points is given to white, while in a handicap of 1, no points are given to white and black just moves 1st. 3. Player - changes which color the human plays {black, white} Note: If BEGIN is showing, it means the game is not started. In that case you can enter both black and white moves freely (human-human). Only when BEGIN is pressed will EZ-GO respond appropriately. 4. Style - changes how computer plays Leaper - prefers to play elsewhere Psycho - plays unusual opening Note: While EZ-GO is thinking, the animation used depends on the style used. However, late in the game, if EZ-GO is winning or losing by enough points, EZ-GO will change style, and the animation reflects that. If EZ-GO is winning easily, he becomes Watery (conservative). If losing easily, he becomes Fiery (aggressive). Other useful icons are: 5. Safety - when clicked turns on or off display of safety and territory. Black and White enclosed regions are shaded and dead stones marked with '+' 6. Hint - suggests places to play. Higher numbers are better. 7. Unplay - takes back the most recent human move. If you click on the wrong intersection and you realize this while EZ-GO is thinking, just click on Unplay and EZ-GO will stop thinking and retract your move. If EZ-GO has already replied to your move before you click on unplay, EZ-GO will retract both your move and his response to your move. Unplay can also remove handicap stones. 8. Clear - takes back all moves but handicap stones. Useful to start a new game, or review a game. To start a new game press BEGIN again. 9. Replay - puts back 1 move previously removed. Useful for reviewing a game after clearing it to the beginning. If you are reviewing a game, at some point you may want to explore other sequences of moves. Just put down the sequence you want to explore. When you are done exploring, clicking on replay will remove all of your added moves and put down the next real move from the game record. 10. Final - puts back all moves from the game record. 11. Load - read in a text game record. Brings up a dialog box. Press ESC key to cancel dialog. Otherwise enter filename and press ENTER. Note: As you play, the game record is continuously updated into the file "tmp.ego". Load defaults to this name, so if you select Load and just press ENTER, you will get the contents of tmp.ego if it exists. (e.g., if you accidently lost your game because the power died or you pressed Size or Handicap, just press Load and hit ENTER. 12. Save - store a text game record. Brings up a dialog box. Press ESC key to cancel dialog. Otherwise enter filename and press ENTER. Note: There is no need to save the game explicitly when you quit and plan to continue it later. Whenever you QUIT, your current game is saved, and will be automatically reloaded when you run EZ-GO again. 13. Pass - play no move. Used at the end of the game. When a pass move is played, the stones of the player to move next change shade to show the pass happened. 14. Quit - to exit EZ-GO back to DOS. Note: whenever you QUIT, your current game is saved automatically, and resumed when you run EZ-GO again. If you then press CLEAR and then BEGIN, you will in a new game with the previous playing conditions. 15. Double-clicking on a stone - unplays all moves until just before that stone was played. Useful for returning to a previous position rapidly or try a different line replacing a move. REGISTERING EZ-GO: If you send $25 in cash or check to: Bruce Wilcox 402 Iolani Avenue Apt 203 Honolulu, HI 96813 (email: wilcox@pixi.com) I will send you the full EGO version. EZ-GO plays with the same strength, except it is limited to some unusual personalities so the style of play is peculiar and unbalanced. Since to play Go well you need balance, any form of unbalance weakens your play. EGO has a fully balanced persona, SAMURAI, and some other interesting persona to play with as well: Earthy - prefers territory Airy - prefers influence Fiery - prefers attack Watery - prefers defense and slow buildup Samurai - balances all characteristics Pirate - prefers to kill your terrritory and influence Random - changes to one of the styles above periodically The EGO SAMURAI personality defeated the latest yet-to-be released copy of the commercial program Many Faces of Go and took over the top spot on the 19x19 Computer Go ladder on the Internet. The game was played May 13, 1995. Each program had 20 minutes of basic time, and 20 minutes per 25 moves thereafter. Ego was White and won by 15 points with 5.5 komi. Many Faces is one of the top Computer Go programs in the world. Does this mean EGO is now the strongest program in the world? No. It means Many Faces lost the game. A long series of games will be needed to decide which program is stronger, with both evolving as the games are played. And who knows which program will be the world's strongest. It does mean that EGO is a plausible top contender, and that EZ-GO is the strongest shareware version of Go available for DOS. Have fun.