Frequently Asked Questions

Here you can read about playing international draughts general, as well as how to play the game "Dam-PC".

Your questions:

• How do I install Dam-PC?
• Does Dam-PC have on-line help?
• What is "International Draughts" anyway?

Online manual:

1. Principles
1.1 The screen
1.2 Doing a move on the board
1.3 The pull-down menu
1.4 Adjusting Level
1.5 Selecting Opponents
2. Gameflow
2.1 Start over/Load game/Save game/Pause/Exit
2.2 Ask a hint
2.3 Undoing moves
3. Settings
4. Advanced
4.1 Replay
4.2 Define pose
4.3 Analysis
4.4 Export data

How do I install Dam-PC?

This game is a DOS board game but is able to work properly under most Windows versions.

Just extract the files to a folder of your choice (e.g. C:\Program Files\DamPC\) and run the main file DAM-PC21.EXE by double-click.

Although a bit outdated, this game shows the power of old DOS based programs. It was written with Turbo-Pascal 7.0.

A Windows version is under development but due to work pressure this hobby project is still under construction. It will be based on the DOS version but will additionally support gaming over the internet.

Does Dam-PC have on-line help?

The game has a built in manual and game description, but these are in Dutch. Read this F.A.Q. for more information in English.

Game Description of International Draughts

Introduction
DRAUGHTS is played on a 10x10 board with a checkerboard pattern. The black fields are used. They are numbered 1 (left-upper) to 50 (right-lower), with black pieces on the fields 1 to 20 and white pieces on fields 31 to 50.

How to move?
You can move the pieces diagonally in forward direction to any empty fields, or in any direction overtaking the opponents piece (conquering a piece), provided that there's an empty field behind it. So you can also hit backwards.

Conquering is obligatory!
A very important rule: if you have the opportunity to conquer a piece, you MUST! If you can make evne more jumps after the first, you must do so.

Multiple hit prevails!
You even have to select the series with the most hists if you have a choice between more than one. There is no difference between normal and king pieces, just the longest series counts.

King pieces
If you reach the opposite final row your piece will be doubled (crowned), two stacked pieces are called a king. Kings can slide over any distance, diagonally, provided there's a free lane.

They can also jump over the opponent's pieces and land on any free field
behind it, and then switch direction as needed.

No king if you just pass the opposite final row
You are always obliged to make the maximum number of jumps, so it can happen that you reach the final row, but have to jump out of it. This piece will NOT become a king, it will only become a king if it is ON the final row by the end of it's jump.

Getting the feeling
The best way to get feeling for the game is to watch the computer play, or to try the computer. After a while you can try to play games from the newspaper or books.

To assess the character of the game, it is important to value the properties of each piece. An example is the king. A rule of thumb is that it's value is equal to 3 normal pieces, although this can change considerably, depending on the current pose of the opponent. If both parties have a king, subsequent kings are of much less value.

Interesting fact: if a party has one king left the opponent needs generally 4 kings to win, although in special cases he can get away with 3.

Strategy
A good strategy is to try and get the first king, because this king will cause a lot of damage to the opponent (provided he cannot win back the king quickly). This damage will certainly lead to the fall of his empire.

You should also try to avoid the opponent from getting a king, by keeping your lines closed so that he cannot break through. And remember, pieces can hit backwards, so you do not neccesarily need to keep a thick layer in the last rows. A promoted piece can thus still defend an area behind itself. Pieces that are moved forward too much are however very fragile.

Rule of thumb: try to keep your side organised in effective blocks, instead of spreading them out in many isolated pieces.

Now that you've learned the basic rules, this is most important: play a lot! Only by playing a lot you will become a real draughts master.

If you still cannot find a right move, despite this marvellous explanation, then please use option "Gameflow | Hint" to let the computer show you a good option.

Have fun!

User's Manual

1. Principles

1.1 The screen

After startup, the screen contains these areas:

1.2 Doing a move on the board

You can simply do a move with the mouse:

• Put the mouse on the piece you want to move.
• Click the left button. The piece is dragged with your mouse now.
• Go to the field where you want to put the piece and push the left button again. The piece is now moved.

Hints:

• If you try to move a piece which is not allowed to, you'll hear a nagsound, which indicates that the move is impossible. This also happens when you go to a field to which the piece cannot be moved.
• If you conquer one or more pieces of the opponent, the computer will automatically finish the move.
• If you want to cancel the move, just drag your mouse outside of the board area. The move is automatically cancelled.

1.3 The pull-down menu

You can change settings and start actions with the pull-down menu:

• Move the mouse to the uppermost line. One of the menu items colors
  green.
• Each item shows sub-items, from which you can choose by moving the
  mouse towards them and clicking on them.

1.4 Adjusting Level

In the menu "Level" you can adjust the level of the computer to reflect
your own draughts-level.

1.5 Selecting opponents

Go with the mouse to "Oppnt 1" (white) or "Oppnt 2" (black) to select
who is controlling this side:

• Click "Computer" to let the computer take control.
• Click "Human" to do it yourself.

So you can also:

• Let the computer game itself. You will see the game unfold before your eyes.
• Do a human to human game (e.g. to keep track of a game or to replay).

Use "Enter name" to enter a name for the opponent. These names are
stored when you save the game.

2. Game Flow

2.1 Start over/Load game/Save game/Pause/Exit

You can start over by selecting "Game | New". The old game will be lost!

Note: Use "Game | New default" to start a game with the default pose, disregarding the pose that you have entered.

You can exit the draughts game by clicking "Exit".

Use "Gameflow | Pause" to temporarily pause the game.

Use "Game | Load" to load a game from disk and use it for replay or
to continue it.

Use "Game | Save" to save a game to disk. The names of the gamers
and the description of the game are also stored.

2.2 Ask a hint

If you do not know what to do in a certain situation, you can ask the computer to give a hint. Click on "Gameflow | Hint". The computer shows its strongest move on the board.

2.3 Undoing moves

You can undo the last move by clicking "Gameflow | Back". You can do this as often as needed right until the initial pose.

You cannot redo the undone moves. If you want to replay a game then use the "replay" mode.

3. Settings

4. Advanced

4.1 Replay

You can use "Mode | Replay" to start the replay-mode. Use the
buttons to move back and forward in the game.

Tips:

• If you want to replay a game then do not choose "Quit" or "New" at the end of a game, but choose "Cancel". You can then replay the game in the replay mode.
• If you want to continue playing from a certain point in the game, just select "Mode | Normal". The stored moves of rest of the game will be lost.

4.2 Define Pose

Use "Mode | Define pose" to go to the "define pose"-mode. In this mode you can enter a new initial pose (e.g. magazine problems) which you want to analyse.

You can select a white or black piece/king by clicking on it and then dragging it to the board. You can left-click on a field to put the piece on that particular field.

If you right-click a field, the field will be cleared.

You can click on one of the icons to get either the standard initial pose or a complete empty board.

4.3 Analysis

If you select "Analysis" in settings menu, you will see the most important parameters of the analytical algorithm on the screen.

4.4 Export data

You can add a description to a game by selecting "Game | Description".

Use "Game | Export as TXT" to save the game in ASCII text format, so you can edit it later with a word processor.

Use "Game | Export as BMP" to save the board with current pose as a 16-color Windows Bitmap file. You can import this file in many applications.