NAME

     gomoku — game of 5 in a row

SYNOPSIS

     gomoku [-bcdu] [-D debugfile] [inputfile]

DESCRIPTION

     gomoku is a two player game where the object is to get 5 in a row horizontally, vertically
     or diagonally on a 19 by 19 grid.  By convention, black always moves first.  With no
     arguments, gomoku will display a playing board and prompt for moves from the user.  Valid
     moves are a letter for the column and a number for the row of an empty board location.
     Entering ``quit" or ``resign" will end the game.  You can save the current state of the game
     by entering ``save" and supplying a file name when prompted.  The optional file inputfile
     can be used to restore a saved game.

     The options are:

     -b      This option sets background mode.  Input moves are read from standard input, the
             computer picks a move, and prints it to standard output.  The first input line
             should be either ``black" or ``white" to specify whether gomoku has the first move
             or not respectively.  This option was intended for game tournaments where a referee
             program handles the board display and pits one program against another.

     -c      Computer versus computer.  gomoku will play a game against itself.  This is mostly
             used for testing.

     -d      Print debugging information.  Repeating this option more than once yields more
             detailed information.

     -D debugfile
             Print the debug information to debugfile instead of to the standard output.

     -u      User versus user.  This is mostly used for testing.

AUTHOR

     Ralph Campbell

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

     The board display routines were based on the goref program written by Peter Langston.