Game Play

    The game window has three main areas:

    By default, the pieces are green and the board is blue (you can change this; see the Options help section). The status area at the bottom right tells you the current player name, level, and provides buttons for common operations.

 

How to move pieces

    Play consists of placing the pieces on the board.

    To move a piece, simply click and drag it onto the board, releasing over the desired spot (you do not have to be exact).

    Shortcut 1: If you drag a piece and release the mouse over a square, and the piece only fits onto the board on that square in one way, then it will make the move. If the move is not possible, or can be done in more than one way, it will not make the move and the piece will snap back to its original position.

    Shortcut 2: If you click on a square on the board, and one (and only one) piece can cover that square and in only one way, then it will make that move.

 

How to flip and rotate pieces

    You do not have to move pieces onto the board in whatever orientation they're currently in. Before moving a piece, you can flip or rotate it to your heart's content.

    There are a variety of methods to rotate or flip a piece. Choose the one or combination which you feel most comfortable with. Here are the different methods, the first one being the suggested method:

    Right-click on a piece.
    You will be presented with a pop-up menu containing all the different orientations of that piece; select one and let go of the mouse.

    Click the buttons in the status area.
    First, select a piece by clicking on the piece. Then click on the desired button in the status area. Doing so will perform the given operation on the selected piece.

    Press the arrow keys on the keyboard
    right-arrow = clockwise rotation
    left-arrow = counter clockwise rotation
    up-arrow = vertical flip
    down-arrow = horizontal flip
    The operation will be performed on the selected piece.

    Press the 'a', 'd', 'w', or 's' key.
    Pressing these keys is equivalent to pressing the left, right, up, and down arrow keys, respectively. Select Preferences... under the Options menu to change these keys.

    Press the space bar.
    The selected piece will rotate or flip. Continue to press the space bar to cycle through all possible orientations of that piece (there are 2, 4, or 8 orientations depending on the piece).

 

When you can't flip pieces

    You can't flip pieces if the 1-Sided Pieces option is currently selected. By default, 2-Sided Pieces is selected.

    Strangely enough, selecting 1-Sided Tetrominoes or 1-Sided Pentominoes does not prohibit flipping pieces. Although it makes more sense to select the 1-Sided Pieces option if you use those piece sets.


Polyominoes Home Page