Anjo 15-puzzle and 24-puzzle - free audio game for the blind

1. Introduction

The 15-puzzle is a numbers puzzle invented by Sam Lloyd in 1874. Since then, the game has been extended so that now it is available in numerous variations, including the 24-puzzle
The 15-puzzle game is played on a 4 by 4 board, on which tiles numbered from 1 to 15 are placed randomly, leaving one position blank.
The 24-puzzle game is played on a 5 by 5 board, on which tiles numbered from 1 to 24 are placed randomly, leaving one position blank.
The player has to arrange the numbers on the board in a certain sequence by making sliding moves that use the blank space.
Anjo 15 and 24 puzzle offers you the posibility to play on a 4 by 4 and 5 by 5 board, on three difficulty level (two timed and one with unlimited time), choosing from a total of 25 different final arrangements of tiles.
The game allows for two ways of identifying a position on the board:
- letters and numbers - lines are marked with a letter, columns are marked with a number. Example: B2
- pairs of numbers - lines and columns are marked with numbers. Example: Line 2, column 2
The speech rate can be adjusted ingame, according to your preferences.
The game stores settings regarding notation and speech rate, so that your favourite settings are automatically loaded when starting a new game.

2. How to play

Use the arrow keys to move around the board.
Press S to select a tile, use the arrow keys to go to the position where you wish to put the tile and press Space to slide it.
A tile can only be moved into the empty space, and only if it is directly adjacent to it.
You can only select pieces adjacent to the empty space.
Arranging all tiles in the requested order wins the game.
For Medium and Hard difficulty level, the player has to arrange the pieces in the correct order in a limited time.

3. Menus

Navigation is consistent throughout all menus: use the up and down arrows to cycle through the list of menu items and press Enter to select an option.
When in a submenu, you can return to the previous menu by pressing Escape.

3.1. Main menu

The main menu is displayed upon starting the program and can be accessed during play by pressing Escape.
Two options can be chosen from the main menu:
- New game
- Exit
By choosing New game, the Difficulty menu is displayed.

3.2. Difficulty menu

This menu allows the selection of the difficulty level.
The options are:
- Easy - no deadline
- Medium - deadline: one hour
- Hard - deadline: 45 minutes
After choosing either option, the Board menu is displayed.

3.3. Board menu

This menu allows you to choose one of the 2 predefined board sizes:
- 4 by 4 board
- 5 by 5 board
After choosing the desired size, the Game type menu is displayed.

3.4. Game type menu

4. Keyboard commands

Escape - menu key. Different behaviour, depending on situation: While playing a game, it shows the game menu.
If the main menu is open during a game, it closes the menu and returns to the game.
In a submenu, it returns to the previous menu.
Used in the main menu when no game is active, it reloads the menu.
Alt + F4 - exits the game.
Up, down, left, right arrows - navigate between board cells. For each cell, the game announces the number of the line, the number of the column and whether that position is occupied by a tile.
s - selects a tile.
Space - moves selected tile to the current position, if the current position is blank.
j - jump to the blank space.
e - say the position of the blank space.
p - say current position.
l - say current line.
c - say current column.
g - say entire board, line by line.
f - say how the tiles should be arranged.
i - say if and what tile is selected.
t - say time left.
d - say time elapsed.
[ - decrease speech rate.
] - increase speech rate.
n - switch notations: letters and numbers or pairs of numbers. Default: letters and numbers.