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Topics:

1. Systems Requirements
2. Installation
3. The Toy
4. Hints
5. Registration

1. System Requirements

SLIDER is a Windows program; it requires Microsoft Windows 3.0, Windows 
3.1, Windows 95 (or Windows NT on an Intel platform).  Any computer 
which can run one of these operating systems should be able to run 
Slider.  Slider also requires a color monitor (VGA or better), and 
about 500 KB (half a megabyte) of free disk space for a complete 
installation.  

2. Installation

To install Slider, create a temporary directory and unzip SLIDER.ZIP
into it.  Then run the Install program INSTALL.EXE from the Program
Manager (for Windows 3.0 or 3.1) or desk-top (for Windows 95).  
Follow the instructions on screen.  When the Install program has
finished, Slider is ready to use.  You can now remove the temporary
directory into which you unzipped the .ZIP file (assuming you installed
the working version of Slider into another directory).

3.  The Toy

SLIDER is a computer version of a physical toy which is somewhat like a 
flat version of a Rubik's cube.  The toy is easy to describe, but would 
be very hard to actually build.

Imagine two flat pictures pasted back to back, making a card with a 
picture on each side.  Now divide each picture into squares - just two 
squares each way, like a very small checker board.  Imagine that these 
squares are mounted on little rubber belts that go around the card.  You 
can slide a square up and down, but when you do, all the other squares in 
the same column move with it.  Not only that, the squares in the same 
column on the back of the card move, too.  If you slide a square up one 
space, the square at the top of the card will slide over onto the other 
side.  The bottom square from the other side will also slide around the 
bottom of the card onto this side.  Squares that slide over the top or 
bottom of the card come out upside-down on the other side.  (Think about 
a square going over the top of the card.  The top edge of the square goes 
over first, and slides down the other side, so it's the bottom edge on the 
other side.)

The squares don't just slide up and down, they also slide from side to 
side.  When a square slides sideways, the whole row of squares it's in 
slides sideways.  Slide a square to the right, and the right-most square 
slides around the edge of the card onto the back.  Meanwhile, a square 
from the back of the card slides over the left edge onto the front.  
(Making the squares able to slide both up and down and right and left 
can't be done easily with real rubber belts!)

The SLIDER toy is a puzzle.  Mix up all the squares, then put them back 
again into the original pictures.  The computer version mixes up the 
squares for you, and it times how long you take and counts how many moves 
you need to put them back together.

4.  Hints

SLIDER looks simple, but it is surprisingly hard to solve.  The menu 
offers three choices: "Easy Scramble",  "Hard Scramble" and "Full 
Scramble".  "Easy Scramble" only partly mixes up the puzzle; "Hard 
Scramble" mixes it up a little more (enough to be much more challenging, 
sometimes!), and "Full Scramble" completely randomizes it.  Practice with 
"Easy Scramble" until you can solve it every time in four moves or less, 
before trying "Hard Scramble".  When playing "Easy Scramble", if you 
can't solve the puzzle after ten moves, give up and start again.  Ten 
moves is more than enough to turn an "Easy Scramble" into a "Full 
Scramble"!  Practice with "Hard Scramble" until you can solve it every 
time before trying "Full Scramble".  "Hard Scramble" can always be solved 
in not more than six moves.

Every move in SLIDER changes both sides of the toy, and keeping track of 
what's going on on the back of the toy can be hard.  Use the "Flip" button 
to turn the toy over and look at the back.  A "Flip" doesn't count as a 
move, so turn the toy over a lot.  Especially while you're learning, 
flipping after every move is a good idea.  (You can put the picture back 
together on the front of the toy and have it still be scrambled on the 
back, so you really need to know what's going on on both sides of the 
toy!)

Squares turn upside-down when they slide over the top or bottom of the toy 
onto the other side, so the number of upside-down squares gives you a clue 
about how much up and down movement you will need to slove the puzzle.  
Similarly, squares from the bottom row that are in the top row (and vice 
versa) are going to have to move vertically.  Since a whole column of 
squares on both sides of the puzzle moves up and down together, try to be 
sure that all the squares in the column are ones that need to move up and 
down.  (It's "up and down", not "up or down", because when squares on one 
side move up, the ones on the other side move down).

Squares that are right-side-up, but on the wrong side of the toy, need to 
move sideways around the edge of the puzzle.  Similarly, squares from the 
right side of the puzzle that are on the left (and vice versa) need to move 
sideways.  This gives you a clue about how much sideways movement is 
needed.  Remember that the whole row of squares on both sides of the puzzle 
moves sideways (right and left) at the same time.

5.  Registration

This is the Shareware version of SLIDER.  Register to get the full version.  
The registered version of SLIDER lets you use your own bitmaps (pictures), 
and it lets you choose how many rows and columns of squares you want.

To register, print out the order form (ORDER.WRI or ORDER.TXT), fill it out, 
and send the form with $10.00 to:

		Roach City Software
		P.O. Box 504
		Needham, MA  02192

A disk with the full version of SLIDER will be sent to the address given on 
the order form once your order has been received and processed.

You can also register on the CompuServe Shareware Registration Forum.  Log
on to CompuServe and "GO SWREG" to get to the forum, and follow the forum
instructions to register.  Slider's ID number is 13191.

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Microsoft Windows 3.0, Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Windows 95 are 
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
