HACK(6)                        BSD Games Manual
HACK(6)

NNAAMMEE
     hhaacckk — exploring The Dungeons of Doom

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
     hhaacckk [--dd _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y] [--nn]
     [--uu _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e] hhaacckk
     [--dd _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y] [--ss] [--XX]
     [_p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e _._._.]

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
     hhaacckk is a display oriented dungeons & dragons-like
     game.  Both display and command structure resemble rogue.
     (For a game with the same struc‐ ture but entirely
     different display - a real cave instead of dull rectan‐
     gles - try Quest.)

     To get started you really only need to know two commands.
     The command ??  will give you a list of the available
     commands and the command // will identify the things
     you see on the screen.

     To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat
     other people's high scores) you must locate the Amulet
     of Yendor which is somewhere below the 20th level of
     the dungeon and get it out.  Nobody has achieved this
     yet and if somebody does, he will probably go down in
     history as a hero among heroes.

     When the game ends, either by your death, when you quit,
     or if you escape from the caves, hhaacckk will
     give you (a fragment of) the list of top scor‐ ers.
     The scoring is based on many aspects of your behavior
     but a rough estimate is obtained by taking the amount
     of gold you've found in the cave plus four times your
     (real) experience.  Precious stones may be worth a
     lot of gold when brought to the exit.  There is a 10%
     penalty for getting yourself killed.

     The administration of the game is kept in the directory
     specified with the --dd option, or, if no such option
     is given, in the directory specified by the environment
     variable HACKDIR, or, if no such variable exists, in
     the current directory.  This same directory contains
     several auxiliary files such as lockfiles and the list
     of topscorers and a subdirectory _s_a_v_e where
     games are saved.  The game administrator may however
     choose to install hack with a fixed playing ground,
     usually _/_h_o_m_e_/_._h_a_c_k.

     The --nn option suppresses printing of the news.

     The --uu _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e option
     supplies the answer to the question "Who are you?".
     When _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e has as suffix one
     of _-_T, _-_S, _-_K, _-_F, _-_C, or _-_W,
     then this supplies the answer to the question "What kind
     of character ...  ?".

     The --ss option will print out the list of your scores.
     It may be followed by arguments --XX where X is one
     of the letters C, F, K, S, T, W to print the scores of
     Cavemen, Fighters, Knights, Speleologists, Tourists or
     Wiz‐ ards.  It may also be followed by one or more
     player names to print the scores of the players mentioned.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
     Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne)
     wrote the orig‐ inal hack, very much like rogue (but
     full of bugs).  Andries Brouwer continuously deformed
     their sources into the current ver‐ sion - in fact an
     entirely different game.

FFIILLEESS
     hack                      The hack program.  data,
     rumors              Data files used by hack.  help, hh
     Help data files.  record                    The
     list of topscorers.  save                      A
     subdirectory containing the saved games.  bones_dd
     Descriptions of the ghost and belongings of a
                               deceased adventurer.
     xlock.dd                  Description of a dungeon
     level.  safelock                  Lock file for xlock.
     record_lock               Lock file for record.

EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT
     USER or LOGNAME           Your login name.  HOME
     Your home directory.  SHELL                     Your
     shell.  TERM                      The type of your
     terminal.  HACKPAGER, PAGER          Pager used instead of
     default pager.  MAIL                      Mailbox file.
     MAILREADER                Reader used instead of default
     (probably
                               _/_u_s_r_/_b_i_n_/_m_a_i_l).
     HACKDIR                   Playground.  HACKOPTIONS
     String predefining several hack options (see
                               help file).

     Several other environment variables are used in debugging
     (wizard) mode, like GENOCIDED, INVENT, MAGIC and SHOPTYPE.

BBUUGGSS
     Probably infinite.  Mail complaints to mcvax!aeb .

BSD                             March 31, 1985
BSD
