csokoban is an implementation of the classic game of sokoban, to be
played on the Linux console. The object of the game is to move all the
boxes into the specially marked spaces. The boxes cannot be pulled,
only pushed, and only one box can be moved at a time. There are many
levels, each with a unique configuration of walls, boxes, and goal
spaces. The mechanics of the game are very simple, but finding
solutions can be extremely challenging.

INSTALLING

An alternate version of csokoban is included, which uses ncurses and
therefore does not require the Linux console. It isn't as pretty, but
it has all the same functionality. To build this version, include the
--with-ncurses flag when running ./configure at the top level
directory.

By default, the executable is copied to /usr/local/games and the data
files are copied to /usr/local/share/csokoban.

BACKGROUND

The game of Sokoban was originally created by Hiroyuki Imabayashi in
1982, for a Japanese computer games company called Thinking Rabbit.

The first fifty puzzles originated from a 1984 version of the game for
the PC, written by Spectrum Holobyte. The programmer who first wrote a
version of Sokoban for Unix apparently copied these puzzles. When
Xsokoban was released, it included these fifty plus 35 more from
various public-domain sources. Another five were added in a later
version.

Along with these ninety puzzles, now pretty much standard in any
version of Sokoban, I have included two other sets that struck me as
being at an appropriate level of difficulty -- a collection created
by J. Franklin Mentzer called "Still More!", and another by Yoshio
Murase (who also has a collection of small puzzles that were created
by an AI program).

There are many more collections of Sokoban puzzles available on the
net. Those who are interested should check out the list of links at
the Xsokoban home page, http://xsokoban.lcs.mit.edu/xsokoban.html.

Brian Raiter <breadbox@muppetlabs.com>
September, 2000
