Using Nibbles

Nibbles is a simple game to play. The only keys that are needed are the arrow keys.

3.1. Basic usage

Starting Nibbles opens the main window shown below.

Figure 1Nibbles Introduction Window

To start the game, select Game ▸ New Game.

When the game starts, the worm will come out of the left side of the screen. You use the up arrow to make the direction of the worm go up. Use the right arrow to turn the worm right, left arrow to turn the worm left, and down arrow to turn the worm down.

Figure 2Nibbles During Gameplay

3.2. Menus

The menu bar, located at the top of the Main Window, contains the following menus:

Game

This menu contains:

  • New Game ( Ctrl+N ) This starts a new game of Nibbles.
  • Scores This shows the high scores.
  • Pause game This will pause your game. Click on the “Pause Game ” menu option to resume game.
  • End Game End the current game and return to the title screen.
  • Exit ( Ctrl-Q ) This quits the application.

View

This menu contains:

  • Fullscreen This toggles your game window to be fullscreen.

Settings

This menu contains:

Help

This menu contains:

  • Contents ( F1 ) Display this manual.

    About This opens the About dialog which shows basic information about Nibbles, such as the author's name, the version number of the game.

3.3. Diamonds

Nibbles has numerous different diamonds to eat. They are each a different colour and serve a different function. Only the pale purple diamond is guaranteed to be around long enough for you to eat it (in fact, you have to eat them to finish the level). The other diamonds are all bonuses, but they only stick around for a short time. We'll leave it up to you to discover just what the bonus each colour gives, but they all affect either the score, the length of the worm, or both. Be careful when going for these bonus diamonds, don't cut yourself off from the ordinary diamonds that you need to finish the level.