Copyright: The Softgame Company of Vermont


Capture
All the cards won during a full 13 rounds of play.


Card
The card back design can be chosen here.  They are in 256 colors.

The card back shows up whenever a face down (non visible) card is displayed.


Count
The card counter keeps track of all unplayed cards.  The actual positions of the cards is unrevealed.  This can be helpful for tough games.


Counter
The card counter displays all unplayed cards.

The cards are displayed in sorted order so the actual locations of the cards are unknown.

A grid is used with rank being displayed horizontally and suit vertically.

Card counter grid:

  A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 J Q K

S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

H|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

D|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

C|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|


Discard
Discard piles receive any cards that players no longer need.

In most games, players can draw cards from this pile.

Usually only the top card is available for play.


Drag
Clicking the left mouse button on a pile and holding the button down while moving the mouse is called dragging.

This technique is used to move cards around from pile to pile.

The card can be dropped at any time by letting go of the left mouse button.


Exceptions
1. If one wishes, they can enable a rule that disallows hearts or the queen of spades to played on the first trick.

2. Hearts cannot be led until a heart has been discarded in a previous trick, or if hearts are the only choice.


Exit
Exit game allows the player to exit Funcrd once and for all.

Hopefully this does not happen until several hours of enjoyment have occured.


File
File menu.

The file menu handles all game selection, loading and saving.

Many of these actions can have verification prompts.

1. New Game.

2. Open Game.

3. Save Game.

4. Save As.

5. Restart Game.

6. Restart Hand.

7. Select Game.

8. Exit


Follow
Play the same suit.


Games
Select your prefered game here.

One can choose from Hearts, Spades or Go Fish.

In the professional version Cribbage is also available.


GoFish
Rules for Go Fish.

Basic facts...

1. This game uses one standard 52 pack of cards.

2. There are four players.

3. Play progresses to the left.

The object of the game...

1. The object of the game is to create as many books as possible.

2. The winner is the player who finishes with the most books.

The start of the game...

1. Each player is dealt five cards a piece.

2. The remaining 32 cards are placed face down in the middle.  This is the Fish pile.

3. The dealer goes first.

The course of play...

 1. Each player takes turns selecting another player and asking them for a specific rank.  Example: "Human, do you have any sixes?".

 2. The player doing the asking must have the rank of the card being asked for in their hand.

 3. If the player being asked has cards of that rank, they must give all of the cards of that rank to the player doing the asking.

 4. If the player being asked does not have any cards of that rank, they tell the player doing the asking to "Go Fish!".

 5. The player doing the asking draws a card from the Fish pile.

 6. If the player gets the same rank as asked for in the fish pile, they must notify the other players.

 7. If the player gets the card they requested, either from the player being asked OR the fish pile, they may go again.

 8. If the Fish pile is empty when told to go fish, that player's turn ends.

 9. When a book is formed, it is removed from the player's hand.

10. If a player's hand is emptied by creating books, they draw a card from the Fish pile.  If it is empty, their turn ends.

11. If a player's hand is emptied by giving up cards, they draw a card from the Fish pile when their turn comes up.

The end of the game...

1. When all thirteen books are created, the player(s) with the highest score wins.


GoFishPrefs
In the Go Fish preferences dialog, one can select Go Fish players.  They all have their distinct strategies.


Hearts
Rules for Hearts.

Basic facts...

1. This game uses one standard 52 pack of cards.

2. There are four players.

3. Aces are high.

4. Play progresses to the left.

The object of the game...

1. The object of the game is to score as few points as possible.

2. The winner is the player who finishes with the lowest score.

The start of the game...

1. Each player is dealt 13 cards a piece for a total of 52.

2. Three cards are passed.

3. The holder of the two of clubs plays first.

The course of play...

1. The holder of the two of clubs or the winner of the last trick leads first.

2. The player to the leader's left must follow suit if possible.

3. If one cannot follow suit, then any card can be played.  There a some exceptions.

4. After four cards are played, the player with the highest card that matches the lead card wins the trick.

5. The trick winner keeps the cards to be totaled at the end of the round and leads the next trick.

6. This continues for thirteen rounds until all cards are exhausted.

After a round...

1. All points are totaled in the players captured cards.

2. Every heart is worth one point.

3. The queen of spades is worth 13 points.

4. The most points one can get is 26 points, but this can never happen...read on...

5. If a player has all 26 points, they receive no points at all, BUT the other three players get 26 points instead!  This is called 'shooting the moon' and should be attempted whenever possible.

The end of the game...

1. When one or more players goes over 100 points, the player with the lowest score wins.

2. Ties must be broken with further play.


HeartsPrefs
In the Hearts preferences dialog, one can select Hearts players.  They all have their distinct strategies.

A special 'house' rule can be also be enabled here.  This rule can disallow hearts to played in the first round of play.

See Hearts rules for more info on this and other rules.


Help
The help menu brings up this file, rules, about boxes and owner information.


High
The high card is usually a king, but can vary depending on rules of the game.

Other high cards can be aces or it can vary each time the game is played.


Keyboard
The up arrow key will step the game seed up and redeal.

The down arrow key will step the game seed down and redeal.


Lead
The first player to play a card.


Book
A group of four cards of the same rank.


Left
Clicking the left mouse button is used to pick up cards.  They can be dragged to play areas or to other piles.


Menus
Using the menus.

The Funcrd menus are fairly self explanitory.

Each item is explained below.

1. File menu.

2. Options menu.

3. Games menu.

4. Help menu.


Mouse
Using the mouse.

Using the mouse in Funcrd is fairly simple.

1. Left button click.

2. Left button click and drag.

3. Right button click.


MovementRate
The card movement rate determines how fast the cards move around the screen.

This occurs during dealing, alignment of cards and error corrections.

1. Very fast.  For a 286 or slow 386.

2. Fast.  For a 386 or slow 486.

3. Normal.  For a 486.

4. Slow.  For a Pentium*.

5. Very slow.  For a fast Pentium* or Pentium* Pro.

* Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp.


New
New game allows the player to deal out a new game with a randomly selected seed.

The deck is reshuffled and a new combination of cards is dealt out.

The randomly selected seed is actually determined by the length of time Windows has been running.


Open
Open game allows the player to open any previously saved game.


Options
Options menu.

The options menu allows the user to configure the game.

All configurations are saved in funcrd.ini.

1. Show all cards.

2. Preferences.

3. Hearts prefs.

4. Spades prefs.

5. Go Fish prefs.

6. Card counter.


Passing
Passing cards.

There are four types of passing and each is done in a specific order and repeated for the entire game.

1. Pass to the left.

2. Pass to the right.

3. Pass accross.

4. No passing at all.

This is repeated after the fifth deal.


Preferences
Preferences.

The preferences box allows plenty of flexability for the player.

There are a few "cheat" options too.

1. Display prompt.

2. Play sound..

3. Card movement rate.

4. Turn delay.

5. Card back.

6. Table back.


Prompt
Display prompt allows the player to enable prompts on different actions.

These prompts ask the player if they really want to quit a game in progress.

This can occurr during loading, saving, exiting, restarting, selecting and starting a new game.


RestartGame
Select Restart Game to start a game from the very beginning.

All scores are reset and the same cards are dealt again.


RestartHand
Select Restart Hand to start a hand from the very beginning.

The same cards are dealt again, but the scores and previous hands played remained unchanged.


Right
The right mouse button can be used as a shortcut to play cards.

Simply right click on a card to play it.  No need to drag any cards using this method.


Save
The game can be saved at any time, even if the game has been completed.

The positions of all cards and scores are saved.

This allows the player to continue a game at a later time.


SaveAs
Save As is identical to save except the player will be able to select a filename for this saved game.

Save game uses the current filename if it exists.


Select
Select game allows the player to choose any one of four billion game seeds.

The seed can be entered directly with the numeric entry box.

The up and down buttons allow the player to step through games one at a time and view the layout.

A "preferred" game can be selected this way.


Show
Show all cards allows the player to see all the cards in the layout.

This is cheating however, but can be helpful if the game gets difficult.


Sort
In some games the piles may be sorted by rank, so the cards will be easier to find.

This may be in ascending or descending rank.


Sounds
Enable sounds allows the player to enable and disable the game sounds.

Each time the cards are shuffled, or a card is dropped a sound is played.

A sound card and MCI drivers are required for these sounds to be heard.

The PC speaker is not used.


Spades
Rules for Spades

Basic facts...

1. This game uses one standard deck containing 52 cards.

2. There are four players in two partnerships.

3. Aces are high.

4. Play progresses to the left.

5. There are two teams, North and South make up one team, and East and West make up the other.

6. Spades are always trump.  They beat any other suit.

7. A dealer is selected, and the dealer rotates to the left after each round of play.

The object of the game...

1. The object of the game is to score as many points as possible.

2. The winner is the team who finishes with the highest score.

The start of the game...

1. Each player is dealt 13 cards a piece for a total of 52 cards.

2. Each player tries to forcast the amount of tricks they think they can win.  This is called bidding.

3. If a player decides that no tricks can be won, then the player can bid zero or 'Nil'.

4. The dealer bids first, and after the bidding is complete, plays first.

The course of play...

1. The dealer or the winner of the last trick leads first.

2. The player to the leader's left must follow suit if possible.

3. Spades cannot be led until they have been played in an earlier trick.  The player can lead spades if there is no other choice, however.

4. If one cannot follow suit, then any card can be played.  Trump (spades) would normally be played if possible.

5. After four cards are played, the player with the highest card that matches the lead card or with the highest trump (spade) wins the trick.

6. The trick winner gets credit for winning one trick and then leads the next trick.

7. This continues for thirteen rounds until all cards are exhausted.

After a round...

1. If a player has bid Nil, then the bids are scored separately.

2. Each trick is worth ten points for the team if the bid is made, but worth ten points against if not made.  Any tricks made beyond the bid are worth one point.

3. A bid of Nil is worth 100 for the team points if made, but worth ten points against the team if not made.

The end of the game...

1. The first team to go over 500 points wins.  If both teams go over 500 the higher score wins.

2. Ties must be broken with further play.


SpadesPrefs
In the Spades preferences dialog, one can select Spades players.  They all have their distinct strategies.


Stock
Stock piles are where the undealt cards go.

Players usually draw cards from this pile on at a time during game play.


Table
The table back design can be chosen here.

The table back is the playing surface.  The designs are in 256 colors.


Trick
A trick is a set of four cards, one from each player.


TurnDelay
The turn delay determines how much delay occurs between computer player actions.

This occurs during game play.  A time interval can be selected.


Using
Using the Funcrd Program.

Funcrd is easy to learn and use.

No tricks here.  Just click, drag, press and enjoy.

1. Using the menus.

2. Using the mouse.

3. Using the keyboard.


Welcome
Welcome to Funcrd (tm).

We hope you enjoy Funcrd.

This help menu should answer most questions about these card games.

1. Information on using Funcrd.

2. How to play Hearts.

3. How to play Spades.

4. How to play Go Fish.


Cribbage
Rules for Cribbage.

Basic facts...

1. This game uses one standard 52 pack of cards.

2. There are two players.

3. Kings are high.

4. A special scorebaord with pegs is used to keep score.

5. Each face card represents 10 points.  The Ace one.  The rest of the cards represent their index value.

The object of the game...

1. The object of the game is to be the first to score 121 or more points.

The start of the game...

1. Six cards are dealt to both players.  Posession of the crib alternates between rounds.

2. In this game, the the deal (and crib) always goes to the human player first.

The course of play...

  1. Both players discard two cards to the crib.  This serves as a third hand for the dealer.

  2. A card is cut from the remainder of the deck.  This is called the "starter".  If it is a Jack, the dealer pegs two points.

  3. The non dealer plays a card in front and declares the point value of the card, as in 'six' if a six is played.  This process is called "Pegging".

  4. Then the dealer plays a card and announces the total of the cards, as in "fifteen" if a nine is played after the six.

  5. This alternating play continues until one of the players cannot play a card without bringing the total over 31.

  6. The first player that cannot play a card must then say "Go".

  7. The other player must then play all cards possible until they cannot play any more without going over 31.

  8. After the other player cannot play any cards, they peg one point for a Go, or peg two points if they total exactly 31.

  9. The player who said "Go" must then lead the next card to continue the process once again.

10. The player who plays the last card pegs one point fo "Last card" or two if it totals 31.

After a round...

1. All points are totaled in the non-dealer's hand.

2. All points are totaled in the dealer's hand.

3. All points are totaled in the dealer's crib.

4. The "starter" counts as a fifth card in totaling all three hands.

5. If there is no winner, the other player becomes the dealer (and gets the crib) and the process is repeated.

Scoring...

1. There are several ways to score points in cribbage.

2. If a Jack is cut as the "starter" the dealer scores two points.

3. One scores one point for a "Go" unless they can achieve 31, then they score two points.

4. One scores one point for "Last card" unles they can achieve 31, then they score two points.

5. When totaling the hands, if a Jack of the same suit as the "starter" is in the main four card hand, one point is pegged.

6. If the five cards any hand are all the same suit then five points are pegged for a five card flush.

7. If the four cards of the DEALT HANDS ONLY, NOT THE CRIB are of the same suit and a five card flush has not been scored, then four points are scored for a four point flush.

8. In any hand AND in the pegging (alternating plays of the cards mentioned above) the following scoring combinations are possible.

    A. Any pair is worth two.  This means that three of a kind would make three pairs (six points) and four of a kind would make six pairs (12 points).

    B. Any run of consecutive cards greater than three are worth the size of the run.  If pairs are present then more than one run may be possible.

    C. Any combination of cards totaling fifteen are worth two points each.

The end of the game...

1. When one of the players gets 121 points, they win the game.

2. If the other player fails to score 90 points they are skunked.

3. If the other player fails to score 60 points they are double skunked.