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Welcome to Green Thumb Cards Help!

To get started quickly, run through our simple Walk Through.

If you're playing a shareware or unregistered version of GTC, you will only be allowed to play fifteen games.  See the Order Form for details on how to order the Green Thumb card game, which makes a great complement to the computer game!

How to Play

Object

Start

Draw

Play

Disaster

Plant

Attack

Defense

Special

Environment

Bug Eater

Victory

Menu

Animation

Gloves

Tooltips

Sound

Music

Level

High Scores

Load Game

Save Game

Undo

Keyboard

Walk Through

View Walk Through

Internet Play

Dealer Setup

Player Setup

Chat Window

Tips and Strategies

Order Form

Technical Support

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Object
OBJECT:

Your object in Green Thumb Cards is to grow more plant sets than your computerized neighbors.  Sets vary in size from two to four with the larger sets having a higher point value.  Play consists of neighbors taking clock-wise turns drawing and playing cards.  Each garden has a signpost that displays the players name and score.  The game ends when all of the cards have been played.

The gardener with the most points at the end of the game wins!

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Start
START:

Click on the Deal button to begin a new game.  You, like all the neighbors, will be dealt a five card hand.

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Draw
DRAW:

Before you can play a card, you must draw your hand up to six cards.  Click on the deck in the upper right-hand corner or grab a plant out of the Wilds in the brick area.  Note that often there are no plants in the Wilds, so you will have to draw from the deck.    Near the end of the game, if there are no cards remaining in the deck and no cards in the WILDS, all neighbors stop drawing and just play from their hand.  A neighbor can only draw and play one card per turn unless he has a SPECIAL card which allows him to draw and play two additional cards.

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Play
PLAY:

You must now play a card,  a PLANT, ATTACK, SPECIAL, ENVIRONMENT, or BUG EATER.  Just click on the card you want to play.  DISASTERS are played automatically for you.  DEFENSE cards are played when another neighbor is attacking you on his turn.  If you only have DEFENSE cards in your hand after drawing, you must discard one card into the trash can by clicking and dragging--this usually occurs at the end of the game.

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Disaster
DISASTER:

Disasters cause an unprotected neighbor or all unprotected neighbors to lose one or two randomly chosen plants to the WILDS.  Plants in the wilds can be redrawn next turn if they are not taken by another neighbor.   The DISASTER card is played immediately and is automatically discarded after it does its damage.

Here is a list of the disasters and their effects:

  Too much pesticide.  You lose two plants.

  Bad soil.  You lose one plant.

  Dog buries bone.  You lose one plant.

  Too much sun.  Everyone loses two plants.

  Flood.  Everyone loses two plants.

  Freeze.  Everyone loses two plants.

  Not enough water.  You lose one plant.

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Plant
PLANT:

Grab a PLANT card with the mouse.  Then plant it in your garden by dropping it with a click in your garden area.  Your garden contains a signpost with your name on it.  You can rearrange your garden as much as you want--just grab and replant with the mouse.  If you complete a set of plants they are no longer subject to attack.  If you hold your mouse over each plant, a little box will pop up to tell you how many plants are in a set for that particular flower and what their point value is.  Sets of two are worth one point; sets of three are worth two points; and sets of four are worth three points.  Your total score is shown on your sign post.

A special plant is the Bug Eater, which also provides a defense against bugs.

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Attack
ATTACK:

If a neighbor has a plant that you want or need, click on a red attack card in your hand and drag it on top of the plant you wish to attack.  If the neighbor doesn't have a defense, you will be able to transfer that plant to your garden.  Note some Environment cards as well as the Bug Eater will protect a neighbor's garden from certain types of attacks.  Hold your mouse over the Environment or Bug Eater to see what it defends against.

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Defense
DEFENSE:

You may only play a DEFENSE card when a neighbor is attacking you or when you have nothing else to play and must discard.  Grab the DEFENSE card and move it on top of the attacking creature.  The computer won't let you attack with DEFENSE cards that won't work.  If you don't want to defend, just click anywhere on the screen to let the attack be successful.  When you hold your mouse over the DEFENSE card, you will see a list of the types of attacks which it defends against.  If the DEFENSE card does not list the type of attack, it may not be used as a defense.

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Special
SPECIAL:

To play a special, simply click on the card.  SPECIAL cards allow you to draw and play twice more before ending your turn.

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Environment
ENVIRONMENT:

Play this card into your garden just as you would a PLANT by clicking on and dragging it.   This card remains in the garden for the remainder of the game and protects the entire garden against certain ATTACK and DISASTER cards.

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Bug Eater
BUG EATER:

Play this card into your garden just as you would a PLANT or ENVIRONMENT by clicking on and dragging it.  The card acts as a PLANT card as it is part of a set of two and it may be attacked by non-insect ATTACK cards.  When a neighbor has both cards, the BUG EATER like other plant sets may no longer be attacked.  Even when a neighbor has just one BUG EATER in his garden, the BUG EATER protects that neighbor's entire garden from all insect ATTACK cards.

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Victory
VICTORY:

Once all the cards have been played,  the neighbor with the most points wins.  Sets of two are worth one point, sets of three are worth two points, and sets of four are worth three points.

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Tips and Strategies

Play environment cards--Greenhouse, Cat, Fence, Sprinkler--as soon as you get them.

Watch other neighbors' gardens; don't just pay attention to your own.  If another neighbor has three plants out of a set of four, send a pest over to keep your neighbor from gaining a big score.

Watch the wilds; don't just draw undealt cards.  If a neighbor needs a plant that is in the Wild, take it before the neighbor can draw it himself.

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Order Form
Playful Minds Order Form

You may print this order form out by selecting "File", "Print Topic" from the help menu.  Please visit us at www.playfulminds.com!

We accept the following:

1.  Visa or Mastercard: via fax, phone, e-mail, or mail

2.  Money Orders: payable to Playful Minds paid in US dollars.

3.  Checks: payable to Playful Minds paid in US dollars.

Phone:	(800) 207-7603

Fax:  	(209) 383-9003

Address:    	Playful Minds

PO Box 3972

Merced, CA 95344

E-mail:	sales@playfulminds.com

Web:        	www.playfulminds.com

Product	Price	Quantity  	Total US$

=======	=====	=======  	========

Green Thumb Cards (deck of cards)	$9.95	________ 	_________

Green Thumb Computer (CD)                  	$29.95	________   	_________

Green Thumb Computer (3.5"; no box)         	$24.95	________	_________

Green Thumb Computer (Key; no shipping)     	$24.95	________   	_________

Sub total:	_________

Shipping & Handling:  $5 per unit 	_________

(Call for details)

Tax: (California residents only)                           	_________

Total Price                    	_________

Only the medium and packaging differ for Green Thumb Computer.

Overseas shipping and handling is $8.00.

Please check payment method:

Check/Money Order (enclosed):	[   ]

Credit card:	VISA	[   ]

Mastercard	[   ]

JCB	[   ]

Carta Blanche 	[   ]

  Name on card: 	________________________________________________________

  Card number: 	________________________________________________________

  Expiration Date:	_________________________

  Billing Address:	________________________________________________________

                  	 	________________________________________________________

                  	 	________________________________________________________

  Shipping Address:	________________________________________________________

                   	________________________________________________________

                  	 	________________________________________________________

  Signature:   	________________________________________________________

Name for Registration:	________________________________________________________

E-mail address:	________________________________________________________

Thank you for your order.


Menu

The six buttons around the circular Deal button allow you to access various options within GTC.  When you click on one of these icons, your current hand is replaced with cards that reflect the icon you selected.  Here are the six icons:

  Adjust Animation and Glove speeds, Toggle Tooltips On/Off

  Adjust Sound and Music

  Help, Ordering Information, Walk Through, About

  Adjust Level, High Scores, Load/Save game

  Undo your last turn

  Exit Green Thumb Cards (why would you do that??)

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Animation

Animations can be toggled on and off by clicking on the above button.  If animations are enabled, the adjacent slider controls the speed of the animations.  The top of the slider represents the fastest speed.  If you find that the animations are slowing your game down too much, simply turn the animations off.  We're sure you'll still enjoy the game!

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Gloves

If you want to disable or change the speed of the computer players taking and placing plants, you can do so here.  Click on the above button to toggle the gloves on/off, or change their speed with the slider to the right. The top of the slider represents the fastest speed.

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Tooltips

If you're ever stumped over what a particular card or menu choice does in the game, just leave the mouse over it for a brief moment and a small yellow box containing informative text will appear.  These are Tooltips, and can be toggled on/off with the above button if you find them getting in your way.

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Sound

Click on the green Sound button to toggle the sound on/off.  The slide bar controls the volume of the sound effects, with the highest volume setting at the top.

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Music

Click on the green Music button to toggle the music on/off.  The slide bar controls the volume of the music, with the highest volume setting at the top.

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Level

There are three levels of difficulty:  Easy, medium, and hard.  Just click on the green button to choose how tough your opponents are.  The higher the level, the more they will try to keep you from winning.

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High Score
High Scores

The High Scores dialog displays a list of everyone who has completed a game of Green Thumb Cards, along with his/her score and win percentage.  The list is sorted by number of wins.  By default the high score list also shows computer players, but you can hide computer players by making sure the "Show Computer Players" check-box on the bottom of the dialog is not checked.

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Load Game

You can load a previously saved game by clicking on the above button.  Any game currently in progress will be lost.

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Save Game

You can save your game at any time by clicking on the above button.  Only one game can be saved at any given time.  You can later load a game by clicking on the Load card.

Network games cannot be saved.

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Undo

Click here to undo your last play.

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Keyboard Shortcts
Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts can be used while you are playing GTC:

F1	Display Help

F2	Deal

F3	Display High Scores Window

F4	Toggle Sounds On/Off

F5	Toggle Music On/Off

F6	Toggle Animations On/Off

F7	Toggle Gloves On/Off

F8	Toggle Tooltips On/Off

F9	Save Game

F10	Load Game

BACKSPACE or

Ctrl-Z	Undo

M	Open Chat Window

ALT-F4	Exit GTC

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Demo
Walk Through

Click on the green Walk Thru button for a quick tutorial.  Click here to View Walk Through.

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View Demo
View Walk Through

Note:  Print this out if you don't want the help window on top of the game window!

Your goal is to collect more sets of plants than your neighbor.   Before you can play a card, six cards must be visible in your hand.  To draw a card, click on the deck of cards in the upper right corner of the screen.

1.	Click on the rose and plant it in your garden.

2.	Click on the deck to draw up to six.

3.	Click on the red deer card.  Attack the neighbor's yellow pansy with the sword.  Place the pansy in your garden.

4.	Click on the deck to draw up to six.

5.	Click on the green super grow, so you can draw and play two more.

6.	Click on the deck to draw up to six.

7.	Play your tomatoes.

8.	Click on the deck to draw up to six.

9.	Play your second rose.  You will need to plant four to complete a set.

10.	After your last turn, a neighbor attacked you and took your tomatoes.  If you had a purple bug spray card in your hand when you were attacked,  you could have killed it.  If you hold the mouse over a purple defense cards a tooltip will appear showing you what the card defends against.

11.	Click on the deck to draw up to six.

12.	Play your abulition.

13.	A freeze just occurred, moving several plants from the various gardens into the wild area.  In the wild area you see plants that you wouldn't mind transplanting to your garden.

14.	Instead of drawing from the deck, draw your next card from the wilds.  Let's draw the rose back and play it.

15.	Note that the third player in the lower right hand corner should have completed a set with two tomato plants.  Completed sets are no longer subject to attack and player three scores one point for the set.  The greater the number of plants in a set, the higher the points scored.

16.	Draw a card from the deck.  This is the bug eater.  It acts as both a plant and a defense.

17.	The only other special cards are those with an orange background.  These are known as Environment cards.  When these are played they protect your garden from various attacks and disasters.  For beta1, environments will not be visible in your garden when played, but they do still provide the proper protection.

18.	The rest we will let you learn on your own.  Have fun.

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Internet Play - Dealer Setup

Before getting started, you will need to have internet access through a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) as well as have some friends to play with.

To begin, log on to the internet, run GTC, and let your friends know that you are going to be the dealer.  From the main screen click on the deal button, then click on the <<Advanced>> button.  Toggle the network buttons for each internet opponent you have.  Then press the <<Start Server>> button to make your computer ready to receive the internet connections.  GTC will automatically start once all the other players have logged on.

In order for other players to connect to your machine, they will need to know your IP Address (four numbers separated by periods).  You can get your IP address by clicking on the <<Get IP Address>> button at the bottom of the Advanced Deal window.  When you click on this button (and you are online), your IP Address will be displayed at the bottom of the window.  The <<Get IP Address>> button will then disappear, and your IP address will be visible at the bottom of this window until you shut down Green Thumb Cards.  Once you have your IP Address, you will need to distribute it to the people you wish to play with.  You can do this via email, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), or by calling them on the phone.

It is important to remember that your IP address may be dynamically assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider each time you login.  This means that your address may be different every time you connect, so please keep this in mind if you are playing GTC as a Dealer as you must provide your friends with this address for them to connect to your computer.

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Internet Play - Player Setup

Before getting started, you will need to have internet access through a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) as well as have some friends to play with.

To begin, log on to the internet, run GTC, and get the dealer's IP address.  Usually players will get this number via e-mail or IRC (Internet Relay Chat).  If the dealer does not know his IP address see Dealer Setup to find out where it is displayed in GTC. Click on <<Connect to Server>>, then enter the dealer's address.  If the dealer has a permanent address, you will probably want to save the address for easy access by clicking on the <<Add>> button after you've typed it in.  Once the dealer's address is entered, click on connect and wait for the game to begin.  The game will not start until all players have connected to the dealer's machine, so it may take a few seconds before you receive a response.

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Internet Play - Chat Window

While you are playing a game of Green Thumb Cards with your friends, you will often wish to communicate with them.  You can do this by opening the Chat Window, which allows you to send messages to everyone else playing the game (computer players excepted, of course).  To bring up the Chat Window, you can click on one of the players signposts (not your own!), or just start typing.

When you do this, a window will appear with a box at the bottom that allows you to type text.  When you press [return] your text will be transmitted to the other players, prefixed with your name so everyone knows who sent the message.  Once you open the window you may leave it open for the duration of the game, although when running in 640x480 you may find that it gets in the way!  At higher resolutions, though, you have enough screen real-estate where this isnt a problem.

The Chat Window can be resized by dragging the lower-right corner of the window with the mouse.  You can close the Chat Window by clicking on the close button in the upper right hand corner of the window.

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Technical Support

If you experience difficulties running Green Thumb Cards, you may contact Playful Minds at 209-383-9003 or email us at support@playfulminds.com.

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