*** Four-Handed Euchre For Windows *** Version 1.0 Copyright (c) 1995 David W. Feltz SHAREWARE TERMS OF FOUR-HANDED EUCHRE Four-Handed Euchre is being distributed as SHAREWARE. It may be copied and distributed freely, so long as no money is charged. Organizations in the business of distributing SHAREWARE programs may charge a fee to cover distribution costs. Please feel free to give unmodified copies of Four-Handed Euchre, to friends, relatives, and co-workers. They too may enjoy the opportunity to try it out! RUNNING THE PROGRAM Four-Handed Euchre is a program which requires MicroSoft Windows version 3.1 or higher. VGA display is also required. A mouse is recomended but is not required. A game is started by selecting Game from the program's main menu. Then select New and enter your first name. If you want to cancel a game in progress, this can be accomplished by selecting Game the Cancel. Certain game options can be configured by selecting Game then Options. These options are saved upon program exit, so they become the default next time the program is run. CARD SELECTION Card selection is done with the mouse by placing the mouse cursor over the desired card and pressing the left mouse button. Also, you will notice an arrow pointing down at the first card. This arrow can be moved with the TAB key or LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys until it points at the desired card. Then press ENTER or SPACEBAR. DEALING THE CARDS The "Human" player's computer controlled partner will be the first to deal. The deal will then move to the left on each successive hand. The act of dealing the cards will be performed by the PC, even if it is the "Human" player's deal. The dealer will distribute the cards in a clockwise direction start- ing with the player on his or her left. In keeping with the rules of the game, each player will receive three cards, then two cards. After each player has all five cards, the dealer will turn one card up in the middle of the screen. The "Human" player's cards are face up at the bottom of the screen and his or her partner's cards are at the top of the screen. The opponents' cards are on the left and right of the screen. The game will be played by the rules of Euchre (described below). The computer generated players will NOT renege (cheat) and the "Human" participant will not be permitted to renege. If the human player tries to renege, a dialog box will popup and say "You must follow suit". Simply press the enter key or space bar or click the "OK" button with the mouse to resume play. When the game is over, a dialog box will appear stating that the game is over. It asks if the player would like another game. If the answer is no, the program exits to DOS. If the answer is yes, a new game will begin. GAME INFORMATION The computer players "talk" to the user though a popup dialog box which appears over their cards. How long this box remains visable depends on the selected game speed. Also if you have a sound card & speakers and Voices are turned on in the options dialog box (select Game then Options from the main menu), the computer controlled players will actually speak. The volume is controlled by the sound card volume control in windows. The game score (tricks taken and points scored) are dis- played at the upper left and upper right portions of the game screen. The name of the player who dealt and the name of the player who lead is displayed at the bottom left of the game screen. Trump suit and the player name who made that suit trump is displayed at the bottom right of the game screen. RULES OF EUCHRE Euchre is a card game usually played by four people with a pack of cards consisting of nines through aces. The cards are ranked downward with the jack of trump suit (called right bower) as the highest card. The jack of the same color as the trump suit (called left bower) is the second highest card and is also considered a trump card. The remaining cards are ranked from the ace down. The cards are dealt to each player, three on the first round and two on the second. After the last card is dealt, the dealer places the next card face up to indicate the trump suit. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, each player in turn has the option of accepting or passing the trump suit. If the player accepting the trump suit is not the dealer, that player orders the card up. If the player accepting is the dealer, he or she picks the card up. No matter who makes trumps, the dealer must place the card that is turned up into his or her hand and discard one card in exchange for it. If all the players pass the trump, it is turned down, and each player in turn may make the suit, that is, call another suit trump, or may pass again. If all players pass the second time, the hand is abandoned and the deal moves to the left. A player making trump may go alone without the aid of his or her partner. The partner will give the player the best card he or she has available and the player will discard one card in exchange for it. This "Pass Best" is an option which can be turned on or off by selection Game then Options from the program's main menu. As soon as a player makes trump, the player to the left of the dealer leads. Each player must play a card. If the player has cards of the same suit as that led, that suit must be played. Please note, the jack of the same color as trump (left bower) is played as if it had the same suit as trump. Failure to follow suit is called reneging and will not be allowed. If the player doesn't have cards of the same suit as that led, any card may be played, including a trump. Tricks are taken by the highest card of the suit led or by the highest trump. Cards that are not trump or the same suit as that led, can never take a trick. The player who took the trick then becomes the lead. Play continues until all cards have been played. The object of the game is for the team making trump to take three or four tricks, which would score them 1 point. Taking five tricks would score them two points, unless the player went alone, which would score four points. Failure to take at least three tricks is referred to as being euchred and scores the oppo- nent team two points. The game is played to ten points. The team who reaches ten points wins.