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Text File | 1993-07-21 | 12.6 KB | 272 lines

_______________ / \ | ALIEN POKER | \_______________/ Version 1.1 Copyright 1993 by Jeff Bogan Introduction ------------ Alien Poker is a game in which you are pitted against the most skilled poker players that the galaxy has to offer. You are one of the select few Earthling to know about a casino located on the dark side of our Moon. And every Saturday there is a game where you can invite up to five alien opponents to test their luck and skill against you. The official game name is five card draw, also known as closed poker. The deck consists of 52 cards (no jokers are used). The maximum number of players is six - including you. The object of this game is to eliminate a specified number of opponents and at the time that those players are knocked out to have the highest earnings. Your alien counterparts are represented in full 256 color VGA graphics. They have been given life by graphics, mode of play, and the manner of speech that they use. The algorithms they use allow them to employ many common poker strategies such as bluffing, drawing you out, etc. Poker Rules ----------- The following is a set of rules for the game of draw poker. There are probably many variation on this game as there are stars in the sky. These are the rules given in Hoyle's Games for the most common and straight- forward play. The first dealer is selected at random. The deck is shuffled. The dealer deals each player five cards starting on his left and dealing clockwise around the table. Then the ante contributed by every player ($5). The player to the left of the dealer starts the bidding. He has the option to BET, PASS, or DROP. If the first player decides to bet, the amount is 5,10,15,20 or 25. The player also has the option to fold, but this is not a wise thing to do unless he has a very poor hand. He may as well, pass and see how things develop. If the first player passes the next player has these same options. And if the second player passes the next player has the same options and so on. If every one passes on the first round, the cards are collected - no one wins that round. The chips stay in the pot and another hand is dealt by the next dealer. Page (2) When a player decides to bet, then the next player has the options to CALL, RAISE or DROP. If he likes the bet the way it is, he calls - entering an equal amount to the first bet. If he thinks that the pot needs to be "Sweetened" he can call and then raise an amount from 5 to 25. This higher bet must be equalled by every one who stays in play before the round of betting is closed. If the player elects to drop, he exits from play and automaticly looses any contribution to the pot. Once a complete round has occurred, with no one raising the pot, then the round is over. There is no limit to the number of times that the bet can be raised, as is sometomes the case. Some players will specify that only three raises may be made. That is no the case in this game. The pot may be increased to the limit of a player's money. If all but one player fold, then that player has won the round by placing a bet that none of the other players were willing to match. Otherwise, up to four cards may be discarded by each player. The cards are drawn in the same order as betting. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeding clockwise. The betting proceeds as in the first round. After the betting is over each player who has not folded shows his or her cards. The person with the highest hand wins the pot. In the list below, the hands are given in order of strength from lowest to highest, along with the chance of drawing that hand. Hand Chance to get ____ on 5 card draw High Card ........... 49.31 One Pair ............ 41.67 Two Pair ............ 4.760 Three of a Kind ..... 2.130 Straight ............ 0.392 Flush ............... 0.196 Full House .......... 0.144 Four of a Kind ...... 0.024 Straight Flush ...... 0.002% ----- 100.00 Definitions of Hands -------------------- Given from lowest to highest strength: Pair - Two cards of the same rank Two Pair - Two sets of two cards of the same rank Three of a Kind - Three cards of the same rank Straight - Five cards of different suits sequential in rank Flush - Five cards of the same suit Full House - Three cards of one rank and two cards of another Four of a Kind - Four cards of the same rank Straight Flush - Five cards of the same suit with sequential ranks Royal Flush - Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit Page (3) Your opponents -------------- If you have ever played poker before, you know there is a lot more to the game than just knowing the probabilities and the rules. It is also a matter of getting to know your opponents well enough to tell when they are bluffing and when they really are holding that royal flush. To simulate this, each player has three poker-related characteristics. They are Bluffery, Optimism and Subtlety. Bluffery determines how likely a computer player is to try to bluff given a not-so-great hand. If you can ascertain how likely a player is to bluff, it is a decided advantage. Optimism relates to how good a player judges his hand to be. An optimistic player might consider a pair of deuces a worthy hand and so hang on to it, while a pessimistic one may consider it a poor hand and fold immediately. Subtlety is the likelihood that a player will act in a way which is not immediately obvious. Like betting low when he is holding a full house to draw you out. All these characteristic are consistent for each player. There are five opponents to choose from. You can play against all five or any combination of one or more of them. As each player has a different set of the above characteristic, they have their own "personalities". A description of each player can be obtained when selecting players, through the LOOK option. The following is a list of the players: Bignose The General The Robed One Jinxer A-TAD Game Play --------- You have, at the beginning of the game, the option of either playing a previously saved game (If you are just starting, there is a saved game in with in the package which starts you with $500 and matches you up against all five alien opponents) or starting a new game. A window will appear over the title screen to ask you if you wish to load a game. To begin a new game, select 'NO'. You must then choose your opponents. A menu appears as below with four command buttons: SELECT PLAYERS _____ | ADD | - Add a player to the game |_____| _____ | SUB | - Subtract a player from the game |_____| _____ | LOOK| - Examine a player |_____| _____ | DONE| |_____| Page (4) Adding a player is accomplished by hitting the ADD button. A list of the potential players will spring up. Use the cursor and the left mouse button to select the player you want. If you wish to abort the Add process, press the right mouse button. To subtract a player from the game, hit the SUB button and choose from the list of players. The SUB button is also useful for displaying the players you have already selected. The LOOK button will load in the images and a short description of your potential opponents. When you are satisfied with the selection of players you hit DONE. The final step is to select the number of players you must eliminate to end the game. You may choose to play until all of your opponents are broke, or for a shorter game, play until there are two or three players left. The goal, as with any game of chance is to finish up with more money than you started. However, the ultimate goal is to be the one with the most money at the end of play. Function keys have been set up to perform at any point in the main part of the game. They do not operate until actual game play has commenced. The following table lists the functions keys used by the program: F1 - Help F2 - Your Stats F3 - Player 2's Stats F4 - Player 3's Stats F5 - Player 4's Stats F6 - Player 5's Stats F7 - Player 6's Stats F8 - Count the pot F9 - Save the game F10 - Quit the game F1 will bring up the above list, from which you can select from using the mouse cursor. The stats(F2-7) are the player's current holdings, the amount contributed to the pot and whether or not he (or it) has dropped out of play. F8 will give an exact amount that the pot is up to at that point. F9 allows you to save the game at any point. This will save only certain details of the game such as which aliens are playing and their money before any bets were laid. It will not save your current hand so, if you save it in the middle of a hand then you will have to play the hand over again when you load it up again. F10 quits the game, without saving. NOTE: You will never see a number on the playing screen during ALIEN POKER. All moneys are represented by chips. Three color chips are all you will normally see. White is the lowest chip for $5, red chips is next with the value of $20 and blue chips are worth the most at $100. If you do exceptionally well (or your opponents do) then you may see golden chips on the table which can be worth $1000 or $2000. Don't expect to see these in normal play though. When discarding, to flip over a card to indicate that you wish to discard it, point to it and click. If it flips over twice try tapping the mouse button more quickly. Page (5) Hardware -------- This package requires the following hardware: - 640K RAM minimum - VGA card and monitor - MicroSoft compatible mouse - An IBM Compatible machine - recommended at least 80286 CPU If you do not have a mouse you will not be able to play this game. If the processor you use is fairly slow you may have irritating long waits while images are decompressed in the program. Registering Alien Poker ----------------------- I encourage all those who enjoy this game to register it. If you do so you will a) be able to sleep at night again (haha), b) You will receive in the mail the latest version of Alien Poker, and c) have more aliens to choose from - complete with their own graphics and GPP's (Genuine People Personalities). Once you are registered you will be entered into the registered users database, and you will receive in the mail : - A manual - A disk containing the registered version of Alien Poker and - A catalog of all other JD Software Products The manual is of professional quality, printed in postscript half tones. It gives such details on the computer's strategies, a little of the players' life stories, and some hints on their weaknesses. Included in the manual is a strip of paper for the function keys. The registered version of this program has no reminders to register, will have more opponents to choose from, and will be the latest in a continually upgraded product. To register, just print out the file register.frm file, fill it out or any reasonable hand-drawn facsimile, send it with a check for a $20 flat fee. Any suggestions for improvement would be much appreciated too.