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- HEARTS.TXT (Ver. 6a) November 17, 1989
-
-
- HEARTS is a very easy card game to play and one that will
- give you many hours of enjoyment. The rules for this game are
- quite simple. After the cards have been shuffled, they are
- dealt clockwise to each player. There are four players in this
- game with each receiving 13 cards (a total of 52). The direc-
- tion of play, like most card games, is clockwise around the
- table. A player must always match the SUIT of the card that is
- played first. If a player does not have the LEAD suit then he
- or she can play any card in their hand. The cards are RANKED in
- descending value from the A to the 2. The Ace (A) being the
- HIGHEST rank. The player having the highest ranked card in the
- lead suit takes that TRICK and BEGINS play on the next trick.
- There are four cards in each trick (one from each player) and 13
- tricks per hand. Each NEW HAND is started by leading the TWO OF
- CLUBS.
-
- The scoring of HEARTS is what makes this game unique from
- most other card games. The LOWEST accumulated score wins the
- game. The score is determined by the number of POINT CARDS that
- a player has received in the tricks that he or she has taken.
- The point cards are - all HEARTS, each counting as one point and
- the QUEEN OF SPADES which counts as 13 points. There is a total
- of 26 points for each hand. The score from each hand is then
- added to your Game Score. When a player reaches or exceeds the
- Game Point, then the game is ended and the player with the
- LOWEST score wins that game.
-
- If you are able to take all 26 points for that hand, then
- you have "SHOT THE MOON" (a run) and each of your opponents will
- receive 26 points. Remember, LOW score wins, and a score of 25
- does not qualify as a RUN. You cannot lead a HEART or the QUEEN
- OF SPADES until they have been BROKEN (one has already been
- played), or unless this is all that remains in your hand.
-
- At the beginning of each hand all players have the oppor-
- tunity to PASS three cards to another player. The direction of
- the pass is counter-clockwise. The first pass is to the player
- on your RIGHT. The next pass to the player ACROSS from you and
- the last to the player on your LEFT. The next hand is a HOLD
- hand, in which no cards are passed. The pass rotation then
- begins again.
-
- 3 The players are numbered from 1 to 4, with YOU playing
- 2 4 position number "1" at the bottom of the table. As
- 1 always, play rotation is clockwise.
-
- The OPTION MENU can be called at any time throughout the
- game. This is done with the ESCAPE key. The hand you are play-
- ing will be SAVED and the game will continue upon your return
- from the Option Menu.
-
- When selecting your cards to PASS, you may void your
- selection at any time by pressing the ESCAPE key. The process
- will then begin again.
-
- Use the RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys or ROLL the mouse to
- select the card to play. After you have selected your card,
- press the ENTER key or LEFT mouse button to play that card. The
- keyboard CURSOR will skip played cards and will jump to the low
- card of the suit in play. The CURSOR will also wrap from end to
- end. Pressing the ENTER key or LEFT mouse button after each
- trick will bypass the Delay and speed the game along.
-
- The DOWN arrow key or LEFT mouse button will act the same
- as the ENTER key and will respond "Y" to a question and the UP
- arrow key or RIGHT mouse button will act the same as the ESC key
- and will respond "N" to a question. This allows game play to be
- conducted entirely from centrally located KEYS.
-
- When using the DOS Shell from the Option Menu, be sure
- that Hearts can find the file COMMAND.COM. This can be done
- by setting the environment variable COMSPEC. At the DOS prompt,
- type and Enter -- set comspec=[location]\command.com.
-
- Any comments or suggestions will be gratefully accepted
- and an honest attempt will be made to answer them. Please read
- the file HEARTS.REG for additional information.
-
- This program requires a computer with color monitor
- capabilities and the following files present (in the same direc-
- tory) to operate properly.
-
- HEARTS.EXE - HEARTS.DAT - HEARTS.TXT
-
- --- Good Luck and Enjoy ---