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- Hearts
- Black Lady
-
- Copyright 1988 by Mark Slone
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- Mark Slone
- 2103 Greenwood Place
- Huntville, AL 35802
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- This hearts program may be copied as long as you do not charge for it (other
- than a nominal fee for copying), and as long as you keep this "readme" file
- with the program. Send all suggestions and/or donations ($5) to me at the
- above address.
-
- This program requires the diamond-12 font on the workbench disk. It also
- uses a lot of graphics memory, so I don't recommend multi-tasking. Future
- versions will be more multi-tasking-friendly.
-
- Thanks to Zac Galaboff and Bob Linner for their help and play-testing of
- this program.
-
- This game uses the typical Amiga intuition interface. Use the menu to start
- and quit a game. Cards are played by using the mouse to move them onto the
- table and releasing them, or by double-clicking a card. Releasing a card
- outside the table will return it to your hand. Play pauses after all four
- players have played a card, and a click of the left mouse button will clear
- the table for the next round of play. Most of the menu items are disabled,
- but they may be enabled in future versions of the program.
-
- This program was written so that each computer player knows only their own
- cards. Thus, they do not "cheat". They do have a perfect memory, however.
- I have included a menu option called "count cards", which lists for you
- the cards not yet played by the other players. Since this option is not
- available to you when you play humans (unless you have a perfect memory),
- I don't recommend you use it.
-
-
- Levels:
-
- Expert The computer players sometimes go after the human
- player. They do not, however, cooperate with
- each other, or cheat in any way.
-
- Advanced Each computer player plays to win, and they
- treat the human player the same as they do the
- other computer players.
-
- Intermediate The computer players are "nice" to the human
- player, and go after the other computer players.
-
-
- Beginner and Easy levels are not yet implemented. There could also be a
- level harder than "expert", where the computer players always go after the
- human player.
-
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-
- RULES TO HEARTS
-
- Hearts is a four player card game. For each hand, the players are dealt
- 13 cards. Each player then passes three cards to the left the first hand,
- to the right the second, and across the third. Every fourth hand is a hold
- hand, where no cards are passed. To pass your three cards, place them on
- the table, and click the pointer on the "ready" square. The three cards
- passed to you are flagged by a letter representing the player who passed
- them to you.
-
- Each heart is worth one point, and the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points
- (thus the name "Black Lady"). The object of the game is to have the fewest
- points at the end of the game. The game ends when any player reaches 100
- or more points.
-
- After passing cards (if it is a pass hand), the player with the two of clubs
- begins play by leading that card. Each player after the lead (in a clock-
- wise order) must play a card in the suit led if he has one. If a player
- does not have a card in the suit led, that player may "dump" a card from
- any suit. After all four players have played a card, the player who played
- the highest card in the suit led takes the "trick", and that player must
- now lead a card.
-
- You may not lead a heart until hearts are "broken". Hearts are broken by
- someone dumping a heart or the Queen of Spades, or by leading the Queen of
- Spades. If you have only hearts in your hand, you may lead a heart.
-
- One of the most important aspects of this game is "running". Running
- entails taking all 26 points (all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades). The
- player that runs then subtracts 26 from his score, or adds 26 points to
- everyone else's score. The computer automatically adds 26 points to the
- other player's scores if that places you in first place, or if your score
- is lower than 26. Otherwise, it will subtract 26 points from your score.
-
- This hearts program will not allow you to play an illegal card, and this
- may help you to learn the rules. Future versions will also include a tutor
- mode, where the computer will suggest a card and give you the reason it chose
- that card.
-
- Have fun and good luck!
-
- --Mark Slone
- February 9, 1988
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