Championship Spades for Windows 3.1 32-bit commercial release
Last updated June 17 at http://www.dq.com/spades.htp

GAME DESCRIPTION:
Championship Spades for Windows 3.1, 95, and NT provides a polished Spades card
game for serious players.  Features fast game play, extensive options, sounds, 
exceptionally strong computer personalities, and soon, Internet play.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
486 or better, 8MB memory, 3MB disk space, mouse, 256-color video driver.
spades32 is a 32-bit program that only works on Windows 95 and NT.
spades16 is a 16-bit program that will work on Windows 3.1 and OS/2.

INSTALLATION FROM A SELF-EXTRACTING EXE:
Simply double-click on spades32.exe and specify the directory to install.  After
installation, the game will create an icon and allow you to start playing.  You 
can now safely delete spades32.exe to conserve disk space.

INSTALLATION FROM A ZIP FILE:
Extract the Zip file to any directory (make sure to extract subdirectories too)
and then 'Run' setup.exe from the Start menu (not from a DOS prompt) and the
game will then create a game icon.  You can now erase the original ZIP file.

7 QUICK TIPS FOR GOOD LUCK:
1. View each of your opponent's playing styles by right-clicking on their face.
2. Disable the name prompt or set game speed under the Options...General dialog.
3. Practice using the undo, rebid, and replay options under the Practice menu.
4. Quickly set the difficulty level of opponents using the Difficulty menu.
5. Create custom computer personalities by clicking on Edit... under Details.
6. Use the keyboard number keys to quickly bid and play.
7. Use Shift-Ctrl-B (boss key) to minimize game and turn off sound.  Use 
   Shift-Ctrl-S or sounds dialog (under Options) to turn sounds back on.

REGISTRATION:
Please read the registration section under Registration... from the Help menu
in the game.  Your registration will help support a multi-player version and
you will receive an extensive Mastering Spades tutorial to improve your play!

UNINSTALL:
You can uninstall the game either from the included uninstall icon added to
your group or via the Windows 95/NT Add/Remove Programs dialog (32-bit only).

FEEDBACK, SUPPORT, QUESTIONS:
Please e-mail spades@dq.com with feedback and ideas for improvement.

LATEST RELEASE NOTES:

Additions in the latest 3.1 release:

1. Added an explanation when setting to master and grandmaster levels.
2. Added a 'faster' and 'fastest' setting for finer adjustment.
3. Tweaked the timings for all speed settings for faster machines.
4. Put empty period on blank lines in save/print due to MIME problems.
5. Non-experts now dump on 3rd play if pard winning w/Queen or better.
6. Prevent rare lockups by waiting 10 seconds between soundtrack starts.
7. Show the currently playing MIDI soundtrack in the Options menu.
8. Added install/uninstall programs for all versions.

Additions in the recent 3.0 release:
SUMMARY:
1.  Computer is now MUCH more challenging, particularly against Nil bids.
2.  New, easy-to-set difficulty menu to quickly change players.
3.  Difficulty level now computed to assure a challenging game.
4.  New 'sexier' look for the table, cards, and players.
5.  New options: Combine bids=No for separate tally and Enforce Blind Nil.
6.  Game delays better on faster machines and more choices added.
7.  Internationalization issues improved for non-US players.
8.  An extensive MIDI soundtrack add-on available on Web site for free.
9.  Added complete Install program for 16-bit & include OLE 2.0 DLLs.

DETAILS:
1.  Added difficulty level to options menu to quickly change players.
2.  Difficulty level computed when players changed & shown in title.
3.  Replaced MIDI files with versions that are clearly public domain.
4.  Created a separate MIDI add-on pack to post on Web site for free.
5.  Added a new marble blue deck pattern with and without Spades icon.
6.  Made default table RedGranite and deck BlueIcon for nicer look.
7.  Player faces are more crisp and have darker, cleaner backgrounds.
8.  The turn indicator now briefly indicates the winner of a trick.
9.  The last play on a trick now has a longer pause to show all cards.
10. 'Slower' and 'Slowest' speeds now allow card counters to keep up.
11. Replaced 'yabba' win sound with 'winner' to avoid copyright issues. 
12. Fixed install dates to format properly for international users.
13. More challenging since 'Red' is less aggressive in default setup.
14. Experts no longer dump early when it is not possible to make their bid.
15. Players no longer waste an Ace or King on a trick already trumped.
16. In cutthroat, players no longer sometimes lead 'partner's suit.
17. Experts will now lead Aces or Kings if signalled or heavy in suit.
18. Computer nows leads much better in cutthroat play.
19. Bug that caused experts to sometimes lead random cards is now fixed.
20. Hand save and bug report format condensed and improved for emailing.
21. Minimum partner bid is now enforced when last to bid goes Nil.
22. Separate bid/taken for partners option added.  Scoring is the same.
23. Status bar help text & score no longer flashes and updates better.
24. Selecting another window no longer prevents bid/plays using keys.
25. Rebidding with swap on Blind Nil no longer allows additional swaps.
26. Bidding hints are no longer cleared when mouse is moved.
27. 1-8 keys now select in Player Selection dialog and Shift-1-8 edits.
28. Invalid player picture filenames now error-check and draw better.
29. Exiting the game from winner dialog no longer skips save & reminder.
30. Exiting the game no longer skips shutdown sound on faster machines.
31. Timings adjusted so delays should work on very fast & slow systems.
32. Beginners no longer count Queens toward bid.
33. Beginners are more aggressive and now try to take more tricks.
34. Beginners now always lead their highest cards first.
35. Beginners should now provide at least a little bit of a challenge.
36. Added a warning if difficulty changed with customized players.
37. Exiting the game now re-saves all options and player edits.
38. Missing image files should no longer cause runtime errors.
39. Table selection dialog now only warns users with 256-color systems.
40. Removed startup level dialog since Difficulty menu is easy to set.
41. New users now startup with a medium-challenging set of opponents.
42. Spaces now allowed in player names (8 char limit still applies).
43. Hitting Cancel or entering '' for name now sets it to 'Human'.
44. First character of player name is now forced upper-case.
45. Loading/assign of a joker now forces the correct Joker option on.
46. Loading/assign now forces all player's hands to be sorted properly.
47. Blind bid option added to enforce only when negative or behind.
48. Difficulty moved from a submenu to a full normal menu.
49. Cardcounters will now prefer to lead a suit partner dumped on.
50. Cardcounters will no longer lead suits Nil player already dumped on.
51. Cardcounters will no longer lead suits that opponents have trumped.
52. Occasional failures for computer to lead against Nils has been fixed.
53. *Players will now try to take a trick if they know Nil can go under.
54. Players will now try to take a trick if they know Nil pard can trump.
55. Options menu names changed to be more clear.
56. Updated the help file to show new features and explain options in detail.
57. Added a 'summary' section to readme to summarize new additions.
58. Now using a real install & uninstall program for Championship Spades.

See the help file for a full version history of other improvements.