To play this game, you must DRAG AND DROP each card from it's current position to the position where you wish to place it. You may place a single card on the HEAP if there is an empty space on the heap. The heap is the four card area in the upper middle of the screen. Or, you may place a single card upon another card IF the card you are moving is in the same suit as the card onto which you are placing it, AND the card you are moving is sequentially one card value lower than the card onto which you are placing it. You may do this if the card onto which you are placing the moved card is located in the PLAY AREA or on a TOWER. To move an Ace onto a tower, the tower must not have another card on it. See the screen description help for details about the different areas of the screen.
You may also move, or BLOCK DRAG, several cards at once. The same requirements apply as when moving a single card - the cards must be in sequence and must be in the same suit. Also, the number of cards you may move at one time is determined by the number of empty spaces on the heap.
The rule that is you may move one more card than the number of empty spaces currently available on the heap. For example, if there is one card on the heap, then there are three empty spaces on the heap. Therefore, you may move a block of up to four cards in size.
> 2, 64, ETowers - Object Of The Game
The object of this card game is to place all of the cards on the four towers at the top left and right positions on the playing surface. The cards go on to each tower in suit order from Ace to King. This game does not keep a score for each game, other than a win or a loss. Consequently, the number of moves required to finish a game are not monitored. However, the number of cards remaining on the playing surface (i.e., not on a tower) is monitored and this number is continuously displayed on the right side of the information bar at the bottom of the screen.
> 3, 64, ETowers - Saving or Aborting a Game
You aren't going to win every game. In fact, you may not win most of the games. When you quit the program while a game is in progress, you have the option of aborting the game and accepting a loss, or you may save the game upon exiting the program. If you have a saved game, the next time you start the program the 'Restore Saved Game' menu item in the 'Game Menu' will be enabled, and you may restore the game by making this menu selection. If there is no saved game, the 'Restore Saved Game' menu item will be disabled.
On the other hand, if you select the 'New Game' menu item while there is a saved game you will be prompted to determine if you wish to abort the saved game and accept a loss. This prompt may be used as a reminder that there is a saved game waiting to be finished.
> 4, 64, ETowers - Screen Description
PLAY AREA
The screen has four areas for you to be familiar with. First, there is the PLAY AREA in the center of the screen - this is where all but two of the cards are dealt when you start a new game. Five cards are dealt into each row in the play area and the last two cards are dealt onto the center two positions of the heap.
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HEAP
The heap is the second area of the screen to be familiar with. The heap is the area where you may temporarily place a card to get it out of the way of another move. Be careful how you use the heap because the number of cards you are allowed to move at one time is a function of the number of empty spaces on the heap. You may drag up to one more card than the number of empty spaces on the heap. For example, when the game opens there are two empty spaces on the heap. This means that you could drag up to 3 cards at one time onto another card, assuming all four cards are in the correct sequence.
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TOWER
The third area is the TOWER area. There are four towers on the screen, in the upper left and right corners. These are the cards which are face down with their backs showing. The object of the game is to get all the cards off of the play area and onto the four towers. The cards must go onto the towers in suit order starting with the Ace and continuing 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ,7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen and King.
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INFORMATION BAR
The last area on the screen is the INFORMATION BAR at the bottom of the screen. When you attempt to make a move which is not legal, information about the nature of the problem gets displayed on the left side of the information bar. On the right side of the information bar, the number of cards remaining to be played onto a tower is displayed.
> 5, 64, ETowers - Credits
The routines used to control the cards in this game are from QCards.dll, a freeware dynamic link library written and released onto the internet by Stephen Murphy. The card graphics, which are some of the best I've seen, were produced by Daniel Di Bacco. If you enjoy this game, the credit goes largely to them, where ever they are.
Sometime in the future I may get around to implementing a real Windows help system. In the meantime, if you enjoy playing ETowers, or if you have suggestions for improving it (besides the help system), I'd like to hear from you at:
