300 Favorite Games/300GAMES.iso/176/pachisi.doc

Text File | 1990-04-22 | 12KB | 270 lines

                PACHISI 1.5, Copyright George Leotti

This program is released as SHAREWARE, and as such it is not free. All I
ask is this: If you try the program and enjoy it and would like to support
it and future inexpensive entertainment programs, please send $5.00 to me
at the address supplied on the opening screen.

You are free to give copies of this program to anyone you choose as long as
you do not modify the documentation or the program file, or charge anyone
anything beyond a reasonable copying fee. If you paid anyone, other than
myself, anything for this program you've paid a copying fee; I receive none
of that fee. If you want to support this software, see the above paragraph.

Pachisi is provided as is, and includes no implied nor expressed warranty
of any kind. In no event shall the author be held liable for incidental or
consequential damages through the use or misuse of this program and its
associated files.



Pachisi is an ancient chase or race game, thought to be hundreds of years
old. There are many variations of Pachisi played around the world today.
The game presented here, to the best of my knowledge, is played in and
around India.

                        SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

  at least 128K FREE RAM
  a VGA graphics card & monitor capable of supporting 640x480x16
  colors.
  OR
  a EGA graphics card & monitor capable of supporting 640x350x16
  colors.

  also will run on a monochrome EGA or VGA monitor capable of the
  above resolutions, but YUCK!

                               FILES:

  PACHISI.DOC - You're reading me.
  PACHISI.EXE - The program.
  SMALL.FNT   - This & next file are for special fonts AND they
  LARGE.FNT   - must be in the same directory as PACHISI.EXE or
                Pachisi will not work!
  PACHISI.NEW - This file details new features & bug fixes.

It is not necessary to read these directions to play the game. However, if
you get stuck with the game, it is my hope that these directions will be
helpful!



                               SETUP:

If you find the default colors hard to see on your system, or otherwise
displeasing, press "s", or "S", at the opening screen. The Pachisi board
will be displayed with pieces distributed around the board for each player
in their current colors. Press 1, 2, 3, or 4, to select the player position
you want to change the colors of. Then press "S" to change the color of the
piece, or "D" to change the color of the double dot. Press ESC to exit the
setup screen.



                            SETTING PLAY ORDER:
After you enter the players names and when you answer no to "Is the same
play order okay?" at the end of each game, you'll be shown the current
order of play. Press "N" if the order is okay. When you press "Y" to change
the play order, you'll be asked to enter the number of the player move; the
number entered will be highlighted. Then you'll be asked to enter the
number of where to move it. These two entries will be swapped.

If you change the order of the play after you have already played a game,
the players will be the same color they were during the first game. The
names and colors of each player are not saved between sessions. If you play
Pachisi next week with the same players, and want the same colors, you'll
have to play the first game in the same order as you played the first game
the last time you played.

                               BASICS:

Two to four people may play. If two or three people play, the computer will
ask if you want the program to play the remaining pieces. If only one
person plays the computer will operate either one or three programmed
players. When only one person plays the game the program will not let you
play alone. What is the use of a one person race/chase game?

When you start Pachisi from DOS, you'll see a title screen. Press any key
except ESC or "s" or "S" (see SETUP) to play the game. Next you'll be asked
how many humans are playing. Then you are asked to enter the names of the
player(s). If you think your computer does enough work for you, and you
want to give it some recreation time, you can let it play itself. Just
enter "Silicon" as the human(s) name(s).

If you want the human players to play in a certain order, enter them in
that order. Or, once the names are entered you may change the order of
play.

You may quit the game at any time by pressing the ESC key. You are asked to
confirm that you wish to quit so as to prevent an accidental ESCape to DOS.



                              OBJECTIVE:

Each player tries to get all four of their pieces from the starting
position to the finish position in the center of the board. Each players
starting location is on a different "arm" of the board, which looks like a
cross. Each starting location is designated with a black triangle, pointing
in a clockwise direction around the board, which shows the direction that
the play travels.



                            PIECES & DICE:

The pieces are represented by solid circles in four different colors, red,
gray, white, magenta, or user selectable. One die is used to represent the
traditional six cowrie shells. The die is unusual because it has NO 1 and
it has a 10 and 25.

                               PLAYING:

After all the players names are entered the board is drawn. The die will be
near the first player and constantly changing, or "rolling". To determine a
roll press the SPACE bar or ENTER key. (The die is drawn in four different
locations and is always near the name of the player whose turn it is.)

A player may enter a piece on the board with ANY number rolled on the first
turn. On subsequent turns you must roll a 6, 10, or 25, to enter a piece on
the board.

Whenever a player rolls a 6, 10, or 25, that player gets to roll again. It
is possible to get your pieces around the board very quickly as long as you
can stay lucky and keep rolling a 6, 10, or a 25. You do not get an extra
turn if you cannot move any piece when you roll a 6, 10, or 25.

Once you roll you'll see a yellow marker on your most advanced moveable
piece. The second half of this marker highlights where the piece will move
to. If you want to move a different piece, use the cursor keys to highlight
it. Once you have the highlight on the piece you wish to move, press ENTER
or SPACE to execute the move.

The program will display a message for all illegal moves and not allow you
to move illegally. A message box will pop up in the center of the board
telling you why you can't move a highlighted piece. If there is no legal
move when you "roll" the die, the message box will simply say, "You can't
move any piece!", instead of listing all the reasons why.

To clear the message box press any key, except ESC. When a programmed
(computer controlled) player can't move, a message will pop up telling you.
These messages will clear themselves in about 2 seconds; if that's too slow
for you, press any key to clear it immediately.

After you have had your first turn you may, if you wish, pass your turn
either before OR after you roll the die. Press 'P' or 'p' to pass.



                               TAKING:

If a player lands on a square occupied by an opponent's piece, the
opponents piece is sent home, or back to its starting location. The player
that has taken (sent home) another player is granted another turn.

If a player lands on a square occupied by another of his/her/its pieces,
those pieces become a double piece. A double piece is represented by a
black dot on its the center.

Double pieces are the strongest pieces in Pachisi. A double can not be
taken or passed by a single piece. A double can not be passed by any other
double. A double CAN be taken by an opponent's double.

The are three safe or "resting" squares on each arm of the board, twelve in
all. The safe squares are light green in color. A piece can not be taken,
or sent home, if it is on a safe square. All four players can have a piece
in the same safe square. However, a single piece can not move to the same
safe square as an opponent's double piece. If a single is on a safe square
an opponent double can land in the same square: the single does not get
sent home!




                              END GAME:

To move a piece to the finish area in the center of the board, you must
have an EXACT roll. For example: if a piece is 4 squares away from the
finish and the player rolls a 5, he/she/it must move another piece, if
available, or pass this turn.

Take care when you are in the home stretch, (light green squares leading to
the finish), not to land one square from the finish! Remember, there are no
1's on the die! The program will give you a CAUTION message if you
highlight a piece that would land on the space before the finish. This
message can be ignored, it's only a caution, but you could NEVER win the
game!

Once you get a piece to the finish area, it is moved off the board and put
under your name. These "finished" pieces are represented by an empty
circle.

When there is a winner, the message box pops up telling who won. Press a
key and the message box asks if you wish to play again. Press 'Y' or 'N'.
'N' will put you immediately in DOS. 'Y' will pop up another message asking
if you want to play with the same players. Press 'Y' to use same players.
'N' lets you enter different players. Finally, another message asks if you
want to change the play order.



                       I hope you all enjoy Pachisi!

After the fixes described in PACHISI.NEW and further testing I believe this
program to be bug free. HOWEVER, if anyone finds a problem or (yuck), bug
in this program, or has constructive criticism or kind words, please
contact me through the postal service mail or Email at the following
addresses on these services:


  CompuServe: 75616,1724
  GEnie:      G.LEOTTI

  GJL
  July '89, Pachisi, Version 1
  September '89, Pachisi, Version 1.5


                Pachisi 1.5 New Features & Enhancements

1.    You can now set the color of each player and the dot of each player
     that signifies a double piece. Your new default colors will be saved
     to disk so they only need to be set once.

2.    The  total number  of wins  for each  player are  shown after  each
     player's name.

3.    After  entering the players names AND after each game you are given
     the option  of selecting  the order  the players will play; who goes
     1st, 2nd,  etc.  The  players  will  retain  their  original  colors
     throughout the current session of games to avoid confusion.

4.   The die now "rolls" without flicker and looks much smoother.



                            PROBLEMS FIXED:

1.   In certain  situations player  2  (gray)  would  block  itself  from
     leaving the board!

2.   A problem  related to the above; player 2 would sometimes be blocked
     by another player not in its way.

3.   If the  first piece  of player  3 (white)  got off  the board  was a
     double, and  then a  single white  piece was  sent home,  the  empty
     circles for  the "off"  double would  be filled giving white 2 extra
     pieces.

4.   At times  the program  would let  you move  a double piece to a safe
     square already containing a single piece of the same player/color as
     the double.  The program  now responds  correctly, "Triple piece not
     allowed!".

     I'd like to say a special THANK YOU to the "No-Pest strip" bunch for
     their  support  and  unsurpassed  bug  finding  skills!  Thanks  for
     bringing the  above problems  to my  attention, and your enhancement
     suggestions!