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PsL Monthly 1993 November
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PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (November 1993).iso
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1993-09-12
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GA-04: Card & Casino Games
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#27730 PsL Card Game Set
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Our favorite card games available as a set for $9.95. EGA/VGA required for
some of these games.
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#27035/1901 Bridge, Pinochle, Hearts Small Programs Disk
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Baker's Hearts 1.6 (BHEARTS)
Baker Technical Software, Inc.
$20
is a challenging game of Hearts. We believe this game is a little bit stronger
than other Hearts games in the library, but this one requires you to keep both
hands on the keyboard, while the other allows one-hand operation with the
cursor keys or mouse. An option in Baker's Hearts is to be able to see the
cards in the computer opponents' hands. While this would normally spoil the
game for you, it made it easier for us to evaluate the program's playing
strategy.
Bridge
Passera, Gerard D.
$20
This is a good version of the card game Bridge. You bid and play one hand, the
computer bids and plays the other three. It is assumed that you already know
how to play the game.
Canasta
Small Business Software
$?
is the only computerized version of canasta we have seen. It is a
well-designed game with excellent documentation. A bridge game that
accompanied this set is unusable because it does not play the cards
correctly. For example, it makes declarer play first instead of the hand
to the left of declarer.
Double-Deck Pinochle (DDPINOC)
Daugherty, Ralph
$0
lets you play one hand of double-deck Pinochle while the computer plays the
other three hands. The documentation explains the scoring and play and the
program has a "learner's mode". The nice thing is that if you ever master all of
the meld scoring options, you earn a degree in mathematics.
Duplicate Bridge Scoring Program (BRIDGDD)
Donald, Dick
$15
is for setting up and scoring a duplicate bridge game. Intended for home use,
it is limited to four tables (8 pairs). It shows board movements, calculates
match point or IMP results, prints the results and can save results to disk
for later recall. If you give bridge parties, but have never tried duplicate
because you didn't know how to do it, try this disk.
Hearts 6.6 [10/93 CD]
Crouch, R. J. ASP
$15-$20
Someone has at last written a nearly perfect game of hearts for the PC. If you
have played hearts before, you will be happy to know that this game is
colorful, easy to use, and plays a game that is challenging, but still
beatable if you're good enough. If you haven't played hearts before, this is a
great introduction to a great card game. Mouse support is included.
Pinochle (PINOCHL)
Nippert, C.R.
$15
lets you play against the computer in four-handed Pinochle. User selectable
options include auction or on-shot bidding and different playing strengths.
On-line help can teach you the rules, and you can elect to let the computer
play while you watch.
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END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #1901
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#27035/2404 Gin and Cribbage Small Programs Disk
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Championship Cribbage 1.0 (CH-CRIB)
Goodwin, Mark D.
$5
pits you against the computer in the popular card game of Cribbage. Instructions
are available when you run the program.
Cribbage (CRIBBAG)
is a very good version of Cribbage. BASIC is required.
Gin Rummy Challenge 8.1 (GINRUMC)
Cody, Jim
$0
pits you against the computer in a game of Gin Rummy. Automatic card
rearrangement makes the game more efficient to play, but we felt that it took
some of the sport out of the game, because it makes it impossible to overlook
some types of plays. This is still a good implementation, though. You can
optionally play the game with a friend over a modem. A mouse is supported, but
not required.
GinRummy 4.2 (GINRUM) 09-93 CD
David Teach
$ any
lets you play Gin against the computer. Features include selectable gin,
game and knock scores, optional Oklahoma rules, game difficulty, and
more.
RumTile
is an interesting, and very challenging, variation on Gin Rummy, which is why
it is classified as a Card Game even though the game uses four different
colors of tiles numbered one to 13 instead of card suits. The game is more
complex than the card game, but a Hint mode and thorough on-line instructions
will help you learn it quickly. A mouse is required.
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END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2404
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#27035/2164 Other Card Games Small Programs Disk
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Card Master (CARDMAS)
Progressive Software
$10
is a collection of four different card games, Fantan, OhHell!, Funny Game, and
Durok. These are interesting games, and the instructions for each are available
when you run the program.
Euchre
Ryan, James V.
$15
The object of this game appears to be to try to get away with cheating as much
as possible. The framework for all this cheating is that four players are
dealt five cards each and you and your computer-partner attempts to take three
tricks, as in bridge. We found the game to be too confusing for us to
understand completely in the limited time we had to evaluate it, but perhaps
those already familiar with the game of Euchre will get more out of it.
Four-Handed Euchre 3.5 (EUCH-DF) 08-93 CD
Feltz, David
$10
lets you play one hand of four-handed Euchre while the computer plays the other
three hands. It can be used for learning to play, sharpening skills, or just
playing for fun.
HE 1.1 (HE_V11)
Bryant, Austin E.
$40
is a computerized version of Texas Hold 'Em. It does not have graphics
as fancy as some games, but it is an excellent program for training to
play in the real world.
Pontoon
PC Projects
$7
is a 70K pop-up card game similar to Blackjack, but with a few differences.
This game comes to us from England.
UNO 1.1
Geller, Barry
$0
is computerized version of the card game Uno: you against the computer. You
need to know the rules already, since none are provided. We don't know if the
game cheats, but it seems impossible to beat.
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END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2164
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Bridge Pal
WR Software ASP
$10
#27035/1110
Bridge is a very tough came to write a program to play because, unlike chess
for example, you can't really search for the best possible bid or play.
Probably the best bridge program available is Bridge Parlor which sells (or
"sold" - we can't find it anymore) commercially for something around $100, and
even it makes serious errors in bidding and play. It should go without saying,
then, that Bridge Pal does too, so we have a tough time recommending it as a
good way to learn the game because the novice would learn erroneous bids and
plays. We recommend that the beginner learn from a book or special program
written just to teach bridge lessons.
The expert will probably not want to put up with the errors either, but the
casual bridge player should get a lot of enjoyment out of playing the
computer. The program itself is well written and a bargain at $10. It lets you
play declarer or defender, and also lets you play duplicate against another
person.
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1621 Casino Games Small Programs Disk
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AllSlot
is a program with three different types of slot machine simulations. It
uses ASCII characters, so it will run on any machine, but that means it isn't
as slick as if it used true graphics.
BigSix
Yurchuk, Michael S.
$5
is a casino Big Six game. It's the game with the large vertical wheel with
money on it ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20).
Keno (KENO-SY)
Yim, Stephen
$0
is the most popular and easiest game in Las Vegas. This computerized version
of it will let you get the feel of it before you go to Vegas.
Keno 1.1 (KENO-TG)
Ted Gruber Software