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FREECELL.DOC
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1995-08-30
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208 lines
TOMMY'S FREECELL (C) COPYRIGHT 1995 BY TOMMY'S TOYS
P. O. BOX 11261, DENVER, CO 80211 USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
CATALOG #TM-151-1A
INSTRUCTIONS:
THE GAMES KNOWN AS PATIENCE OR SOLITAIRE ARE AMONG THE OLDEST KNOWN PASTIMES
WITH CARDS. WITH THE ADVENT OF COMPUTERS VERSIONS SPECIFICALLY FOR COMPUTER
PLAY HAVE STARTED TO BECOME POPULAR. THIS PROGRAM IMPLEMENTS TWO POPULAR
SOLITAIRE CARD GAMES FOR THE COMPUTER KNOWN AS FREECELL (FreeCell) AND BAKER'S
DOZEN. THESE GAMES ARE DESIGNED TO BE HIGHLY WINNABLE, IF YOU REPLAY THEM
ENOUGH TIMES (HA HA).
PLAYERS:
YOU PLAY AGAINST THE HIGH SCORE FILE. THE COMPUTER CAN ALSO PLAY WHILE YOU
WATCH FOR A DEMO.
THE DECK:
THE DECK CONSISTS OF 52 CARDS.
THE SHUFFLE:
TO MAKE IT EASIER TO WIN, WE ALWAYS START OUT WITH A NEW (ORDERED) DECK, THEN
SHUFFLE IT EXACTLY 3 TIMES AND CUT IT, WITH AT LEAST 5 CARDS IN EACH PACKET.
THIS INSURES THAT THERE ARE PLENTY OF SEQUENTIAL RUNS IN THE DECK.
FOR THE HIGH ROLLERS, WE PROVIDE THE OPTION TO START WITH A COMPLETELY RANDOM
ORDER INSTEAD (ANSWER NO TO THE 'NEW DECK EACH TIME' QUESTION).
RULES:
FREECELL AND BAKER'S DOZEN HAVE IDENTICAL RULES, EXCEPT FOR ONE.
INITIAL TABLEAU:
ALL 52 CARDS ARE DEALT FACE UP INTO ROWS OF 8 CARDS EACH. THAT MAKES 6 ROWS OF
8 AND A FINAL ROW OF 4; THE FIRST 4 COLUMNS HAVE 7 OVERLAPPING CARDS EACH, THE
LAST 4 COLUMNS HAVE 6 EACH.
DEPOTS AND FOUNDATIONS:
AN EXTRA ROW IS ADDED AT THE TOP OF THE TABLEAU. THE FIRST (LEFTMOST) 4 COLUMNS
ARE CALLED THE DEPOTS, AND THE RIGHTMOST 4 COLUMNS ARE THE FOUNDATIONS. A DEPOT
CAN ONLY HOLD ONE CARD AT A TIME.
OBJECT OF THE GAME:
IS TO PLAY ALL 52 CARDS TO THE 4 FOUNDATIONS, FROM ACE TO KING IN EACH SUIT.
PLAY:
ONLY ONE CARD MAY BE PLAYED AT A TIME.
ANY FREE CARD (DEPOT CARD, OR CARD AT BOTTOM OF A COLUMN) IS AVAILABLE FOR
PLAY. A FREE CARD MAY BE PLAYED TO A FOUNDATION IF IT FITS, OR TO THE BOTTOM OF
ANOTHER COLUMN, OR TO AN EMPTY DEPOT.
COLUMNS:
ANY CARD MAY BE PLAYED TO AN EMPTY COLUMN. OTHERWISE, A CARD MAY BE PLAYED
ONTO A COLUMN WHOSE BOTTOM CARD IS NEXT HIGHER IN RANK -- AND THE SAME SUIT
(BAKER'S DOZEN ONLY) OR OPPOSITE COLOR (FREECELL ONLY). FOR EXAMPLE:
BAKER'S DOZEN FREECELL
------------- --------
KING OF CLUBS KING OF CLUBS
QUEEN OF CLUBS QUEEN OF HEARTS OR DIAMONDS
JACK OF CLUBS JACK OF SPADES OR CLUBS
ETC. ETC.
NOTE THAT FREECELL GIVES YOU TWICE AS MANY OPPORTUNITIES AS BAKER'S DOZEN.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT AT LEAST 99.99% OF ALL DEALS IN FREECELL, AND ABOUT 70%
OF ALL DEALS IN BAKER'S DOZEN ARE SOLVABLE (SEE NOTES BELOW).
SEQUENCES:
A SEQUENCE OF CARDS (IN SUIT FOR BAKER'S DOZEN OR IN ALTERNATING COLORS FOR
FREECELL) MAY BE MOVED FROM ONE COLUMN TO ANOTHER IF THERE ARE ENOUGH EMPTY
DEPOTS OR TABLEAU COLUMNS TO SERVE AS TRANSFER POINTS. IN GENERAL, N EMPTY
DEPOTS PERMIT A SEQUENCE OF N+1 CARDS TO BE MOVED, BUT AN EMPTY TABLEAU
COLUMN DOUBLES THIS.
SCORING:
PLAYER SCORES 100 POINTS FOR EACH CARD PLAYED TO A FOUNDATION, PLUS A BONUS
OF 1000 FOR COMPLETING A FOUNDATION (PLAYING A KING), PLUS A BONUS OF 5000
FOR COMPLETING ALL FOUR FOUNDATIONS (MAKING THE DECK). THE NUMBER OF MOVES
DURING PLAY IS SUMMED AND SUBTRACTED FROM THE TOTAL SCORE TO ENCOURAGE THE
SHORTEST POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS. THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORE IS THEREFORE:
52*100+4*1000+5000-52 = 5200+4000+5000-52 = 14200-52 = 14148.
TO ENTER MOVES:
THE BOTTOM CARDS OF COLUMNS 1..8 ARE DENOTED BY THE NUMBERS 1..8.
THE DEPOTS ARE DENOTED BY THE LETTERS A, B, C, D.
THE FOUNDATIONS ARE CALLED F (AUTOMATICALLY MANAGED BY THE COMPUTER).
TO ENTER A MOVE JUST TYPE THE FROM AND TO CARDS/POSITIONS, FOR EXAMPLE:
1F - MOVE BOTTOM CARD OF COLUMN #1 TO FOUNDATION
AF - MOVE DEPOT #A TO FOUNDATION
C3 - MOVE DEPOT #C TO BOTTOM OF COLUMN #3
8D - MOVE BOTTOM CARD OF COLUMN #8 TO DEPOT #D
72 - MOVE BOTTOM CARD OF COLUMN #7 TO BOTTOM OF COLUMN #2
HIT "X" TO GIVE UP AND START ANOTHER GAME.
THE MOUSE MAY ALSO BE USED TO MOVE CARDS. JUST CLICK THE FROM CARD, THEN
CLICK THE DESTINATION (TO) POSITION. CLICK THE SAME CARD TWICE TO START
OVER.
"CLOSEST" DISPLAY:
THE COMPUTER AUTOMATICALLY SCANS TO SEE WHICH OF THE 8 COLUMNS HAS A CARD
THAT IS CLOSEST TO MAKING A FOUNDATION, I.E., BURIED BY THE LEAST NUMBER OF
CARDS, AND DISPLAYS IT/THEM FOR YOU.
HIGH SCORE FILE:
HIGH SCORES FOR EACH GAME VERSION ARE AUTOMATICALLY KEPT IN FILE FREECELL.SCR
BY THE COMPUTER. TO ERASE THE MATCH AND START OVER, JUST ERASE THIS FILE.
PREVIOUS DEAL FILE:
THE FILE FREECELL.TMP IS AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED BY THE COMPUTER TO REMEMBER ALL
PREVIOUS DEALS (UP TO A MAX OF 32,000 OR UNTIL HD SPACE RUNS OUT). YOU CAN
REPLAY ANY PREVIOUS DEAL OR LET COMPUTER SHUFFLE A NEW DEAL. IF YOU WANT TO
WIPE OUT PREVIOUS DEALS JUST ERASE THE FILE FREECELL.TMP.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLOBAL CONTROLS:
FUNCTION KEY FUNCTION*
F1 DEMO MODE TOGGLE SWITCH. IN DEMO MODE THE COMPUTER TAKES OVER
AND PLAYS WHILE YOU WATCH.
F2 CHANGE THE SCREEN BORDER COLOR (COLOR MONITORS ONLY).
F3,F4 CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE CARD BACKS.
F5 DISPLAY THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
F6 SAVE DEALS TOGGLE. IF OFF, DEALS GENERATED BY THE COMPUTER
WILL NOT BE SAVED ON DISK, AND YOU WILL NOT BE ASKED IF YOU
WANT TO REPLAY PREVIOUS DEALS.
F7 KEEP/SWITCH GAME TYPE TOGGLE SWITCH: WHEN A NEW GAME IS STARTED,
THIS CONTROLS WHETHER A NEW GAME TYPE WILL BE PROMPTED FOR, OR
WHETHER THE SAME GAME TYPE WILL BE CONTINUED WITHOUT PROMPTING.
F8 ABORT THE GAME AND START A NEW ONE OF TYPE CONTROLLED BY F7.
F9 QUIT THE PROGRAM ON CONFIRMATION (YOU CAN ALSO HIT THE ESC KEY
OR THE "Q" KEY).
F10 SOUND EFFECTS ON/OFF TOGGLE SWITCH.
*NOTE* THE LEGENDS FOR ALL "TOGGLE" SWITCHES DISPLAY THE MODE THAT WILL BE
ENTERED AFTER PRESSING THE KEY, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE MODE IN EFFECT
AT THE TIME.
ARROW KEYS:
TO CHANGE THE PITCH OF THE CARD DRAW: USE THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROW KEYS ON
THE NUMERIC KEY PAD.
TO CHANGE THE SPEED OF THE DEMO MODE: USE THE UP AND DOWN ARROW KEYS ON THE
NUMERIC KEY PAD. THE NUMBER OF SECONDS THE PROGRAM WAITS BETWEEN DRAWS IS
SHOWN IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THE SCREEN (.1 TO 9.9 SECONDS).
TO SKIP THE STARTUP MUSIC: HIT THE <ENTER> KEY TWICE INSTEAD OF ONCE WHEN
RUNNING THE PROGRAM FROM DOS.
COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS:
S START UP WITH SOUND ON
M FORCE MONO DISPLAY MODE
C FORCE COLOR DISPLAY MODE
D DISABLE MOUSE CHECK
* SKIP THE STARTUP SHOW
EXAMPLE: >FREECELL MS
NOTE ON FREECELL:
OF 32,000 POSSIBLE DEALS, ALL BUT 1 CAN BE SOLVED. HERE IS THE ONE THAT
CAN'T (SEE GAMES MAGAZINE, JUNE 1995 AND OCT. 1995 ISSUES):
AH AS 4H AC 2D 6S TS JS
3D 3H QS QC 8S 7H AD KS
KD 6H 5S 4D 9H JH 9S 3C
JC 5D 5C 8C 9D TD KH 7C
6C 2C TH QH 6D TC 4S 7S
JD 7D 8H 9C 2H QD 4C 5H
KC 8D 2S 3S
NOTE ON BAKER'S GAME: SEE MARTIN GARDNER'S MATHEMATICAL GAMES COLUMN IN THE
JUNE 1968 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS BRAIN JAM.
FOR A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER ON BRAIN JAM CONTACT BRAIN JAM PUBLICATIONS,
P.O. BOX 62024, 1448 LAWRENCE AVE. EAST #19, NORTH YORK, ONTARIO M4A 2W1
CANADA (EMAIL 72133.3027@COMPUSERVE.COM).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
OTHER PATIENCE GAMES FROM TOMMY'S TOYS:
CAT# TITLE CONTENTS
---- ----- --------
#029 TOMMY'S PATIENCE I. ACCORDION, KLONDIKE, CANFIELD, SCORPION.
#115 TOMMY'S PATIENCE II. BETSY ROSS, CORNER CARD (FOUR SEASONS), PYRAMID,
SIR TOMMY.
#144 TOMMY'S PATIENCE III. GOLF, FORTRESS, THE BELEAGUERED CASTLE, POKER
SQUARES.
#145 TOMMY'S DOUBLE DECK PATIENCE. FROG (TOAD), VIRGINIA REEL, SALIC LAW,
FORTY THIEVES (NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA).
ONLY $6 EACH; 3 OR MORE, $5 EACH; ALL POSTPAID IN THE U.S.A. (OUTSIDE U.S.A.
ADD $1 FOR EACH 3 OR PORTION THEREOF). U.S. FUNDS ONLY OR CHECK DRAWN ON U.S.
BANK.
----------------------
DID YOU LIKE THIS TOY?
DON'T FORGET TO TRY OUR GOBS OF OTHER NEAT LOW-PRICED TOYS AND GAMES FOR THE
IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES. OUR NIFTY DEMO DISK, CONTAINING AN ELECTRONIC TOY
CATALOG AND OTHER GOODIES, IS ONLY $2 TO ANY U.S. ADDRESS, $3 OUTSIDE U.S.
(PLEASE SPECIFY 5.25 INCH OR 3.5 INCH DISKETTE). (U.S. FUNDS ONLY OR CHECK
DRAWN ON U.S. BANK). IF YOUR PC BORES YOU WRITE US NOW.
GOOD LUCK!
TOMMY'S TOYS, P.O. BOX 11261, DENVER, CO 80211 USA.