CLUB 500 DEMO ============= CLUB 500 BID, COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 BY JOHN BUCKWALTER AND CLUBWARE. All rights are reserved. Permission granted as listed below. Original card game (C) 1906 by The U.S. Playing Card Co., Inc. Card game used with permission from U.S. Playing Card Co. Graphic fonts and drivers (C) 1990 by Borland International, Inc. BGI drivers and fonts used with permission from Borland. This game is Microsoft Mouse compatible for drivers 7.00 and later. REQUIREMENTS ------------ An 80x86 processor with a VGA display is required for the game to run. The processor speed only affects the visual effects and speed of the deal. The flashing bars and dealing will be relatively slow on an 8086 machine and relatively fast on 386DX and 486 machines. Although this only effects the special effects and should not hinder your ability to play the game, you may wish to slow the processor speed to achieve the desired speed of the flashing menu bars, the dealing, and the introductory screen. INTRODUCTION ------------ CLUB 500 BID is a computerized version of the classic 500 card game. The four-player version is implemented here, played as two teams. The standard rules and scoring schedule are used, with some tournament rules also implemented. The game can be customized to play the way you wish. The options screen lists many popular options which can be toggled to match the dialect which you are most familiar. NAVIGATING THROUGH THE GAME --------------------------- You will be welcomed with a general menu. ABOUT 500 tells you about the copyright information. START GAME begins the game. OPTIONS lets you select how you wish to play 500. RULES gives you an on-line list of the rules of 500. CONTROLS shows you the controls to use to move the selected item. And, of course, QUIT exits the program. Any time during the game, pressing S will toggle the sound on and off, and pressing V will toggle the cheat mode, allowing you to view everyone's cards. During the deal, toggling V will not take effect until all cards have been dealt. Pressing S and V during a PRESS ANY KEY prompt also will have no effect on the sound or cheat mode. All options can be accessed with either the numeric pad keys or the arrow keys (on an 101-key enhanced keyboard). To make a selection, press ENTER. BE SURE THAT NUM LOCK IS ON before attempting to use the numeric pad keys. If you are using the arrow keys instead, then this will have no effect on you movements. Otherwise, your movements will be limited. When you begin the game, you are prompted for your name. Enter it by using the keyboard. A maximum of 11 characters can be entered. If you make an error, use the BACKSPACE key to make corrections, NOT the arrow keys. When scoring occurs, the defense's score is calculated after EACH TRICK. However, the offense's score is determined after the HAND is over. If the offense takes ALL 10 tricks and bids less than 250, the value of the hand is automatically increased to 250. The amount is then either added to or deducted from the offense's score. A YELLOW score is positve, whereas a RED score is negative. If the score is less than or equal to -1,000, the negative sign will not be displayed due to a limited space. REVISION HISTORY ---------------- Version 1.00 The very first (and crude) version of 500 Bid. Controls were awkward at best with only four directions of motion. All options were preset. [Never released] Version 1.10 The layout was redesigned to look more like a table. More info was added to the header, and the diagonal directions were added. Some of the presets (like 3 or 5 card widows) were made into user-selectable options. [Never released; was a transitional stage between versions 1 and 2] Version 2.00 A major reworking of the internal code was performed. The code was optimized to reduce the number of lines by over 1,000. A new title screen was added and many more options were implemented, e.g., floor and ceiling scores, dealing preferences, bidder going out, the nullo bid, etc. Version 2.10 More code was optimized, reducing the program even more. Preset number of hands and double nullo and bar nullo options were included. Minor bugs were corrected. The major revision was the addition of the mouse to all features of the program. This program is shareware and may be freely distributed. All files must be distributed as a unit with no alterations made in any way. To receive the full version of CLUB 500 BID, including mouse capability, selectable options, and the non-cheat mode (where everyone's cards are dealt face-down), REGISTER this program.