 Clock Patience for Windows - Contents

Introduction

Alarms

Beat the Clock

Cards

Clock

The different play modes

Quitting Clock Patience

The Rules

How the scoring works

Firing up Solitaire

Reading the Status Bar

Speeding up the game

Changing your tablecloth

Turning Cards over


 Introduction

Welcome to Clock Patience, or 'Round the Clock,' as some people know it. This version of the game is intended to be amusing and practical - it is a card game,  an alarm clock and a maths tester. Being based on a clock, it can also help to teach children to read the time.The aim of the card game is to get all of the cards on the clock rim face-up before getting four kings up in the middle. Play starts by clicking the middle stack. The card will drift to its home, have a jingle and then let you click the pack it has landed on. An ominous 'knock, knock' will be heard when a king is turned up. The rules are explained later.

If you get tired of clicking, you can select the autoplay mode. This will do everything for you. The odds are rather stacked against you, so you might prefer the computer to play a few games.

Rather than click the cards, you can choose a more taxing mode of play - here's the current list, but more maths modules can be bought from Datasaurus. Select Register from the Help menu to learn more.

Modes Supplied with this version:

Toddler Mode:	So the little darlings get a go.

Number Mode: 	To help the angels count.

Tables Mode:  	To help with their tables.

Degree Mode:	To teach degrees in a circle.

Powers Mode:	Squaring and cubing numbers - in your head of course.

Trigonometry Mode:	Calculating the length of chords in a circle.

For more details, see Modes. For more speed select Super Fast from Options.

Colours

If you get bored with the deck or the tablecloth, you can choose a new one from the supplied range.  New tablecloths are available from Datasaurus - select Registration from the Help menu for details.

Solitaire

If you want to play Windows Solitaire as well - you can fire it up from the Game menu. Note that it appears that Windows Hearts will NOT work alongside Clock Patience.

Alarms

The alarm clock is a standard beast with three alarms, each of which can have its own message. The alarm works even if Clock Patience has been minimised. When an alarm sounds it will trill at you and flash up your chosen  message.

David Warner

Datasaurus Ltd.

3/9/94


 Cards

Dealing:

When you start Clock Patience or when you select 'deal' from the game menu, the program will turn the cards face down, shuffle them and deal them out again - though not all of this process is visible. Shuffling is genuinely random - so the results may not be as helpful as when you use 'real' cards!

Moving:

The way you move cards during the game depends on the mode that you have chosen. Use the Game menu to pick a new mode.

Autoplay mode: You can go for a beer and let the computer play on.

Click Mode: This is the default. Click on the centre stack and watch the card trundle off to its home where it will trill at you. You can then click its home and set another card off on its peregrinations.

Toddler Mode: Hitting nearly any key will kick the next card off.

Number Mode: Requires you to hit the number corresponding to the card you need to turn over.

Other Modes: Ask you to solve a problem in order to turn over the next card.

For more details, see Modes.

Changing card backs:

You can select a new card back at any time - it will not harm your game. Select change deck from the Game menu to do this.


Clock
 The Clock

By default, the clock is visible and lives in the top left hand corner of the Clock Patience window.

If you find that it irritates you, you can hide it by selecting 'Clock' from 'Game, Options'. Show it again by following the same route.

If your clock is wrong, don't fret; PC clocks commonly lose time over the weeks. Select 'Set System Time' from options from the game menu to put it right.

The clock will work just as happily if you've minimised Clock Patience, and with its three alarms, you shouldn't miss your appointments.


History of Cards

 The History Lesson

Card games originated in China or India in 12 Century AD., however the first mention of cards in Europe did not appear until the 14th Century AD.

The first European cards were tarot cards, so their designs reflected their purpose, fortune telling, and the view that medieval people had of their society. The tarot deck was thus split into four suits, each representing a major element of that society:

  The church, was represented by cups; these finally became hearts.

  The military, appeared as swords; these ended up as spades.

  The merchants, were represented by stars; these evolved into diamonds.

  The farmers were batons, which eventually became clubs.

Early cards were made by hand, which kept them out of the reach of most people. It was not until Johann Gutenberg, in Strasbourg in 1440, introduced his printing press that the possibility of producing cards cheaply arrived.

We largely owe the layout and the number of cards in the modern pack to the 18th Century French. They simplified the designs and distinguished the royals from the rest. From 1827 they named their royal cards after historical figures,  thus the king of hearts was Charlemagne; the king of clubs was Alexander the Great. Julius Caeser was the king of diamonds whilst the King David of biblical fame became the king of spades.

The design of cards then remained much the same until the 1800s when double-headed court cards became the norm. It was also then that the indices, the small numbers in the corners, were introduced. The Americans added jokers to the pack in 1865.

Card backs started off as plain white, with the exception of early Italian packs which boasted simple flowers or figures. As printing processes improved, so the complexity of back designs increased. However, this process was reversed in late Victorian times because complex designs made it easier for unscrupulous people to use 'marked' decks.

Cards have served other purposes. In 1685 they became the first paper currency in Canada when the French governor, Jacques de Meulles, used some to pay off war debts.

In 1765 the British government imposed the Stamp Act on Americans. This tax imposed a 1/- levy on every pack of cards sold as well as taxing other printed matter. The tax was widely ignored and was repealed a year later. The Stamp Act sowed the seeds of the American revolution 11 years later.

Many people collect playing cards. There are collections in the British Museum and in the Royal Asiatic Society in London, to name but two. Collecting cards can also be profitable - prices up to $143,000 have been paid for rare decks.

Building card houses has been a popular pastime among children for many years, and some children never grow out of the habit. Building up is but half the fun - watching them tumble provides the rest. The tallest house of cards was built by an American Maths student in 1992, it reached 75 storeys or 14' 6".

The first book on card games was a treatise on whist written by an English writer, Edmond Hoyle; it was published in 1742. To play 'according to Hoyle' means to follow the rules of a game precisely.

Games played by one person, such as Clock Patience, are called solitaires. There are several hundred different solitaires played - and it is not too difficult to invent your own. The authors of these games are usually anonymous.

Bibliography:

Detlef Hoffman, An illustrated History of the Playing card (1972).

W, Gurney Benham, Playing Cards, their History and Secrets (1931).


 Modes of Play

Select the mode you want from the Game menu.

Autoplay Mode: You can go for a beer and let the computer play on. Select 'autoplay' from 'options' on the Game menu to do this. If you look like winning, you can always switch back to manual mode for the coup de grace. If you select autodeal as well, the program will start a new game when you've won or lost one.

Use pause to pause a game that is autoplaying.

Click Mode: This is the default. Click on the centre stack and watch the card trundle off to its home where it will trill at you. You can then click its home and set another card off on its peregrinations.

Degree Mode: The aim of this is to teach children the degrees of a circle. A panel of buttons will appear showing the degrees in a circle. Click the button which shows the correct degrees for the card that you want to turn over.  If you make a mistake, your PC will bleep at you.

Number Mode: The idea of this is to teach young children numbers and how to tell the time.  Hit the number key that corresponds to the card you want to turn over. Use '0' for ten, 'J' for Jack, 'Q' for Queen and 'K' for king.  Mistakes will be bleeped!

Power Mode: Select this to test your squares and cubes...without a calculator, of course.  Use the box that appears to enter the number for the stack you want. For example if you've selected cubes and want to turn over a card in stack 9, just work out 9 times 9 times 9 in your head - no problems!

In case you've forgotten a square is a number times itself - eg. 2 time 2 = 4,.

A cube is a number times itself twice, eg. 2 times 2 times 2 = 8.

Tables Mode:  This'll teach the children their tables better than flying blackboard erasers ever do...A button and a box will appear when you select this. Use the button to choose the timetable that you want (e.g. times 2, times 10 etc.).  Use the box to enter the number of the card you need to turn over - so, assuming that you're using the two times table and are turning over a card from the stack in the middle, your answer will be 2 x 13 = 26. Enter 26, and the card will turn. The card will not turn until you have entered the correct number.

The toddler mode: Your little angel can thump the keyboard to trigger a legal move. Excess thumps will be ignored. I'm not sure that this will teach the toddler much - but it's fun anyway.

Trigonometry mode: Here you must calculate the length of a chord, shown in red on the diagram. Select the radius you want to use by clicking the 'r' button on the screen. The radius can be between 10cm and 90cm. Note that your answer should be rounded to the nearest centimetre with 0.5000 being rounded up. For 6 o'clock, 12 O'Clock and the central stack, enter 0 in the answer box.


Quitting Clock Patience

 Quitting Clock Patience.

To quit: Select quit from the 'Game' menu or hit Alt+F4.

When you quit Clock Patience, your preferences are saved to CLPatnce.ini. This means that your alarm settings and choice of tablecloth etc. will be preserved ready for your next game.

Like all Windows applications, you should not quit by switching off your PC.


The Rules

 The Rules.

Aim: to turnover all the cards around the rim before getting four kings up in the centre.

Shuffling: The cards are thoroughly shuffled by the program before every game.

Dealing: The program will deal out the pack one card at a time starting from the one O'clock and ending on the centre. It thus makes four circuits until all 52 cards have been dealt.

Start of play: The game starts with you turning over the topmost card from the stack in the middle. How this is done will depend on the mode you've chosen. The program will then trundle the card face-up to its home - so a 9 will go to the 9 O'clock spot. A trill will sound when it has arrived. A king will go to the centre. The game continues with you clicking on the stack the last card landed on and sending another card off on its way.

Winning: If you turn-over all the cards around the rim, you win! This does not happen very often, so treat yourself to an extra drink or whatever tickles your fancy.

Losing: As soon as all four kings are face up in the centre, you've lost. Don't take it to heart...you're going to lose quite a lot.

Starting a new game: Select deal from the Game menu or hit Ctrl+D.


Starting Solitaire

 Solitaire.

If you have Windows Solitaire, you can launch it from Clock Patience. Select Solitaire from the Game menu.


The Status Bar
 Status Bar.

This records your progress in the game.

'Kings Up' shows how many of the horrors are face-up. When it reaches four, you've lost. You will hear a warning when three kings are up.

Cards face down on rim: This shows how well you are doing. It starts at 48 and counts down as you turn over rim cards. When you turn over a centre card, it will not change.

The mode you are playing shows in green.

The Games won and lost figures keep your running total this session. These figures are not preserved when you quit from Clock Patience.

The error count keeps a tally of your blunders in the current game - lest you forget.


Changing Tablecloths

 Tablecloths.

Clock Patience comes with a selection of single coloured tablecloths and one rather pretty fishy one. Extra tablecloths can be purchased from Datasaurus - select Register from the Help menu to see how.

You can change your tablecloth at any time - the cards will not fall off the screen! To do this, select change tablecloth from the Game menu. You will be offered the currently available cloths.


 Turning Cards

In manual mode you click the card you want to turn. You will only be able to turn over a card that you are allowed to. You may only turn over a card when the last card has reached its home.

In toddler mode, the same is achieved by hitting any key on the keyboard.

In autoplay mode, your clicks and keys will be ignored - after all, it is the PC that's playing...

Other modes require you to solve a problem before a card will be turned.

To speed your game up, select the Super FastSuper option.


Sounds

 Sound effects.

You'll need a sound card to appreciate these. If, however, you find them irritating - select sound from options from the Game menu. This will turn the sound affects and the audio alarm off. You should not miss any appointments this way as the visual alarm effects will still appear.


Changing Decks

 Changing card backs:

You can select a new card back at any time - it will not harm your game. Select change deck from the Game menu to do this.


 Alarms

Choose alarm from the menu bar to set, view or delete your alarms.

You can set up to three separate alarms on this screen, the only proviso is that you cannot have more than one alarm set to 'fire' at the same time. each alarm can have a short message with it.

To set an alarm: Enter your message, then the time using the 24 hour clock and click the on/off button. When it shows 'on' your alarm is active. Click 'OK' when you've finished. You'll notice that there's now an alarm clock on the Clock Patience screen - this is just to remind you that you've set an alarm.

To delete an alarm, click the on/off button until it shows 'off'.

When an alarm 'sounds' it will make the well-loved noise and flash up your message. Clicking the alarm clock will stop the ringing and hide your message. The alarm will, in any case, stop automatically after a few seconds.

Your alarms are 'saved' when you quit Clock Patience - so they'll work again the next day.

The alarm will work even if Clock Patience has been minimised.

If you have turned sound off, you will not hear the alarm, though you will see it.


Scores
 Scores:

Select this from the Game Menu or by hitting Ctrl+S.

It shows your best score and your best elapsed time for the more involved modes.

Scores are updated when you finish a game - regardless of whether you won or not. Aim for accuracy and then speed.

When you quit Clock Patience your scores are preserved.

Tip: To improve your speed, calculate the answer to the next problem whilst the card is moving. As soon as the card has come to a rest, key your response.


Pause
 Pause:

The pause button appears when you're in autoplay mode.

Click  it to pause the game. The current card will carry on to its home, but no more will move until you click the pause button again.

Use the pause button when you want to access items on the menu bar - for instance if you want to switch to a different mode.


Super Fast;Speed;Performance
 Speed:

Select Super Fast from the Options menu under Game to switch Super Fast on or off.

When this is switched on, your cards will fly direct to their homes rather than meander across the screen. This is particularly useful if you're using a less powerful PC.

Warp Speed, again from the Options Menu is intended for the game, Beat the Clock.


Beat the Clock
 Beat the Clock:

The aim of this game is for you to play a hand of clock patience with real cards whilst the PC plays its own hand. The first one to play a game to its end, regardless of whether you get all the rim cards face up, is the winner.

To play this, turn the clock and sound off from the options menu. Select the speed you want, either Super Fast or Warp. Now select Autoplay Mode.

As soon as possible hit the pause button.

Now deal out your real cards. As soon as you're ready, click the pause button again and get to work. You'll need to go like the clappers to beat a 486 at Warp speed.