Berlin, April 1996

Dear Skat User,

Thanks for trying the Shareware version of Skat contained in this folder.  If you continue to use it, please send the $12 registration fee to the address shown in the program or on the order form.  Your registration fee also entitles you to a reduced price on Skat 2.0 (discussed in the next section of this document) or on the all-new Skat 3.0 described below.   The enclosed order form can be printed and used to place orders for any Rasche Skat software product.  Be sure to specify whether you want the German- or English-language version of the Skat 2.0 or 3.0.

Skat 2.0 is discussed in the next chapter.  Skat 3.0 includes all of the features of Skat 2.0 plus:

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You are now able to call up an analysis of the cards.  Find out the Soloist's probability of winning, and of making schneider or schwarz.  The computer simulates all possible card combinations according to the playing style that is selected and shows you the probable play of the ten tricks.

A quick analysis displays maximum bid values for all three players simulated according to various playing styles.

-  Four new playing styles are available at the new "Expert" level. These represent a clear improvement in the playing ability of the simulated computer players as shown in the table at the right.

Two players were selected representing each playing style. Thus, there were 18 players who competed in a league tournament over 136 game days.  This resulted in 816 pairings of 1000 hands each for a total of 816,000 hands, minimizing the role played by luck in the outcome.

The "Type" column designates the new expert styles with the letter "(E)".  Compared with the corresponding styles in version 2.0, the new expert styles generated approximately 50 extra match points in the simulation.

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Evaluate your playing ability!  The computer evaluates your play against that of master players and rates your skill level.  See how you improve over time.

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A hand editor can be used to allocate cards manually to the individual players in order to set up games and test various playing strategies.

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The distribution of pairings in league play has been optimized in order to equalize as much as possible the number of games played per game day as reported in the league table.

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2 additional Bock round options are available.

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Expanded Options for card sorting: Select the sequence of suits that you prefer (e.g., black together vs. red/black alternating) or, for the professional, leave the cards unsorted!

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The Soloist can break off games early when the remaining tricks are secure.  

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The bidding routines for all of the old playing styles have been further optimized and improved.

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With native version for PowerPC

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and many more improvements and options.

System 7.0 or higher is required for some features.

The latest information about Skat including playing tips, club news, and current program patches is available on the Internet at the address: http://140.103.2.124 .
Take a look and tell us, if you like it.

Sincerely yours,

Fa. Rasche

Please direct questions and suggestions to:
   
Fa. Rasche
Soldiner Str. 17
12305 Berlin
Germany

Tel.: +49 (30)746 54 78
Fax.: +49 (30)746 54 78

Or:

CompuServe:100407,2371
Internet:  100407.2371@compuserve.com (preferred)

              JWSELL@acs.wooster.edu (information only)