727_10.ZIP - A Hi/Low Betting Card Game. w/Sounds


INSTALLATION:
Simply UnZip the 727_10.ZIP into a directory of your choice.  If you want
to start the program with it's own icon, then activate a program group of
your choice and select 'New' under the file menu.  Select 'Program Item', 
and enter "Hi-Low" under description, and "(your directory)\HILOW.EXE" on
the command line.  Press OK and Windows will create the icon in that program
group. You could also start the game by double clicking on "HILOW.EXE" in
File Manager.

OVERVIEW:
When I used to play poker with the "boys" once a week, we played with rules
that said the dealer could pick the game to play.  At least one player every
night would pick 727.  Half of the other players would groan, but everyone
usually stayed in and played the game to the bitter end.  This was probably
because the opportunities for a fairly large pot were there, and poker
playing skill is not a big factor in winning.  Since most of us were not
great poker players, 727 gave us a chance to get even. The names I have
used for the default players are the actual names of the fellows in my
poker group. You can change the names to anything you want, but it
is probably a good idea to start each name with "1. ", etc., so that it
is easier to identify the player in the information boxes. 
I've tried to make the computer players play reasonably smart, but I would
think in the long run a human player should be able to win most of the
pots.  Under no circumstances do the computer players cheat.  Even when
the human player's bottom card is exposed, the computer players are not
aware of it, and they make all decisions based on visible cards only.
You might try to play around with the file POINTS.TXT to modify the logic
that controls the player's decisions. Let me know if you find a better
base logic.
You can modify the text files to change what the computer players say, and
for this reason, I will not be responsible for the contents of that text.
I had the multimedia version of the game using some of the swear words
that some of the players used during our poker sessions, and it sounded
quite humerous, probably because you don't expect a computer to swear
out loud.
The multimedia version uses a male voice speech synthesizer with varying
pitch tones for the four computer players. Hopefully in the future I can
use a speech synthesizer that supports both male and female voices.
Have fun playing 727, and send me a email note if you have any suggestions
for improving the game.

Tom Slemko

tslemko@island.net