Rules and objective of the game

Objective

The objective of this card game is to survive as many rounds as possible so that you are the only one left in the end. There are two known variations, a regular and a tough one. The regular variation comes from a compilation of books on the subject of card games. The tough variation is one which the makers of this game have been playing for some years now. Where it comes from is (unfortunately) unknown, so from now on we will call this variation the 'van Eer-Maas' variation.

During the game you can see which variation you are playing in the right upper corner, is the symbol is "1", this means that you are playing the regular variation and if the symbol is "2" then you are playing the 'van Eer-Maas' variation.

Rules for the regular variation

The dealer deals to every player a set of three card, and an extra set of card for himself. The dealer may now look into one of the hands and decide if he wants to keep this set. If he decides to choose to take the extra set he takes the risk of getting a hand which is even worse than the one he had.

The player on the left side of the dealer can now change a card, pass or take all the cards in the pot. If he is finished the player on his his left side can take a turn.

If one of the players passes, he may not change any cards until the end of the current round. The last player which hasn't passed can only change a card one time more.

If a player decides to take all the cards in the pot he passes automatically.

A round is finished when a player has 31 points or when all players have passed. If a the player gets 31 points in his hands from the dealer, the round is finished when it's this players turn.

The players(s) with the least amount of points looses this round and receives a mark. In case that the least amount of points is 30.5 than all players receive a mark.

When a player gets his third mark he is out of the game, except when he is the first one with three marks because he than gets an extra mark. This is also true when more than one player receive the third mark at the same time.

The winner is the player, which survives all other players. It is possible that there is no winner, this happens when all players receive their last mark at the same time.

Rules for the 'van Eer-Maas' variation

The dealer deals to every player a set of three cards, and an extra set of cards for himself. The dealer may now look into one of the hands and decide if he wants to keep this set. If he decides to take the extra set, he takes the risk of getting a hand which is even worse than the one he had.

The player on the left side of the dealer can now change a card, pass or take all the cards in the pot. If he is finished the player on his left side can take his turn.

If one of the players passes, the others may only change cards one more time.

A round is finished when a player has 31 points or when the player which passed first has his turn again.

The players(s) with the least amount of points looses this round and receives a mark. In case that the least amount of points is 30.5 the player with the lowest card-values receives the mark.

When a player gets his fourth mark he is out of the game.

The winner is thE player, which survives all other players. If all players get their fourth mark at the same time, then none of them will receive a mark and the game will continue.


Values of the cards and calculating points

Values of the card

Seven	7 points

Eight 	8 points

Nine	9 points

Ten	10 points

Jack	10 points

Queen	10 points

King	10 points

Ace	11 points

Calculation of points

The number of points is the sum of the card values, of the cards with the same suit. If a set contains three cards with the same value, the number of points is 30.5.

Examples:

31 points

30.5 points

18 points


How to play

1. 	Select "Game" from the menu.

2. 	Press 'Start'.

3. 	Press 'Deal' to deal the cards.

4.  If you are the dealer and you want to keep your set of cards, press on 'Hand'. If you are not satisfied, press on 'Pot' and take the risk of getting better or worse cards.

5. 	The computer will now take over and make the decisions for your opponents. When it is your turn again the buttons 'pass' and 'take pot' will become available.

6.  If you want to change a card, select a card, in your hand, and one card in the pot by pressing on them with the left mouse button. When you have selected two cards, the button 'change' becomes available and when you press on it the card will be changed. If you want to pass or change all the cards you don't have to select any cards.

Step 5 and 6 will be repeated until the round is finished.

If the game isn't over, a new dealer will be selected and the game will continue with step 3.

If the game is over, the game can be restarted by executed step 1, and so on.

In the upper left corner you can always see how many marks each player has.


Statistics

On the expert-level 31 for Windows95 keeps a table with information on the player's achievement. This table is updated after every game.

Remark 1: Make sure every player has his one unique name.

Remark 2: An aborted game will be counted as a lost game.


Options

In the options window, the following setting can be changed:

1. 	The variation. You can choose here which variation (regular or 'van Eer-Maas') you want to play.

2. 	Animation speed. Here you can set the speed with which the cards will move over the screen. There are three levels; slow, medium and fast. This option will have influence during an active game, when it is changed.

3. 	Backside card. The backsides of the cards can be changed by choosing the one you like the most. With 31 for Windows95, 10 different backsides are supplied. These backsides are bitmap-files and can be changed in any way you like. It is possible to use bitmap-files that do not have the correct format. In that case it can't be guaranteed that 31 for Windows95 will behave properly. This is option has effect on an active game.

4. 	Players Names. There are four names included, which will be used for your opponents. These names can also be changed.


2-Player Game
Network Game

It is possible in 31 for Windows95 to play with other human players on a Windows95-network. A maximum of 4 players is supported. In order to play all players must be members of the same workgroup.

At the start of the game one of the players must host a game. In the upper window his game will be shown with the chosen variation. Now others can join this game by selecting it and pressing the 'join'-button. When everybody has joined the host can start the game by pressing the 'play'-button.

During the game the players can send messages by pressing on the button with the text icon on it. A window will appear in which you can type the text you want to send. When the 'hide'-button is pressed the window will disappear again.

When one of the human-players has lost, he can leave the game without causing any problems for the other players. He can also keep watching to see how the game develops and who will win.


Credits

 for Windows95 is created by [image].

Game Design: 	Rainier Maas

Luciël van Eer

Programming:	Rainier Maas

Testing: 	Gerard Hoogerwerf

Luciël van Eer

Rainier Maas

Paul Zitman

Robin Wiersma

Eric Kruis

Wei Chen

This product may be used freely. You may copy it and give it to all your friends. However, when you like it or you have an idea to improve it I would appreciate it if you send an email to r_maas@dataweb.nl

Visit also the Meusesoft Internetsite on the Internet. The url is:

http://meusesoft.mypage.org


Choose this option if you want to play the regular variation of 31.


Choose this option if you want to play the 'van Eer-Maas' variation of 31, this variation is somewhat tougher than the regular one.


Here you can set the speed at which the card will move over your screen when the computer changes cards.


From this list you can choose a bitmap-file which you want to use for the backside of the cards. You can select a bitmap by clicking on its filename. If you want to use the standard bitmap than choose ‘(standard)’.


Here you can type a name that you want to use for your opponent during a game.