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- Table of Contents ----------------------------
-
- 1. How to play Dominoes
-
- 2. Strategy
-
- 3. How to Play Dominoes on the Palmtop
-
- 4. Tips for Running Dominoes on the Palmtop
-
- This is version 1.8, which has a few "useability"
- features, in addition to what 1.7 had, which allows
- you to select either expert mode or beginner mode with
- the B, E, or M keys. Beginner mode isn't as smart in
- evaluating at moves, and sometimes even misses scoring
- opportunities. Use this while you're learning to play
- so you won't be frustrated by being badly beaten every
- game.
-
- The new features for version 1.8 are:
- * Use the "M" key to move the dominoes in your hand, so
- you can sort them how you like.
- * Use the "P" key to pack your hand. This will move all
- of them into the first empty spaces. Use this if you
- have had to draw onto the second row of dominoes, and
- you want to move them all onto the first row.
- * Use the "?" (shift-3) key to have the computer
- suggest what you should play. The suggested domino
- will flash, then the place to play it will flash.
-
- Dominoes is freeware. Please enjoy the program and share
- it with others. If you give it to someone else (or post
- it on a bulletin board service), be sure to include the
- three files:
-
- DOMINOES.EXE The program itself.
- DOMINOES.DOC The documentation (this file).
- DOMINOES.ICN The icon.
-
- You don't need to give DOMINOES.RES, since this is a
- file containing the statistics of all the games you've
- played. If you ever want to reset your statistics, you
- can use the Filer app to simply delete this file.
-
- The latest versions of the program will be on the web
- page:
- http://members.aol.com/FREEWHL44/
-
- Please let me know what you think of this game, or if
- you have suggestions to make it better.
-
- Curtis Cameron
- freewhl44@aol.com
- 1520 Glastonbury Dr
- Plano, TX 75075
-
- How to play Dominoes ---------------------------
-
- In the game of Dominoes, each player takes turn placing
- domino tiles end-to-end. One end of the domino played
- must match the outside end of the last domino, so that
- the two matching ends are together. Doubles, however,
- are played sideways. The first double played is called
- the "spinner", and after both sides have been played to,
- its ends can be played as well.
-
- Scoring:
- After each play, the outside ends of the last dominoes
- are added, and if the total is a multiple of five, then
- the person who played last scores that many points. If
- a double is the last tile in an arm, then it is played
- sideways and both of its ends count towards the total.
- If dominoes have been played off the spinner, then the
- last domino in each of those arms is scored too.
-
- If a player can't play with a domino in his hand, he
- must draw a tile from the "Bone Yard", where the
- leftover dominoes are kept, until he draws one that he
- can play. A player is not allowed to draw unless he must
- to be able to play.
-
- When a player plays his last domino, he gets to score
- the total of the spots in his opponent's hand, rounded
- to the nearest five. If both players still have dominoes
- and the Bone Yard has been emptied, and neither can
- play, then the game is blocked. Both players then count
- the total spots in their hands, and the person with the
- fewest gets to score the points in his opponent's hand,
- rounded to the nearest five. All scores are multiples of
- five because the score is traditionally kept with one
- mark on the paper being five points.
-
- A game is 250 points. Multiple hands will be played
- until one player scores at least 250, then the game is
- over immediately.
-
- Strategy ----------------------
-
- The strategy of dominoes can be broken down into three
- categories:
- 1. Scoring
- 2. Preventing your opponent from scoring
- 3. Blocking
- These are listed in order of increasing difficulty, and
- therefore are charactersitics of domino players of
- increasing ability.
-
- Scoring:
- You can more quickly and easily figure if you will be
- able to score on a play by looking at the points on the
- board before you play, and figuring the difference
- between what's there and what it will need to score.
- For example, if there are currently 17 points, then you
- can make it a multiple of five and therefore score by
- taking away two, or by adding three. Then look for
- dominoes in your hand that can do this. There are
- certain "magic" dominoes which you should try to hold on
- to because they make scoring easier. If your opponent
- has just scored, then you won't be able to score without
- one of these, and if you score, it then makes it more
- difficult for your opponent to score. These dominoes are
- the 0-0, 0-5, 5-5, and 6-1. If you opponent scores with
- a blank, five, or a non-double six or one on an end,
- then you would also be able to score with one of these.
- Other magic dominoes can score when there is a double
- on an end. These are the 1-2, 2-4, and 3-6, which can
- duplicate the points in a 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3. Other magic
- dominoes are the 3-1, 4-3, and 6-2, which will score
- five or ten fewer points after a 3-3, 4-4, and 6-6,
- respectively.
-
- Preventing your opponent from scoring:
- After you get good at finding scoring tiles in your
- hand, you will be able to start looking for potential
- scoring plays that your opponent could make, and play
- ones from your hand that give him the least opportunity.
-
- Blocking
- The simplest form of blocking is achieved by noticing
- when your opponent is forced to draw from the Bone Yard,
- and making a mental note of which numbers he could have
- played to. Then, try to make those numbers his only
- options again. You can also consider that if you have
- several of one number, or if several have already been
- played, your opponent is more likely to be out of them.
-
- Another strategy related to blocking, is to use you low
- dominoes to try to force the low dominoes out of your
- opponents hand, then when you go out, he will have more
- points left in his hand. Try to remember to use your
- larger dominoes for scoring, and your smaller ones for
- blocking.
-
- How to Play Dominoes on the Palmtop ------------------
-
- The controls for playing the game have intentionally
- been kept simple. Your hand appears at the bottom of
- the screen, with each tile aligned with one of the
- Palmtop's function keys. If you ever have more than ten
- tiles, some will be drawn one row up, and are played by
- hitting shift-function key.
-
- On the left side of the screen is the title box, showing
- how many tiles your opponent has in his hand, and how
- many are in the boneyard. Next are the computer's score,
- followed by your score, and finally the count of the end
- tiles currently on the table.
-
- The rest of the screen is used as the table for playing.
- There is not enough room on this table to allow them all
- to be played without hitting an edge, so when one of the
- arms reaches an edge, it will bend around. Remember to
- look at the last one played in each arm, not simply
- which is farthest from the center. If one arm gets
- crowded in a corner, it will automatically re-arrange
- the tiles to fit better. If you would like them
- re-arranged at any time, hit the "R" key.
-
- When it's your turn, simply hit the function key
- corresponding to the domino you want to play. If there
- is only one place for this domino to be played, or if
- there is no difference between multiple places, the
- domino will jump to that spot. If there is more than one
- way to play it, a small box will appear asking which
- direction (from the spinner) you want; hit one of the
- arrow keys to make your choice. This is the direction of
- that arm from the spinner, not necessarily the direction
- that arm may currently be headed if they have been bent
- around an edge.
-
- If you have to draw enough tiles that you have more than
- ten, they will be drawn on the second row above the
- softkey labels. To play a tile from the second row, hit
- shift-f-key. Since it is possible to put an application
- with a shift-f-key combination, as an alternative you
- can hit the 's' key before the f-key (in case you have
- assigned an application to the shift-f-keys).
-
- To switch between expert and beginner levels, you can use
- any of the "L", "B" or "E" keys.
-
- To see what domino the computer would suggest that you
- play, hit the "?" (shift-3) key. The domino will flash,
- then the place to play it will flash.
-
- If you have some dominoes on the second row, and some
- empty spaces on the first row, you can hit the "P" key
- to pack all the dominoes into the first spaces.
-
- If you want to rearrange the dominoes in your hand,
- such as to sort the numbers in order, use the "M" key.
-
- Anytime you want to quit the game, hit the "Q" key.
-
- Tips for Running Dominoes on the Palmtop -------------
-
- Dominoes is a DOS program which is written only for the
- HP 100LX and 200LX Palmtops. DOS applications can be run
- at the same time as the other System Manager Compliant
- applications, but you may have only one DOS program
- running at a time. You may switch to another app by
- hitting its blue key just as you always do. To get back,
- you can either start DOS from App Manager, or hit
- Ctrl-123. You can't just go to App Manager and ask it to
- start Dominoes again.
-
- Dominoes can be run by opening the filer application,
- moving the cursor to the DOMINOES.EXE file, and hitting
- Enter. The easier way is to install it into your App
- Manager:
-
- 1. Start App Manager by hitting the blue "More" key.
- 2. Hit F2 to add an icon.
- 3. Enter the name you would like to appear for the
- program in the Name field, then Tab to the next field.
- 4. In the Path field, type in the full path name of the
- exe file, including the .exe extension, then add the
- "|" (shift-backslash) character, and 70, like this:
- Path: c:\games\dominoes.exe|70
- The 70 tells app manager to give the program 70K of
- memory to run in. If you have lots of memory being
- used by TSR's that get loaded in your config.sys and
- autoexec.bat files, you may need to increase this
- number.
- 5. In the comments line you can put a "¿" character
- (Fn-3) to have it skip the "press any key..."
- message when Dominoes exits.
- 6. Tab to the Icon area and select an icon. Then hit
- F10.
-