500 Game Surplus/XSurplus.iso/115/OHHELL.DOC

Text File | 1994-04-24 | 8KB | 195 lines

TOMMY'S OH HELL (C) COPYRIGHT 1990 BY TOMMY'S TOYS
P. O. BOX 11261, DENVER, CO 80211 USA.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
CATALOG #90-132-1A

INSTRUCTIONS:

THIS GAME COMES FROM ENGLAND, SAID TO HAVE BEEN DEVISED BY GEOFFREY MOTT-SMITH
IN 1937.  ALSO KNOWN AS BLACKOUT OR JUNGLE BRIDGE, IT IS A FUN VARIATION OF
BRIDGE.

PLAYERS:
3 TO 7 MAY PLAY, BUT 4 OR 5 IS BEST.  THE COMPUTER CAN PLAY ANY OR ALL OF THE
HANDS (ENTER A NULL NAME).  IN ADDITION, HITTING FUNCTION KEY F2 DURING PLAY
CAUSES THE COMPUTER TO TAKE CHARGE OF ALL HANDS (UNTIL F2 IS PRESSED AGAIN)
FOR A DEMO MODE.

FANCY NOTE: IF YOU ENTER A NAME STARTING WITH CTRL-D THEN IT WILL BE TAKEN AS
A COMPUTER, NOT A KEYBOARD, PLAYER.

OF COURSE, A KEYBOARD PLAYER'S HANDS WILL BE SHOWN FACE UP ON THE SCREEN, SO
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE MORE THAN AN OPEN-HANDS MATCH IF THERE ARE SEVERAL
PERSONS GATHERED 'ROUND THE SAME KEYBOARD.

OPEN HANDS OPTION:
AT STARTUP YOU CAN REQUEST THAT ALL HANDS, KEYBOARD AND COMPUTER-PLAYED, BE
SHOWN FACE UP ON THE SCREEN FOR A TUTORIAL MODE.

CARDS:
THE STANDARD DECK OF 52 IS USED.  CARD RANKING IS ACE HIGH.

DEALER:
THE INITIAL DEALER IS CHOSEN BY THE COMPUTER AFTER FLIPPING A COIN IN ITS
INSCRUTABLE CIRCUITS.  THE DEAL PASSES COUNTERCLOCKWISE (THE LAST DEALER IN
EACH GAME HAS A SMALL ADVANTAGE).

THE DEALS:
ON THE FIRST DEAL EACH PLAYER IS DEALT ONE CARD, ON THE SECOND DEAL TWO CARDS,
AND SO ON UNTIL A DEAL IS REACHED WHEN THERE AREN'T ENOUGH CARDS TO GO AROUND.
OBVIOUSLY, THE NUMBER OF DEALS PER GAME DEPENDS ON THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS (SOME
THEN EXPOSE THE REMAINDER OF THE DECK FOR ALL TO SEE, SO THIS IS AN OPTION.)

HERE IS HOW MANY DEALS WE GET WITH EACH COMBINATION OF PLAYERS:

           PLAYERS     NUMBER OF DEALS
           -------     ---------------
              7              7
              6              8
              5             10
              4             13
              3             17

THE DEAL AND BIDS:
EACH PLAYER'S OBJECT IS TO TAKE EXACTLY AS MANY TRICKS AS HE BIDS ON EACH DEAL
(HIS CONTRACT).  AFTER THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF CARDS ARE DEALT THE NEXT CARD
IS TURNED UP AS A TRUMP SUIT; IF NO CARDS ARE LEFT, OR IT IS THE LAST DEAL IN
THE GAME, PLAY IS NO TRUMP.

STARTING WITH ELDEST HAND (DEALER'S LEFT), EACH PLAYER ANNOUNCES HOW MANY
TRICKS HE PROPOSES TO WIN, E.G., 0 OR 1 ON THE FIRST DEAL, 0 TO 2 ON THE
SECOND DEAL, ETC. (IN REAL PLAY THE PLAYERS BID SIMULTANEOUSLY BY RAISING
THEIR HANDS WITH THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF FINGERS EXTENDED).  OF COURSE
KNOWING WHAT EARLIER PLAYERS ARE BIDDING HELPS ONE FORM A BETTER BID.

NOTE: IN TOMMY'S OH HELL, SIMULTANEOUS BIDDING IS AN OPTION, AND IS FAKED AS
WELL AS POSSIBLE BY THE COMPUTER NOT ECHOING YOUR BID FROM THE KEYBOARD UNTIL
ALL BIDS ARE IN.

AFTER THE DEALER HAS ANNOUNCED HIS BID HE ANNOUNCES WHETHER THE TOTAL OF BIDS
EQUALS, UNDERCUTS, OR EXCEEDS THE NUMBER OF TRICKS TO BE PLAYED, BY
ANNOUNCING "EVEN", "UNDER", OR "OVER".

A FURTHER OPTION FOR SEQUENTIAL (NON-SIMULTANEOUS) BIDDING IS TO REQUIRE
DEALERS BID TO MAKE THE TOTAL OF BIDS COME OUT UNEVEN TO COUNTER HIS ADVANTAGE
IN BIDDING LAST.

THE PLAY:
AS IN STANDARD BRIDGE, A SUIT IS WON BY THE HIGHEST TRUMP CARD PLAYED, OR THE
HIGHEST CARD OF THE SUIT LED.  FOLLOW LEAD SUIT IF ABLE.  THE WINNER OF ONE
TRICK LEADS TO THE NEXT.

NOTE THAT IT IS BAD ETIQUETTE TO INFORM OTHER PLAYERS THAT YOU ARE "BUSTED",
THAT IS, THAT YOU CAN'T MAKE YOUR CONTRACT EXACTLY, BEFORE THE HAND IS OVER.

TO ENTER YOUR PLAY:
JUST TYPE 2 CHARACTERS FOR THE CARD IN YOUR HAND YOU WANT TO PLAY, E.G.,
3H MEANS 3 OF HEARTS, 6D MEANS 6 OF DIAMONDS, JC MEANS JACK OF CLUBS, AS MEANS
ACE OF SPADES, TH MEANS TEN OF HEARTS.

OR USE THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROW KEYS ON THE NUMERIC KEY PAD TO POSITION TO THE
CARD YOU WANT, THEN HIT THE <ENTER> KEY.

SCORING:
A PLAYER WHO TAKES EXACTLY THE NUMBER OF TRICKS HE BIDS (I.E., MAKES HIS
CONTRACT) WINS THAT NUMBER OF POINTS PLUS 10; ELSE HE HAS BUSTED AND WINS
NOTHING.

TIE FOR FIRST:
IF THERE IS A TIE FOR FIRST PLACE, THE GAME DOESN'T COUNT (OH HELL!) AND MUST
BE PLAYED OVER!

ZERO CONTRACT OPTION:
AS A STARTUP OPTION, A ZERO CONTRACT MAY BE SCORED AS 5 PLUS THE NUMBER OF
CARDS PER HAND IN THE DEAL, RATHER THAN A STRAIGHT 10 POINTS.

UP THE RIVER, DOWN THE RIVER: IN THIS OPTION, AFTER THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF
CARDS ARE DEALT, INSTEAD OF STARTING A NEW GAME, THE REVERSE SEQUENCE IS
GONE THROUGH, THAT IS, LESS CARDS ARE DEALT EACH TIME UNTIL WE ARE BACK TO
ONE.

RESTARTING A GAME:
WHEN ASKED FOR A CARD TO PLAY, YOU CAN HIT THE ESC KEY AND RESTART THE GAME
FROM SCRATCH INSTEAD.

EXPLANATION OF DISPLAY:
FOR EACH PLAYER, THE NUMBER OF TRICKS WON IN CURRENT HAND, THE BID (CONTRACT),
AND THE CURRENT SCORE ARE DISPLAYED IN THAT ORDER.

GAME LOG:
THE COMPUTER AUTOMATICALLY KEEPS A LOG OF THE NUMBER OF GAMES WON BY EACH HAND
(1..7), BUT ONLY WHEN HAND 1 IS KEYBOARD AND THE OTHERS ARE ALL COMPUTER
PLAYERS.  THIS ALLOWS A SOLO PLAYER TO GAUGE HIS EFFECTIVENESS AGAINST THE
COMPUTER.  TO ERASE THE LOG AND START OVER, JUST DELETE FILE OHHELL.SCR.

----------------------
FUNCTION KEY COMMANDS:
SOUND EFFECTS TOGGLE: FUNCTION KEY F1 TOGGLES THE SOUND EFFECTS ON AND OFF.

DEMO MODE TOGGLE: FUNCTION KEY F2 TOGGLES THE DEMO MODE.  IN DEMO MODE, THE
COMPUTER PLAYS BOTH HANDS.

NOTE THAT FOR ALL "TOGGLE" KEYS THE LEGEND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN
INDICATES THE MODE THAT WILL BE ENTERED BY PRESSING THE KEY, WHICH IS THE
OPPOSITE OF THE MODE IN EFFECT AT THE TIME.

TO QUIT: HIT FUNCTION KEY F7.

TO DISPLAY THESE INSTRUCTIONS: HIT FUNCTION KEY F5.

TO CHANGE THE SCREEN BORDER COLOR (COLOR MONITORS ONLY): HIT FUNCTION KEY F10.

COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS:
    S    START UP WITH SOUND OFF
    M    FORCE MONO MODE
    C    FORCE COLOR MODE
    H    HELLISH VISITORS OFF (PLAY AWHILE & YOU WILL GET THE IDEA)

EXAMPLE: >OHHELL MS

------------------
NOTES ON STRATEGY:

RIGHT OFF THE BAT, NOTE THAT IF YOU EVER BUST, THAT IS, CAN'T MAKE YOUR
CONTRACT, YOU SHOULD ENDEAVOR TO BUST AS MANY OTHER PLAYERS AS YOU CAN, SO
REMEMBER THEIR CONTRACTS.  SINCE EVERYBODY ELSE HAS THE SAME IDEA, THIS IS A
GAME WHERE THE "FORCE" MUST BE WITH YOU TO WIN.  GENERALLY SPEAKING IT IS
SAFER TO UNDERBID THAN OVERBID BECAUSE IT IS EASIER TO LOSE A TRICK BY FORCE
THAN TO WIN IT BY FORCE.  THE SAFEST CARDS ARE THOSE WHICH CAN WIN OR LOSE
A TRICK BY FORCE EASILY, SUCH AS ACES AND DEUCES.  THE DANGEROUS CARDS ARE
UNGUARDED HIGH OR INTERMEDIATE CARDS SUCH AS NINES AND QUEENS.  THEREFORE,
FIX YOUR BID BETWEEN THE MAXIMUM YOU MIGHT BE FORCED TO TAKE AND THE MINIMUM
YOU CAN TAKE BY FORCE; THE MORE "SURE LOSERS" YOU HAVE IN YOUR HAND, THE MORE
CONFIDENT YOU CAN GET THAT YOU WILL MAKE YOUR CONTRACT BASED ON THE "SURE
WINNERS".

IN MOST HANDS THE BID TOTAL FOR THE TABLE WILL SUM TO A TOTAL THAT IS "UNDER"
MOST OF THE TIME, THEN "EVEN", THEN "OVER".  THE DEALER, SINCE HE BIDS LAST,
CAN USUALLY GAIN BY BIDDING SO AS TO MAKE THE TOTAL COME OUT "UNDER", UNLESS
HE IS LEADING THE GAME WHEREUPON HE CAN GO FOR "EVEN" BECAUSE THE OTHER
PLAYERS WILL HELP HIM MAKE HIS CONTRACT; BUT WHEN DEALER IS FAR BEHIND THE
FIELD, HE SHOULD MAKE HIS BID SO THE TOTAL COMES OUT "UNEVEN" WHATEVER HIS
HAND.

ELDEST HAND IS ADVISED TO BID 1 IF HE HAS 1 HIGH SPOT CARD ON THE FIRST DEAL
OR IF HE HAS 2 HIGH SPOT CARDS ON THE SECOND DEAL.

DURING PLAY, TRY TO GET RID OF DANGEROUS CARDS EARLY.  A HAND THAT HAS BID
LESS THAN ITS TRUMP LENGTH (NUMBER OF TRUMPS IN HAND) SHOULD LEAD SMALL
TRUMPS IN CASE ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS' TRUMPS ARE EATEN UP BY PLAIN-SUIT
RUFFS.

----------------------
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DESIGNED BY ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE FOR EARTH KIDS OF ALL AGES, 10-250.

WE ARE WAITING TO SEND YOU OUR 5.25 INCH (360KB) OR 3.5 INCH (720KB) DEMO
DISK, CONTAINING AN ELECTRONIC TOY CATALOG AND OTHER GOODIES, FOR ONLY $2 TO
ANY U.S. ADDRESS, $3 OUTSIDE U.S. (U.S. DOLLARS ONLY).
IF YOUR PC BORES YOU WRITE US NOW.

TOMMY'S TOYS, P.O. BOX 11261, DENVER, CO 80211 USA

HAVE FUN!