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Text File | 1992-05-14 | 22.5 KB | 509 lines

CRIBBAGE PARTNER Welcome to Cribbage Partner! Cribbage Partner is a realistic representation of the popular and entertaining game of Cribbage. The program requires only 128K and runs on the IBM PC/PCjr/XT/AT and compatibles. Color and monochrome options are provided. No color/ graphics adapter is needed, and BASIC is not required. A Microsoft- compatible mouse can be used if desired. Following is an explanation of the features and playing options of Cribbage Partner plus a summary of the Rules of Cribbage. CRIBBAGE PARTNER FEATURES AND PLAYING OPTIONS Cribbage Partner substitutes computer simulation for the cards, pegs, and board of an actual Cribbage game. Shuffling, dealing, and bookkeeping are done automatically, so you can concentrate on the strategy and (if you like) the scoring aspects of the game. The special features of Cribbage Partner make the game even more enjoyable and easier to follow. Cribbage Partner consists of the following files: - CP.EXE: The main menu and program driver. Start by typing "CP" at the DOS prompt. - CPGAME.EXE: The actual game simulation. You can begin a game either from the main menu or by typing "CPGAME" at the DOS prompt. - CP.DOC: The documentation file you are reading now. - OPTIONS: A file containing the current default playing options. You can delete this file anytime and a new one will be created with the original system defaults. - SCORES: This file will be created after the first complete game played, and will hold a record of all games played. You can delete this file anytime and a new one will be created after the next complete game played. The number of options available might seem a little overwhelming at first, but don't worry - Cribbage Partner selects default options for anything you don't want to bother with, and you can change options during the game. Nevertheless, you might want to print out this file to have for reference the first few times you play. Starting the Simulation: Type "CP" at the DOS prompt. You'll see the Cribbage Partner main menu. From this menu, you can select any of the following: - Play Cribbage Partner: The Cribbage simulation is loaded and play begins. (More explanation below.) - Change Playing Options: You'll be stepped through menus which prompt you to toggle new default playing options (input device, color combinations, scoring options, etc). Details in the next section. - Display Scoring Histories: The scores of all your complete games are shown, along with date/time played and winner highlighted. - Display Documentation File: The "on-line" version of this file. - Return to DOS. The first two selections above need a little further explanation: PLAYING CRIBBAGE PARTNER: Cribbage Partner follows the Rules of Cribbage as described later in this file. When it's your turn to play a card, select discards, score your hand, etc., you'll be prompted by a message on screen. Don't worry about making mistakes; Cribbage Partner will catch any invalid plays and have you try again. A few features of this simulation are worth mentioning: Scoring Messages: Whenever points are scored by either player, a short message appears which explains the scoring. There is never any doubt about where the points come from on any play. Recommendations: Whenever Cribbage Partner asks you to select a card to play (including discards to the crib), you may ask for a recommendation. Cribbage Partner will indicate the card it recommends by an arrow on the screen. You are then free to consider the computer's recommendation and play that card or play any other valid card as you desire. Replaying a Hand: When each hand is finished, you have the chance to play the same hand over and try out different playing strategies. When you replay a hand, all points and pegs are reset to their values at the beginning of the hand. The same cards are re-dealt to both players. Then you can play your cards differently and try to improve your score. Hand Recap: At the end of each hand, a breakout of points scored by both players is shown. This gives you a quick picture of your performance in pegging and scoring for that hand. Game Statistics: After each game, a full screen of statistics gives a detailed picture of how you stacked up against the computer in about 20 categories. (Only complete categories are counted; e.g., if the game ended before all your cards were played, then that hand isn't counted in your "average points" figure. Note also that Muggins points are totalled separately from other categories.) It's always interesting to see how much of your total score (and the computer's score) comes from pegging points vs. scoring hands vs. scoring Cribs, etc. CRIBBAGE PARTNER PLAYING OPTIONS: Many playing options are available, including screen color combinations, input device (mouse or keyboard), and lots of others. The "Change Playing Options" selection on the main menu allows you to customize those playing options to best fit your individual computer hardware and your personal taste. Your selections will be saved to an "OPTIONS" file and invoked as default playing options for every session of Cribbage Partner. You may change your choices anytime by selecting "Change Playing Options" again. If you ever want to reset to the original system defaults, just delete the OPTIONS file altogether and Cribbage Partner will create a new OPTIONS file with the original values. The first two screens that appear after selecting "Change Playing Options" are self-explanatory. (If you select the MONO color option, the second screen, which deals with color combinations, will be bypassed.) Concerning the player's initials and the input device, you should know that you'll be able to change those selections at the beginning of each new session of Cribbage Partner (effective for that session only). The monitor type and color combinations can be changed only from the main menu. Options appearing on the final screen need some explanation. You will be able to change these selections during play -at the start of each new game and at the end of each hand. A short discussion of each of these playing options follows: Demonstration: Under this option, the computer plays both hands and does all the scoring, with no input from you during the game. All cards are shown face up so you can follow the playing strategy. If you are new to Cribbage, or have been away for awhile - or just to see how Cribbage Partner works - you may want to run the Demonstration a few times. (No two runs are the same.) Automatic Scoring: In this option, you decide which cards to play during the game. However, the computer takes care of all the scoring (as in the Demonstration) so you can concentrate on making the plays. Manual Scoring: You do all of your own playing and scoring. Each time you play a card, Cribbage Partner will ask you for the number of points you scored on that play. Simply type the appropriate number and hit "Enter", or just hit "Enter" if no points were scored. If you make a scoring mistake, you will see a message with the correct figures. If you don't claim all the points you earned, you won't get credit for them. Also, you won't get credit for more points than you earn, regardless of what you claim. (Note: when claiming the point for "Go" at the end of each round, you must wait for the computer to actually say "Go" first.) Muggins: Everything works the same as in the Manual scoring option except the computer will add to its total any points you scored but failed to claim. (The computer will always claim everything it earns!) Most experienced players use Muggins all the time - it's a good way to "keep on your toes". Prompt/Pause: In the "Prompt" mode, Cribbage Partner will prompt you to press a key before continuing play after each score. This way, you will be sure not to miss any scoring explanations. Another mode is available which precludes the need for your to press a key after each score. In the "Pause" mode, Cribbage Partner will pause one second after each pegging score and two seconds after scoring each hand, then will automatically continue on its own. (Incidentally, you can "freeze" the action for as long as you like at any time by using your computer's "pause" button, e.g., the Ctrl-NumLock combination.) In either case, at the end of each hand, Cribbage Partner will always ask you if you want to replay the hand or continue play. Game: The total number of points required to win a game can be changed between 121 (traditional) and 61 (short game). Beep/Silent: At your choice, Cribbage Partner will alert you with a short beep when points are scored, invalid selections are made, and at other important times during play. If you'd rather do without the beeps, choose the Silent option. Hard/Easy: If you're a beginner, you may want to select the Easy option to scale the level of play to your experience. Under the Hard option, the computer examines its cards more critically before making its plays. Box: All the options discussed above that are currently in effect can be displayed in a Box or "window" on screen during play. You may especially want to select this option the first several times you play the game to remind yourself which selections you've made. If you'd rather play with a less "cluttered" screen, the "No Box" option is available. Quit: To quit a game altogether, press the F9 key. You'll be returned to the DOS prompt without your current game score being saved to file. To begin a new game, type "CP". Finally, you should know that Cribbage Partner "peeks" at your hand only to insure that no improper plays are made during the game. Rest assured that the computer doesn't "remember" what cards you hold when making its plays. Enjoy the game! SUMMARY OF FUNCTION KEY TOGGLES F1: Demonstration or Regular Play F2: Automatic Scoring or Manual Scoring F3: "Muggins" or No "Muggins" F4: Program will Prompt for a response from you after each score or will Pause for 1 - 2 seconds before continuing play automatically F5: Game is set at 121 points or 61 points F6: Beep after scoring or play Silently F7: Easy or Hard opposition from the computer F8: Display Box with playing options in effect or display No Box F9: Quit game and return to DOS RULES OF CRIBBAGE Cards: In Cribbage, a standard pack of 52 cards is used. The King is the highest and Ace is the lowest ranking card of each suit. For scoring purposes, all face cards count as 10 points, Ace counts as 1 point, and all other cards count as their numerical value. There is no rank order among the four suits. Cribbage Board: The Cribbage board is a unique feature of the game and is the means of keeping score as play progresses. The board used in Cribbage Partner consists of a track of 120 holes for each player. The computer's track is the "outside" track and yours is the "inside" track. (Both are labelled on the screen.) Pegs are used to show each player's score throughout the game. Pegging: At the beginning of a game, each player has two pegs located in the "starter holes" next to his track on the board. As points are scored during the first hand, they are "pegged" with one peg in each player's track. (Each player's other peg stays in the starter hole.) After all scoring for the first hand is finished, the first peg for each player then stays in place, and the second peg is used to show points scored during the second hand. Then the peg used during the first hand is used again during the third, and so forth alternately throughout the game. Note that at any time during play, each player's front peg will show his total score, and his rear peg will show his score at the end of the previous hand. The difference between the front and rear pegs shows the number of points scored during the hand in progress. Deal: The first game is started by each player drawing a card from the deck. The player who draws the lower-ranking card is the first dealer. After each hand is played, the deal alternates back and forth between players (regardless of who won the previous hand). The game continues until one player scores "Game" (a total of 61 or 121 points). The first deal of a new game goes to the loser of the preceding game. Play: The dealer deals 6 cards to each player. Each player must discard 2 of his 6 cards into the "Crib". The Crib belongs to the dealer of that hand and adds to his score as will be explained later. Consequently, the dealer tries to discard helpful cards to the Crib while the non-dealer tries to discard worthless cards. (The Crib remains face-down until all other cards have been played and scored for the hand.) Next, the dealer turns up the "Starter" card from the deck. If this card is a Jack, the dealer scores 2 points for "His Heels". The Starter is not used during play, but will be used for scoring by both players at the end of the hand. The non-dealer leads each hand by playing a card. Players alternate playing cards, trying to score points as will be described later. The running total of cards played for each round (counting 10 for face cards, 1 for Ace, and the numerical value for all others) is important to know and is always displayed at the bottom of the screen in Cribbage Partner. "GO": The first round continues until neither player can play another card without exceeding a running total of 31. The first player who can't play without exceeding 31 enters "GO" instead of playing another card. His opponent then tries to continue play by himself, pegging any further points that he scores, until he can no longer play without exceeding 31. At that time, he pegs 1 point for "GO". (Note: If you're playing Cribbage Partner in the Manual scoring mode, you must wait for the computer to actually say "GO" before you can claim the point.) If the final running total for the round was exactly 31, the player of the final card pegs 2 points instead. The running total is then reset to zero and a new round is started. The player who entered "GO" during the first round starts the new round by playing a card from those still in his hand. The cards played during the first round are disregarded during further play (Cribbage Partner erases them from the screen to avoid any distraction.) Again, play alternates back and forth until another "GO" is reached or until all cards in both hands are played. Note that the player of the final card always scores a "GO". Scoring during play: As mentioned above, players score 1 point for a "GO" or 2 points for reaching a running total of 31. Other ways of scoring points during play include the following: - Fifteen: Playing a card which makes a running total of 15 scores 2 points. - Pair: Playing the second consecutive card of the same rank scores 2 points. - Triple (3 pairs): Playing the third consecutive card of the same rank scores 6 points. - Double Pair: Playing the fourth consecutive card of the same rank scores 12 points. - Run: Playing the third or higher consecutive card of a sequence scores 1 point for each card in the sequence, regardless of the order in which the sequence was played, and regardless of the suits of the cards played. For example, a sequence of Q-10-J-K scores 4 points. However, the series 2-3-3-4 is not a run at all and scores nothing. Note that in making pairs, runs, and fifteens during play as just described, both players' cards are counted and not just each player's own cards. "Muggins": Players may choose to play "Muggins" during the game. When Muggins is in effect, each player adds to his total any points which the other earned but failed to claim. Order of Scoring: After all cards of a hand are played, the 4 cards in each hand and the 4 cards in the Crib are scored as described below. The non-dealer scores first, using the 4 cards from his hand plus the "Starter". Then the dealer scores his 4 cards plus the Starter. Finally, the dealer scores the Crib, again adding the Starter to those 4 cards. The above order of scoring is important, and can effect the winner of a game; Cribbage Partner will always insure the correct order of scoring is followed. Scoring Hands: Points are scored for each hand as follows: - His Nobs: The Jack of the same suit as the Starter counts 1 point. - Fifteen: Every combination of cards with a total value of 15 scores 2 points. - Pair, triple, and double pair: Every combination of two cards of the same rank scores 2 points. - Run: Three or more consecutive cards in a sequence scores 1 point for each card in the run. Suits are immaterial. - Flush: Four cards of the same suit in the dealer's hand or non-dealer's hand, not counting the Starter, score 4 points. If the 4 cards in the dealer's hand, non-dealer's hand, or the Crib are the same suit as the Starter, then 5 points are scored. (Four cards of the same suit in the Crib which are not the same suit as the Starter score no points at all.) Note that the same card(s) may be used as part of several scoring combinations in the same hand. For example, a Jack may be "His Nobs", one of a pair, one of a run, and one of a combination totalling 15 all in one hand. All valid scoring combinations are counted. (Muggins applies when scoring hands, too.) End of Game: After all scoring is finished, the cards are collected and another hand is dealt by the new dealer. Play continues until "Game" is reached. At that time, all scoring ends, even if players have cards which haven't been scored yet. If "Game" is 121 points and the loser scored less than 91 points, the winner is credited with 2 games. If the loser scored less than 61 points, the winner earns 4 games. ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. 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