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         A HANDFUL of CARDS v1.01      by Chris Maddock   June, 1994    
                                                                        
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Legal Stuff
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"A HANDFUL of CARDS" is NOT freeware nor Public Domain. It is Shareware, which
means that if you  continue to use it after a thirty day period, then you MUST
purchase a  registered copy.  The copyright to "A HANDFUL of CARDS" is held by 
Chris Maddock, and the program must not be changed nor altered in any way. Any
such action will be considered a breach of copyright.

"A HANDFUL of CARDS" has been written and compiled using Borland Turbo C++ v3.
The program must  not be reverse-engineered  and Borland  copyrighted material
extracted for use.

For information  on registration,  please refer to the rest  of this document,
and to the file REGISTER.TXT, that came with this program.


Disclaimer
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In the very  unlikely event that  "A HANDFUL of CARDS" should reduce your  RAM 
memory to lots of little bits of melted plastic, convert your  hard disk to an  
"LP" full of random binary ones & zeros, or cause any other problems with your 
machine, the author cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever.

Right, that's that bit over - on to the program itself;


What is A HANDFUL of CARDS?
---------------------------

"A HANDFUL of CARDS" is a compendium of card games for the IBM PC.  All of the
games  have the same  "look and feel",  something which I find is lacking when 
using games from several different authors. 
The  shareware  version  comprises  Cribbage (six-card  variant),  Calculation
Patience and Seven Card Rummy.              
Registration will supplement the above with the five-card variant of Cribbage,
California Jack (a Whist based game), Sultan Patience (a double pack patience) 
and Tablanette  (I suppose you could call it a cross between Whist and Snap!).

All the games are called from a common Main menu.
						 
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WHAT FILES ARE INCLUDED?

HOCARDS1.EXE     The program itself.
HANDFUL1.TXT     This file,
REGISTER.TXT    Registration information and order form.
CRIBBAGE.TXT    Rules and game-play for Cribbage.
CALCULAT.TXT     ---   -   --   --   -- Calculation Patience
RUMMY.TXT        ---   -   --   --   -- Seven Card Rummy


If you have  not got all of  these files, you have  not got a complete copy of
"A HANDFUL of CARDS".  Please contact your shareware vendor, or the author for 
an up-to-date copy.    
									

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 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

"A HANDFUL of CARDS"  should  work on any  IBM  compatible  PC with 512Kb  RAM 
minimum, and a  floppy disc drive.  A  hard disc is optional. It will also run 
from a RAM disc of suitable size (360Kb should be more than enough). 

"A HANDFUL of CARDS" is written for 640x480 16 colour (or greys) VGA displays. 
EGA, CGA, Hercules or other displays are NOT supported.

A Microsoft compatible 2 button mouse is required.

A maths co-processor is NOT required, and will have little or no effect on the
operation of the program.

 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

MS-DOS 3.2 or above (or compatible operating systems)
Suitable MS-compatible mouse driver. 
	      
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 INSTALLATION

Once the executable file HOCARDS1.EXE has been copied to your disc, no further
installation is necessary.  If you opt to run it from a RAM disc,  you need to
copy the file to the "disc" each time the PC has been powered-down.

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 DOCUMENTATION 
 
The basic documentation comprises this file, handful1.txt, &  the registration
file, register.txt. Separate text files are supplied for each game included in 
the version supplied. These have all been prepared using MS_DOS Edit, and are
formatted for a page length of 66 lines.
 
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 BRIEF OVERVIEW of the program

When the  program is run, the  main menu will appear,  after a short animation 
routine. This comprises a button for each of the games (three in the shareware 
version, seven in the registered version), an  "About" button,  "Registration" 
button and  "Quit to DOS".  From this point onwards,  the program is  entirely 
mouse driven.  All operations are  controlled by use of the  mouse left button 
(unless your  mouse driver is configured to  reverse the buttons)  with single 
clicks. Double clicking is not used at all.  To select a card for play, simply 
position the   cursor over it and click.  The card will change colour vanish or
move as required by the game in play.  In some games, there may be a choice of 
option at some stage, indicated by some buttons appearing. Simply click on the 
required option.

The patience games, Calculation and Sultan, use "drag & drop" since these have
several options for the card positions.  In this instance, position the cursor
over the  card required,  depress the left button  and move the  mouse  whilst
keeping the button down. When the card is in the desired location, release the
mouse button.  Valid locations are indicated by the  destination turning grey.
Accurate positioning is  not required  - once a location is grey,  release the 
button and the card will jump into place.



								   

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All games have a "Quit" button at the bottom right-hand corner of the display,
for most of the time.  When this is displayed,  clicking on it will return you
immediately  to the  main menu,  shrinking the display  and starting  the menu
animation routine. This is the only point of exit from the patience games. The
two-player games,  however,  will display  a button indicating the winner, and
prompting for a mouse click. This will return you to the main menu as before.

With the exception of the patiences,  the games are entirely controlled by the
computer, which takes care of the  dealing,  shuffling and the correct flow of 
the game. It also calculates and keeps the scores. All you have to do is play.
The computer does NOT cheat,  although it can sometimes seem that way!  It can
only play  the games using  pre-programmed  algorithms  which are  as close to 
normal ways of thinking as possible.  It does not look at your hand, the  pack
nor the previously discarded cards. Nor does it keep or hide cards from you.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

At present there are  no definite plans for  further development of "A HANDFUL 
of CARDS". This does not mean,  however, that there won't be any.  After a few
weeks of "normal" eight-hour nights,  I will probably get itchy fingers again.
I started off with the  intention of just writing a  Cribbage game for myself.
It all took off from there.
One possibility is keeping a record of the best scores made, or the best score
ratios.  Another might be some form of "save & resume".  Of course, more games
are another option.  "Teaching" the computer to play a game is, for me, really
satisfying,  even if it does respond by immediately thrashing me! There's real
gratitude for you!

Whether or not any future developments are released onto the  shareware market
will depend largely upon the response from you, the users.  If there should be
a favourable  response,  the incentive  will be there  (as with all  shareware
programmers). If there is a particular game you would like to see, send a copy
of the rules (and how to play it)  with your registration/order form, and I'll
consider it.  If I can create an extended version, contributors will be listed
in a credits section, and will receive a personalised complimentary copy. This
applies to any other suggestions or wish-lists you may like to send me.

Please note, however,  that I can only create a simulation if I can understand
and play the game myself.  It has been suggested that I try Bridge;  however I 
cannot for the life of me get to grips with the game, and could not, therefore
write a really accurate simulation.

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Thank you for trying "A HANDFUL of CARDS"

If you  like this  program, and wish to  keep it, please register  the fact by 
sending  15.00 UK  sterling to the address shown below. In return I will send 
you the registered version, with its enhancements. Please see the accompanying
file "register.txt", for more information,  and for an order form that you can
print and use.








								 
									
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    Please support the SHAREWARE concept. You know it makes sense.
			      

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					     CHRIS MADDOCK             
					                               
					     19 COBDEN COURT           
					     COBDEN AVENUE             
					     BITTERNE PARK             
					     SOUTHAMPTON               
					     HAMPSHIRE                 
					     ENGLAND        SO18 1DZ   
					                               
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