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This game is a computer version of TRUNDLE. For those of you who don't know
how to play Trundle- you are not alone. Trundle is a new and unique card
game. My sister once told me that it reminded her a bit of some other card 
game, the name of which I forget. Anyway. If you have never played Trundle,
fear not. It is a simple, easy to learn game, with few rules.

                        1.....The rules
                        2.....Winning the game
                        3.....Walkthrough
                        4.....Scoring
                        5.....Contact information
                        6.....Source Code

[1:rules]--------------------------------------------------------------------

Rule #1: You are dealt fourteen cards at the beginning of the game, and
      attempting to claim victory when you do not have exactly fourteen
      cards in your hand causes you to lose. During game play however,
      you can have as many as eighteen or as few as zero

Rule #2: There are no turns. Discard and draw cards as fast as you possibly
      can. The computer opponent will not wait for you.

Rule #3: To win, you must collect three sets of four of a kind. A set 
      consists of all the cards of the same value- One of each suit. Other
      standard "poker hands" have no value. Only four-of-a-kind matters.

[2:winning]------------------------------------------------------------------

Therefore, a winning hand is three sets of four of a kind, plus two more
cards, making a total of fourteen.

J J J J Q Q Q Q K K K K 2 3   would be a winning hand.
5 5 5 5 A A A A 9 9 9 9 J J   would also be a winning hand.

The cards don't need to be in any kind of order.

8 9 K 2 2 2 5 8 8 2 9 8 9 9   is a winning hand. Count them!

Too few, or too many cards will loose you the game.

J J J J Q Q Q Q K K K K 2 3 5  would NOT be a winning hand
5 5 5 5 A A A A 9 9 9 9 J      nor would this.

The face value of cards is irrelevant. a set of 2's is just as good as a set 
of Queens. Jokers, however, are wild.

[3:walkthrough]--------------------------------------------------------------

type CARD from the dos prompt, or select CARD.EXE from your file manager
to start playing.

You will begin at the INTRO screen. Here you can read brief instructions,
and view the game's credits. Left-click on one of the three buttons at the 
bottom of the screen to start playing. EASY, NORMAL, and HARD are your 
options. They effect the speed and competence of your computer opponent, 
and the number of points at stake.

After clicking a diffuculty button, you will be taken to the HAND VIEW 
screen. The computer will deal you fourteen cards. You have a brief time 
to sort your cards and plan your strategy. Once this time is up, Warren, 
the computer opponent starts playing, and you can freely discard and draw 
cards. To bring a card to the top of the pile, left-click on any visible 
part of it. You can move a card by clicking on it and dragging. To discard 
a card, drag it to the dark blue box in the upper right of the screen, and 
release the mouse button. Clicking on the dark blue box will take you to 
the ROOM screen

In the ROOM screen, you will see the computer opponent, Warren, the card
table, the slush fund (discard pile), and the prize money. Left clicking 
on the table will take you to the SLUSH FUND screen. The other features
of the ROOM screen will be discussed later.

The SLUSH FUND is where your cards go when you discard them. While you are
in the SLUSH FUND, you will periodically see cards jump away, or drop down
of their own accord. These are the cards that Warren is drawing or 
discarding. All the cards in the slush fund are face down, but they each
still have a specific value. They are not random. Cards in the SLUSH FUND 
may be moved around in the same manner as cards in HAND VIEW. To draw a card,
drag it to the green box at the bottom of the screen. The card will go 
directly to your hand. If you have too many cards in your hand, you cannot
draw more. To exit back to the ROOM screen, click on the green box.

Move back and forth between the HAND VIEW screen and the SLUSH FUND, 
discarding and drawing cards until you think you have a winning hand.

When you have three sets of four, and a total of fourteen, go to ROOM
view, and left-click on the prize money. This will open a window that asks
you if you have a winning hand. If you clicked the prize money by mistake,
you can click NO, and continue playing. If you are ready to win, click YES, 
and you will be taken to the VICTORY screen.

On the VICTORY screen, your cards will be counted and sorted automatically,
and if you have a winning hand, You will win the round.

If Warren gets a winning hand before you do, he will claim the prize money,
and you will automatically be taken to the VICTORY screen. If Warren is the
one claiming victory, his face will be displayed on the right side of the 
screen.

After the round is over, a button will appear maked `Play again?' If you 
click it, you will be taken back to the INTRO screen. You can quit the
program by pressing ESC

The ROOM screen has two extra features.
1: Clicking on Warren's face will change his expression. His mood reflects
   the approximate quality of his hand. The poor fool just cant keep a
   strait poker face.
2: If you play more than one round, two meters will appear at the top of the
   ROOM screen. The first meter shows your overall winnings, and the second 
   meter shows Warren's overall winnings.

[4:scoring]------------------------------------------------------------------

Points are awarded only to the winner. the points are calculated as follows
   1 point just for winning
   1 point if your two extra cards are of the same value
   1 more point if the two matching extra cards are face cards
   5 points for each extra joker (a joker that is not used as part of a set)
These points are then multiplied according to your difficulty setting, and
added to your running total.
   easy-   X1
   normal- X2
   hard-   X4

[5:info]---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have questions, comments, praise, complaints, confused ramblings, 
or any other kind of feedback, or if you need technical support,
contact us at:

Bob@HamsterRepublic.com

or

http://HamsterRepublic.com
[6:source code]--------------------------------------------------------------

The QuickBasic source code for Trundle is available via subversion at
svn://gilgamesh.hamsterrepublic.com/hamster/trundle

