Brief Description of Hearts
   Hearts 1.2 for Windows is a four player card game in 
which the goal is to get as few points as possible. Cards 
of the heart suit are worth 1 point and the queen of spades 
is worth 13 points.  You want to avoid these 14 cards. The 
highest card of the lead suit takes the four cards in the 
trick and the player that does this gets to lead for the 
next trick.  You must play the lead suit if you have it, 
or else you can play any card. After 13 tricks are played,
the points are added up and cards are dealt again.  The game 
is over when a player gets 100 points (he is the loser).



Running Hearts for Windows v1.2
   Hearts requires Windows 3.0 or later and runs in any Windows
mode and in as little as ~45K.  However, it runs much faster if 
you have 300K or more of free memory.  You must have a mouse to 
select and play the cards.  If you cannot afford a mouse, then 
you probably won't have enough money to give me any for all the 
trouble I went through to make this program, so I don't feel so 
bad about not having keyboard support for the cards in Ver 1.2.    
Sorry.
   Hearts also works on monochrome monitors, but due to the low 
resolution of many monochrome monitors, you may not be able to 
see the entire play space at one time.  If this is the case, 
simply use the arrow keys to scroll around the play space if 
you want or need to see a different part of the play space. The 
'HOME' key can bring you back to the center.
   To install Hearts on your system, simply use the Windows 
'Program Manager' 'New... Item' menu function to install the 
program 'hearts.exe' as part of the games directory.  You may 
use the 'browse' button to find the 'hearts.exe' program if you 
cannot find it.  It is best (very desirable for Hearts and all 
windows programs) if you copy Hearts.exe to you hard drive if 
it is not already there; Any Windows program will run very slowly 
if you run it from the floppy drive.  Note that only 'hearts.exe' 
is truly needed to play the game; this file and the possibly 
included file 'cards.ad' are not needed and you may not want 
them if you are low on space.
   The 'cards.ad' file is an 'AFTER DARK' screen saver module 
that you may copy to your After Dark directory if you have that 
program.  Other screen savers are now able to run After Dark 
'.ad' files themselves.  'Cards.ad' will be changed periodically 
by me to do different things, and eventually play card games 
themselves. Different versions will have different names.



Game Options and Menu Items.
   Upon starting Hearts, you will be given a choice of who to 
play against. You can choose the default players (good players 
but not the best), or you can choose 'custom' player selection.
  If you choose the 'custom' players, the player selection 
window expands to show many buttons with player names on them.
The best players are on the right and the weakest on the left.  
Every time you select a player, the box goes to the next player
for selection. You can keep selecting players in circles until 
you hit the 'OK' button.  Please note that if you want to play 
against the computer, you must make sure at least one of the 
players is 'Human'.  Also note that any or all of players may 
be human or computer players, so if you want, you can have the 
computer play itself, or you can somehow tape cardboard to the 
screen or something and have two or more people play against the 
computer players at once.
   On-line help is available by selecting the 'Options' menu item 
and selecting the 'How To Play...' item.  This will bring up a box 
that will give the exact rules of the game, how to select cards, 
and some hints for new players. The 'F1' key will also bring up 
the help box.
   Card backings for Hearts are selected with the 'Options' menu 
and may also be selected with the 'F2'-'F5' (F2-F9 in the 
registered version) keys.
   Game speed may be changed by selected that item form the 
'Options' menu or may also be changed by striking the keys '1'-'5'.
5 is fastest (no delay).
   Players will say things that appear in cartoon-like quote boxes.
These may be turned off with the 'Options' item.  Other menu items 
in the 'Options' menu will be more or less obvious.
   Other options exist in the registered version.  Some of these 
are hidden in the 'non-registered' version through elaborate 
tricky key sequences that are revealed upon registration!
   The 'scorecard' is a window that may be moved which shows two 
things for every player: his score for this round and his total 
score for the game.  You may get more information on a given 
player by clicking with the mouse on him in the scorecard.
   You may select for a new game with the 'Game' menu item, or 
you may quit with 'quit' option.  Also, at the end of a game, 
you are prompted for whether to play again.
   There are a number of improvements in Ver. 1.2 over Ver 1.0&1.1.  
Some of these pertain to bug fixes, others are new additions. Among 
other things, there are new card backings (gumby for instance; 
the registered version has 8 cool backings-all better than 
'Solitaire'!).  Options to throw all cards in when all points 
are out is included, as well as new quotes and new interesting 
actions by the game.  With 1.2, you can change the names of your
opponents.  All changes in play setup are remembered from one 
play to the next.

Game Play
   At the start of the game, the players must select three 
cards to pass. The cards are selected with the left mouse button 
and passed/played with the right mouse button.  When all have 
passed, the passes are completed with the 3 cards passed to you
in the 'up' position.  You can strike a key or mouse button to put 
them in your hand, or you can wait a few seconds for this to be 
done for you.
   The player with the two of clubs must then play it.  If you 
have it, you can play it (or any other card when it's your turn) 
by selecting it with the left button and then playing it with the 
right button, or by directly playing it with the right button.
The winner of the trick is shown by the cards sliding towards him 
after all cards are played.  It's now the winner's turn to play the 
first card of the next trick.  Scores are continually updated on the
scorecard so you can see who's winning.
   If you play a card illegally, a box comes up that says why the 
card was illegal with a beep.  You must click on the box or strike 
a key to make it go away.



The Author of Hearts
   Paul Pedriana
   PO Box 271551
   Concord, CA 94527
   Compuserve ID: 70541,3223

   I am presently a poor biologist living in Northern 
California in Pleasant Hill, a city 20 miles east of Oakland 
(I got a bad case of poison oak in the Oakland hills the night 
of that bad fire in October 1991).  I do this computer work on 
the side as a hobby and race bicycles in the spring and summer
(cyclists in the 'Bay Area' might recognize me as the guy on the 
bike with the stars and moons (like card design #1). I have a B.A. 
degree from U.C. Berkeley in Biochemistry (1989). I program in 
C/C++ and assembly when needed (also have done FORTRAN).
   The version of Hearts I am distributing has no eliminated 
parts or other 'demo' traits.  This is the complete 'unprotected' 
version.  Why is this? Because I don't like those incomplete 
programs; If I really like a program, I pay the author for it 
even if I have an already final version of it. I've even payed a 
couple authors 5$ for their programs that I never really used, 
simply because I wanted to support them and encourage them to 
write more.  But I can't expect everyone to be like this.  
Nevertheless, Hearts took considerable time to develop to its 
present state. I did the programming (C++ and ASM) and Brian 
Mallari and I (old Hearts buddies) worked together to create the 
playing styles of the different players you find here.



Owner Registration
   The registered version of Hearts has a number of improvements 
over the unregistered version. It has twice as many card 
backings, more quotes, and better opponents.  Also, it will not 
fool with your player 'quote' like the unregestired version.  
Also, the players in general won't nag you as much, though 
some people have said they like it.
   If you send me, Paul Pedriana, 10$,I will register you as 
a permanent owner of Hearts and will entitle you the future 
registered versions of Hearts (see below) free and as well as 
future Windows programs I do as well (I'm working on it!).  I've 
done other programs for DOS and Windows, but they probably will 
not be of interest to you.
   As a registered owner, you may ask to make changes in Hearts 
that are not completely unreasonable free of charge (e.g., You 
may want a player that has the comments that you supply, or 
plays a way that you specify. You can send me any number of 71x96 
16 color bitmaps to be your card back designs. (The next version of 
Hearts will allow you to simply put the bitmap in the same 
directory as Hearts, and Hearts will pick it up itself. Or else 
you may want different opponent names, background colors, or 
menu options). Also please give suggestions for new Windows 
programs (games or not). I will do the ones that are most 
feasible and likely to generate interest.  On the other hand, 
you may want to fool with the HEARTS.INI file to change the 
player's names that are default.
   Any suggestions and found bugs are always welcome from anyone.
Very Good suggestions get free registration if they can be 
implemented for Hearts or any other game that may be similar. 
All correspondence will be answered by me.
   I am continuously working on new projects, with time as my 
only obstacle.  It's hard to get anyone to commit the necessary 
time to help me with these things.



Future Direction
   Hearts version 1.2 doesn't do everything anyone could ever 
want, so there will be a version 2.0.  Some of the new things 
to be in version 2 will be tougher opponents, new card designs, 
and an option for programmers to create their own players by 
simply putting a .plr file in the same directory as Hearts.
   Suggestions for new Windows programs are welcome whether 
they pertain to Hearts or any other ideas.

