Hearts
                                Black Lady

 Copyright 1988 by Mark Slone

               
                                Mark Slone
                           2103 Greenwood Place
                           Huntville, AL  35802


This hearts program may be copied as long as you do not charge for it (other
than a nominal fee for copying), and as long as you keep this "readme" file
with the program.  Send all suggestions and/or donations ($5) to me at the
above address.


** On this Goodies disk, to run Hearts on a 512K machine, after you open the
 Games window, close the main window...then after you double-click on the
 Hearts icon, as soon as the pointer reappears, close the Games window.  If
 you don't or have run other programs that rob memory, GURU!!!



This program requires the diamond-12 font on the workbench disk.  It also
uses a lot of graphics memory, so I don't recommend multi-tasking.  Future
versions will be more multi-tasking-friendly.

Thanks to Zac Galaboff and Bob Linner for their help and play-testing of
this program.

This game uses the typical Amiga intuition interface.  Use the menu to start
and quit a game.  Cards are played by using the mouse to move them onto the
table and releasing them, or by double-clicking a card.  Releasing a card
outside the table will return it to your hand.  Play pauses after all four
players have played a card, and a click of the left mouse button will clear
the table for the next round of play.  Most of the menu items are disabled,
but they may be enabled in future versions of the program.

This program was written so that each computer player knows only their own
cards.  Thus, they do not "cheat".  They do have a perfect memory, however.
I have included a menu option called "count cards", which lists for you
the cards not yet played by the other players.  Since this option is not
available to you when you play humans (unless you have a perfect memory),
I don't recommend you use it.


Levels:

         Expert         The computer players sometimes go after the human
                        player.  They do not, however, cooperate with
                        each other, or cheat in any way.

         Advanced       Each computer player plays to win, and they
                        treat the human player the same as they do the
                        other computer players.

         Intermediate   The computer players are "nice" to the human
                        player, and go after the other computer players.


Beginner and Easy levels are not yet implemented.  There could also be a
level harder than "expert", where the computer players always go after the
human player.



                          RULES TO HEARTS

Hearts is a four player card game.  For each hand, the players are dealt
13 cards.  Each player then passes three cards to the left the first hand,
to the right the second, and across the third.  Every fourth hand is a hold
hand, where no cards are passed.  To pass your three cards, place them on
the table, and click the pointer on the "ready" square.  The three cards
passed to you are flagged by a letter representing the player who passed
them to you.

Each heart is worth one point, and the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points
(thus the name "Black Lady").  The object of the game is to have the fewest
points at the end of the game.  The game ends when any player reaches 100
or more points.

After passing cards (if it is a pass hand), the player with the two of clubs
begins play by leading that card.  Each player after the lead (in a clock-
wise order) must play a card in the suit led if he has one.  If a player
does not have a card in the suit led, that player may "dump" a card from
any suit.  After all four players have played a card, the player who played
the highest card in the suit led takes the "trick", and that player must
now lead a card.

You may not lead a heart until hearts are "broken".  Hearts are broken by
someone dumping a heart or the Queen of Spades, or by leading the Queen of
Spades.  If you have only hearts in your hand, you may lead a heart.

One of the most important aspects of this game is "running".  Running
entails taking all 26 points (all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades).  The
player that runs then subtracts 26 from his score, or adds 26 points to
everyone else's score.  The computer automatically adds 26 points to the
other player's scores if that places you in first place, or if your score
is lower than 26. Otherwise, it will subtract 26 points from your score.

This hearts program will not allow you to play an illegal card, and this
may help you to learn the rules.  Future versions will also include a tutor
mode, where the computer will suggest a card and give you the reason it chose
that card.

Have fun and good luck!

                              --Mark Slone
                                February 9, 1988