FIVEH\FIVEH.DOC ·
DOC ·
10.7 KB ·
1990-01-01 ·
from PersonalComputing_Jan-1990
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ RULES OF FOUR HANDED FIVE-HUNDRED │
│ │
│ CARDS - From a pack of 52 cards discard the twos, threes, and black fours, │
│ then add the Joker. Each player receives ten cards in the deal, and three │
│ cards form the kitty. │
│ │
│ The Joker is always the highest trump. At a suit bid, the jack of that suit │
│ called the Right Bower, is the second best trump. Third best is the jack of │
│ the other suit of the same colour as the trump; this jack is the Left Bower. │
│ Thus if hearts are trumps, the three highest trumps are : Joker, Jack Hearts │
│ , Jack Diamonds. The rest of the trump suit ranks : A (fourth-best), K, Q, │
│ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. │
│ │
│ In each non-trump suit the rank is : A (high), K, Q, J (If it is not the │
│ left bower), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. │
│ │
│ BIDDING - The player at the left of the dealer declares first. Each player │
│ in turn has a chance to declare, either passing or making a bid higher than │
│ any preceding bid. Each bid must name a denomination and a number of tricks, │
│ e.g. 'six spades','seven no-trump'. A bid is sufficient to overcall a │
│ preceding bid if it has a higher scoring value, according to the table : │
│ │
│ Number of tricks │
│ 6 7 8 9 10 │
│ Spades 40 140 240 340 440 │
│ Clubs 60 160 260 360 460 │
│ Diamonds 80 180 280 380 480 │
│ Hearts 100 200 300 400 500 │
│ No-trumps 120 220 320 420 520 │
│ │
│ Bidding continues until three of the four players have passed. The bid │
│ winner then has one last chance to up the bid. The highest bid is then the │
│ contract and the person who made this bid and his partner are the │
│ contractors. │
│ │
│ PLAY - The contractor takes the kitty into his hand, then discards any three │
│ cards face down. He then makes the opening lead. │
│ │
│ The hands are played out in tricks. Each player must follow suit to the lead │
│ if possible; if he cannot follow suit then he may play any card. A trick is │
│ won by the highest trump played, or if there is no trump then the highest │
│ ranking card of the led suit. The winner of a trick leads the next. │
│ │
│ At no-trumps, the Joker is the sole trump. It wins any trick but a non- │
│ leader must not play it unless he is void of the led suit. If the Joker is │
│ led the owner specifies a suit that all other players must play to if able. │
│ │
│ Partners pool tricks won together. The contractor and his partner must │
│ attempt to win at least the number of tricks specified in the contract. │
│ │
│ SCORING - If the contractor and his partner wins the number of tricks he │
│ bid, he scores the value of his bid according to the table above. If they │
│ win all ten tricks they score the greater of his bid or 250. If they fail to │
│ make the contract then the value of the bid is deducted from their score. │
│ Players can thus have a minus score. │
│ │
│ The opponents of the contract score 10 for every trick won regardless of │
│ whether the contract was defeated or not. However a pair cannot go above a │
│ score of 490 in this manner. To win they must score through there own │
│ contract. │
│ │
│ The pair to first reach a score of 500 wins the game. Likewise if a pair │
│ gets to minus 500 or less then they have lost the game. │
│ │
│ In this computer version of four handed five-hundred you play the hand of │
│ south. Your partner is north, and your opponents are west and east. The │
│ computer deals hands randomly to the four players and the kitty. │
│ │
│ The computer hands have no absolute knowledge of what is contained in his │
│ partners or opponents hands. They do however gain information from the │
│ bidding of the other players and the cards which are played, just as in an │
│ ordinary game. The computer takes more risks in bidding if opponents are │
│ close to a winning score of five-hundred. │
│ │
│ One advantage of the computer version is that there can be no 'table │
│ talking' or 'stacking the deck' │
│ │
│ When running five-hundred you are first asked whether you wish to see │
│ opponents hands. If yes you will observe the hands of the three other │
│ players as the game progresses. This would be selected if you wanted to │
│ observe the strategies of the computer. If no, you play without the luxury │
│ of seeing any hand but your own, as in a real game. │
│ │
│ When looking at the other hands * = Joker, L = Left Bower. │
│ │
│ The play screen will then appear. In the right hand corner is the score-card │
│ showing a trick count, the points score, and the number of games won by each │
│ pair. The left hand corner gives you the dealer, the contract, and who wins │
│ each trick. │
│ │
│ Bidding progresses in a clockwise direction until you are prompted for your │
│ bid. You first input the number of tricks you think you can win (input 0 to │
│ pass), and press return. You then input the first letter of the suit you │
│ wish to be trumps (N is no trumps). An invalid bid will not be accepted. │
│ Bidding continues until three of the players have passed. The contract │
│ winner then has one last chance to up the value of the contract. │
│ │
│ If a player other than yourself wins the contract, he picks up the kitty and │
│ discards. Otherwise the kitty appears above your hand and you must input │
│ three cards to discard from your now total hand of thirteen cards. Input the │
│ numbers that appear under the three cards (i.e. 1,2,3 .. 13) individually. │
│ For example if you want to discard card numbers 2,8 and 11 you would press 2 │
│ enter,8 enter,11 enter. │
│ │
│ Play then begins. When you are prompted to enter the card number to play use │
│ the number that appears under the card you wish to play (i.e. 1,2,3 .. 10). │
│ An invalid card will not be accepted. │
│ │
│ At the end of each trick press any key to start the next trick. Play │
│ continues until all ten cards are played. Another hand will be dealt after │
│ the last trick if neither player has yet reached five-hundred or negative │
│ five- hundred. │
│ │
│ G O O D L U C K ! │
│ │
│ If you find this program useful would you please send a payment of $NZ22 │
│ (approximately UK 9 pounds) to the below address along with any comments and │
│ suggested alterations. │
│ │
│ In return I will reply to any suggestions, send you the pascal source and │
│ any altered version of the program. │
│ │
│ Peter G. Harrop, │
│ 8 Waingaro Road, │
│ Ngaruawahia, │
│ North Island, │
│ New Zealand. │
│ │
│ Copyright 1989. P. G. Harrop. │
│ │
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