Spades

Play a classic game of spades on your palm.

Spades v1.7

2/23/98

************************* W A R N I N G ****************************

* If upgrading from a prior version to version 1.5, you must first *

* remove the older version from your PalmPilot before installing *

* this version. *

************************* W A R N I N G ****************************

Spades

This is the PalmPilot implementation of the card game Spades.

There are many sets of rules for Spades. Below I describe the rules and

options implemented in this implementation.

GAME PLAY:

Setup

Spades is played with 4 players, each playing individually. Cards rank in

each suit from highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

The human player is the first dealer. The deal then passes on clockwise in

subsequent hands. The cards are shuffled, and every player is dealt 13 cards.

Bidding

Each hand begins by clockwise bidding starting to the left of the dealer.

Players take turns bidding on how many tricks they believe they can take

during the hand. Bids must be whole numbers

Bids can be entered via the up and down arrows, or a number can be written

in the Graffiti area.

Special Bids

Nello - An individual bid declaring that a player will not take a trick

during the hand.

Blind Nello - An individual bid identical to Nello, except that it is

declared before any player looks at his/her cards. Blind Nello may only be

bid when the player is behind the leader by 75 points.

Blind 4 - An individual bid of 4 that is declared before any player looks at

his/her cards. Blind 4 may only be bid when the player is behind the leader

by 75 points.

(SEE OPTIONS)

Play

Play begins with the player left of the dealer leading with any card except

a spade (unless, by some miracle, that is all he was dealt!) Players take

turns playing cards clockwise from the leader following suit if able. If a

player is void in the suit led, then he may play any card desired. A

trick containing a spade is won by the highest spade; otherwise, the highest

card of the suit led wins the trick.

Play continues with the winner of each trick leading the next. A player can

not lead a spade until either:

spades have been broken (meaning someone has played a spade on a previous trick), or

the leader has only spades left in his/her hand.

(SEE OPTIONS)

Scoring

Once play for a hand has finished, each player that makes at least their bid

receives 10 times their bid plus 1 point for each overtrick. A player that

falls short of its bid loses ten times the amount of the bid. It is important

to note that the singles digit of the score exists only to record the number

of bags, or overtricks. Once 10 bags are accumulated, the team is penalized

100 points, and any extra bags are recorded again in the singles digit. Notice

that ten bags do not equate to ten points; likewise, when a team goes negative,

the bags digit does not change.

Alternatively, the player may choose to play with sandbag rules. In this mode,

every trick taken over the bid amount results in an immediate loss of 10 points.

In this mode, bags do not carry over to the next hand. For instance, if a player

bids 4 and takes 5, he will recive 40 points for making the bid but lose 10 points

for going over by 1 trick so the total score will be 30 points.

(SEE OPTIONS)

In Sandbag mode, there is a condition called "double set." This occurs when you take

twice your bid. (Does not happen with blind bids.) If this happens, you will lose

10 times twice your bid. For instance, if you bid 3 but end up taking 6, you will

lose 60 points.

Special Bids

Nello is rewarded 50 points or penalized 50 points.

Blind Nello is rewarded 100 points or penalized 50 points.

Blind 4 is rewarded 100 points or penalized 50 points.

Winning

The first player to 500 points wins the game.

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OPTIONS:

Spade Tight: When checked, the player can only lead spades when he has

no cards of any other suit, EVEN IF SPADES HAVE BEEN BROKEN.

Blinds: Allow the Blind Nello and Blind 4 bids.

Sandbag Rules: Each trick taken over the bid will result in an immeidate loss

of 10 points.

Short Game: Instead of 500 points, the first player to 250 points will win.

Expert Mode: User will not be prompted for restart confirmation or notified

of improper card selection.

Animation: Turn on the card animation.

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If you enjoy this game, you can register for $5.00 at

http://www2.viaweb.com/pilotgearsw/romanbaker.html

Send any comments/suggestions to [email protected]

Thanks an denjoy.

Roman Baker

VERSION INFO:

1/06/98: 1.0 Initial version.

1/09/98: 1.1 Improved computer betting and playing logic.

Fixed scoring bug with bags.

1/27/98: 1.5 YOU MUST REMOVE PRIOR VERSIONS BEFORE INSTALLING V1.5!!

Even better computer playing and betting logic.

Computer now can bid Nello.

Added menus for score, new game, etc when bid

window is active.

Fixed bug when switching apps when score screen is up.

2/09/98: 1.6 Sorry about fatal exceptions in 1.5... Should be gone!

Score can be entered via Graffiti. Added expert mode

to get rid of new game confirmation and bad card selection

alert boxes. Computers will go Nello more often.

2/23/98: 1.7 Score is now always on screen next to bids and tricks.

When using graffiti to enter bid, you can close the bid

form by entering a '.'

Added a statistics page that keeps track of hands, bidding,

time played, etc.

Added "double set" scoring rule (see above scoring section)

As usual, evolving, improving computer game play...