Amiga Plus Extra 1996 #3/AmigaPlus_CD-ROM-EXTRA_Nr.3.bin/aminet-spiele/brettspiele/seahaven/seahaven rules

Text File | 1989-10-19 | 10KB | 220 lines

SeaHaven Towers

Introduction
    Last week you broke into the National Defense
Computer Network.  This week you're putting the finishing
touches on your new revolutionary AI system.  Isn't it
time you took a break?  Play SeaHaven Towers, the mindless
game for people with minds.  Solitaire like you always
wished it could be.
    This is a demo of SeaHaven Towers.  It's a working
version of SeaHaven that only plays four different games.
Try it out, give it to your friends, this demo is freely
distributable.  If you like it, send your address and $15
to UnSane Creations and we'll rush you SeaHaven Towers.
    This readme file is provided to supplement the
online help.  It contains a detailed description of the
standard rules and their variations.  Also included is a
section of hints for beginning SeaHaven players called The
Advice Column.  And of course, what readme file wouldn't
be complete without the current UnSane Creations rumors.

Standard Rules
    For those of you experienced at playing different
solitaire games, here is a quick summary of the rules:
The object of the game is to separate the deck into its
four suits, each in an ordered stack from ace to king.
The cards are dealt face up into ten piles, five cards per
pile, with the remaining two cards on two of the four
towers.  Only the cards on the towers and the top card on
each of the ten piles can be moved.  Cards of the same
suit can be stacked in descending order.  Any card can be
placed on a tower, and only kings can be placed on empty
piles.  For a more detailed explanation, read on.
    The playing field is divided into three different
parts.  The stacks, one for each suit, where the cards are
stacked from ace to king, the towers, temporary holding
places for cards, and the piles, where most of the cards
are at the beginning of a game.
    SeaHaven automatically moves cards to the
appropriate stack as they are freed.  For example, if the
ace of spades were on one of the towers in the beginning
of the game, the ace would automatically move up to begin
the spade stack.  Then the two of spades could move up and
cover the ace, assuming it were on a tower or the top of
pile.  This would continue until one of the cards wasn't
free;  for instance if the three of spades were at the
bottom of a pile.  This means that it is theoretically
possible for you to begin a new game and find that you've
won without making a single move, even if winning the
lottery is fourteen times more likely.
    Now you may be lucky, but even an incredibly lucky
person couldn't win more than one game with luck alone.
And where luck doesn't suffice, skill and strategy must.
To win you must free the cards of each suit sequentially,
aces, then twos, threes, etc...  There are two operations
that help you succeed in this task.  First, cards of the
same suit can be placed on one another in descending
order.  For example, the six of diamonds can be placed on
the seven of diamonds, and the five of diamonds on the
six.  If either the five or six of diamonds were
previously over an ace, that card is now free and will be
moved to begin a stack by the computer.  Second, any card
can be placed on a tower.  For example, imagine the five
of hearts covering an ace. The only way to free the ace,
if the six of hearts is not at the top of a pile, would be
to put the five on an empty tower.  The ace would then be
free to begin a stack as before.
    Sometimes you will want to move a series of cards.
 The only way to do this is by using the towers.  For
example, if you wanted to place both the six and five of
diamonds onto the seven, you would first have to put the
five onto an empty tower, move the six onto the seven, and
then move the five back onto the six.  This becomes
tedious very quickly.  Therefore SeaHaven gives you a
shortcut;  it allows you to move both the five and the six
together.  This means that you can only move at most one
card more than the number of empty towers.  With all four
towers empty you can move a maximum of five cards, with
three empty towers you can move four, etc...
    And finally, if during the course of a game you
empty a pile, you can start a new one with a king.
Because kings are the last cards to go up to the stacks,
they often get in the way, filling towers and covering
cards you need.  By putting them on empty stacks, you
start a new pile and put them where they can do no harm.

Variations
    SeaHaven Towers allows you to change its rules,
giving you a total of forty-eight different variations.
You can change SeaHaven's rules by selecting Change Rules
under the Edit menu.  When you do, you see the following
options:

        Cards only go on same suit
        Cards go on same color
        Cards go on any suit

        Move one card at a time
        Move multiple cards together

        Cards count down only
        Cards count up or down

        Only kings may be put on an empty pile
        Any card may be put on an empty pile

        Game starts with 8 piles
        Game starts with 10 piles

You can vary the game's difficulty by changing these
options,  making SeaHaven challenging for anyone, from the
youngest  novice to the oldest master.
    The first set of options affect how cards are
stacked in piles.  The standard rules only let you stack
cards of the same suit.  Alternately, with the second
option you can stack cards of the same color together,
clubs with spades and diamonds with hearts.  Or with the
third option you can stack cards of any suit on cards of
any other;  in other words, cards are stacked by numerical
order only.
    The second set controls card movement.  Normally
you can only move one card at a time, meaning the only way
to move a group of cards is by using one or more of the
towers.  Changing this option enables you to move a group
of cards without using the towers, making it possible for
you to move any size group of cards even if all four
towers are filled.
    The third set determines the numerical order in
which cards are stacked.  Standard rules only allow you to
stack cards in descending order, but by changing this
option, you can stack cards in both descending and
ascending order.  This means that both a king and a jack
can be placed on a queen, both a queen and a ten on a
jack, etc...
    The fourth set only influences empty piles.  Under
standard rules you can only place kings on empty piles,
but by changing this option you can place any card on an
empty pile.
    And finally, the last set of options varies the
number of piles the game starts with.  Normally you start
with ten piles of five cards each and two full towers, but
you can start with eight piles of six cards each and four
full towers.

The Advice Column
    1.  If you've never played SeaHaven Towers before,
start with simpler rules.  It takes a few games to get
used to SeaHaven;  it is quite likely that you will lose
your first twenty games with the standard rules.  Two good
rules to change are 'move multiple cards together' and
'any card may be put on an empty pile.'  If the game is
still too hard, change a few more rules.  The point is to
learn to play SeaHaven without getting frustrated.  After
all, aren't games supposed to be fun?
    2.  Keep as many towers free as you can.  A large
part of the game is emptying towers so you can make the
moves you need to win the game.  Cards like kings, queens,
and other high cards tend to remain on the towers for a
long time.  Before you place a card on a tower, find its
mate.  Don't put the two of spades on a tower if the ace
of spades is at the bottom of a pile of kings.  This
doesn't mean that you can't or even shouldn't do it, just
be aware that you're sacrificing a tower when you do.
Plan your use of the towers.
    3.  Free the aces and other low cards you can.
When the computer moves cards up to the stacks, it moves
them out of play.  If you can even start one suit, you'll
find the game becomes easier.
    4.  Large sequences of cards can't be moved
easily.  At the very most sequences shouldn't be larger
than three or four cards.  Since the only way to move
sequences is with the towers and there are only four
towers, any sequence larger than five cards can't be moved
at all.  Consider this example.  The ace of clubs is
covered by the five and four of diamonds.  This would mean
that the four of diamonds couldn't go anywhere other than
a tower, since it is already on the five.  Even if the six
of diamonds were at the top of a pile you couldn't use it,
because in moving the five your must first move the four.
The solution in this instance is to empty a tower.  But
for large sequences there is no solution, the cards
covered are out of play for the rest of the game.
    5.  Piles with only one card are good starting
points for large sequences.  When a sequence doesn't cover
anything, you don't need to move it and its size doesn't
matter.  So before you remove the last card from a pile,
try to start a sequence.  Also see #6.
    6.  Put your kings on empty piles.  Before you
empty a pile, decide whether it is better for you to start
a sequence with the last card of that pile or a king.  But
if you do decide to empty the pile, put a king there.
    7.  Use Undo.  Use it when you're in trouble.  Use
it when you make a mistake.  But use it, even if you have
to Undo to the start of a game.  Undoing is not cheating.
You can always Redo an undone move.
    8.  If, in time, SeaHaven becomes too easy, make
it harder.  You can start with eight piles instead of ten.
 If you use eight piles, change a couple of the other
options as well, otherwise you may find winning
impossible.
    9.  And finally, take the preceding with a grain
of salt.  Like many other prominent psychologists,
astrologists, and Advice Columnists, I may not have the
slightest idea what I am talking about.  Use your own
judgement.

Rumors
    Many people believe that Steve, SeaHaven's
programmer, is really a two-headed Elvis clone.  He has
been known on occasion, usually after the appropriate
number of alcoholic beverages, to hum Elvis songs.  His
taste in clothes tend toward sequins and gaudy colors.
And of course, there are his heads.  If you wish to speak
to Steve, about SeaHaven, his true identity, or anything
else for that matter, feel free to contact him at (314)
892-5367 or write to him c/o:
                UnSane Creations
                815 Windingpath Lane
                Manchester, MO 63021