Spite And Malice

Rules and Strategy:

     Spite  and  Malice  is  a card game which involves both
luck and strategy.  The object of the game is to play all of
the  25  cards  in your pile.  These cards must be played to
the center four stacks in numerical order from ace to queen.
Both the king and joker are wild cards, and may be played on
top  of  any  other card.  Your hand consists of five cards,
which  may  be  played to the center or the discards.  Cards
that  have  been  discarded may be played to the center, but
may  not  be  moved  from one discard pile to another.  Your
turn  ends  when  you  take a card from your hand and put it
into  one  of  the discard piles.  Several strategies may be
used  to  defeat  your  opponent.   You may wish to maximize
playing  of your cards with little regard for the ability of
your  opponent  to  play.  Alternatively, you may attempt to
prevent  your  opponent  from playing his cards, even to the
detriment of your ability to play cards from your pile.  The
computer   attempts  to  win  through  intimidation  and  by
maximizing his ability to play cards from his pile.

Program Options:
                   Spite And Malice Menus
          ________________________________________
          |Game________|Player_1_____|Player_2____
          |New       | |  Computer | |\/Computer |
          |Open      | |\/Human    | |  Human    |
          |Save      | |Diff Factor| |Diff Factor|
          |Save As...| `-----------' `-----------'
          |Speech On |
          |Slow Play |
          |Rules     |
          |Quit      |
          `----------'

            ____________________________________
            _|Spite_Level_________|Malice_Level|
            |\/None            | |\/None      |
            |  Low             | |  Mean      |
            |  Moderate        | |  Nasty     |
            |  Cut off nose to | |  Terrible  |
            |  spite face      | `------------'
            `------------------'

"Game" Menu:
	The  game  menu  controls file saving and retrieval,
	and  most play parameters.  New:  Begins a new game.
	If the current game is not finished and has not been
	saved,  then  you will asked if you wish to save the
	current game first.

Open:
	Opens  a  saved  game  file and begins play from the
	point that the game was last saved.  Currently there
	is no option for replay or taking back of plays.

Save:
	Saves the current game status under the current file
	name.   If  no  file  name  exists, then you will be
	prompted to enter one.

Save As:
	Prompts  you  to  enter  a  file  name  and save the
	current game status under that file name.

Speech On (Off):
	Toggles  between  speech  and  no  speech.   If  the
	computer  becomes  too obnoxious (try to pick up one
	of  his  cards),  you  can tell him to shut up.  The
	default setting is "Speech on".

Slow  Play  (Fast  Play):
	Toggles  between  slow  and  fast movement of cards.
	Slow  play allows you to watch as the computer makes
	his  moves.   With  fast play on, is not possible to
	watch  all  the  cards  being  thrown  around by the
	computer to make certain that he doesn't cheat.  The
	default setting is "Slow Play".

Rules:
	When selected, the computer will tell you the rules.
	To cancel at any time, press the "Shut up!" button.

Quit:
	Ends  the  current game.  If the current game is not
	finished and has not been saved, then you will asked
	if  you wish to save the current game before exiting
	the program.

"Player 1", "Player 2" Menus:
	These  menus  select  the playing characteristics of
	each  player.   Each  player  may be either human or
	computer.   The type of opponent for each player may
	be  changed  at  any  time during the game.  If both
	opponents  are  human  (much more easily played with
	real cards, but still an option in this program) you
	will  be  asked to enter a secret code, which may be
	any  combination of letters or numbers.  This secret
	code  must  be  entered on every turn (prevents your
	opponent from looking at your cards).  Once you have
	entered  your  secret  code,  you may turn over your
	cards  by  clicking on them.  When you discard, your
	remaining  cards  will  be automatically turned face
	down.   "Diff  Fact" brings up a window in which you
	are  to select the difficulty level of your computer
	opponent (easy, difficult, and very difficult).  The
	default setting is "very difficult".

"Spite" and "Malice" Menus:
	These menus control how nasty you want your computer
	opponent to be.  Default settings are "None".

Mode of play:

    To  move  a  card,  place the mouse cursor above a card,
then  click and hold the left button.  Move the mouse in the
direction you wish to move the card and let go of the button
when  it is at the appropriate place.  The card doesn't have
to be exactly centered on the location when released, and if
not,  it will be moved to the proper location.  If a card is
moved  illegally,  then the computer will say an appropriate
(?) message and return the card to its original location.

Technical considerations:

    This  program  was  developed  using standard AmigaBasic
(copyright   Microsoft   Corporation)   and  compiled  using
AC/Basic (copyright Absoft Corp).  The program may be opened
from  either  Workbench  or  CLI.   To  open from Workbench,
double  click  on  the  Spite  and Malice "Game" icon or the
"Cards"  or  "CardTable" icons.  To open from CLI, make sure
that  the  game program is in the current directory type the
following:

                         Stack 9000
                            Game

When  opened  from  CLI,  the  program uses a file requestor
subprogram  which  reads  the  disks directly and allows the
user  to  scroll  the  window to select files for saving and
opening.
    When  copying  the program to other disks, is is best to
copy  the  entire drawer, since there are several files that
need  to  be  present  for  the  program  to  run.   If  the
appropriate files are not present the program will produce a
message  telling  the  user  which  file  is  missing before
exiting.  The following files are necessary:

            Game ........... The main program
            CardTable ...... The playing table
            Cards .......... The deck of cards
            dos.bmap ....... AmigaBasic library
            exec.bmap ...... AmigaBasic library
            graphics.bmap .. AmigaBasic library

    In addition to these files, the Workbench disk must have
the   translator.library  in  the  LIBS  directory  and  the
narrator.device  in  the  DEVS directory.  If the program is
run  from  CLI  and  game  files  are  saved or loaded, then
Ram-Handler  must  be present in the L directory and the DOS
command "Execute" must be present in the C directory.
    This  program  is completely event driven, responding to
menu selections and mouse clicks.  User input is via buttons
and  text string gadgets (typing is required only for saving
of  files  and  entry  of  the  user's  name).   Buttons are
selected   with   the  left  mouse  button.   Alternatively,
highlighted buttons may be selected by pressing the "RETURN"
or "ENTER" keys.  If a "cancel" button is present, it may be
selected  by  typing  the  "ESC"  key.   Text gadgets may be
selected  by  clicking the left mouse button within the box.
If more than one text gadget is present, pressing the cursor
up  or  down  keys  will  move to the next text gadget.  The
program  uses  three decks of cards (standard decks with two
jokers  per  deck)  which  are  shuffled  randomly and dealt
without replacement.  When a stack of cards in the center is
completed  (ace  through queen) it is removed and put into a
leftover  pile  (off screen).  When all cards have been used
from the initial three decks, then the cards in the leftover
pile  are  shuffled and reused.  The program is designed for
two  players,  which  may  be any combination of computer or
human opponents.