							       

                   FIVE  HUNDRED  card  game  for  WINDOWS 95




                             release 3.1 - 1998

			    created by G.M.McKAY





 COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS:

      Any 486, pentium or better IBM compatible computer will successfully 
run this game as long as it can run Windows 95 and has over 8 Mb of memory. 
It  will  use any sound driver that your Windows has fitted (ie. a 
sound card or PC speaker driver).   A mouse is preferable (as with all  
Windows activities), but this is not a requirement.  It works best if 
Windows has a standard screen resolution, such as 640x480, 800x600, or 
1024x768.   However, it can accommodate any resolution.




 DISTRIBUTION:

       This copyrighted game is distributed under the SHAREWARE system which 
depends upon your support for on-going development.   You are encouraged to 
freely copy and distribute this product unaltered to  friends,  business 
associates, bulletin boards and user groups.   HOWEVER THIS  PRODUCT IS NOT 
FREE !   You have an evaluation period of two weeks.  If you decide you do 
not like the game, simply pass the disk along to someone else.   If you are 
still using "500 for WINDOWS 95" after two weeks  of  evaluation, you are 
obligated to send a minimum payment of $29.   If the future of low-cost 
quality software is to continue, we all must support this concept.   If you  
cheat on this payment may you be constantly finessed.  

       When you register, you get lots of goodies, as well as that warm 
feeling that only comes from the knowledge that you are more saintly than the 
scum around you.   Read the end of this file to find out about all the 
goodies.
 
       If you registered a previous version that gave you life time 
registrations (like this one does), simply setup this Shareware program on 
top of the previous one (ie into the same directory).  It will become 
registered.   Note that this applies to 500 For Windows 3.1 and 500 For
Windows 95, but not 500 For DOS.



RUNNING IT:

       See later in this file for full details on installing this program (if 
you are reading this, then chances are that you have already installed it 
correctly).

       Once the program has been installed, running it is as easy as clicking
on the icon installed in your Windows START buuton Programs group.  If this
is too easy, you can also start it by double clicking on 500WIN.EXE in the 
File Explorer (naturally you have to find the correct directory if you choose
the hard way).





LET'S PLAY:


       In keeping with the traditions of Shareware, the preliminary screen 
you see is a "nuisance screen", reminding you of the virtues and good Karma 
bestowed upon you by registering the program.

       The first menu you see is the Main Menu which allows you to set the 
bidding rules, Misere rules, personal preferences (eg card table colour), 
view these instructions, and print out a registration form.   You can alter 
this menu's background picture in the registered version of the game.   If 
you do not register, you will have to make do with a splendid picture of 
myself and family.   In the registered version place your Bit Map picture
in the directory which contains the "500 for Windows 95" files, and call it
"BACKGRND.BMP".



"start game"

       Obviously, you press the top button on the menu to start the game.   
You can access this Main Menu at any time during a game, and return to the 
same game.



"bidding rules" - 

i) There are a myriad of local rules as well as very local "house rules" 
which govern the 500 card game.   This is a consequence of it being so 
popular among so many societies.   Six of the more common Australian, US, 
and New Zealand bidding rules are accommodated here.

ii) You can choose what sort of partner to have.   You can have a partner who 
bids conservatively, standard, or as a cowboy.   This way your partner's 
style can match your own.   This does not affect your opponents who always 
try to bid as effectively as they can.

iii) Some people adopt the policy of bidding 6 No Trumps to indicate no more 
than that they have the Joker.   You can choose whether you want the other 
players to follow this convention or not.





"playing rules" - 

i) As well as the more common 3 card kitty (also called blind, widow, guts, or 
middle), some areas play with 5 cards in kitty.   The extra 2 cards come from 
playing with black fours as well as red.   This changes the balance or skill 
and luck in the game considerably.    You can choose 3 cards or 5 in the kitty.   

ii) A popular rule in some parts of the USA is to play a SLAM.   This allows 
the bidder to play to get all 10 tricks.   This may be bid after picking up 
the kitty, but before playing the first card.   This bid is worth 500 points, 
and if you do not win the 10 tricks you lose 500 points.   To bid a SLAM, 
choose the SLAM option, then press the SLAM button that appears when you pick 
up kitty.   If one of the computer's players bids a SLAM, this is indicated 
by the bid in the top left corner of the screen.

iii) The most common No Trumps rule is that you can only lead the Joker when 
it is the first of the suit (ie it has not been led before), and it can be 
played in a round if it is either the first of the suit, or the last (ie you 
have not thrown off on this suit).   You can also choose to play the Joker 
at any time you are void in the suit, even if you have thrown off.   Under 
this option you cannot play the Joker when you have some of the suit, unless 
it is being used as the first card of that suit.

iv) When a five card kitty is used, bids are generally higher than with a three 
card kitty.   This means that the first 6 bid can be a communication bid 
called an inkle.   Options are available to cause a re-deal if no 7 bids are 
made, allow the bidder to choose whether to re-deal if no 7 bids are made, ban 
6 bids altogether, or play the Australian standard of 6 bids.

v) The non-bidding team get 10 points for each trick that they take.   This 
may take their bid over 490 points.   They still cannot win the game until 
they make a successful bid, but you can choose whether you want their score 
to stop at 490 points, or continue above it.   You can also choose to win 
the game with 500 points, even if you did not bid.

v) The number of games won and lost are recorded.  Press the reset button to 
set these game scores back to zero.




"misere options"

i) The playing of Misere is the cause of more "weird" house rules than any 
other feature.   It involves a very different balance of skill and luck, 
which tends to polarise people between those who love it, those who loath it, 
and those who tolerant it.  Because of this variety, you can choose whether 
to play no Misere, just Open Misere, or both Open and Closed Misere.

ii) Closed Misere is worth 250 points, which is more than 8 Spades (240 
points).   However many card schools play that any 8 bid beats Closed Misere.   
You can decide which option you want.

iii) The most common way of playing the Joker in Misere is by the same rules 
as No Trumps.   After all, both bids share the same logic of the Joker being 
the sole trump.   This game presents the option of making it compulsory to 
play the Joker as soon as you are void in the suit which is led.   With this 
rule you can still lead the Joker as the first of that suit.

iv) Because some people love to bid Misere, and others only want it bid 
rarely, you can choose the level of enthusiasm with which all your players 
embrace Misere.

v) You can choose to allow the bidding of Closed and Open Misere at any 
time, or that they must be preceded by a 7 or 8 bid respectively.   Bidding 
any time, is particularly important if you have chosen the bidding option 
that only allows you one bid.



"preferences"

i) If you have installed a sound driver in your Windows, you can choose the 
level of sound you want.   The "Full Sound" option makes congratulatory 
noises at every opportunity and calls the bids made, while "Part Sound" is 
somewhat more discreet.  500 for Windows supports all sound cards that your 
Windows is set up for.   This includes the standard PC speaker if you have 
installed the speaker driver (via the Windows control panel & Drivers).

ii) You can also set the volume of the sound.   Note that this is only the 
volume of the WAVE player, not the total volume.   Typically, mixer programs
allow you to set the individual components of sound (eg Wave, Midi, 
Microphone, CD player, etc) as well as the total volume.   You can only set
this volume if you have chosen the 'Full Sound', or 'Part Sound' options.

iii) When you adjust the colour of the card table, the colour of the background 
changes instantaneously.   This helps you to choose the colour that you 
really want.   Remember that if you decide on a dark colour, any black 
writing will be difficult to read.
       Remember also that Windows can be customised to view different numbers 
of colours (through "Windows Set-up" in the Program Manager "Main Group").   
Most people choose not to show millions of individual colours, but stick to 
about 256.   When an application, like "500 for Windows", tries to show a 
colour which is not identical to an exact colour, then Windows will dither 
it.   This means that over the background, it will show a series of dots and 
crosses to approximate the colour that you chose.   You will quickly find 
that Windows dithering does not help readability.   If you do not find a card 
table colour you like, you can always set up Windows to show more colours 
(and less dithering).
       If you do not like the colour you have chosen - change it to another.

iv) You can give names to the buddies that you are playing with, or simply 
leave them as Player 1, 2 & 3.

v)  You can display 'tool tips' or not.   These show the name of cards and options.

vi) You can slow down or quicken the game by adjusting the length of time 
for which the cards are displayed during a hand.   This also affects the time 
bids are displayed.

vii) Similarly, you can adjust the speed at which the cards move.   So if you 
have a slow computer, or are simply in a hurry to get the cards played, you 
can set this to a fast speed.

viii) The number of games won and lost are recorded.  Press the reset button 
to set these game scores back to zero.


"help"

       These instructions can be read from the text file 500WIN.TXT, or 
from the "help" menu button.   Use the scroll bar, or navigation keys, 
to read the whole document.   Exit HELP to return to the Main Menu.



"register"

       If you have read this far, you know that this enjoyable program is NOT 
free, but is being distributed as SHAREWARE.   This means that if you 
continue to use it past a short evaluation period, you must register it.   
This option helps you to print out the registration form.   If there is a 
problem printing through Windows, the form is stored in a file called 
REGO.FRM in your 500 for Windows directory.   You can print this out from 
DOS.



"quit"

       Press the "quit" button to see what happens.




THE GAME:
 
       You can make bids and play cards by either clicking the left mouse 
button on the card or button, or by using the F1 - F10 function keys.   When 
you are bidding, you can cancel a bid by clicking the right mouse button on 
the selection to delete. 

       To stop playing the game and return to Windows, press the Options button 
(or right mouse click on the background), choose 'Main Menu', and press "quit".

	Other choices on the Options Button menu are:
review bids made
review cards played during the hand
review the last trick
review the score card with the last 15 scores in your game
show a Score Table which lists the scores associated with each bid - you can also 
use this to make bids by clicking on it
save the current game
load the saved game and play from the start of the hand








 RULES:

       FIVE HUNDRED is a well loved card game with a myriad of local house 
rules (some are accommodated here via the "rules" menu).   The object of 
the game is to collect 500 points and avoid collecting -500 points.   The 
game is played in teams with you and your partner (sitting opposite you) 
playing against the players sitting facing each other.   Cards are ranked in 
order of Ace down to 5 in the black suits, and 4 in the red suits,  except in 
the suit that has been designated the TRUMP suit for that hand, in which the  
order is - Joker, right bower (the Jack of the trump suit ), left bower (the 
Jack of the other suit of the same colour), Ace, King, Queen, 10, 9, etc.

       The game starts with each player bidding for the number of tricks they 
think they can win (with their partner's help) with a particular suit as 
trumps - 6 is the minimum bid, and the order of the suits is spades, clubs, 
diamonds, hearts, no trumps.   The highest bidder wins the bid and endeavours 
to win at least as many tricks as he/she bid; if successful he/she gains the 
points for that bid otherwise he/she loses those points.   250 points are 
awarded for all 10 tricks (if the bid is less than 250 points), and the non-
bidding team gets 10 points for each of their tricks.

       MISERE (or it is sometimes called NULLO) is a bid in which the bidder 
tries to lose all 10 tricks (the bidder's partner does not play).   CLOSED 
MISERE is worth 250 points and can only be bid after a 7 bid has been made, 
while OPEN MISERE is worth 500 points and must be preceded by an 8 bid.   
OPEN differs from CLOSED only in that the bidder displays his hand to the 
other players after the first lead.   An 8 bid is higher than a CLOSED MISERE 
bid (in the "misere" menu you can choose whether you want 8 spades to be 
higher or not), and 10 no trumps is the only bid to beat OPEN MISERE (10 
hearts is of the same points value as OPEN, so OPEN cannot be bid after 10 
hearts).   MISERE has a different balance of luck to skill from other bids, 
so some card schools outlaw it.   You can choose to have no MISERE, only 
OPEN, or both OPEN and CLOSED.   You can also set the enthusiasm the players 
have for bidding MISERE, to match your own.

       NO-TRUMPS with no suit as the trump suit is a legitimate bid.   The 
Joker is the sole trump.

       In both No Trumps and Misere, the Joker may be led as the first of a 
suit (ie you can nominate that it is a particular suit if that suit has not 
been played already).   It can also be played as the last card you have in a 
suit (ie if Spades has been led a few times and you have followed suit every 
time, but now you do not have any Spades left, then you may use the Joker as 
that suit).   In all cases the Joker wins the trick.   If you have "thrown 
off" on a suit, you cannot later play the Joker as that suit.   If the Joker 
is the last card in your hand, there is no restriction on its use (otherwise 
you may not be able to play it).

       The winning bidder gets the 3 card kitty (also called the blind,
widow, guts, or middle) to supplement their hand, and chooses which
3 cards to "throw out" again.

       Each player plays consecutively in a clockwise direction, with the 
winner of the last trick leading.   Each player must follow the suit led if 
they can (otherwise it is called reneging).





 INSTALLATION:

       500WIN is distributed in a form which makes installation easy for you.    
Like all Windows programs, its installation is more complex than DOS 
programs, but the SETUP.EXE utility takes care of all this for you.    This 
way, it can ensure that you have the correct Windows System files that it 
needs to run properly, without you having to do any work.

       After installation, you should have these files in the \500WIN 
directory -
        500WIN.EXE   -  base program
        500WIN95.HLP -  help file
        500WIN.TXT   -  this information 
        REGO.FRM     -  user registration form
        SCORES.500   -  game scores and set-up info
        *.CRD        -  data files.

       In addition, it will make sure that you have some Windows system files
in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.


       If you received this software from a Bulletin Board or the Internet,
it will be compressed into the one file, eg 500_95_A.ZIP.   Before running
the installation program you will need to decompress it.  Create a temporary 
directory, eg C:\500TEMP, and decompress all the files into it.   The 
software is now ready to install, as if you had bought it on a floppy disk.

       Now start Windows, and run the SETUP.EXE program.   The easiest way of 
doing this is choose "RUN" from the Windows START button, and type in the 
drive, directory, and SETUP.EXE name.   Alternatively, you can run it from
the File Explorer.

       The installation program prompts you to enter the directory name in 
which to store the files.   The installation program does NOT interfere with 
any of your standard set-up eg, AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, *.INI,  path.   It 
places the icon to start the 500WIN game in a group called "500 for Windows"
that it creates in the Programs group of the START button.

       If  you created a temporary directory, eg C:\500TEMP,  you can  now 
remove it.

       The total space that this program takes up on disk is about 3.8 
Mbytes.

	Very occasionally, a particular combination of computer and video 
card does not work well with "500 for Windows 95" at different screen 
resolutions.  This shows up as the game not fitting on the screen properly.
The reason for this is probably a combination of the screen resolution
and the size of the fonts that you have chosen for Windows.   It may 
take up only part of the screen, or only part of the game may be
displayed on the screen.   You can fix this by forcing the software to 
display a particular resolution by including on the command line 
"/RESOLUTION500x400".   Adjust  the numbers to make the game suit your 
screen.   The command line is set in Windows 95 by setting the "properties"
of the "500 for Windows" shortcut.   You can change your screen resolution
and screen font via the Display icon in the Control Panel in Windows 95.



VERSION 3.1:

       This version of '500 Card Game For Windows 95' has a number of
improvements, including displaying everybody's cards when reviewing the
cards at the end of a hand.   

It provides better support for non standard screen resolutions, and displays 
cards better.   It now supports a 1280x1024 resolution, and has tool tips.   
It has a save card function and supports right mouse clicking.


 REGISTRATION :

       If you are still enjoying this game after two weeks you should 
support the  Shareware concept and register your copy by sending a minimum 
donation of $29.   For an extra $3 handling I will send you, via email, a 
registered copy and some extra goodies (choose one or both of the following 
for the same $3 total).   Make this $6 handling instead of $3 if you want
to receive your programs slower via postal mail, rather than email.


Choose from the following:

- the latest, updated registered version (with even better
		card playing skills).

- if you want it, I will include a copy of STRIP500 (500 card
		game with naked women playing).


       An additional incentive is that you can register this version and 
have registered versions for life!   With this registered version you
receive a key.   Download any future shareware version from the Internet, 
or any other source, and you can turn it into a registered version!   
Note that this applies to versions of 500 For Windows 3.1, and 500 For
Windows 95, but not 500 For DOS. 

       Yet another incentive to register is that the registered copy does 
not make you endure the initial "nuisance" screen when you run it.

   SPECIAL BONUS -  The registered copy also has a much more pleasing picture 
as the background to the Main Menu (ie. you do not have to see me and my 
family).  It also allows you to put in YOUR OWN background to this menu, so 
if you have a pleasing Bit Map Picture, or even a scanned-in picture of 
yourself, this can be in the background every time you run it.

       Dealer enquires are welcome.  Corporate licenses are available.

       You can choose to receive your registered version by mail, or receive 
it quicker by email (and pay $3.00 less).

____________________________________________________________________
		 FIVE   HUNDRED   for   WINDOWS  95



   Name:     _________________________________  Date: ____/____/____

   Address:  _______________________________________________________

   City:     _______________________  State: _____  Code: __________

   Country:  _______________________

   Version:  _2.0_   Email address:   ______________________________

   My Copy From: ______________(if the Internet, what site)

   Windows ver: __________     Floppy (preferably 1.44MB): _________

Registration .......$----- ($29)
Postage & handling..$----- ($3 for email or $6 for post)
	     total  $----- ($32 or $35)

Included in the price, please send me: (mark your needs)

______ registered copy of the latest version of 500 FOR WINDOWS 95.
______ a copy  of STRIP500 (500 card game with naked women playing).

Send registered version by email or post:  ________

I will be grateful for any suggestions, comments, or information on 
problems with the game you may have. 

_________________________________________________________________________
	SEND THE FORM TO:

			      G.M.McKAY
			       29 Melissa St.
				Strathmore
				 Victoria , 3041
				  Australia

			ph 03-9379-7696
			fax 03-9311-5651
			gmckay@dezzanet.net.au
			Garry.McKay@courtaulds.com.au                                                                              

	If you want to register on the Internet and pay by credit card,
you can at http://www.getsoftware.com or visit my home page at
http://www.angelfire.com/ga/500cardgame.
