Grouper v1.4

Grouper v1.4

Find groups of cards in a whole set.

Grouper 1.4

Copyright © 1998, 1999 Joel Epstein, Daniel McCarty

All Rights Reserved.

(Lawyer people love that stuff.)

(This readme file looks best in a fixed font.)

Grouper is a card game played by finding card groups in a set of cards. The

game is played until no more groups remain. Finding a group can be tough,

but that is covered later.

This is version 1.4 of Grouper. Please email any questions or comments to

[email protected] and include "Grouper" in the subject. Visit the web pages

for Grouper at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mcdan/

NOTE: The source code is available!

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| GENERAL STUFF |

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The Grouper interface was designed to be fairly intuitive. The main area is

the card grid, where cards are dealt (3 at a time) until no more cards are

left. To the right of the card grid is the deck, which shows the last 21

cards and starts decreasing after there are less than 21 cards left. Below

the card grid is the status bar, which shows your current game status. And

in the bottom right-hand corner is the handy button, which changes to reflect

your most likely option.

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| THE HANDY BUTTON |

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This button was designed for quick access to the game's features. When the

button reads "Deal!" tap it to deal a new game. (Amazing!) When less than

3 cards are selected, but button will display "Hint." Tapping it will point

to a card for as long as the button is depressed. When 3 cards are selected

that don't form a group, the button will read "But Why!" Tapping it will

pop up a screen explaining why the 3 cards don't form a group. And when the

game is over but cards remain in the card grid the button will read "OK."

When you're finished looking at the remaining cards, tap OK.

There is a menu item that changes to reflect the current state of the handy

button, but that is covered later.

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| THE MENU THAT IS COVERED LATER |

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The first most menu item is the handy button clone. In the event that you

hate the handy button, feel free to use the menu option instead.

The other menu items only perform one function each:

. Undo undoes the last group

. New Game starts a new game. (Amazing!)

. High Scores... displays current high scores

. Preferences... shows game preferences:

. Sound toggles sound on/off. This defaults to

your Pilot's Game Sound preference when

Grouper starts.

. Difficulty selects the difficulty to play at. Each

level deals more cards.

. Pattern selects the pattern to display on cards

. How to Play... displays a quick overview of the game and how to play

. Quick Tips... displays a few quick tips for finding groups

. About... just a few things about Grouper

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| THE GAME |

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Grouper is played by finding groups until there are no more groups or until

no more cards remain (when there are no more cards it's also unlikely that

there will be any more groups). Finding a group is probably the hardest

aspects of the game. See the ABOUT GROUPS section for help.

Select cards to group by just tapping them. When 3 cards are selected, if

they form a group you'll be notified and 3 more cards will be dealt. If

they don't form a group you'll also be notified and you'll have the option of

finding out why.

When 3 cards don't form a group if you select a 4th card it will replace the

3rd selection and you will again be notified (this game is good at notifying

and stuff) whether it's a group or not.

Scoring is as follows:

Undoing a group -7 points

Getting a hint -2 points

Finding a group 5 points

Winning the game 15 points

Your score can never fall below 0, which means that for the first group your

first 3 hints are on the house.

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| ABOUT GROUPS |

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A group is formed of 3 cards whose characteristics are either all the SAME or

all DIFFERENT. On easier levels there are only 3 characteristics. As the

game gets harder the number of characteristics increases.

Characteristics: Card Color: white, gray (pattern) or black

# of Spots: 1, 2 or 3

Spot Color: white, gray (pattern) or black

Spot Type: circle, ellipse or peanut

Passed 3rd Grade 3 characteristics

The Thinker 3.5 characteristics

Analytical Genius 4 characteristics

If you're asking yourself how you can have a fractional characteristic, it's

because although the spot type characteristic is enabled in "The Thinker,"

you'll only see short spots and medium spots. This means that you can only

find groups where the spot type is the same.

Finding a group can be difficult at times. It's much easier to find a group

when most of the characteristics are the same then when they're different.

Here are a few tips for finding groups:

. Look for homogeneous groups. As mentioned above, they're easier to find.

. Look for the characteristic that is LEAST present on the card grid. If you

can see that there are only two cards with 3 long black spots and you know

that there are no homogeneous groups, then 1 of those cards is the first

card in the group. Now that you've found the first card, apply the same

principle to finding the second card.

. If the status bar reads "1 group found!" and you find the group, you can be

sure that of the next 3 cards dealt, at least 1 is part of the next group.

. If all else fails, take a hint. It's only 2 points off your score.

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| ISSUES |

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There are no known issues with Grouper. If you encounter any problems please

email us and we will try to have a fix available within 24 hours.

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| LEGAL BEAGLE |

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Standard Pilot legal disclaimers apply (the ones that supposedly absolve us of responsibility if you throw your Pilot in the air in spasms of joy after winning a game of Grouper then miss the catch, etc.) Seriously, though, even though this program is free it has been produced with the highest standards of quality. This is our free gift to you of a game that will be a cute diversion for your Pilot (well...more for you). As such, we'd appreciate it if you didn't sue us if something goes wrong. We trust that you are an honorable person. Thank you and enjoy Grouper