87 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
87 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
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Forty Thieves is a patience game played with two full packs of
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cards. At the start of the game forty cards are dealt on the
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eight 'bases' along the top of the window. The object of the
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game is to place all the cards onto the eight 'foundations'. The
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foundations are built starting with the ace and adding cards of
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the same suit up to the king. Cards are dealt from the pack and
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placed on the discard pile. Cards may be moved from the discard
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pile or one of the bases to a base or a foundation. Only one
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card can be moved at a time. Cards can only be placed on a base
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if the top card of the base is of the same suit and is one
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higher in pip value or the base is empty e.g. the eight of
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spades can only be placed on top of the nine of spades.
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When the mouse cursor is over a card which can be moved it
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changes to the 'hand' cursor. The card can then be moved by
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double clicking the left button.
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The mouse cursor also changes to a hand when a card is dragged
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by placing the cursor over the card and holding down the left
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button. This feature can be enabled and disabled by selecting
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the 'Helping hand' option from the Edit menu.
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The 'foundations' are the eight piles of cards down the left
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side of the window. When the game starts these piles are empty.
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The object of the game is to place all the cards on the
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foundations. An ace can be placed on any empty foundation. Other
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cards can only be placed on a foundation if the top card is of
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the same suit and is one lower in pip value e.g. the three of
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clubs can be placed on the four of clubs.
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The 'bases' are the ten piles of cards along the top of the
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window. At the start of the game four cards are dealt face up on
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each of the bases. A card can be added to a base if the base is
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empty or if the top card is of the same suit and is one higher
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in pip value e.g. the queen of hearts can be placed on the king
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of hearts The top card of a base can be moved onto another base
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or a foundation.
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Cards can be only moved one at a time. The top card of the pack
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can be dealt onto discard pile by placing the mouse cursor over
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the pack and pressing the left button. The number of cards
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remaining is displayed to the right of the pack.
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Cards can be moved from the discard pile or the bases either by
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'double-clicking' or by dragging. If the left button is
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double-clicked when the mouse cursor is over a card and it can
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move to another pile, it will do so. This is a quick way of
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moving cards when their destination is unambiguous.
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A card can be dragged by placing the mouse cursor over the card
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and holding down the left button. The card will follow the mouse
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cursor until the left button is released. If the card is over a
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pile on which it can be placed it will be added to that pile,
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otherwise it will be returned to the pile from which it was
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dragged.
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One point is scored for every card that is placed on a
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foundation. Since there are two packs of 52 cards the maximum
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score is 104. A record is kept of the number of games played,
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the number of games won, the current score and the average
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score. This information is displayed at bottom right of the
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window and is stored on disk between games. A game is deemed to
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have started if the cards have been dealt and any card has been
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moved. If the game is abandoned before it is finished (i.e. by
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starting a new game or closing window) it counts as a lost game.
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New players can be added by selecting the 'Player' option from
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the Game menu. A summary of players' scores can be displayed by
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selecting the 'Scores...' option from the Game menu.
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All moves are recorded and can be undone. To undo a move select
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the undo menu item from the Edit menu. A quicker way of undoing
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is to press the right mouse button (it doesn't matter where the
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mouse cursor is). Right button undo can be enabled and disabled
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by selecting the 'Right button undo' option from the Edit menu.
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Pressing the right mouse button with the control key pressed
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re-does a previously undone move.
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An empty base or two is very useful as it gives the opportunity
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to unscramble other bases. Try not to build onto kings which
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obscure valuable cards as it will be difficult to get to them
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later. The undo facility is very useful for going back and using
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'hindsight'.
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Don't be put off if you can't win every game. I reckon winning 1
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in 10 is pretty good (winning 1 in 3 is excellent).
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