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║ WELCOME TO ║
║ ░▒▓█▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ STRAIGHTS ▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀█▓▒░ ║
║ THE FOUR-PLAYER CARD GAME ║
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║ ◊ OBJECTIVE ◊ ║
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Straights is a four-player game. The objective is to get the fewest number of points among the players.
The game ends when one player accumulates 80 points or more, and the player with the lowest score is
declared the winner. If the lowest score is a tie, then all players with that score win.
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║ ◊ THE DECK ◊ ║
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Straights uses a standard 52-card deck, without the jokers. Each player is dealt 13 cards at the
beginning of each round. In this game, the Ace is considered to be the lowest card in each suit (rank
of 1), while the King is the highest (rank of 13). A Jack has a rank of 11, while the Queen has a rank
of 12. The rank of all other cards is their numeric value e.g. 2 has a rank of 2.
This game uses 1 for Ace, T for 10, J for Jack, Q for Queen, and K for King. The codename for the cards
of the deck are as follows:
Clubs: 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C 7C 8C 9C TC JC QC KC
Diamonds: 1D 2D 3D 4D 5D 6D 7D 8D 9D TD JD QD KD
Hearts: 1H 2H 3H 4H 5H 6H 7H 8H 9H TH JH QH KH
Spades: 1S 2S 3S 4S 5S 6S 7S 8S 9S TS JS QS KS
These codenames must be used while playing or discarding the respective cards.
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║ ◊ GAMEPLAY ◊ ║
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│ ○ LEGAL PLAYS ○ │
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Immediately following the deal, the player with the 7 of spades goes first.
This player must play the 7 of spades in the centre of the table. After the 7 of spades, the players
take turns to play cards on the table. At this point, the players must play cards that constitute legal
plays. The following cards are legal:
>҉ A 7 of any suit. This card starts a new pile on the table.
>҉ A card with the same suit and adjacent rank (2A card has adjacent rank if its face value is one more
or one less than the rank of card under consideration. The King and Ace of a suit are not considered
to be adjacent ranks to each other) as another card that has already been played.
It must be played on the pile of the appropriate suit. (Note that the "pile" is spread across the table,
so that play can proceed at either end). For example, if the 7 of spades is the only card on the table,
then the legal plays are: the 7 of diamonds, the 7 of hearts, the 7 of clubs, the 8 of spades, and the
6 of spades. Once the 8 of spades is played, the next legal plays are: the 9 of spades, the 6 of spades,
the 7 of diamonds, the 7 of hearts, and the 7 of clubs.
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│ ○ DISCARDS ○ │
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When a player has no legal plays, they must then choose a card in their hand, and place it face down
in front of them. This is a discard. Note that if a player has at least one legal play in their hand,
then they must make a legal play; they may not discard in this case.
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║ ◊ SCORING ◊ ║
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The round ends when all the cards have either been played or discarded. For each player, their score
for the round is the sum of all the ranks of the player's discards. Jacks, Queens, and Kings count as
11, 12, and 13 points, respectively. For example, if a player discarded an Ace, a Six, and a King,
the number of points would be 1 + 6 + 13 = 20. Each player's game score is of the sum of their scores
in each round. If no player has accumulated 80 or more points at the end of a round, then the deck is
reshuffled and another round begins.
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║ ◊ ACTIONS ◊ ║
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>҉ [PLAY] (followed by a card)-----plays the card. The card must be of the format <rank><suit>. Example: 1C for Ace of Clubs
>҉ [DISCARD] (followed by a card)--discards the card. The card must be of the format <rank><suit>. Example: TH for Ten of Spades
>҉ [DECK]--------------------------shows the shuffled deck for the current round. WARNING: This shows you everyone's cards.
>҉ [CARDMODE]----------------------turns the enhanced Card View feature on or off.
>҉ [RAGEQUIT]----------------------hands over your cards to a Computer Player with Medium Difficulty to play for you.
>҉ [QUIT]--------------------------terminates the game. A second prompt is provided before exiting.
>҉ [HELP]--------------------------shows the rules, objectives, and action guide for the game.
