1<html> 2<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" VLINK="#000000" LINK="#000000" ALINK="#000000"> 3 4<font color="#000000"> 5 6<center> 7<font size=+1><b>Forty Thieves</b></font> <p> 8 9a game of patience<P> 10 11(c) Chris Breeze, 1998-2002 12 13<p> 14 15</center> 16 17<P> 18 19Forty Thieves is a patience game played with two full packs of 20cards. At the start of the game forty cards are dealt on the 21eight 'bases' along the top of the window. The object of the 22game is to place all the cards onto the eight 'foundations'. The 23foundations are built starting with the ace and adding cards of 24the same suit up to the king. Cards are dealt from the pack and 25placed on the discard pile. Cards may be moved from the discard 26pile or one of the bases to a base or a foundation. Only one 27card can be moved at a time. Cards can only be placed on a base 28if the top card of the base is of the same suit and is one 29higher in pip value or the base is empty e.g. the eight of 30spades can only be placed on top of the nine of spades.<P> 31 32When the mouse cursor is over a card which can be moved it 33changes to the 'hand' cursor. The card can then be moved by 34double clicking the left button.<P> 35 36The mouse cursor also changes to a hand when a card is dragged 37by placing the cursor over the card and holding down the left 38button. This feature can be enabled and disabled by selecting 39the 'Helping hand' option from the Edit menu.<P> 40 41The 'foundations' are the eight piles of cards down the left 42side of the window. When the game starts these piles are empty. 43The object of the game is to place all the cards on the 44foundations. An ace can be placed on any empty foundation. Other 45cards can only be placed on a foundation if the top card is of 46the same suit and is one lower in pip value e.g. the three of 47clubs can be placed on the four of clubs.<P> 48 49The 'bases' are the ten piles of cards along the top of the 50window. At the start of the game four cards are dealt face up on 51each of the bases. A card can be added to a base if the base is 52empty or if the top card is of the same suit and is one higher 53in pip value e.g. the queen of hearts can be placed on the king 54of hearts The top card of a base can be moved onto another base 55or a foundation.<P> 56 57Cards can be only moved one at a time. The top card of the pack 58can be dealt onto discard pile by placing the mouse cursor over 59the pack and pressing the left button. The number of cards 60remaining is displayed to the right of the pack.<P> 61 62Cards can be moved from the discard pile or the bases either by 63'double-clicking' or by dragging. If the left button is 64double-clicked when the mouse cursor is over a card and it can 65move to another pile, it will do so. This is a quick way of 66moving cards when their destination is unambiguous.<P> 67 68A card can be dragged by placing the mouse cursor over the card 69and holding down the left button. The card will follow the mouse 70cursor until the left button is released. If the card is over a 71pile on which it can be placed it will be added to that pile, 72otherwise it will be returned to the pile from which it was 73dragged.<P> 74 75One point is scored for every card that is placed on a 76foundation. Since there are two packs of 52 cards the maximum 77score is 104. A record is kept of the number of games played, 78the number of games won, the current score and the average 79score. This information is displayed at bottom right of the 80window and is stored on disk between games. A game is deemed to 81have started if the cards have been dealt and any card has been 82moved. If the game is abandoned before it is finished (i.e. by 83starting a new game or closing window) it counts as a lost game. 84New players can be added by selecting the 'Player' option from 85the Game menu. A summary of players' scores can be displayed by 86selecting the 'Scores...' option from the Game menu.<P> 87 88All moves are recorded and can be undone. To undo a move select 89the undo menu item from the Edit menu. A quicker way of undoing 90is to press the right mouse button (it doesn't matter where the 91mouse cursor is). Right button undo can be enabled and disabled 92by selecting the 'Right button undo' option from the Edit menu. 93Pressing the right mouse button with the control key pressed 94re-does a previously undone move.<P> 95 96An empty base or two is very useful as it gives the opportunity 97to unscramble other bases. Try not to build onto kings which 98obscure valuable cards as it will be difficult to get to them 99later. The undo facility is very useful for going back and using 100'hindsight'.<P> 101 102Don't be put off if you can't win every game. I reckon winning 1 103in 10 is pretty good (winning 1 in 3 is excellent). 104 105</font> 106 107</body> 108</html> 109 110 111