Dicey is a game played by one to six persons. Rolling the dice, each person tries to score in thirteen different categories. The object of the game is to achieve the highest score. The computer program will keep track of the scores, rolls, whose turn it is, etc, on a game board on the screen.
The program maintains two kinds of data files:
1) A Name File, containing the names of all Dicey players
2) A Score File for each player
See below for the file names.
When the program starts, it first checks for a Name File. If it does not find one, it will display a dialogue box, asking you to add players to the Name File. Every player must have a unique name (or nickname), from one to 10 positions long. Do not use special characters in the name, but spaces are allowed.
If you would like a picture to display when it is your turn, you may wish at this time to copy some jpeg pictures (using Windows Explorer, for example) to the program’s current directory.
The program will now ask you who is going to play this game. Pick from one to six players from the Name File (using the menu at the top of the screen). If you wish to play more than one game of the six available, you may add your own name more than once.
When you are done picking the names of the players, the computer will automatically roll the dice for the first player. If a jpeg file that matches the name of the player is found in the current directory, it will display during the player’s turn.
These instructions refer to categories on the game board (following this topic). During the player’s turn, he looks at his dice, and based on the values that are showing, tries to decide which game board category to shoot for. During his turn, he can “pick up” (by clicking) any or all of the dice, and toss them again (by hitting the “Roll Dice” button). The player can pick up and toss the dice one more time. At this time, he must decide which category to score.
The player’s turn then ends. The dice automatically roll for the next player.
Instead of clicking on the dice, the player can press the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 keys, respectively. The ENTER key will simulate pressing the “Roll Dice” button. This makes the game less mouse-intensive. Scoring, however, must be done with the mouse.
At the end of the game, a stat board will appear. It will display some really neat information, such as your average before this game, your average after this game, your high and low score, et cetera. If you scored over average, the computer will greet you with applause. Conversely, if you scored under average, the computer will console you with an “awww”.
Game|New- This option will start a new game. All current games will be aborted. All personal scoreboards will be updated.
Game|Exit- This option will end the game. All current games will be aborted. All personal scoreboards will be updated.
Players|Add to PlayerFile
This option will allow you to add new players to the master Dicey players file. All people who play this game must be in the players file.
Players|Pick for Play
This option will let you tell Dicey who (from the master players file) will be playing this game of Dicey.
Sounds You have the option of turning sound effects on and off (See Sound Effects below).Turning sounds off will speed up the game, but it will make the game less fun to play. A check mark represents the current setting.
Options Set Colors- This gives you the opportunity to change the color of ALL of the screens to any one you choose.
Restore Colors- This allows you to reset the colors to their defaults: the colors I assigned them when I wrote the program. Since I am color-insensitive, this is subject to modifications based on feedback supplied by my users.
Display Stat Board- This will allow you to see your personal stats while the game is in progress.
About This option will tell you about Dicey.
Only the first six characters of the player name are displayed. The board is tight; that’s all there is room for unless I make the character font smaller.
The doubler button is used to double the value of any one score. It can be used only once per game, so use it wisely!
The scoring categories are listed below.
|
Category Name |
Combination needed |
Category Score |
|
Aces |
Aces |
Total of all dice that show a “one” |
|
Twos |
Twos |
Total of all dice that show a “two” |
|
Threes |
Threes |
Total of all dice that show a “three” |
|
Fours |
Fours |
Total of all dice that show a “four” |
|
Fives |
Fives |
Total of all dice that show a “five” |
|
Sixes |
Sixes |
Total of all dice that show a “six” |
|
Upper Total |
|
The numeric total of all six of the above boxes. |
|
Three of a Kind |
At least three of the same value |
Total of all dice |
|
Four of a Kind |
Four of the five of the same value |
Total of all dice |
|
Full House |
Three of a kind and a pair |
1-1/2 times the total of the dice |
|
Flush |
All dice are the same color |
25. If it is also a straight, an extra 40 will score. |
|
Straight |
one-two-three-four-five or two-three-four-five-six |
40. If it is also a flush, an extra 25 will score. |
|
Dicey |
All five dice show the same value |
50 points, plus 100 for all subsequent Diceys scored in other categories. |
|
Dumper |
Anything |
Total of all dice. The player can score in this category three times. |
|
Lower Total |
|
The numeric total of all of the boxes from Three of a Kind through Dumper, inclusive. |
|
Bonus |
|
This will score 35 if the Upper Total equals 63 or higher. (This is the score you would typically achieve if you scored exactly 3 of each dice in each of the six boxes). This will score an extra 25 if you do indeed score at least 3 of each dice in each of the six boxes that the Upper Total represents. |
|
Grand Total |
|
The sum of the Upper Total, Lower Total, and Bonus. |
The program will display a picture of the player when it is his turn, if there is a jpeg picture in the current directory whose name matches that of the player, e.g. Jane.JPG.
Sound effects are played at certain times during the play of the game. You may replace any of the sound files with your own, but you must name them the same as the original. For example, if you are not happy with the “Bummer” sound, simply copy one of your own wave (.WAV) files to the current directory as “bummer.wav”. If you hear a bell, the chances are that one of the sound files is missing, misspelled, or corrupted.
Make sure you keep the original sound files in a safe place, in case you ever want to restore it.
The sound files are listed below.
|
Filename |
Sound effect |
When it plays |
|
AWWW |
Awwwww |
Under average |
|
BIGCHEER |
Cheering |
Score a straight |
|
BUMMER |
“Bummer” |
Score a zero |
|
CLAP |
Applause |
Over average |
|
DOH |
“Doh!” |
Tried to score a box that was already scored |
|
DOUBLED |
“Your score was doubled” |
The doubler feature was used |
|
DUMMY |
“Dummy” |
Scored Dicey, but did NOT mark it as such |
|
NICEG |
“Nice going!” |
When an extra 25 is scored in the upper bonus |
|
OOH |
“Oooooooh” |
More than 20 in Dumper |
|
ROLLDICE |
Dice rolling |
Rolling the dice |
|
TYFPD |
“Thank you for playing Dicey” |
End of game: “Thank you for playing Dicey” |
|
YES |
“Yes!” |
Scored Dicey, and marked it as such |
|
YFTUYD |
“You forgot to use your doubler” |
At the end of the game, if the player did not use his doubler at all during the game |
|
YOUMISS |
“You missed your bonus” |
Missed the upper bonus |
The Player Name File (PLAYERNM.DAT) is a file containing the names of the Dicey players that you added at the beginning of one of the games. For your convenience, it was written as a simple text file.
The Scores File (playername.DAT) is used to calculate averages, and all of the other statistics that appear on the stat board. Again, for your convenience, it was written as a text file. This way, you can easily (using your favorite text editor) merge the scores from games played in two different locations.
Program
Modification Log
1.0 3/2/00 Originally written
1.1 3/9/00 Fixed program bugs:
1) Certain parts of player #2’s scoreboard (twos, threes, fives, and sixes) were vulnerable to a click during anyone else’s turn. This caused game #2 to end prematurely, and prevented the other games from completing.
2) If there was a zero marked in ‘Dicey’, a subsequent roll of 5-of-a-kind would erroneously credit the player with a bonus in Dicey.
3) If the game was stopped prematurely, one player was given all of the other players’ scores.
1.2 4/11/00 1) Some systems displayed the program title incorrectly. This was corrected.
2) If the user hit the “I am done” button before adding any names, the program would complain. This was a very minor error that was corrected.
1.3 6/9/01 Minor internal corrections
1.4 11/16/02 1) Allowed the player to choose the background color
2) The stat board can be displayed on demand.
End of Dicey User
Manual