HEARTS.TXT  (Ver. 5)                              July 21, 1989


      HEARTS is a very easy card game to play and one that will
      give you many hours of enjoyment.  The rules for this game are
      quite simple.  After the cards have been shuffled, they are
      delt clockwise to each player.  There are four players in this
      game with each receiving 13 cards (a total of 52).  The
      direction of play, like most card games, is clockwise around
      the table.  A player must always match the SUIT of the card
      that is played first.  If a player does not have the LEAD suit
      then he or she can play any card in their hand.  The cards are
      RANKED in descending value from the A to the 2.  The Ace (A)
      being the HIGHEST rank.  The player having the highest ranked
      card in the lead suit takes that TRICK and BEGINS play on the
      next trick.  There are four cards in each trick (one from each
      player) and 13 tricks per hand.  Each NEW HAND is started by
      leading the TWO OF CLUBS.

      The scoring of HEARTS is what makes this game unique from most
      other card games.  The LOWEST accumulated score wins the game.
      The score is determined by the number of POINT CARDS that a
      player has received in the tricks that he or she has taken.
      The point cards are - all HEARTS, each counting as one point
      and the QUEEN OF SPADES which counts as 13 points.  There is a
      total of 26 points for each hand.  The score from each hand is
      then added to your Game Score.  When a player reaches or
      exceeds the Game Point, then the game is ended and the player
      with the LOWEST score wins that game.

      If you are able to take all 26 points for that hand, then you
      have "SHOT THE MOON" (a run) and each of your opponents will
      receive 26 points.  Remember, LOW score wins, and a score of
      25 does not qualify as a RUN.  You cannot lead a HEART or the
      QUEEN OF SPADES until they have been BROKEN (one has already
      been played), or unless this is all that remains in your hand.

      At the beginning of each hand all players have the opportunity
      to PASS three cards to another player.  The direction of the
      pass is counter-clockwise.  The first pass is to the player
      on your RIGHT.  The next pass to the player ACROSS from you and
      the last to the player on your LEFT.  The next hand is a HOLD
      hand, in which no cards are passed.  The pass rotation then
      begins again.

        3     The players are numbered from 1 to 4, with YOU playing
      2   4   position number "1" at the bottom of the table.  As
        1     always, play rotation is clockwise.

      The OPTION MENU can be called any time throughout the game.
      This is done with the ESCAPE key.  The hand you are playing
      will be void and a new one delt.  If you care to cheat, you
      may find this of value.  However, its main purpose is to allow
      option selection and game termination at your convenience.

      Use the RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys to select the card you wish
      to play.  When you have selected your card use the ENTER key
      to play that card.  The CURSOR will skip played cards and will
      jump to the lowest card of the suit in play.  The cursor will
      also wrap from end to end.  Pressing ANY KEY after each trick
      will bi-pass the delay and speed the game along.

      For all Registered Users, the DOWN arrow key will act the same
      as the ENTER key and will respone "Y" to a question and the
      UP arrow key will act the same as the ESC key and will respone
      "N" to a question.  This allows game play to be conducted en-
      tirely from four centrally located KEYS.

      Any comments or suggestions will be gratefully accepted and an
      honest attempt will be made to answer them.  Additonal inform-
      ation can be found in the file HEARTS.REG.

      This program requires CGA/VGA with color monitor capabilities
      and the following files present (in the same directory) to
      operate properly.

             HEARTS.EXE - HEARTS.DAT - HEARTS.TXT - HEARTS.REG

                      ---   Good Luck and Enjoy   ---