CHATROU VERSION 1.0 COPYRIGHT @1992,1993 --ALL RIGHTS RESERVED-- THE MATERIAL PRESENTED WITHIN THE CONTENTS OF THIS PROGRAM IS SOLELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NO WARRANTY FOR ITS' USE OR ACCURACY IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CHATROU is a computer simulation of the casino game, Roulette. The user may function within the program in one of two ways, as an observer or as a player. In either function the user may chat with others in the program, however, as a player, the user may additionally play the casino game of Roulette. OBSERVER: ********* The observer may watch the progression of the game by other players. As play action is conducted, the video display of the observer will be updated with each action initiated by the players and/or dealer. Additionally, system messages and user messages appear within a two line window at the lower portion of the video display. Observers can broadcast messages to all other program users by typing the message on the command line and then pressing the ENTER key. The message will be broadcast to ALL other program users (both players and observers). NOTE: ALL SYSTEM MESSAGES ARE LOCAL TO THE PROGRAM, MESSAGES CAN NOT BE SENT TO OTHERS NOT IN THE CHATROU PROGRAM. The up and/or down arrow keys will scroll the text window up and down respectively. (except when there are two message lines or less) And finally the END key will position the text window to the last message received by the user. NOTE: when there are more text lines AFTER the current display the text window will be in black and white, when the text window is positioned to the last message available to the user the text window will appear in blue and white. Messages are limited to a single line of text consisting of 60 characters or less. The character limitation is controlled by the program and will not let you type more than the limit. A bell sound will be generated when you have reached the text line limit. All other command line instructions (commands) are preceded with the / character. However, during the betting round, players need not enter the "/". HELP=/H The first of these commands is the /H for HELP. Entering at the command line /H will display a brief summary of all the / commands available to both the observer and player. QUIT=/Q The quit command will terminate the user from the program. All system functions will be executed prior to releasing the user. ie: all data files will be updated before the user is sent back to TBBS. This command will only work from the observer's position not from the seat of the active player. To quit the seat a "Q" is asked for, thus the player becomes an observer. WHO=/W The who command will display in the text window all other users currently in the program (both players and observers) including the respective system line number of each. REDRAW=/R The redraw command will redraw the display screen. At times the video display may become garbled with extraneous characters generally caused by line noise. The /R command will redisplay the video screen with the current game conditions. TOPSCORES=/T The /T command will display a ten line window indicating the top ten scores for the game. The SysOp may reset all scores to zero to initiate tournament play or to repair corrupted data files. In some cases the SysOp may reset all players to zero at the beginning of each month to start a new round of play for all users. NOTE: the top score table will not be adjusted until a player quits play, therefore, if a player is currently active in the game and his/her playing bank exceeds any amount shown in the top score table, the score will NOT be added to the table until the player actually quits play and either becomes an observer or leaves the program. BELL=/B Each time the display is updated by the ChatRou program a bell sound is generated. In addition, anytime a player is prompted for a response, the bell will sound. The bell sound is defaulted to the ON condition at program entry by the user. Players and/or Observers (users) may toggle the bell sound OFF using the /B command. Conversely, the bell sound may be toggled ON again using the /B command. The bell is also used, (sounded), when an incorrect entry is entered. This is to notify the player that the entry was not excepted, and must be re-entered. PRIVATE=/P Private messages can be sent from one user to another, note that messages, both private and public, can be sent ONLY to users of the ChatRou program, users logged on to the TBBS system but NOT in the ChatRou program will not be able to receive messages from users who are currently active in the ChatRou program. Users not currently in the ChatRou program can however send messages to you and will most likely corrupt your display. Simply execute the /R (redraw) command after you read the message to clear the message off the screen. To send a private message to another user of the ChatRou program use the /P command followed by the line number of the of the user you wish to receive the private message, followed by a space, followed by the message, ie: /P12 this is a private message where is the ENTER or RETURN key. NOTE: there is no space between the /P and the line number AND a space IS required between the line number and the message. WARNING: Failure to correctly enter the private message command may cause the message to be broadcast to ALL users of the ChatRou program. The private message (/p) command is not available to an active player (at a seat in the game) at this time. PLAYER: ******* JOIN=/J When first entering the program the user function is that of an observer. To join the game, the user must execute the /J command. The /J command may be entered with an optional seat number ie: /J4 If the optional seat number is not entered at the time the /J command is entered, the program will prompt the user for the desired seat number. If the seat is already taken the user will be given an error message stating that the seat is taken and the user will be prompted for another seat number. If the user is already an active player then an error message will display, indicating that: ONLY ONE SEAT TO A PLAYER IS ALLOWED. Upon entering the game as a player for the very first time, your casino bank balance will be set to -100 and your playing bank will show 100 in chips. At the end of game play or upon quitting the program while an active player, your casino bank balance will be adjusted by your playing bank amount. Entering the game as a player and having an account already established with the casino bank, your playing bank will begin with your current casino bank amount. Again upon completion of play your casino account will be adjusted by the current playing bank that appears on the display screen. BETTING Minimum and maximum betting limits are set by the Program and range from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 25. Generally, 1 to 25 appears to be an optimum betting variance, and it is the most common amounts found in a casino operation. Betting 0,"Q" or allowing the timer to run out, at the player's (for the 1st bet only) bet prompt will cause the player to quit his/her seat. After the entry of the 1st bet entering a 0 bet amount will end the betting round for that player. Allowing the timer to run out will have the same effect. When the player is prompted for his/her bet, a timer will begin a countdown. The player MUST enter his/her bet within the allotted time or the program will default with a 0 bet and cause the player to end his/her betting round, or if the first bet had not been placed, quit the seat. This function was placed into the program so that other players could continue playing and not be required to wait indefinitely for any individual player to place his/her bet. (sorry, this had to be added as a courtesy to other players) When the player enters his/her bet the bet amount will be displayed and the players bank will be adjusted by the bet amount and redisplayed on the screen. At this time the timer is reset, and the player is prompted to place the bet. This is acomplished by the Arrow keys. If no key is pressed by the end of the time allowed, the player is returned, and the default bet of "0" is automatically entered for the player. Thus the betting round for the player is ended, or the seat quit. At the beginning of each player's betting round, an additional timer is started. This timer is the maximum time allowed to place all bets for all players. If a bet of "0" is not entered by any of the players within the time specified, a default bet of "0" is again entered for that player, ending the betting round. A maximum of 10 bets per player is allowed. This is to allow speed of play, as a courtesy to all players. On the entering of a tenth bet by any player, the player's betting round is automatically ended. During the betting round, chat by the players, is allowed by entering a "S" at the bet prompt. This stops the individual bet timer, but the 90 sec. timer continues. The player is allowed to send a message at this time, however, if the player fails to enter a keystroke within 5 seconds, they are returned to the betting prompt, or if the 90 second timer lapses, the players betting round is automatically ended. This is to prevent delay of game by long conversations as a courtesy to the other active players. PLAYING Fundamentally, the game is played by 1) a player enters bets followed by 2) the DEALER spins the wheel 3) The winning number is displayed 4) all winning bets are calculated 5) all bets are paid and displayed 6) all banks are adjusted and displayed. DEALER: ******* The dealer begins play by prompting all players to make their respective bets. Bets are accepted in any order, but each player is allowed approximately 10 seconds to place the initial bet for the current round of play. After the betting is complete by all players the dealer spins the wheel. This is displayed to all players and observers alike as is the winning number. The dealer then prompts all players to stand-by and the winning bets are determined and paid, and all adjustments are made and displayed to all.(note; chat is not allowed during this time, however, this time is short). When all bets have been calculated and paid, the dealer again prompts all players to enter thier bets again. CHATROU THE PROGRAM ******************** ChatRou is the result of more than 1,000 hours of research and programming by the authors. The intent was to create a computer game that as closely as possible simulates the casino game of Roulette. While the current version appears to have achieved that goal, many more features and improvements are possible. The following features are intended for future versions: 1. Increased statistical record keeping ie: total spins played, number of winning sessions, losing sessions, average win/loss rate, charting of winning numbers etc. 2. Allow full screen chat for non-players (observers) 3. Playing strategy help. 4. Betting strategy help. If you are a user of this program and would like to add any features to this list or have positive suggestions for the improvement of this program please contact the author, Ron Dias via e-mail on: THE ADVANCED SYSTEM BBS (702) 334-3308 2400/8/N/1 (702) 334-3317 9600/8/N/1 (702) 334-3304 Voice or (702) 324-3548 Voice