INTRODUCTION
============

        Welcome to Dire Straights, a door game for Wildcat!(c).  This
        is a card game of luck and strategy.

HOW TO PLAY
===========

        After you see the opening screens, you will see the playing field
        with three rows of five numbered boxes each.  The object of this game
        is to make as many card straights as you can with the fifteen cards
        in your hand.  Note that this card deck only has Hearts in it, so that
        makes it a little easier (but not by much).  When first starting out,
        you will see the first card in your hand, and asked for a box number
        to place that card on the playing field.  The card will then be placed
        and you will see the next card in your hand and so on until either all
        15 cards in your hand are played, you select End round, or Quit game.
        At the end of each of the four rounds, the score will be tabulated and
        you will be shown your statistics for that round (number of straights,
        total game score through that round, score for that round, and, if you
        didn't get a straight in that round, the total of each of the three
        racks).  Note, if you get no straights in a round, your score will be
        based on the total of the cards times $1.  Therefore, if the total of
        all three racks is 98, then your score for that round will be $98.
        If you do manage to get a straight (or straights), then the score for
        that round will be the number of straights made times the value for
        that round.

        Also note that, for the purposes of this game, Kings are the highest
        cards in the deck and Aces are the lowest.  Therefore, Ace, King,
        Queen, Jack, and Ten is NOT a straight.

        As stated above, there are four rounds to this game with the value
        for a straight changing with each round as follows:

                        Round 1 .................... $1,000
         		Round 2 .................... $10,000
        		Round 3 .................... $100,000
         		Round 4 .................... $1,000,000


CLOSING
=======

        In closing, if there are any comments or suggestions on this
        door game, please leave comments with your SysOp or with the
        author directly at:

                 Tim Rivers
                 President
                 Crystal Systems International
		 P. O. Box 110651
		 Hialeah, Florida  33011-0651