Electrum Dominoes

The First All Fives Game for Your Palm^TM Handheld

Are you the impatient type? Read this:

If you're not familiar with All Fives and just want to get a Dominoes game going quickly, you might want to start with a Draw game. This is the one you may have played as a child (although many adults like it too). You gain points by emptying your hand before your opponent, scoring the number of pips remaining in his hand.

To set up a Draw game, select 'Preferences' from the Game menu. On the Preferences Display, select No Spinner and No Fives. Tap on the 'Return to game' button, then select 'New game' from the Game menu. You can make the game a bit easier by selecting the Restrict Draw option; the 'Draw' button will appear only when you have no playable bones. On the trial version, this must be done each time a new game has begun.

Tap on a bone in your hand to select it, then on one of the end bones to play the bone you selected. The selected bone must have a side with the same number of pips as the outermost side of the end bone (or both sides if it's a doublet). Tap Draw if you don't have a bone you can play. Tap OK to allow your opponent to move.

When you're ready for a more fulfilling experience, read the rest of this document.

Now, for the rest of you...

The Game

Electrum Dominoes is a of variation of All Fives (also known as Five-Up or Sniff), using a 28-piece set consisting of one bone with each possible combination of pips from 0-0 through 6-6.

At the beginning of a new hand, each player draws seven bones. The player with the heaviest doublet plays it as the spinner. (A doublet is a bone with the same number of pips on each side; the heaviest one is the one with the most pips.) The other player must play a bone that matches the spinner on one side. For example, if the double six is played first, the next bone played must have a six on one side, and is placed to the east or west of the spinner. The next bone must match either the spinner or the last bone played. Once the east and west sides of the spinner have been played, bones may be played to the north or south. Doublets are placed perpendicular to the direction of play.

If a player has no bones that match the outermost ends, bones must be drawn from the boneyard until a match is found (and the matching bone is played) or the boneyard is empty and the player passes. Bones may be drawn even if the player already has a match, as long as there are bones in the boneyard. If the boneyard is empty, a bone must be played if possible.

If, after a bone is played, the sum of pips on the outermost ends (the 'board count') is a multiple of five, that number of points is added to the player's score. If an end bone is a doublet, both sides are counted. The spinner is counted this way as long as it is at one end (or the only bone; the double five scores the player ten points if it is the first bone played in a hand). If a player can empty his hand ('Domino'), he is said to have won the hand and is awarded the sum of pips on the other player's remaining bones; a new hand is then begun. If neither player has a bone that can be played and the boneyard is empty, the hand is a stalemate; the pips in each hand are added and the player with the lower number of pips is awarded the difference. The game continues until one player reaches 150 points.

In this version, the hands are drawn and the heaviest doublet is played automatically. If neither player has a doublet after the draw, the hand is void; a new boneyard is built and another draw takes place. Void hands do not appear on the display.

Although All Fives as described here is the default game, using the Preferences Display (see below), you can change many of the rules, and even play Draw or Block games.

The Game Display

The traditional appearance of an All Fives game is something like this.

Your hand appears in the foreground, your opponent's at the back, the boneyard to one side, and the played bones in the middle. Handheld devices aren't suitable for this type of display; their screens are much too small. Even if the boneyard and opponent’s hand were not shown, the possible expansion of the player's hand and the meanderings of the played bones would require so much scrolling as to render the game unplayable. So we came up with a better way.

We collapsed the lines of played bones so that only the ends are seen next to the spinner. We moved the rest of the bones to a panel that also contains the bones in your hand. The played bones are added from right to left, bottom to top; the bones in your hand are added from left to right, top to bottom. There's just enough room so they never overlap, and there's almost always a gap between them. And you have just about the same information available to you as you would if you were playing against a human.

For purposes of explanation, let's say the display consists of a status area, a multi-purpose button, a playing area, and a bone panel.

The status area shows the players' scores, the number of bones in each player's hand, messages indicating scoring, whose turn it is, etc., and the number of bones remaining in the boneyard.

The playing area contains the spinner and four end buttons. The end buttons show which bone was last placed on each end, and are used to indicate where a bone is to be played. You can use the end buttons even when you can't see them; that is, when no bone has yet been played on a given end (as long as the move is valid).

The bone panel contains a button representing each bone in your hand. In order to play a bone, tap it; the colors are inverted to indicate the selection. You can tap a different bone if you change your mind. When you are satisfied with your selection, tap an end button to indicate where the bone is to be played. The images below show what would appear if you first tapped the one-five bone, then the north end button (the one with the three-five bone).

Note that no bone has been played to the south of the spinner. The south end button is there, though, and could be used if you had a bone with three pips on one side that you wanted to play.

The multi-purpose button will be labelled 'Draw' when it's your turn, and tapping it will cause a bone to be drawn from the boneyard to your hand. When it's your opponent's turn (we call him 'Nestor'), this button will be labelled 'OK', and tapping it will enable him to take his turn.

If Nestor draws, a message to that effect will appear and you must tap the 'OK' button again to enable him to either play or draw again. If the boneyard is empty when it's your turn, this button will be labelled 'Pass'; tapping it indicates that you are unable to move, and Nestor will take his turn. If he is also unable to move, the hand will be ended as described above.

If you empty your hand, the bones in Nestor's hand are displayed in the bone panel with the colors inverted, and the multi-purpose button will be labelled 'New Hand'; tap it to begin a new hand.

At the end of a game, Nestor's hand will be displayed (if there are any bones in it) and the multi-purpose button will be labelled 'New Game'. You can probably guess what happens when you tap it.

Scoring

Many people who are new to All Fives find the scoring somewhat confusing. Here are some examples that show how different configurations of bones are scored. The Board count setting has been turned on; the value can be seen in the lower left corner. Note that these are not consecutive views from a single game, but have been selected because they demonstrate scoring principles.


Both sides of the first bone played are counted. 3 + 3 = 6. 6 is not a multiple of 5; no score.	The spinner is still on an end, so both sides are counted. 3 + 3 + 4 = 10. 10 points are scored.	The spinner is no longer on an end. 2 + 4 = 6. 6 is not a multiple of 5; no score.	Both sides of a doublet on an end are counted. 2 + 2 + 4 = 8; no score.

2 + 2 + 6 = 10; 10 points are scored.	Both east and west have been played, so a move to the north is allowed. 2 + 2 + 6 + 5 = 15.	The blank counts as 0. 2 + 2 + 6 + 5 + 0 = 15.	A new hand has begun and you've played the double 5. 5 + 5 = 10; you score 10 points.

Another new hand with the Domino setting on. 2 + 3 = 5; 5 points scored.	Nestor plays the spinner. 2 + 2 + 3 = 7; no score.	1 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 1 = 15.	3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 1 = 25.

The Game Menu and the Colors Menu

The Game Menu offers the following choices:

Preferences takes you to the Preferences Display (see below).
Undo lets you undo your last play or draw.
Preserve stores the current game status. *
Restore restores the previously-preserved game status. *
New Game lets you begin a new game if you chicken out.
Show My Hand lets you peek at Nestor's hand. *
Show Boneyard lets you peek at the boneyard. *
About tells you what you always wanted to know.

Items marked with an asterisk (*) are available only in the registered version. This fact will be made painfully obvious if you try to use them in the demo version.

On color devices, the Colors Menu appears with more selections which enable you to set the color of the background, the foreground (the pips and outlines on the bones), the text, the multi-purpose button (and buttons on the Preferences Display), the bones in your hand, the bones you have played, or the bones Nestor has played. Select 'Default' to return to the default colors. Default colors are restored between games in the trial version.

Some important notes on the Undo function:

Each time you play or draw a bone, the game status is saved before the action is performed. By selecting the Undo function from the Game Menu, you restore the game to the way it was just before that action. This will work even if a new game has started, as long as you have not yet played or drawn another bone.

In order to keep memory requirements as low as possible, only one buffer is used to preserve the game status. This means that using this function more than once in succession will have the same effect as using it just once. Also, you cannot undo a move that was made before another application was used.

The Undo function was provided so that, if you should accidentally tap a button, you can undo the action without adversely affecting a good game. It would be possible, however, to use it in such a way as to cause less desirable bones to be drawn into Nestor's hand, to take a random sampling of the boneyard before settling on a pleasing draw for yourself, or to partake of other unscrupulous activities that would taint the outcome of the game. That said, we entrust this tool to you in the hopes that you will use it in an ethical and responsible manner.

Some not quite so important notes on the Preserve and Restore functions:

Like the Undo function, a single buffer is used to preserve the game status, but you get to choose when this happens. Thus when you encounter a particularly challenging point in a game, you can use the Preserve function and try one strategy, then use the Restore function and try something else. A different buffer is used from the one for the Undo function, so you can undo plays and draws as required and still restore the game to the way it was when you last preserved it, and you can restore a game that you preserved before using a different application. You can also also Undo a Restore if you select it accidentally.

Because these functions (and the ones that enable you to see Nestor's hand and the boneyard) are limited to registered users, we know that if you're using them you must be a righteous and upstanding individual, so we don't need to remind you about ethics and responsibilities. And if you slip from time to time, we like you well enough not to alert the authorities.

The Preferences Display

This display enables you to alter settings and shows the number of games each player has won.

The difficulty setting controls how hard Nestor tries to thrash you. Possible choices are Beginner, Easy, Not so easy, Tough, and Brutal. If you're a beginner, even the Beginner setting might seem hard until you get used to the scoring, and the amount of chance in the game means that you'll beat the harder settings some of the time. In any case, you should be able to find a setting that is challenging enough to make the game enjoyable.

The next setting determines which player will play the first bone of a new hand. The choices are Doublet, Domino, Alternate, and Loser. Their meanings are as follows:

Doublet: Every hand will be led by the player with the heaviest doublet.

Domino: The first hand of a game is led with the heaviest doublet, but each subsequent hand is led (with any bone) by the winner of the previous hand. After a stalemate, the hand is led with the heaviest doublet.

Alternate: The first hand of a game is led with the heaviest doublet, and players take turns leading the subsequent hands.

Loser: Just like Domino, except the player who lost the previous hand leads.

If you choose Domino, Alternate, or Loser, hands that are not started with the heaviest doublet can be led with any bone, which must be played to the east or the west; if the No spinner setting is off, the first doublet played becomes the spinner. When you lead such a hand, the corners of the east end button are shown to make it easier to find. Of course, you can use the west end button if you prefer (assuming you can find it).

Different people like to play to different numbers of points. You can choose by setting the number of points to win to 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, or 500.

Similarly, some people like to begin a hand with seven bones; some prefer five. Setting the number of bones to draw lets you choose.

The Nearest 5 setting causes the number of points awarded at the end of a hand (from pips in the opponent's hand) to be rounded to the nearest multiple of five. This makes the scoring the same as it would be if you were using a cribbage board with each peg position representing five points.

If you go ballistic when you draw a hand full of doublets, you can adjust the doublets max value from between 3 and 7. If either player draws more than this number of doublets, the hand is void and a new hand is drawn. Void hands do not appear on the display. Values greater than 5 are ignored when the number of bones to draw is set to 5.

If you have trouble following Nestor's moves, turn on the Flicker setting. Each time Nestor plays a bone, the end button he plays it on will flicker a little to draw your attention to it.

Choosing the No spinner setting means that bones can be played to the east and west, but never north or south.

The Restrict draw setting stops you from drawing (or trying to pass) when you don't have to; the multi-purpose button disappears if you have a playable bone.

The No draws setting causes the boneyard to be discarded after hands are drawn, so no further draws are possible. In combination with the No fives and No spinner settings, this provides the classic Block game. You'll probably want to turn on the Restrict draw setting if you use this option.

If you're new to the game or had a rough day, use the Board count setting to cause the number of pips on the ends to be added up and shown at the lower left corner of the Game Display.

If you select the No fives setting, no points are awarded during a hand; points can be won only by ending a hand with fewer pips than your opponent. In combination with the No spinner setting, this provides the classic Draw game. You'll probably want to turn off the Board count setting if you use this option.

The Auto-OK setting allows you to speed up the game a bit by causing the multi-purpose button to be tapped automatically whenever it reads 'OK'; that is, when it's Nestor's turn. If you select this option, status messages that would normally appear after your move will not be visible, and you'll have to keep an eye on the 'My Bones' and 'Boneyard' fields to determine whether Nestor has drawn. We suggest you leave this off until you're pretty familiar with the game.

If you like to preserve a bit of mystery, use the Bury 2 bones setting to cause two bones to be chosen at random and removed from the boneyard at the beginning of each hand. This setting is ignored if the No draws setting is used.

Note: Changes to settings in the right-hand column will not take effect until the beginning of a new hand. The settings in the left-hand column are restored to default values between games on the trial version.

The 'Return to game' button takes you back to the Game Display.

The 'Clear totals' button resets the game counts to zero.

Notes

In order to select his move, Nestor has the same information available to him as a human player would have. He 'knows' only the bones in his hand, the number of bones in your hand, the number of bones in the boneyard, and the bones that have been played. Honest.

At the Beginner level, Nestor's only strategy is to play the bone that yields the highest number of points. If you're having trouble beating him at this level, here are a few suggestions: Try to get each of your plays to set you up with two other plays whenever possible. Unload your doublets (excluding the double blank and double five) as early as you can. If Nestor draws, note the combination of pips and try to stick him with the same combination again. Conserve bones (such as the one-six, the blank-five, the double blank, and the double five) that might be used to score if Nestor scores. Above all, for each bone you consider playing, think about the bones Nestor might have that would enable him to score on his turn; the more there are, the more likely he is to score.

We try to keep memory requirements to a minimum so that the game can be played on older devices with relatively small amounts of RAM. For this reason, there is no documentation provided as part of the executable. If you find that you need to take the documentation everywhere you go, we suggest that you have the text of this file tattooed on your forearm.

This game is shareware. If you like it (or use it for more than thirty days), visit PalmGear to obtain the registered version, which is nag-free and preserves the game status and your preferences between games and when you use other applications. Registered users will receive new versions via e-mail as they are released. No user information will be made available to any third party unless required by law.

Electrum Dominoes can be installed on any device that runs Palm OS® version 2 or later. On non-color devices, the display appears in glorious monochrome.

Please read the accompanying information in license.txt and install Dominoes.prc only if you understand and accept the terms and conditions therein.

Questions, comments, and suggestions about Electrum Dominoes may be directed to support@electrumsoftware.com.au.

Visit Electrum Software for the latest trial version and information.

'Palm OS' is a registered trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc.