MicroLink Personal Computer Users' Group
Presents
Push Your Luck
v1.1, Copyright 1990, Bob Lancaster
INTRODUCTION
Push Your Luck is a fast, straightforward dice game, in which
players try to use a little strategy and a lot of luck in order to
run up the highest score.
Based on an old dice game with the lovely name of "Drop Dead", Push
Your Luck includes a few twists which I think add to the fun.
Enjoy!
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
Push Your Luck will run on any IBM PC/AT/XT/PS2 or close clone
thereof, with at least 100k of memory available after DOS is
loaded.
Although the game looks best when played on a color monitor, it
plays just fine on a monochrome. (If you are using a monochrome or
composite monitor with a color graphics card, please see "Black And
White Mode" in the Command Line Parameters section below)
A Microsoft-compatible mouse can be used. (Remember to load your
mouse driver before starting Push Your Luck).
If you run across a configuration on which the game will not run,
please let me know (address at end of this file)!
GAME FEATURES
Microsoft Mouse Support
Fast Mode
Monochrome/Composite monitor support
Top Ten Scores file
Statistics on multiple games
Bosskey
Computer Opponent
On-line help
THE OBJECT
In Push Your Luck, you start each round by rolling two "Blocker"
dice. These are displayed in a window in the upper left corner of
the screen.
You then begin rolling five dice. Any dice which match either of
the "Blocker" dice are discarded, and the rest are added to your
score for that round, at face value.
If you have any dice left, you are asked whether you want to stop
rolling, or "push your luck" by rolling again.
Why is it pushing your luck? Because if you lose all of your
remaining dice during a round before stopping, you lose all the
points you had accumulated during that round!
This makes it crucial for you to decide just how far you should
push your luck, taking into account such factors as:
How many dice are left?
Are your "Blockers" a pair (giving you in effect only one
"Blocker" to worry about)?
What is your score compared to your opponents?
What round is it?
And - how lucky do you feel?
SCORING
After each "Push", the dice rolled which do NOT match either of the
"Blockers" are added to your score for the round.
If you stop before losing all your dice, you get to keep the score
you have run up during the round.
If however, you lose all the dice, all points earned during that
round are unceremoniously taken away! (Any scores from prior
rounds are still yours. I'm not THAT cruel.)
At the end of five rounds, the player with the highest score wins!
STARTING THE GAME
At this point, you should be able to play the game, and get a feel
for it. You can read the rest of this document now at your leisure
to clarify points, and to explain some of the features you might
not understand your first few times through the game.
So, make sure you are in DOS, and type "MLPUSH" (without the
quotes) and press return. Follow the prompts, and enjoy!
GAME CONTROLS
Push Your Luck can be played either using the keyboard or a
Microsoft-compatible mouse.
KEYBOARD INPUT
The legend (the last line on the screen) always contains a list
of keys that are valid at any point in the game, usually along
with a one-word description of their function. (See "COMMANDS"
below)
MOUSE INPUT
Most of the keys listed on the bottom line of the screen can be
entered via the mouse by pointing to the command and clicking
the left button of the mouse. (If you are new to mice,
"clicking" something means to place the mouse cursor on it and
press the appropriate button, in this case, the left.)
Also, boxes higher on the screen with messages such as "Press
return for next player" will allow you to click the box itself
to continue, rather than the command at the bottom of the
screen.
So, experiment with the mouse, and see what works. I think it's
fairly straightforward, but would appreciate any feedback on
ways you think it could be improved (address at end of file).
COMMANDS AND TOGGLES
A number of commands and toggles are available to enhance play, or
to allow you to tailor the game a little to suit your taste.
Alphabetically, these are:
A (AllScores command)
This displays a scorecard of all players, to compare how
everyone is doing in relation to each other. The highest
score(s) are emphasized with a flashing arrow.
B (BossKey command)
This displays a phony DOS screen. I'll explain for you honest
folks: this key is used when you are playing the game on company
time, and the boss suddenly appears. To return to the game, key
OK at the phony DOS prompt. Also known by some as the SpouseKey
command.
Esc (Exit command)
Use this key to end MLPush before the game is over.
F (Fast Mode toggle)
If you just want to play the game, and not look at some of the
"animation" (such as the rolling dice), turning the Fast Mode on
will do it.
Defaults to "No", showing all animation.
I (Program Info)
Displays information about the program and the author.
N (Next Prompt toggle)
This allows you to get rid of the "Press return for so-and-so's
turn" message, which some folks find annoying.
Defaults to "Yes", allowing the message to show.
P (Pips Mode)
Allows you to select between dice with pips (dots) on them, or
with numerals on them.
Defaults to "Yes", showing the dots.
R (Round Prompt toggle)
This allows you to get rid of the "Round" message, which some
folks find annoying.
Defaults to "Yes", allowing the message to show.
S (Sound Mode toggle)
This allows you to turn on and off the sounds produced by the
game, which some folks find annoying.
Defaults to "Yes", producing sound.
T (TopTen scores command)
Displays the highest ten scores achieved on your machine. (This
information is stored in the file MLPUSH.SCR. Clearing the top
ten may be done by displaying the top ten and pressing Alt-C.)
W (Win/Loss Statistics command)
Displays the statistics for all games played in the current
session (Since player names were entered). These are always
shown at the end of each game, but this command allows you to
display them during play.
COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
In the section above, several options are referred to as "toggles".
This simply means that they can be in a "Yes" or "No" state.
(Note that the state of these toggles can be determined by looking
at the legend appearing at the bottom of your screen. If the
toggle description there begins with a capital letter, the toggle
is in a "Yes" state. For example, if a legend reads "Sound fast",
the sound toggle is set to "yes", and the fast toggle is set to
"no".)
Each of them has a "default", which is the state (either yes or no)
in which they start out when Push Your Luck begins.
I set the defaults to the way I felt was best, but you may think
differently!
If you find yourself always changing one or more of the toggles
each time you play, you might want to set them on the DOS command
line instead.
Any toggle can be flipped to the opposite of its default (Fast Mode
= "Yes", for example) by keying the toggle's letter following the
program name (MLPUSH) when you start up the game.
So, if you wanted to set "Round Prompt" to No, and Fast Mode to
"Yes" (the opposites of their defaults), at DOS you would key:
"MLPUSH R F"
...without the quotes, followed by the Return key. Be careful that
you leave a space between MLPUSH and the toggle(s), or DOS won't
recognize what you are trying to do.
This allows you to tailor the game a little to your taste, and if
you put this statement into a DOS batch file or menu processor, it
will save you from setting these toggles each time you start the
game.
Toggles only valid from the command line:
B (Black And White mode)
If you are running a composite monitor on a color graphics card,
and the colors in MLPush are hard to discern, keying "MLPUSH B"
at the DOS prompt will make MLPush run in Black And White Mode.
Defaults to "Yes" if Monochrome adapter detected, "No"
otherwise.
M (Mouse)
If you have your mouse driver installed, but do not want to use
the mouse during MLPush, keying "MLPUSH M" at the DOS prompt
will cause MLPush to ignore the mouse.
If you run the program without this parameter, you can still use
the keyboard. Using this parameter simply keeps the mouse
cursor from being displayed.
If the mouse driver is not installed, this parameter has no
effect.
Defaults to "Yes" if mouse driver detected, "No" otherwise.
T (Top Ten Scores)
This is different than the "T" command available during game
play. It specifies whether a Top Ten Scores file should be
saved, and is useful if you are running the game from a write-
protected disk.
Defaults to "Yes".
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERSIONS
VERSION 0.1 - 06/23/90
Released to one beta tester.
VERSION 0.2 - 06/24/90
Lots of cosmetic changes, still unreleased.
VERSION 1.0 - 07/04/90
More cosmetic changes.
VERSION 1.1 - 07/07/90
Fix Help/Mouse bug.
Initial "public" release.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my wife Cindy, who play-tested the concept with me, using
real, honest-to-goodness dice, and thanks to Reed Harding for being
my beta-guinea pig.
Thanks to all those folks who wrote nice letters and left great BBS
messages in response to my other games.
A tip o' the hat as always to the officers and members of MicroLink
PCUG for the encouragement and support they always give my PC
endeavors.
Thanks to Eagle Performance Software, whose Shareware product
"QWIK" allows for some blazingly fast screenwrites in Turbo Pascal
and Turbo C.
Programmers interested in QWIK should contact Eagle at:
Eagle Performance Software Or Call Jim LeMay at:
TP products (817) 735-4833
P.O. Box 122237
Fort Worth, TX 76121-2237
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
MicroLink Yaht - The popular dice game
MicroLink Shut The Box - The traditional board game
MicroLink Otra - A memory game in the spirit of "Simon"
MicroLink Loyd - The "15" puzzle, in competitive game form
FEEDBACK
I would appreciate any comments, complaints, or wish lists of
features you'd like to see! And, if you have any favorite old
games you'd like to see programmed, I'm always looking for another
which would interest me!
Also, if you like the game enough (and can afford) to send a small
($5) donation, I won't argue. And my wife will understand my long
nights at the PC a little better!
Either way: Enjoy the game, and give copies of it to all your
friends. And enemies. Strangers on the street...
I can be contacted by mail at:
Bob Lancaster / P.O. Box 5612 / Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Or by modem at:
MicroLink PCUG BBS (AKA So. Cal Builder's Board)
818/961-7903 - 24hrs/365 days - 300/1200/2400/9600
CompuServe ID: 71141,3016
Please include the version number of Push Your Luck in
correspondence.
Those interested in finding out more about MicroLink can contact
the board listed above, or by mail:
MicroLink PCUG Headquarters
15865-B E. Gale Ave. Box 1003
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Tell them Push Your Luck sent you!
