MicroLink Personal Computer Users' Group
Presents
Yaht
v2.2, Copyright 1987-1989, Bob Lancaster
Yaht is a traditional dice game, popularized by the Milton Bradley
company as Yahtzee. Since the Yahtzee version of Yaht is the one
which most people know, this computerized version follows the Yahtzee
rules.
NOTE: If you already know how to play Yahtzee, and are simply
interested in the specifics of this computerized version, please skip
to GAME CONTROLS.
If you have a previous version of MLYAHT, and just want to see what
has been added/fixed, please skip to WHAT'S NEW.
OBJECT OF THE GAME
In a multi-player game, the object is to finish the game with the
highest score. When playing alone, the object is to beat your
"personal best".
SUMMARY
On a turn, you may roll the dice up to three times in order to obtain
a scoring combination. After your turn, you MUST place a score (or a
zero) in one of the scoring categories.
The game ends after all players have taken 13 turns.
A TURN
On the first roll of your turn, you must roll all five dice. On the
second and third rolls, you may roll ANY or ALL of the dice again.
You may chose to stop after the first or second roll, but you may take
NO MORE THAN THREE rolls in a turn.
After your final roll, you must enter a score (or zero) into one of
the 13 scoring categories.
SCORING
The left side of the score card contain the categories Ones, Twos,
Threes, Fours, Fives, and Sixes. When selecting one of these
categories, your score for that category is determined by the number
of dice which have the same number showing as the category name.
For example: a roll of 2, 5, 5, 5, 4 would score 2 points in the Twos
category (one die x 2), or 4 points in the Fours category (one die x
4), or 15 points in the Fives category (3 dice x 5).
A bonus of 35 points can be earned for the left side if your score
from Ones through Sixes totals at least 63 points (Scoring three dice
in each of the six categories will add up to exactly 63 points).
Three Of A Kind means three dice of any one number (three one's, three
two's, etc.), and scores the sum of ALL five dice in the roll.
Four Of A Kind means four dice of any one number (four one's four
two's, etc.), and scores the sum of ALL five dice in the roll.
Full House is three of one number, and two of another (Three fours and
two fives, for example). Score is 25 points.
Small Straight is four dice in numerical sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, or 2,
3, 4, 5, or 3, 4, 5, 6). Score is 30 points.
Large Straight is five dice in numerical sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or
2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Score is 35 points.
A Yaht is five dice of the same number (five three's, five four's,
etc). Score is 50 points.
For every additional Yaht you roll after having scored 50 points in
your yaht category, you will get an additional bonus of 100 points. If
you have taken a zero in your Yaht category, you receive no such
bonus.
Chance is simply the total of all five dice. Any combination of dice
is valid.
GAME CONTROLS
Most of the control of this version of Yaht is accomplished with the
cursor keys (or optionally, the mouse/joystick), and help is supplied
at the bottom of the screen when appropriate, right above the
copyright notice.
It should be noted that any/all of the three control methods
(keyboard, mouse, joystick) can be active simultaneously. This way,
in a multiple-player game, one person can use the keyboard while
another uses the mouse, etc.
Some special commands not always listed on the screen, but usually
available:
A (All Scores): Displays the scores of all players for the current
game.
S (Sound): Toggles on/off the sound of the rolling dice. Sound is on
at game start-up, but you can turn it off if it annoys you (or your
sleeping family).
F (Fast): Toggles on/off the simulated "rolling" of the dice. The Fast
mode is off at game start-up, but can be turned on if you just want to
zip through a game with no delays.
D (Display): Toggles on/off the display of valid scoring combinations
of the current roll. Turned off when the program starts, this feature
can be helpful to someone just learning the game, to see just what
his/her options are.
P (Pips): Toggles between showing the pips (dots) on the dice, and
showing the numerals instead. Turned on when the program starts, this
feature is for those who think that numerals are easier to read than
standard dice.
M (Mouse): Toggles on/off the use of the mouse. If you have a mouse
and wish to use it in Yaht, take this option at the start of the game.
J (Joystick): Toggles on/off the use of the joystick. If you have a
joystick and wish to use it in Yaht, take this option at the start of the
game. NOTE: Activating this option with no joystick attached will
probably lock up your PC. ALSO NOTE: Memory resident programs (such as
SideKick) running behind MLYaht can produce bad joystick results.
T (Top Ten Scores): Displays the top ten scores achieved on your
machine! These scores are stored in file MLYAHT.SCO. To clear these
scores, merely delete the file. On at game start.
B (Boss Key): OK, you asked for it... 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.
+/- (Faster/Slower): Will speed up or slow down the rolling of the
dice. This can be used to slow down the game to make it more
"watchable" on a faster PC.
Esc: End game. This allows you to exit the game without having to
finish it. You will get an "End game?" message. Answer it, and the
program will act accordingly.
COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
Note: Only read this section after you've played the game a few times.
You don't need to know this stuff now (if ever!), and it won't make
much sense until you do.
The above F, D, S, M, J, and P commands can be entered at the DOS
command line, to customize MLYAHT defaults to your taste.
For instance, keying "MLYAHT M D" (without the quotes) at the DOS
prompt will start MLYAHT with the M (Mouse) and D (display) toggles ON
(their defaults are both OFF).
Remember, this isn't necessary. You can run these commands once
MLYAHT has started. But if you use the same commands each time you
play, setting these options from inside a batch file can save you some
keystrokes.
Commands ONLY available at the command line:
Y (Yaht Bonus): This turns off the "Additional Yaht Bonus" mode. When
this mode is on (the default), players can receive 100 point bonuses
for achieving more than one Yaht in a game. When it is off, no such
bonuses are given. Keying "MLYAHT Y" at the DOS command line starts
MLYaht with the Yaht Bonus mode off.
T (Top Ten Scores Mode): This command is different from the T command
available during play. When this command is used from the DOS command
line, no top ten scores are kept, nor can any be viewed. This keeps
the game from bombing when run on a write-protected diskette.
B (Black & White Mode): Use this command when running MLYaht on a
composite color monitor, if the regular color mode is unreadable. (It
is not necessary to use this command when running MLYaht on a
monochrome monitor)
WHAT'S NEW
ADDED IN VERSION 1.3:
Microsoft mouse support. See "M" above.
The 100 point bonus for additional Yahts.
The Pips on/off feature. See "P" above.
Ability to see everyone's score at once. See "A" above.
Problems with garbage appearing in the high-average-low score window
have been fixed.
Support for the Home and End keys when moving around the scorecard.
The Cursor-Left and Cursor-Right keys behave a little differently when
moving around the scorecard.
The Display mode now becomes active immediately upon its activation,
rather than waiting until the next roll.
ADDED IN VERSION 1.4:
Top Ten scores file added. See "T" above.
Boss key feature added. See "B" above.
Fixed minor problem with scorecard when mouse active.
ADDED IN VERSION 1.5:
Joystick support added!
Test for mouse driver added.
Mouse reset to help with mouse compatibility problems.
Changing of "Alt" commands to one-keystroke commands (eg: "Alt-S" is
now simply "S"). The Alt commands are still supported for those of
you who are used to them from prior releases.
Display of "Roll #n" in legend.
Add date to top ten file.
Allow ending game without exiting to DOS.
Optional "No additional Yaht bonus" mode.
Command line customizing parameters added.
Fixed mysterious "vanishing top-ten" bug.
ADDED IN VERSION 2.0
(Private release, only shown to a few beta testers)
Allow PC to play! (Average score: 207)
Arrow pointing to last player's selected scoring category in multiple
player game.
Added "No Top-Ten File" mode.
ADDED IN VERSION 2.1
Fixed minor bugs in 2.0
Improved PC's playing logic. (Avg score: 235)
Added statistics for multi-player game (High/Low/Avg score, wins)
Changed default answers to some yes/no questions
Added composite monitor support.
Modified monochrome monitor "colors".
ADDED IN VERSION 2.2
Fixed problem with "vanishing cursor" upon exit
Fixed screen border colors to work with EGA/VGA monitors
CREDITS
MicroLink Yaht was produced by the MicroLink Personal Computer Users'
Group. The program was designed and written by Bob Lancaster. Any
comments, questions, compliments or brickbats can be addressed to the
author either at MicroLink Headquarters, or via the MicroLink BBS.
MicroLink PCUG Headquarters MicroLink PCUG BBS
15865-B E. Gale Ave. Box 1003 300/1200/2400 - 24 Hours
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745 (818) 961-7903
Drop us a line, let us know what you think!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to all who played earlier versions of MLYAHT, and provided
me with much needed advice, criticism, and wish-lists.
Thanks also to Kent Myers for allowing me to examine, learn from, and
utilize (read "steal") his mouse-handling routines. (Note: those
programmers interested in utilizing a mouse in their programs are
encouraged to purchase Charles C. Edwards' book, Advanced Techniques
in Turbo Pascal, published by Sybex. He devotes an entire chapter to
the Microsoft Mouse interface.)
"Yahtzee" is a trademark of the Milton Bradley Co.
The traditional name of this game is "Yacht", rather than "Yaht".
Since this game was first distributed around the time of the '87
America's Cup races, I misspelled the name so as not to
unintentionally mislead people. Actually, I just didn't know how
to spell it, but this makes for a better story. -BL
