Microdeal
£19.95
Colour/Mono
The disk and
instructions come in a neat little box but, again, with the disk loose in
the box. It is taken for granted that the games are known to the user,
including the rules laid out by the 'Official Rules of Card Games', 56th.
Edition, published by the U.S. Playing Card Co. I had never seen this
reference before but I found all the games playable without this source of
reference.
When you load up the disk and open the game program, it sets up to GEM
with drop down windows letting you choose the game to play or the options
if available . including a score save. Probably the first one chosen will
be SOLITAIRE. This is more correctly a generic name for solo card
games with individual games having their own names. I cannot recall the
name for the game represented here but it is a game that requires a good
deal of thought, although if you have the cards sorted badly then you
cannot win. The cards are sorted into groups of three with a base for the
suits at the end. The object is to build up the suits from the aces,
freeing cards in the process. Cards can be grouped by suit, King
downwards. You are allowed two redeals that may or may not jumble the
cards enough to let you win. This is a good game ruined by an annoying
mouse flicker and the redrawing of groups to fill up horizontal lines.
This leads to confusion, as the group you were working with can move
several times about the screen, most confusing. When you win there is no
congratulatory notice. A pity about the grumbles as this is my favourite
game of the five.
KLONDIKE is the most common game played solo. A row of seven cards,
with the last turned face up, then a row of six, five etc. The four suit
bases are built from Ace up, and cards are played, alternating colours,
King down on the rows. Unfortunately, this is a variation that I don't
like playing, as it goes through the pack one card at a time and does not
allow a re-deal, nor can you move one face up card at a time to free
another (not a rule that I know!). I found it hard to recognise cards
lying under each other and this was worse in mono. The evaluation copy I
was sent did not allow me to place the aces onto the bases, something that
must be corrected or else it is not worth playing! For some reason this
game plays with money stakes, has anyone ever heard of a game of patience
(a game you play by yourself) played for money? (Strangely enough, this
game is not described in the booklet).
POKER SQUARES is a thinking game. The pack is continuously being
shuffled and a key press will select a card. The card is placed into a
five by five matrix to complete poker hands (five across, five down). The
computer sorts out the score for you. I enjoyed this with the computer
better than actually using cards. This game could well appear in the
public domain, written in Basic.
CRIBBAGE, a well known game, comes out quite well on the ST. I am
not so sure about playing the computer game as I like having a human
opponent to talk to. The count is taken too fast for me to check (just
proves how little I play the game these days). The fun in cribbage is
trying to work out all the variations and arguing with your opponent so
with a computer the game is not so alive. This is a personal opinion - the
game is good.
BLACKJACK. As I do not gamble (but I have played this game and its
variations for fun) I do not find it exciting. I think that I would miss
the interaction of a human player, though the game itself is very playable
but as usual the odds seem to favour the house!
Overall, the games are good, well designed and written. The only bad part
is KLONDIKE but hopefully a new version will appear. I find it hard
determine value for money, that really depends how much you enjoy playing
cards.
top
