Help For The Game Of Yacht

Introduction

Welcome to the network Yacht server. The Yacht challenge command starts a new game as follows:

     yacht challenge [-hide] userid1 userid2 [userid3] [userid4]

Starts a game for between two and four players. Other commands are the same as for all pbmserv games.
-hide specifies that rerolls are to be hidden from opponents. This dramatically reduces the number of mails generated per game, and means that player messages are not repeated to opponents multiple times throughout each turn. However it also means that opponents will only see the dice rolled at the start of each opponent's turn, which are not necessarily the dice used for scoring.

Rules

Players alternate taking turns. Each turn the current player rolls five dice. They may then optionally reroll any of the five dice, and may then optionally reroll any of the five dice again. The player must then nominate a category in which to enter the score showing on the dice.

The score categories are shown in the following sample game between fred and ned.

     fred has rolled the following:

     .-----.  .-----.  .-----.  .-----.  .-----.
     |o   o|  |o   o|  |o    |  |o    |  |o   o|
     |o   o|  |     |  |  o  |  |     |  |  o  |
     |o   o|  |o   o|  |    o|  |    o|  |o   o|
     `-----'  `-----'  `-----'  `-----'  `-----'

     fred has two rolls left. 

     Scores              fred     ned 
     --------------------------------------------------------------
     
     a) Aces               .       . 
     b) Twos               .       . 
     c) Threes             .       . 
     d) Fours              .       . 
     e) Fives              .       . 
     f) Sixes              .       . 
      
     Total                 0       0 
     Bonus for 63  (35)    .       . 
     
     Upper Total           0       0 
     
     t) 3 of a Kind        .       . 
     r) 4 of a Kind        .       . 
     h) Full House (25)    .       . 
     s) Small Strt (30)    .       . 
     l) Large Strt (40)    .       . 
     y) Yacht      (50)    .       . 
     x) Chance             .       . 
     
     Lower Total           0       0 
     
     --------------------------------------------------------------
     Grand Total           0       0 
     ==============================================================

For instance, fred could choose to nominate the Large Straight category to score 40 points based on the above dice, or he could choose to reroll some or all of the dice and aim for a different category.

The Upper Section categories are scored as follows:

     a) Aces:    Total all 1s.  
     b) Two:     Total all 2s.  
     c) Threes:  Total all 3s.  
     d) Fours:   Total all 4s.
     e) Fives:   Total all 5s. 
     f) Sixes:   Total all 6s.

If the combined score of the Upper Section categories is 63 or higher, then a 35 point bonus is automatically added to the Upper Total.

The Lower Section categories are scored as follows:

     t) 3 of a Kind:  Total all dice (if three of a kind).  
     r) 4 of a Kind:  Total all dice (if four of a kind).  
     h) Full House:   25 (if three of one kind and two of another).  
     s) Small Strt:   30 (if sequential straight run of four dice).
     l) Large Strt:   40 (if sequential straight run of five dice). 
     y) Yacht:        50 (if five of a kind).
     x) Chance:       Total all dice.

If the player nominates a category for which their dice do not qualify, then 0 points is entered for that category.

If the player rolls additional Yachts after 50 points have already been entered in the Yacht category, then 100 points are automatically added to their Yacht score. The player must then nominate a different (unused) category which is scored normally, except for the Full House, Small Straight and Large Straight categories which are scored the full 25, 30 or 40 points respectively.

The Grand Total is the sum of the Upper and Lower totals. The player with the highest Grand Total at the end of the thirteenth round wins.

Move Syntax

The following are examples of valid moves:

    yacht move board# userid password 3

Rerolls the die showing 3 pips.

    yacht move board# userid password 2414

Rerolls the four dice showing 2, 4, 1 and 4 pips.

    yacht move board# userid password all

Rerolls all five dice - for emergencies and serious gamblers only!

    yacht move board# userid password e

Enters the score shown on the dice in category e) Fives.

Players may enter a category in lieu of either of their rerolls. Other commands are the same as for all pbmserv games.

History

Yacht is a traditional dice game.

Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, December 2003.