Pit your wits against your Spectrum in a game of dominoes from Mike Rains in Durham.
The program is a computer implementation of the popular game, written entirely in Basic. One person can play against the computer or two players can play against two computer hands.
Either way, it is possible to watch a demonstration game in which the computer plays all the hands. At the start, each player is dealt seven dominoes and from there the game proceeds according to the normal rules of play. In turn, each player must indicate which domino they wish to play, and where on the board and in which direction. Pressing 'p' in answer to any of these questions indicates a pass.
At the end of the game (detected by the computer), the computer displays all the players' remaining dominoes and the winner's name. The computer's moves are governed entirely by chance but it is surprising how often it wins.
When typing in the program, note that capital letters within quotation marks in lines 70, 80, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 2530, 3510 and 3520 should all be entered in graphics mode.
The main variables are:
a$(4,7,2)
player's dominoes
d$(2,7)
user-defined graphics for dominoes
e(2,2)
current end dominoes
f(18,31)
screen image - records position of dominoes
go
current player number
n$(4,10)
player's name
o$
demonstration game flag
p1
number of players
t(4)
number of dominoes each player has left
v$
string of 32 blanks - used in printing messages
z$(28,2)
contains the values of the full domino set
Program Notes
5-20
Dimension arrays, GOSUB introduction and turn off key click
30-60
Read in data
70
Horizontally positioned dominoes
80
Vertically positioned dominoes
145-220
Randomly picks a double as the first domino played by the computer
230
Goes onto next player
240-260
Goes into "computer's turn" routine if demonstration or computer's go
295-318
Puts a flashing A or B at each end of the current game
320-350
Input A or B depending on which end you want to place your domino
355-360
Unable to go
370-420
Which direction - up, down, left, right
430
Current end dominoes
440-470
Input direction using unshifted arrow keys
480-490
Error trap
500-520
Input domino value
530-535
Invalid entry
540-584
Checks that player has that domino
585-597
Goes to relevant subroutine for positioning of domino
599-660
Computer checks player's dominoes to see if any match the ends
665-784
Computer chooses a domino and updates variables
795-820
Places domino to the left
895-910
Places domino to the right
995-1010
Places domino downwards
1095-1110
Length of name
1200-1220
Length of name
1495-1530
Routine for first move
1995-2010
Error message
2495-2570
Displays the player's dominoes
2995-3106
Check for end of game
3108-3109
Game over
3110-3140
Print results
3495-3530
Set up user-defined graphics
4000-4020
Introduction page
4030-4050
How many players?
4046-4060
Do you want a demonstration game?
4061-4090
Input player's names
4095-4540
Set up random set of seven dominoes for each player
15th September 1984