eScrabble Game interface ------------------------ see below Rules of Scrabble ----------------- In this game, players form interlocking words in a crossword fashion. Letter tiles are placed on the game board to form English words, which are then scored by their location. Each player competes for a high score by taking advantage of different letter values, as well as the premium squares on the board. In a two-player game, a good player scores 300-400 points. Setup All letter tiles are shuffled and put into a bag facedown. To decide who plays first, each player gets a letter; the one closest to the beginning of the alphabet plays first. This is not shown on display but still done. A blank tile supercedes all other tiles. Once the first player is found, the tiles are returned to the bag. Each player then receives seven new letters that are placed in his/her rack. Game Play The first player combines two or more of his/her letters to form a word and places it on the board to read across or down with one letter on the center {star} square. Diagonal words are not permitted. A player completes a turn by clicking "make move". The player then draws as many letters as played thus always keeping seven letters in his/her rack. Play passes to the next player. Each subsequent player adds one or more letters to those already played to form new words. All letters played on a turn must be placed in one row across or down the board to form one complete word. If tiles touch other letters in adjacent rows, they must form complete words in a crossword fashion with all such letters. The player gets full credit for all words formed or modified on his/her turn. New words may be formed by: · Adding one or more tiles to words, or letters, that are already on the board. · Placing a word at right angle to a word already on the board...the new word must use one of the letters already on the board or must add a letter to it. · Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters form complete words. No letter may be shifted after it has been played. The two blank tiles may be used as any letters. When playing a blank tile the player must state which letter it represents. It remains that letter for the remainder of the game. A player may use a turn to exchange any, all or none of his/her letters. To do this you must click "swap" and then click on the letters that you want to discard and click "swap" again. This will put the tiles selected into the bag, mix the bag, and return the same amount of tiles back into your rack. This ends your turn. If a player suspects that a word, placed by an opponent, is not in the dictionary, he/she can challenge that opponent's move. In a normal game, a dictionary would be used to determine if the word placed on the game board is a true English word, in our case a computer dictionary performs this check automatically if a Challenge is called. Any word may be challenged before the next player starts a turn. If the word that is challenged is not found in the dictionary, the challenged player takes back his/her tiles and loses that turn. On the other hand, if the word that was challenged is in dictionary, the challenger loses his/her next turn. Ending the Game The game ends when all letters have been drawn and one player uses his/her last letter or when all possible plays have been made. Once the game has ended through the normal completion of the game, or by all human players resigning, a new game may be started by clicking Game | New Game. Note all players present in the first game, must be present in all subsequent games. Scoring Each player's score is displayed after each turn. A number at the bottom of the tile indicates the score value of each letter. The score value of a blank is zero. The score for each turn is the sum of the letter values in each word formed or modified on that turn plus the additional points obtained from placing letters on premium squares. Premium Letter Scores A light blue square doubles the score of a letter placed on it. A dark blue square triples the letter score. Premium Word Squares The score for an entire word is doubled when one of its letters is placed on a pink square. It's tripled when one of its letters is placed on a red square. Include premiums for double or triple letter values {if any} before doubling or tripling the word score. If a word covers two premium word squares the score is doubled and then re-doubled or tripled and then re-tripled. NOTE; as the center square is pink, the first word score is doubled. Letter and word premiums count only on the turn in which they're played. On later turns letters already played on premium squares count at face value. When a blank tile is played on a pink or red square, the value of the word is doubled or tripled even though the blank itself has no score value. When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored separately and added to the total score. The common letter is counted {with full premium value if any} for each word. Any player who plays seven tiles on a turn scores a premium of 50 points after totaling his/her score for the turn. How To Win The player with the highest final score wins the game. eScrabble Game interface ------------------------ This section of the user manual examines the game interface, and describes available player actions in a step-by step procedure. 1.1 Game (pull-down menu) - contains five choices: a. Game | New Game -> Starts a New Game i. Can only be performed by one player, when there is no game in progress. b. Game | Add AP -> Adds an Automatic Player i. Up to a maximum of 3 Automatic Players can be added. ii. Can only be performed when there is no game in progress. c. Game | Resign -> Player retires from the game i. Can only be performed when you are the current player. d. Game | Save Game -> Saves the current game i. Can only be performed when you are the current player. e. Game | Load Game -> Restores the last saved game i. Can only be performed when you are the current player. f. Game | Quit -> Exits the game i. Should only be performed when all players agree to exit the game. 1.2 Help Menu - Displays information about how to play scrabble 1.3 Game Board - holds all the successfully played moves that were made during the game, up until that point. Most recent moves are colored dark blue while all other moves are light brown. 1.4 Player's Rack - contains the players' tiles. 1.5 Game Control Buttons - this box contains four buttons Try Move Description: This button allows the player to test if a move is a valid scrabble move, and also check the score for the move. Use: Simply move the tiles from your rack onto the Game Board and press the Try Move button. A player can try as many moves without actually making a final real move. Results: If the move is a valid scrabble move, the value of the move is returned in the Game Message Window. If the move is invalid, a message indicating such is printed to the Game Message Window. When Used: This button can be used at any point during the game. Make Move Description: This button is used to make a board move. Use: Simply move tiles from your rack onto the Game Board and press the Make Move button. Results: If the move is a valid scrabble move, the move is placed on the board. Other players now have 10 seconds to challenge your move. If there are no successful challenges, your score is updated, and you will get new tiles placed in your rack. If there is a successful challenge, the tiles placed on the board will be placed back on your rack, and you will lose your turn. If the move is invalid, a message is printed in the Game Message Window, and you will be allowed to play another move. When Used: This button can only be used when you are the current player that is indicated by a "Please make a move" message in the Game Message Window. If it is not your turn, and the button is pressed, a message indicating that you are not the current player will be printed to the Game Message Window. Challenge Description: This button is used to challenge a move made by another human player. Use: Once a move from another player has been made, and an invitation to challenge has been made, you have 10 seconds to hit the Challenge button. Results: If the challenge is successful, the tiles from the invalid move are removed from the board and placed into the other player's rack. If the challenge is unsuccessful, you will lose your next turn. When Used: Within 10 seconds of a message indicating that you have been invited to challenge being printed to the Game Message Windows. If you press this button after that time, a message indicating that you have not been invited to challenge will be printed to the Game Message Window. Swap Tiles Description: This button swaps tiles from the your rack with ones from the Bag. Use: Simply press the Swap Tiles button, click on the tiles you want swapped, and then press the Swap Tiles button again. Swapping of tiles makes you lose a turn. To pass your turn without swapping tiles, press the Swap Tiles button twice, without selecting any of your tiles. Results: You will receive new tiles to replace the tiles you have selected. You will also lose your turn. When Used: This button can only be used when you are the current player that is indicated by a "Please make a move" message in the Game Message Window. If it is not your turn, and the button is pressed, a message indicating that you are not the current player will be printed to the Game Message Window. Furthermore, if there are less than 7 tiles in the bag, swapping is not permitted, but passing is permitted. 1.6 Players Score Window - this window contains the scores of all the players. The player's scores are displayed in the order of play. 1.7 Game Message Window - This window displays information about the state of the game. It displays everything from invitations for moves or challenges, to messages caused by misuse of the Game Control Buttons.