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| v1.2.1 | GPL-3.0 | (c) 2022-2024 r3w0p |
A command-line version of the Caravan card game from Fallout: New Vegas.
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HOW TO PLAY
===========
Caravan is played with two players building three opposing piles (or "caravans")
of numeral cards (A-10). The goal is to outbid your opponent's caravan with the
highest value of cards without being too light (< 21) or overburdened (> 26).
Each player has a deck of cards consisting of at least 30 cards from one of more
traditional playing card sets (i.e., a standard 52-card deck and 2 JOKERs).
One player controls caravans A, B, and C. The other player controls caravans D,
E, and F. Caravan A competes against D; B competes against E; and C competes
against F.
The game begins with each player taking 8 cards from their deck and placing
one numeral card on each caravan; an opening hand must have at least 3 numeral
cards in it. Players may not discard any cards from their hand, clear any
caravans, or pick up any cards from their decks during this starting phase.
Once both players have started their 3 caravans, each of their decks will now
have 5 cards in it. Players must always replenish their hand to 5 cards after
any move made if they have any cards left in their deck. If a player's last move
does not win them the game, then they lose by running out of cards. On each
player's turn, they may do one of the following:
1. Play a numeral card onto an empty space in a caravan, or play a face card
(JACK, QUEEN, KING, JOKER) onto a numeral card in a caravan;
2. Discard one card from their hand; or
3. Clear one of their caravans by removing all cards from that pile.
Caravans have a direction, either ascending or descending numerically, and a
suit. The suit is determined with the first card placed on a caravan, the
direction by the second. All subsequent cards must continue the numerical
direction or match the suit of the previous card. Cards of the same numeral
value cannot be played in sequence, regardless of suit.
A numeral card must be played onto a player's own caravan. A face card can be
played on any card in any caravan. Face cards affect gameplay in various ways,
as follows.
CARD VALUES
JACK Played against A-10. Removes that card along with its face cards.
QUEEN Played against A-10. Reverses the direction of the caravan and changes its
suit. Multiple QUEENs may be played onto the same card.
KING Played against A-10. Adds the value of that card again.
Multiple KINGs may be played on the same card for multiplicative effects.
For example, 4 + (1 KING) = 8 and 4 + (2 KINGs) = 16.
JOKER Played against A-10. Effects change based on whether it is an ACE or other
numeral card (see below). Multiple JOKERs may be played on the same card.
ACE Value of 1. JOKER played on ACE remove all other non-face cards of
the ACE's suit from the table.
For example, a JOKER played on the ACE of SPADES removes all SPADES
(except face cards and the numeral card it was placed on) from the table.
2-10 Listed value. JOKERs played on these remove all other cards of this
value from the table.
For example, a JOKER played on a 4 removes all 4s (except the numeral
card it was placed on) from the table, regardless of suit.
"POWER'S RULES"
Additional rules have been added to this implementation in order to make it more
appropriate for the command line, and also to make gameplay more balanced. These
are as follows.
1. Each caravan can have, at most, 8 numeral cards on it.
2. Each numeral card can have, at most, 3 face cards on it.
3. A caravan deck must consist of between 30 to 162 cards (inclusive) sampled
from 1 to 3 traditional card decks (inclusive).
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CONTROLS
========
Each card in your hand has a number to the left of it, which indicates the
number you need to enter if you want to PLAY or DISCARD that card. Similarly,
each numeral card in every caravan also has a number to the left of it, which
can be used to PLAY a face card onto it and also indicates its position in the
caravan's card stack.
On your turn, you must enter a command that indicates whether you want to PLAY a
card from your hand, DISCARD a card from your hand, or CLEAR all cards from one
of your caravans; commands are not case sensitive. After you have entered your
command, press Enter to confirm. If there is a problem with your command, useful
information will appear in-game to help you.
To PLAY a numeral card, type 'P', then the number for the card in your hand that
you want to play, then the caravan name. For example, to PLAY card 2 from your
hand onto caravan B:
> P2B
To PLAY a face card, you must additionally specify the position of the numeral
card in the caravan you are targeting. For example, to PLAY card 4 from your
hand onto the numeral at position 3 in caravan F:
> P4F3
To DISCARD a card, type 'D', then the number for the card in your hand that you
want to play. For example, to DISCARD card 3 from your hand:
> D3
To CLEAR one of your caravans, type 'C', then the name of the caravan that you
want to clear. For example, to CLEAR caravan A:
> CA
To exit the game, press Escape.