Index

The following Help Topics are available:

Overview

Rules Of The Game

Strategy And Hints

Playing The Game

What Changed In Release 2

About

Menus

Game Menu Commands

Options Menu Commands

For Help on Help, Press F1


Overview

Welcome to the ACME company. We are sure you will do well and progress up, and down, the management structure.

ACME is a game that is all about seniority within the company. When you play the game you will play one of the company roles and try to go up in the world by getting rid of all the cards in your hand before everyone else. The order in which players run out of cards determines the players seniority in the next round.

Rules Of The Game

Strategy And Hints

Playing The Game


Game Menu Commands

The Game Menu consists of the following menu items:

Change Player

Deal

Statistics

Exit


Change Player Menu Item (Game)

This menu item allows you to change the current player. For each player a record is kept of his current seniority  along with those of his opponents.The players statistics are also kept.

When the game is started it will automatically open with the last player who played.

CAUTION:

If you have an incomplete round at the time of changing players you will autmatically demote the old player to Apprentice . This occurs in penalty for not completing the round.


Deal Menu Item (Game)

This menu item deals a new set of cards to the games 5 players. These cards are distributed as follows:

President : 12 Cards

Vice President : 11 Cards

White Collar Worker  : 10 Cards

Blue Collar Worker  : 10 Cards

Apprentice  : 10 Cards

You may not re-deal until the current round is complete.

Shortcut key:	F2


Statistics Menu Item (Game)

This menu item displays the Statistics dialog box .


Exit Menu Item (Game)

This menu item shuts down the ACME application.

CAUTION:

If you have an incomplete round at the time of exit you will autmatically be demoted to Apprentice . This occurs in penalty for not completing the round.


Player Dialog Box

When this dialog box is displayed you are expected to enter your name. ACME will record your performance in the company using this name to store your seniority and statistics.

If you accidentally reach this dialog box just retype your players name to continue.


Statistics Dialog Box

This dialog box displays the following information:

The current players name. This can also be found in the main windows title bar.

The number of rounds played at each of the five levels of seniority .

The percentage of rounds played at each of the five levels of seniority .

The total number of rounds played by this player.

To cleat these statistics select the Clear Statistics menu item  on the Options menu


Options Menu Commands

The Options menu consists of the following menu items.

Cards

Clear Statistics


Cards Menu Item (Options)

This menu item invokes the Select A Deck Dialog box  to change the picture on the back of the deck of cards being used. You can change the deck at any time, even in the middle of a round.


Clear Statistics Menu Item (Options)

This menu item clears the current players game statistics. This statistics are diaplayed by selecting the Statistics menu item  on the Game menu . The statistics record the number of games played by the user and how many games have been played at each of the seniority  levels.


Select A Deck Dialog Box

This dialog box presents you with twelve alternative card backs that you can use. Selecting a card back is a totally decorative decision and has no impact on the way the game plays. To select a card back click on the image and select OK. The selected image appears above the OK button.


Rules Of The Game

The Deck

The deck is a 53 card deck with the one Joker. In the game suit is unimportant. Card value however is critical ... Card values from lowest to highest are:

3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace-Two-Joker

The game is played in two stages.

Card Exchange

After dealing the cards the President, Vice President, Blue Collar Worker and Apprentice get involved in some card exchanging. This exchanging follows the following rules.

The president must give the Apprentice 2 cards. They may be any cards
from his hand.

The Vice President must give the Blue Collar Worker 1 card. It may be any
card from his hand.

The Blue Collar Worker must give the Vice President his highest card.

The Apprentice must give the President his two highest cards.

When you are exchanging cards select the cards you with to exchange and press the play button . If you are Blue Collar Worker or Apprentice then you must select the two rightmost cards even if other cards have the same value.

Playing Tricks

Once the cards are exchanged the play really starts. The objective of the game is to empty your hand as quickly as possible.

For the first trick the president leads, on each subsequent trick it is the last player to play on the previous trick. If the last player to play has no cards left then the lead goes to the player with the most seniority left with cards.

The leading player can put down 1,2,3 or 4 cards as long as they all have the same value.

Each player following must place down the same number of cards and they must be greter in value than the cards already played. Each player only gets one chance to play on a trick. A player does not have to play on a trick.

To play on a trick select the cards you wish to play and select the play button. If you do not wish to play select the play button without selecting any cards.

The joker is a special card in that it can be played on any trick at any time and cannot be beaten.

The first player to run out of cards becomes the President in the next round. The other players take the next available role until the last player takes the role of Apprentice.

Strategy And Hints

Playing The Game


Strategy And Hints

On the exchange.

If you are President or Vice President it generally makes sense to exchange your low single cards as these are often the hardest to get rid of later in the game.

Playing the tricks.

Generally speaking lead low and follow as low as possible, The hardest call to make is whether you should use your high cards early to win the lead and hence get rid of your really low cards.

Towards the end of your hand you may want to start leading high especially where you know you can't be beaten.

You know you're in trouble when your highest card is a six ....


The ACME Window

1.	Computer player 1 seniority

2.	Compurer player 1 cards

3.	Computer player 2 seniority

4.	Compurer player 2 cards

5.	Computer player 3 seniority

6.	Compurer player 3 cards

7.	Computer player 4 seniority

8.	Compurer player 4 cards

9.	Your seniority

10.	Your cards

11.	The Play Button

12.	Cards played in the current trick


Playing The Game

To play the game select the Deal menu item  off the Game menu ..

Rules Of The Game

Strategy And Hints


Seniority

There are five seniority levels in the ACME company. They are from top to bottom:

President - The president is all powerfull he pushes around the apprentice as gets a
number of kickbacks at the expense of his juniors.

Vice President - The vice presidents powers are less than the president but he still
gets his fair share of power and kickbacks.

White Collar Worker - The white collar working is reasonably immune to the power
struggles at the top.

Blue Collar Worker - The blue collar worker suffers at the hands of the vice
president.

Apprentice - The apprentice is the go-for. Its the apprentices job to deal the cards,
clean up after the tricks and suffer at the hands of the president.
Fortunately this apprentice has a computer who takes care of those
menial tasks. Thank God for automation!


Selecting A Card

To select a card click anywhere on the visible cards. The only cards that are selectable are those that are face up in your hand. A card signifies that it is selected by being moved slightly above the other cards in your hand.

The number and type of cards that can be selected vary according to the stage of the game. The computer will not allow you to select an invalid card and play it.


The Play Button

The play button is situated on the main window. The play button is used whenever you wish to:

Exchange selected cards

Play selected cards

Pass on a trick.

If the Play button is disabled then it is safe to assume that you are not in a position to play or you have not selected appropriate cards.


About

Author : Keith Westley

Address : 15 Scotney Place
Quakers Hill, 2763
NSW, Australia

Internet : Keith.S.Westley@ac.com

DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT

Users of ACME must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "ACME" is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose.  The author assumes no liability for damages,direct or consequential, which may result from the use of "ACME".

FREEWARE NOTICE

ACME is a "freeeware program" and is provided at no charge to the user. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system.

Anyone distributing ACME for any kind of remuneration must first contact Keith Westley at the address above for authorization.  You are encouraged to pass a copy of ACME along to your friends.

Copyright laws apply to both Freeware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software to anyone as long as the following files are included :

       README.TXT

       ACME.EXE

       ACME.HLP


What Has Changed In Release 2.

The following changes have been made in this release:

-	I am now giving this software aware as freeware, rather than shareware so all limitations of the shareware version have been removed. (who in their right mind would pay for this?)

-	I have removed many of the annoying message boxes it used to display and replaced them with a message line below the users cards.

-	I have added percentage statistics to the statistics dialog box.

-	I have removed the ability to re-deal in the middle of a round as this caused problems.

-	And most importantly I have significantly improved the logic the computer uses to select the cards to play. This logic mainly affects the cards the computer plays towards the end of the round and should make the computer players somewhat harder to beat.