The Twenty-One Tutor - Playing Manual


Welcome to THE TWENTY-ONE TUTOR!


INTRODUCTION

This game was developed for two purposes. First, the game of
Blackjack, or 21, is just plain fun to play. Second, this
version of the popular casino classic was written to provide a
means of analyzing a player's strategy. Unlike many casino
games, there is more than just chance involved in playing 21.
That is, the ability of the player is also very important. But
whether you choose to play for fun, or as practice before playing
21 in a real casino setting, TWENTY-ONE TUTOR can help you
sharpen your skills. Playing skills include being able to
recognize what your options are quickly. (Some casino dealers
make it pretty plain how they feel about a slower player, alas.)

Obviously, no amount of strategy development can insure you'll
always be a winner. But a little practice can't hurt, especially
since it's fun anyway. So enjoy.

The rules under which 21 is played vary somewhat from casino to
casino. While the basic object of the game is the same anywhere
it's played, there are some variations associated with betting
options. TWENTY-ONE TUTOR was designed to include the most often
played options. If you've never played in a casino environment,
TWENTY-ONE TUTOR provides a no pressure means of getting
acquainted with the game and with the several kinds of decisions
that a player makes each time a hand is dealt. The author's wife
had never been in a casino, spent a little time with TWENTY-ONE
TUTOR and went away a winner her first evening out. Beginner's
luck perhaps, but that's not the point. The point really is that
she felt comfortable enough that she knew what she was doing to
be able to concentrate on enjoying and paying attention to the
game.

THE OBJECT

The object of the game is to draw cards totaling, but not
exceeding, a count of 21. The count is determined like this:

Each card from 2 through 9 counts it's face value So, the
eight of clubs is worth a count of eight, the five of hearts
a count of five, and so on.

The 10, Jack, Queen and King each have a value of 10.

The Ace has a count value of either 1 or 11 at the
discretion of the player.

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Here's an example. Let's suppose that you are dealt the
following two cards - a Jack (the suit doesn't matter) and a
Four.
Jack = 10
Four = 4
-----------
Count = 14

The best possible next card would be a Seven (14 + 7 = 21).
Drawing an Eight or higher count value card would cause the
player to lose immediately. When the player count exceeds 21 the
player "breaks" or has a "bust." So, the player tries to draw
cards to get as close to twenty-one as he/she dares, but not draw
to a "bust." The ideal hand is a Blackjack - a count of 21 for
the first two cards.

The player also attempts to draw a hand better that the dealer's
hand. That is, the player tries to get closer to a count of 21
than the dealer. For example, the following:

DEALER PLAYER
Seven Queen
Ten King
------- -------
Seventeen Twenty


The player is closer to 21, but not over 21, than the dealer
and the player wins. The dealer must always draw when the count
of the dealer's cards is 16 or less. Put another way, the dealer
must "stand" (quit drawing cards) on 17 or above.

If the player and the dealer both have total counts of 21 or less
and they have equal counts then the hand is a "push." Neither
the dealer nor the player wins. And in the case of a wager on
the hand, the player keeps his bet.

In virtually all casinos the advantage is still with the house,
because in the event BOTH the player and the dealer draw to a
"bust" hand - you guessed it - the dealer collects the player's
bet. In effect the dealer wins.

Those are the basics. There are several other points to make
about the game, but those will be covered when the features of
TWENTY-ONE TUTOR are described in the following sections. Once
you begin to play, you'll catch on very quickly! TWENTY-ONE
TUTOR was designed to let you take it slow and easy or fast and
furious depending on how you feel about your skills that session.
You'll be able to change the parameters for playing the game as
you become familiar with 21 and with this program. You'll

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probably develop a favorite way of configuring TWENTY-ONE TUTOR
just as you will probably develop a set of strategies for playing
against that ever ready dealer - your PC.

GETTING STARTED

Before you get started playing the game, please make a backup
copy of your distribution disk and tuck it away in a safe place.
If you are planning on installing the game on your hard disk,
then you probably don't need another backup floppy. Hard disk
users will probably want to put TWENTY-ONE TUTOR in a separate
directory because the game does generate a couple of files for
each individual who plays it on your computer, and you'll
probably not want those small files cluttering up an otherwise
occupied directory.

In any event, TWENTY-ONE TUTOR expects to find either the program
on a playing copy floppy in your default drive or the program on
hard disk in your current directory.

On your distribution disk you'll find the following files when
you type DIR at the DOS prompt:

21README.1ST
21MANUAL.DOC
21REGIST.FRM
21TUTOR.EXE

The program file (21TUTOR.EXE) must be on a disk in the current
drive and directory. The reason the program file must remain
accessible is that the program has options that may create two
files for each person who uses TWENTY-ONE TUTOR. If those
options are selected the files will appear as:

Name.CFG
Name.DAT

Your first name, shortened to eight characters if necessary, is
used where "Name" appears above. If you think it likely that two
people with the same first name will use TWENTY-ONE TUTOR on your
PC, then be sure they change the spelling or in some other way
avoid duplicate names. Otherwise TWENTY-ONE TUTOR will assume
they are the same person and will utilize and/or over write
existing files. It shouldn't be a problem if you're aware in
advance.

Once you've made a playing copy on floppy disk if you're using
the A: drive as the default drive, or installed 21TUTOR.EXE in a
directory on your hard disk, you're ready to play.

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So...good luck! To begin type 21TUTOR and press [Enter].

STARTING THE PROGRAM

The first thing you will see on your screen is a brief reminder
of the shareware concept. If you enjoy TWENTY-ONE TUTOR, then
the author would appreciate your purchasing the program. There
is a form in 21REGIST.FRM that you can print out with the command
"COPY 21REGIST.FRM PRN" to help you register. If you decide to
register, you will receive a 5 1/4-inch diskette with the latest
version of the program then available, and it won't have that
opening shareware reminder screen. Thus ends the "commercial!"

In a few seconds you'll see the following:

Enter your first name please:

Simply type your first name and press [Enter].
Next you'll see:

Use your filed configuration choices? (y/n)

If your press y (or Y) - it is not usually necessary to also
press [Enter] unless prompted to do so - and you've previously
saved your personal choices for customizing the play of TWENTY-
ONE TUTOR, those choices will be loaded into memory and you're
ready to play.

If you press n (or N), or TWENTY-ONE TUTOR can't find a file for
you, you'll be given an opportunity to choose the configuration
of the program for the playing session, and save that
configuration if you wish. Essentially, you can set up a
configuration file for your usual preferences, but elect not to
use them for a particular session, or you can change them and
refile. You can even have several different playing
configurations filed - if you don't mind calling yourself a
different name for each configuration you select and file.

But for now we'll assume you haven't saved a configuration to
disk. In that case you'll see the following game configuration
choices:
Show count? (y/n)
Keep score? (y/n)
Single deck? (y/n)
Wager? (y/n)
Longer prompts? (y/n)
Slower pace? (y/n)
Sound on? (y/n)
Automatic deal? (y/n)

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Generate session report? (y/n)
Save these choices? (y/n)

Each option is highlighted in turn and you simply select by
pressing y or n. We'll discuss each of the options in the
following sections.

SHOW COUNT

While casino dealers are often very friendly folks, they can't
generally add up the count of your hand for you. In most cases
they can't see the first two cards you're dealt. (In some
casinos all cards are dealt face up, but that's fairly rare.)
In the case of TWENTY-ONE TUTOR it really makes no difference,
but you can select whether or not you want TWENTY-ONE TUTOR
to display your card count on the screen so you won't have to add
the values in your head. It is easier to let the program tell
you what count you've got, but if you want a taste of the real
thing you will probably want to count the value of your hand in
your head. It depends on whether or not your object for the
session is to sharpen your rapid adding skills or not.

If you select the show count option, both the dealer count (all
face up cards) and your count (all face up cards) will be
displayed.

KEEP SCORE

If you'd like to keep track during play of how many hands the
dealer has won and how many you've won, you can select the keep
score feature. The feature keeps a running total updated after
the winner of each hand is determined. There is no change, of
course, on a "push."

If you're distracted by that information on screen, you simply
don't select the feature.

SINGLE DECK

Some people will only play 21 at a casino table that uses a
single deck. There are many reasons given for that. It is
easier to keep track of the relative number of large and smaller
value cards if only one deck is in use. And the time it takes
for the dealer to shuffle a deck slows the pace of the action
every few hands, depending on how many players are sharing the
table. At most casino tables a multiple deck shoe is used.

TWENTY-ONE TUTOR permits you to select whether or not you'll be
told when the deck is being shuffled. The fact is that TWENTY-

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ONE TUTOR only uses a single deck anyway. The single deck option
simply tips you off that the dealer has sensed the remaining
number of cards as being too low to deal a complete hand and,
consequently, shuffles the deck. You'll notice the phrase

Shuffling the deck...

at the appropriate time if you select the single deck option.

WAGER

The game of 21 is a popular form of casino gambling. If you are
interested in a no risk taste of that sort of action, or getting
ready to try your luck for real, then select the wager option.

If you select the wager option, you will be prompted to place
your bet before the hand is played. In most (but not all)
casinos, and in TWENTY-ONE TUTOR, the minimum bet is $2.00.
There probably is virtually no upper limit at the right table in
real life, but TWENTY-ONE TUTOR has a "table limit" of $100.00
per bet. The idea is to keep the session realistic, and wild
bets don't achieve that goal.

If you have accumulated a "stake", that amount of credit will be
deposited for you if you choose to file the session to disk
before you quit (more on that later). You will be able to use
that stake on succeeding sessions. In effect, the program will
keep a running account of how you're doing from session to
session. If you have no stake, you will be prompted to buy in at
the "cashier" screen. Minimum credit buy in is $2.00 and the
maximum is $1,000.00. Again, the idea is to keep it realistic.

LONGER PROMPTS

Because TWENTY-ONE TUTOR was developed as an aid to learning the
game, many prompts are available in a long and a short version.
After you have picked up the basics of the game, or if you
already know them, the short prompts will suffice. If you are
just beginning learning 21, then select the longer prompts
option.

SLOWER PACE

Casino 21 moves quickly - very quickly. There is little lost
time or motion on the part of a professional dealer. Sometimes
for a beginning player that's a little intimidating. So, TWENTY-
ONE TUTOR offers a slower pace option. If you select it, the
game is slowed down to permit you to take a good look at what
happened before the dealer clears the table for the next hand.

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Similarly, the deal and automatic adjustments are somewhat more
leisurely.

If you're already fairly familiar with 21, you probably won't
need the slower pace.

AUTOMATIC DEAL

In casino action the dealer will assume you're playing as long as
you are at the table. And, accordingly, he/she will deal one
hand after another in rapid succession. In TWENTY-ONE TUTOR you
can select an automatic deal option that will pause to clear the
table (pause length impacted by slower pace option) and then call
for another bet, if wagering, and deal. Not selecting the
automatic deal option will leave the hand just completed on the
screen until you press [Enter]. The latter option is very handy
if you want to take a look at the hand at some length for the
purpose of analyzing it.

The two methods of playing - automatic deal or not - "feel"
somewhat different one from the other and you will probably
develop a preference. Simply experiment with the automatic deal
(and the pace) until you find the combination most comfortable
for you.

One point to be considered is that the automatic deal is more
realistic while it affords less time for immediate analysis of
what happened in a given hand.

GENERATE SESSION REPORT

Perhaps the most unique feature of TWENTY-ONE TUTOR is the
capability of generating a report of a session with the game.
That report is a detailed record of each and every hand played
during the session and is available on screen and/or in printed
hard copy.

At the end of a playing session you will be prompted to save the
status of your session to disk. If you do, your stake, hands
you've won, hands the dealer has won, the difference between
those numbers and the invested buy in credit compared to your end
of session stake are all saved to disk and a summary for your
session combined with all previous sessions is displayed. But
that is not the report generated with the generate session report
option. Selecting the latter option will also provide a screen
display of the hands of the session (not cumulative from session
to session) and will include the following:



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Split hand indicator
Doubled down indicator
All player hits taken (cards dealt to player)
All dealer hits taken
Player and dealer count total
Winner indicator
Bet won or lost (if wagering)
A running total of percentage of hands dealt
won by either dealer or player (hand winner)

Examining carefully that analysis report will reveal a lot of
information about whether or not the way you are playing is
yielding success or not.

The session report is accessed after the summary information is
saved to disk:

Review the session report? (y/n)

If you select y, you'll see what was outlined above; otherwise
you'll be reminded that the detailed analysis is filed on a one
session basis and given another chance to review. Declining
again will terminate the game.

All reports offer a display on screen or print option, and after
viewing on screen you are, again, offered the choice of printing
a hard copy.

Saving your hard copies of the player summary (stake balance,
won/lost, etc.) and the session report will, together, give you
excellent data to analyze your playing strategy over days, weeks
or months. That is, if you really want to get that serious about
all this!

Well you've set your options for the game. Now it's time to...

PLAY

After you've utilized your configuration file or selected new
playing options the screen is cleared for action. You'll see a
blank screen and a prompt to enter a wager, take a hit, determine
an Ace value, insure a hand, etc.

Some of those prompts may need a little explanation.

INSURANCE

If you are prompted to buy insurance (only if wagering), you will
notice that the dealer has an Ace. If he has a card with

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The Twenty-One Tutor - Playing Manual


a ten value as his "hole" (face down) card, then the dealer has a
Blackjack (Ace = 11 + 10 = 21), a perfect hand. If he does and
you have anything other than a Blackjack, then the dealer wins
automatically. To "insure" your hand, simply press y. If the
dealer has a Blackjack you will be paid the amount of your wager.
If the dealer does not have a Blackjack you will lose one-half
the amount of your wager. Additional prompts/messages will tell
you what happened and prompt for your next action.

DOUBLE

Most casinos permit "doubling down" when the players first two
cards have a count totaling 11, and some permit doubling on a
count of 10, too. TWENTY-ONE TUTOR permits both.

If you reply yes (y) to a prompt to double down, your bet will be
doubled and you will be dealt one card, and one card only, face
down. The dealer will take hits as usual and then your last card
will be revealed to determine the winner.

It won't take you long to determine what your strategy is for
doubling down. But, as per always, look at the dealer's exposed
card and consider how many cards with a count value of 10 might
have found their way to the dealer's hole card.

Incidentally, the deal for TWENTY-ONE TUTOR is absolutely
authentic. There is a card value for all hole cards at the
instant dealt.

SPLIT

If you are dealt two cards with identical count values (such as a
Five of Clubs and a Five of Hearts) you will be offered a chance
to split the hand. If you elect to do so, you will play the hand
as two hands taking hits (drawing cards) to the first card you
were dealt until you elect to stand, and then the second card.
The dealer will then hit as usual and the winner will be
determined for each of your hands.

If wagering your bet will be duplicated for the second hand.

You'll enjoy developing your strategy about when to split a hand
and when to decline the split option.

REMINDER MESSAGES

You'll be gently reminded if you try to bet an amount larger than
your stake and in the case of similar problems all dealers detect
from time to time. They are self explanatory...especially the

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message you will receive if you take a hit when you have a
Blackjack!

AND FINALLY...

The ultimate goal is to have fun. The author trusts you'll do
that and wishes you many hours of enjoyment at a classic game
rendered in computer age terms.

Thanks for selecting THE TWENTY-ONE TUTOR!

Your comments, and of course your registration, will be more than
welcome.

FOOTHILLS SOFTWARE
1515 Shenandoah Drive
Boise, Idaho 83712

































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