Bowling Solitaire Help

** Set Up **

The game uses a deck of 20 cards, consisting of two sets numbered 0 to 9. (The cards appear as circles.)

The program shuffles the deck, and lays-out ten cards to serve as bowling pins. The remaining ten cards serve as ball cards. The program places the ball cards to form three piles. The left pile has five cards, the middle pile three cards and the right two cards. Only the top card of each pile is visible.

** Play **

Pick one ball card and one, two or three pins that you want to remove. (If you have picked a ball card and want to change your selection, just click on the ball card that you now want. If you want to un-pick a pin, just click on it again.)

If you have picked just one pin, it must be the same rank as the ball card. (For example, a 5 can remove a 5.) If you have picked two or three pins, they must be next to each other and when added together the last digit must be the same as the ball card. (For example, a ball card of 5 can remove a 2 and 3, adding up to 5; or a 7 and 8, adding up to 15; or an 8, 8 and 9, adding up to 25; ...)

The first ball card played cannot be used to remove any pin from the back row. The first ball card also cannot be used to remove the middle pin by itself.

After one or more pins have been removed, subsequent plays must have at least one pin adjacent to a spot where a pin has already been removed.

Press the 'Play Card' button to remove the picked cards. (The 'Play Card' button will only be enabled if the above conditions have been met.) The program places the removed cards to the side so that you can always see which cards have been used.

If you can keep removing pins until they are all gone, the program will score a strike and set-up the next frame. If however you reach the point where no ball cards can be played, or you choose not to play a ball card (in order to try for a spare), then press the 'Throw Ball' button. (Note: If you have any pins picked, un-pick them to enable the 'Throw Ball' button.) The program now removes the top card from each pile.

Continue playing with the newly revealed ball cards. If you can remove the rest of the pins, the program will score a spare and set-up the next frame. If however you reach the point where you cannot play further, press the 'Throw Ball' button. The program will score the frame and set-up the next.


Copyright © 1998 Timothy S. Adam. All rights reserved.
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