9.5. Dice and Playing Cards

| Chapter 9: Props: Food, Clothing, Money, Toys, Books, Electronics |

| 9.5. Dice and Playing Cards

Most toys are single things, and no harder to create than any other small items, but games often require a multitude of tokens to be combined, and this can be logistically tricky.

The classic example is a pack of playing cards, where the player must individually control 52 items but without fussy commands or verbose text being printed back. Jokers Wild provides a simple "one card at a time" approach; Tilt 1 is more sophisticated, with 52 independently accessible cards; Tilt 2 can further judge the value of a selection of cards - the ranking of a poker hand.

Drawing cards from a shuffled pack is only one source of randomness. Games of chance also involve items drawn from a bag: Wonka's Revenge provides just such a lottery. More often, dice are thrown. A single die is easy enough:

> The die is carried by the player. After dropping the die: say "It lands with [a random number from 1 to 6] uppermost." Understand "roll [something]" as dropping.

Quick, but not very good. Most dice games involve rolling more than one die at a time, to get a more interesting distribution of outcomes: they may also involve special rules applying to doubles, for instance. See Do Pass Go.

See Typography for on-screen notations for chess and card games

264
| Example Jokers Wild A deck of cards which can be shuffled and dealt from. |
WI

306
| Example Tilt 1 A deck of cards with fully implemented individual cards, which can be separately drawn and discarded, and referred to by name. |
WI

389
| Example Tilt 2 A deck of cards with fully implemented individual cards; when the player has a full poker hand, the inventory listing describes the resulting hand accordingly. |
WI

175
| Example Wonka's Revenge A lottery drum which redistributes the tickets inside whenever the player spins it. |
WI

129
| Example Do Pass Go A pair of dice which can be rolled, and are described with their current total when not carried, and have individual scores when examined. |
WI

"Do Pass Go" Go is a room. "A giant square area, where you and your other pewter ornament friends gather before setting out to purchase London." The pair of dice is carried by the player. The pair of dice has a number called first die. The pair of dice has a number called second die. The first die of the pair is 6. The second die of the pair is 6. Rule for printing the name of the pair of dice while taking inventory: say "pair of dice". Rule for printing the name of the pair of dice: say "pair of dice showing [first die of the pair plus second die of the pair]". To say detailed state of the dice: if the first die of the pair is the second die of the pair, say "double [first die of the pair]"; otherwise say "[first die of the pair] and [second die of the pair]". The description of the pair of dice is "The pair of dice are [if the dice are carried]itching to be rolled[otherwise]showing [detailed state of the dice][end if]." Rolling is an action applying to one carried thing. Understand "roll [something preferably held]" as rolling. Check rolling when the noun is not the pair of dice: say "Not something you can roll." instead. Carry out rolling: now the pair of dice is in the holder of the actor; now the first die of the pair of dice is a random number from 1 to 6; now the second die of the pair of dice is a random number from 1 to 6. Report rolling: say "You roll [detailed state of the dice]." Test me with "i / roll dice / look / x dice / get dice / x dice / roll dice / roll dice / roll dice / roll dice / roll dice / roll dice / roll dice". Because we remember the states of the individual dice, not just a total, we can make use of the combination rolled. The doubles count is a number that varies. After rolling: if the first die of the pair is the second die of the pair, increment the doubles count; otherwise now the doubles count is 0; continue the action. Jail is a room. "This is Jail, and not the Just Visiting periphery, either." Every turn when the doubles count is 3: say "The blue-uniformed policemen blows his whistle and beckons you sternly..."; now the player carries the pair of dice; now the player is in Jail; now the doubles count is 0. Every turn when the doubles count is 1 and the player is in Jail: say "The warden gruffly releases you."; now the player carries the pair of dice; now the player is in Go.

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