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========= Pyramids ===========
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This is a clone of the game "Pyramids" from "Yahoo! Games"
(games.yahoo.com). The real one is probably nicer (though
there are really little differences), but you can finally
get to play the game offline.

RULES
-----
   Pyramids is a single-player card game. The object is to
   clear the board of cards and collect the most points possible.
   You can maximize your score by clearing long runs of cards.
   To clear cards, click on cards that are one higher or lower
   in number than the up card. E.G. if the up card is 3, you can
   play a 2 or a 4. Color does not matter, only the numbers.
   Aces are both high and low. So, if you have an Ace as the
   current up card, you can play a King or a Two. If there are
   no cards that are one higher or lower than your current up
   card, click on the next card in the draw pile. This will give
   you a new up card. Try to maximize your scoring by creating
   long runs of cards. The longer the run before drawing a new
   card, the higher score you will receive. The game ends when
   you are out of cards to play from the draw pile. If you clear
   the board of all three card Pyramids, then you get to advance
   to the next round and continue to accumulate your score.

SCORING
-------
   Knowing how the scoring in Pyramids works will help you to
   attain a higher score. Pyramids is all about putting together
   long runs of cards. The more you put together in a run, the
   more points you will accumulate. The first card you play in
   a run is worth 10 points. Each time you add a card to a run it
   doubles the value until the run reaches 7th card. For the 8th
   and 9th cards in a run, the score increases at 1.5 times.
   After 9 cards, 100 points are added per card played in a run.
   You will also get additional bonuses for clearing a Pyramid of
   cards. There are three top cards in each round. In the first round,
   clearing a pyramid will net you and additional 500 points. After
   a pyramid is cleared, the next one will be worth an additional
   250 points. In each successive round, the first pyramid cleared
   will give you a bonus of 250 points less than the last top card
   in the previous round. For example, the last card cleared in round
   one would be a 1,000-point bonus. The first pyramid cleared in the
   second round would be a 750-point bonus. The second pyramid cleared
   in round two would be worth a 1,000-point bonus and the last card
   cleared would be 1,250 points.
   Furthermore, for each round you clear you get a 1000 point bonus,
   and a bonus for the cards that are left in the stock. The bonus
   points you get for the remaining cards is: (the number of remaining
   cards + 1) * 100. E.G. if you have 8 cards left after clearing a
   round you will get (8 + 1) * 100 = 900 bonus points.

AUTHOR
------
  Ender Wiggin (wiggin15@yahoo.com)
  The graphics are taken from Yahoo! Games' original Pyramids.
  This game was written in C using Allegro. If you want the source code,
  feel free to send an e-mail.

  A huge thanks goes to EditPlus for their amazing text/source-code editor.
  I don't know how I would do anything without it.
  http://www.editplus.com
  I would also like to thank Johan Peitz for his wonderful Allegators, 
  and Shawn Hargreaves for the Allegro Game Programming Library.


DISCLAIMER
----------
   I do not accept responsibility for any effects, adverse or otherwise,
   that this software may have on you, your computer, your sanity, your
   dog, or anything else that you can think of. Use it at your own risk.

   OR IN OTHER WORDS : Don't blame me for anything.

   I have, however, never experienced any trouble with it.


Thank you,

  -- Ender Wiggin


[Written : January 1st, 2003]
[Update : July 5th, 2005]
[Last Updated : June 8th, 2008]