Yahtzee Automation Program (YAP)
by Charles Martin <HiTechCharles@gmail.com>
Project web site: http://yap.sourceforge.net
What is yap?
============
YAP is a program that will keep track of scores for the game Yahtzee. YAP saves
you time by adding scores, always knowing whose turn it is, showing the leader of
the pack at the touch of a button, and it runs on anything bash will run on.
YAP is easy to follow. On each player's turn, just choose a category
and input how many points. The YAP will figure out the scores, which scoring
categories are available, and how many turns each player has taken.
Why does it not roll dice?
==========================
This program was made for situations where you've got a bunch of guys and gals
in one room. While you play the game, you can talk plenty, drink plenty, and
enjoy each other's company. Why use a computer? One is usually nearby, it's
always a fair game since accurate scores and player turn are kept. Also the
current game is saved to disk after each turn for recovery after a computer
crash or when you want to finish the game later.
How to Run it
=============
After downloading the gzip archive containing the program, go into a terminal
and change to the directory containing the download like this:
cd ~/Downloads
Next, extract the archive with
tar -xvf yap-1.0.tar.gz
After extraction, you will see a new directory called yap.
Get into this directory with
cd yap
Finally, run the program by issuing the command with all names of players
with spaces between the command and each name.
./yap Charles Tiffany Jackie
The game is now running!
How to use it
=============
Once YAP starts, the program will introduce itself, and show the
order for the players. Just press a key here to continue
On each player's turn, the screen and options stay the same. Only the scoring
categories will dissappear as they are used. At the top, the current player's
name, score, and turns remaining is displayed. Following this, a list of keys
and remaining categories appear. At the end, a few options are given.
To score, just press the letter or number next to the category that the player
wants to use. You will be prompted for the number of points gained. Zero is
allowed as well. Type the number of points and hit ENTER. To pick a different
category to score, just press ENTER with no input to allow choosing a different
scoring area.
For Full house, the straights, and yahtzee, you either score the full amount of
points or zero. For these, press F to score full points, z for zero, or C to
cancel the category selection and try again.
After scoring, the value for the category chosen, as well as
total points are printed. Press any key to go to the next player's turn.
At the start of any player's turn, you can press A to see all scores, P
to see your score card, or Q to exit the program. When exiting, your
game is saved for next time.
End of the game
===============
When all participants have filled in all of their categories, the game ends.
The final scores are given, and the winner is announced. Total wins for each
player are kept to show who has won the most games.
Files
=====
All YAP files are stored in your home directory under .yap. The recovery
directory contains data used to recover the current game in progress. The winners
file keeps track of how many wins for each player that has won.