Armchair Cricket County Championship ==================================== This file (ARMCHAIR.TXT) is a guide to playing Armchair Cricket County Championship, a DOS program. It's divided into four sections: (1) How to play the Armchair Cricket card game, (2) Playing a match in ACCC, (3) The ACCC competition structure, (4) Using the rest of the ACCC program. How to play the Armchair Cricket card game ------------------------------------------ Armchair Cricket is a card game for two players carefully designed to capture the major aspects of a real cricket match. Players alternate as batsmen and bowlers, trying to score more runs than the other side. The computer takes the role of umpire. The game is played with two identical packs of 55 cards, each made up of five suits of 11 cards numbered from 1 to 11. The suits are pads, bats, balls, stumps, and gloves. Both packs of cards are shuffled together and seven cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards constitute the pickup pile. This is the only time the cards are dealt in the entire match. A coin is tossed for choice of innings. The winner, after studying his cards, either elects to bat or to bowl. Both players then throw away an unwanted card, bowler first, to start a discard pile. The bowler's discard will determine the no-ball suit in the first over. (An over consists of six balls bowled consecutively.) Play commences when the bowler bowls the first ball by playing one of his six cards onto the discard pile. The card he plays is replaced in his hand by the top card from the pickup pile. To avoid being out the batsman has three basic choices open to him: (1) He may play a card of a different suit to the bowler's which is equal or higher in number. (This signifies that he has allowed the ball to pass to the wicket-keeper, unless a 10 or 11 is used in which case the ball has beaten the bat but failed to take a wicket.) (2) He may play a card of the same suit which is equal or lower in number. (This signifies a defensive stroke or one which has not penetrated the field.) (3) He may play a card of the same suit which is higher in number. This will score runs according to the following table: Batsman's card superior by: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Number of runs scored: 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4 6 For example, if the batsman plays an 8 of bats in response to the bowler's 5 of bats, he will score 1 run. The card the batsman plays on top of the bowler's card is replaced in his hand by the top card from the pickup pile. Once a card has been played by either player it may not be changed. Play continues in this fashion, ball by ball, over by over, until there are no cards left to pick up. When the pickup pile is exhausted, all except the top card of the discard pile is shuffled to form a new pickup pile. Play then continues as before. A wicket falls whenever the batsman plays a card of a different suit to the bowler's which is lower in number. The suits of the bowler's and batsman's cards determine how the batsman is dismissed. A new batsman takes the place of the dismissed batsman, and the batting side is allowed to change up to two cards before the next ball is bowled. Batsmen numbered 6, 7 and 8 cannot use a 1 to defend against a higher card in the same suit. Batsmen numbered 9, 10 and 11 cannot use a 1 or a 2 to defend against a higher card in the same suit. (This results in lower-order batsmen having less batting ability.) There are optional rules for scoring extras (no-balls, wides and byes), which count as runs. These rules should be introduced one by one as soon as the rules of the basic game are mastered. One suit becomes no-balls for each over of the game. The last ball of every over determines the no-ball suit for the following over. If the bowler bowls a card of the prohibited suit, the umpire calls "no-ball", the batting side score one no-ball, and the batsman may do one of three things: (1) Not play any card. (2) Hit the no-ball for runs by playing a higher card in any suit. (3) Discard any card, even if it would normally result in a lost wicket. A no-ball does not count as one of the over, so an extra ball must be bowled to complete the over. The last ball bowled in one innings determines the no-ball suit for the first over of the next innings. A wide occurs when the bowler bowls a card which is the same number as the card on top of the discard pile, regardless of suit. The umpire calls "wide", and the batsman has the option of not playing any card. This will allow him to score 1 wide, unless the cards involved are 11s, in which case 4 wides are scored. The batsman may also play a card as normal, in which case the "wide" call is revoked. A wide does not count as one of the over. A bye occurs when the bowler bowls a card which is one higher in number than the card on top of the discard pile, regardless of suit. The umpire calls "bye", and the batsman scores byes, without playing a card, according to the following table: Number of bowler's card: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Number of byes scored: 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 If a bowler plays an 11 of the same suit of the card which has apparently given away 4 wides or 4 byes, only 1 wide or no byes will be scored. (This signifies that the wicket-keeper made a superb stop.) Armchair Cricket is made by Armchair Games, High Street, Brandon, Suffolk, England. The ACCC program uses rules 1-14 and 23-25 from the third revision of the rulebook. Playing a match in ACCC ----------------------- In an ACCC match each side plays two innings. An innings is completed when ten wickets have fallen or when the batting side declare the innings closed. To win, a player must score more runs than in his opponent's two completed innings. A tie results if the match is finished with scores level. If the match is not finished before 27 packs have been used (and the last over of the pack has been completed), the result is a draw. When a match begins, the winner of an automatic coin toss is shown his cards and decides whether to bat or to bowl. A letter or number inside square brackets indicates a key to press to indicate a choice; if you win the toss, press B to bat first or F (field) to bowl first. Choose a card to discard by pressing the appropriate number. The match screen will appear, displaying the scoreboard, your hand and other relevant information: Surrey v Nottinghamshire Surrey to bowl to Nottinghamshire . . . +-----+ +---+ first day, morning session TOTAL | 0 | FOR | 0 | WKTS +-------------------------- +-----+ +---+ 96 cards left in pack #1/27 +-----+ +------+ LAST WKT | | OVERS | 0.0 | Notts 0-0 +-----+ +------+ Surrey no-balls: discard pile: #stumps# 1 of $pads$ Notts lost the toss and were put in to bat Surrey's hand: 6 of 8 of 10 of 7 of 11 of 11 of @gloves@ #stumps# #stumps# !bats! $pads$ #stumps# [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Enter bowler's play: _ The top left line gives the result of the last delivery. The scoreboard area below displays runs scored and wickets lost by the batting side, the score at which the last wicket fell and the number of overs bowled in the current innings. To its right is shown which day and session is being played, how much more of the match is left and the complete match score by innings. Below that is a ball-by-ball history of the last three or so overs and a brief description of the state of the match. Below the scoreboard area is listed the no-balls suit and the card on top of the discard pile. Your hand is displayed at the bottom with a prompt for your next play. Taking into account the displayed match information, especially the top card on the discard pile, select your next play by pressing the number below it, or press = to have the computer choose for you. The computer will then respond from its own hand and the match information will be updated accordingly. You will be prompted when appropriate to change cards. Here's what the match begun above looks like on the morning of the final day: Surrey v Nottinghamshire Notts batsman no. 5 is out caught. +-----+ +---+ third day, morning session TOTAL | 37 | FOR | 5 | WKTS --------------------+------ +-----+ +---+ 96 cards left in pack #21/27 +-----+ +------+ LAST WKT | 37 | OVERS | 14.3 | Notts 99 & 37-5 +-----+ +------+ Surrey 237 no-balls: discard pile: 1 . . . | . . . . . 1 | 1 1 1 . . . | . . W *balls* 1 of !bats! Notts need 101 runs to bowl again Surrey's hand: 11 of 1 of 2 of 7 of 5 of 8 of !bats! #stumps# $pads$ #stumps# $pads$ $pads$ [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Enter bowler's play: _ Surrey look poised to record a rare innings victory over Nottinghamshire! The ACCC competition structure ------------------------------ A first-class season consists of each of eight sides playing each other twice. A win earns 4 points, a tie 2 points, a draw 1 and a loss none. If a match is drawn with the batting side one run short of victory, the batting side earn a tie and the bowling side earn a draw. If any counties are level on points, the higher quotient (the ratio of batting average to bowling average) has priority. The winner of the championship is the county with the most points at the end of a season, while the eighth-place side are relegated to second-class status for the next season. The champions earn 360 in prize money, the runners-up 150, third place 80, fourth 45, fifth 24 and sixth 10. The second-class competition has the same structure, with the top county being promoted to first-class status and no prize money awarded. The competition begins in 1890 and lasts up to a hundred years. The 16 sides in ACCC are based on the top 16 English county sides that competed from 1890-1892, the first three years of the official County Championship. The counties begin with the status they had in 1890, when Surrey won the first County Championship and Somerset, the top second-class county, were promoted for the 1891 season. (Unfortunately, the bottom first-class county, Sussex, were not relegated to second-class status for 1891 and the promotion/relegation idea was abandoned, resulting in the expansion and dilution of the first-class competition and the death of the second-class designation.) Using the ACCC program ---------------------- First copy ARMCHAIR.EXE to a directory on your system (like C:\ARMCHAIR). Change to that directory and run ACCC by typing ARMCHAIR at the command line. When ACCC begins, it asks for a filename. Enter a name no longer than eight characters, like SURREY11 or 1ST_TRY. If the file doesn't already exist (as a correct ACCC file), the program will ask for confirmation before creating a new file with that name. Numbers or letters in square brackets (like [1]) are keys you can press to make a selection. Numbers refer to menu choices or cards to play; letters refer to counties or game choices. Next is an options menu; use 1 through 9 to change the game options and 0 when finished. [1] No-ball rule in effect [2] Wide rule in effect [3] Bye rule in effect [4] Batsmen per side 11 [5] Packs per session 3 [6] Days per match 3 [7] Batting AI level 5 (professional) [8] Bowling AI level 5 (professional) [9] Revert to default settings These options are set only once and can't be changed without creating a new data file. The first-timer should turn off the no-ball, wide and bye rules, change the number of batsmen per side to 4 or so, and adjust the AI levels to 1 (novice) or 2 (village). When a greater challenge is required, specify a new data file when starting the program and adjust the extras rules and AI levels to your comfort level. Eventually the default settings will provide the richest challenge. The main screen features a menu: [1] Play next match quickly Plays the next match in the season quickly and shows the scoreboard at the end of the match. (If this choice isn't available but [2] is, your county is playing; press [2] to play the match. If neither [1] nor [2] is available, matches in the other competition must be completed first; pressing [1], like [9], will switch to the other competition.) [2] Play next match fully Plays the next match in the season in full, showing the scoreboard and all details of play throughout and pausing when a wicket falls, an interval is taken or an innings comes to a close. (If this choice isn't available, matches in the other competition must be completed first; pressing [2], like [9], will switch to the other competition.) [3] View current points table Shows the points table ranking the sides in order of points earned. If any counties are level on points, the higher quotient (batting average divided by bowling average) has priority. Also gives number of matches played and win-loss-draw-tie records for each county. An asterisk identifies your county. [4] View averages Shows batting and bowling statistics for each county. Avge (batting or bowling average) is runs per wicket, ScR (scoring rate) is runs per 100 balls and StR (strike rate) is balls per wicket. [5] View match results Shows a county's season schedule updated with the results of finished matches and placing after each round. The rightmost column shows the number of points behind the first-place county; if in first place, the lead over the second-place county is displaced further to the right. [6] View county records Shows a county's record totals (highest and lowest, for and against) and record partnerships for each wicket. [7] Review previous season Reviews points table, averages and match results (choices [3], [4] and [5]) for past seasons. Use [7] and [8] to cycle through the seasons. [8] Review all-time results Presents all-time results summaries menu (explained below). [9] Switch to second-class (first-class) Toggles between the first-class and second-class competitions' main menus. Choosing [8] from above presents another menu: [1] View rolls of honour Shows the top three first-class finishers and the promoted county for each year. [2] View final positions Shows the year-by-year final positions of each county. The second-class placings are in parentheses. [3] View first-class results Ranks all counties by total prize money won, giving all-time first-class win-loss-draw-tie records, quotients, number of championships won and times relegated. [4] View first-class averages Shows all-time first-class batting and bowling statistics. [5] View second-class results Shows all-time second-class records, ranked as for option [3], but giving number of times promoted and wooden spoons taken. [6] View second-class averages Shows all-time second-class batting and bowling statistics. Please e-mail any questions about this program to .