GrandPrixJumping

= Overview = In Grand Prix Jumping, the players take on the roles of riders, leading their steeds through a Grand Prix competition course that includes fences of varying rail heights, as well as a water jump. Getting through the course fast will help a player's cause but will not guarantee victory as the winner is not the horse that finishes faster but the one with the fewest fault points.

Players design the course before each game so the strategy of the race changes with each race. Players can make the course as demanding as they want. While Grand Prix Jumping is at it heart a card game, there is very little luck involved, and the better rider will be victorious. Now saddle up and hit the course...

= Credits =

The game of Grand Prix Jumping was designed by Jerry Dziuba.

The turn highlight buttons are based on drawings by Benji Park which are in the public domain and available from http://www.openclipart.org

All other graphics drawn by Jerry Dziuba and Richard Walter.

This program was written by Richard Walter. Bug reports, request for enhancements, comments, etc... should be sent to rwalter42 at yahoo dot com.

Many thanks to Jerry for encouraging development of this computer version of his game to be made.

= Playing the Game = In Grand Prix Jumping, players use cards to move their horses and riders around the track and over the jumps. Cards are distributed via a "divide and choose" method where one player will divide cards into two piles and the other player will choose which pile to take and which to lave for the divider to use. After the split each player can play cards to move their horses around the course. Then they verify that they are not over the allowable hand limit size. Fault points are accumulated during the game and are the ultimate victory condition. The player finishing with the fewer fault points is the victor and may or may not be the rider crossing the	finish line first.

Preparation
When the game is started, the creator picks an initial layout of jumps to use. If enabled, the game enters an editing phase where either player may change the layout of fences on the board.

Clicking on a space on the board will increase the height of the fence on that space by one rail. Holding the key and clicking on a space will decrease the height of the fence on that space by one rail. Water fences are placed by clicking on a height 5 fence, if valid. It is not allowed to place fences on a water fence or to have water fences overlap.

When a player is done making edits, he must click the "Done" button. If the opponent, however, makes any edits after that point, then the first player's done button will become active again and the player must click it again to show acceptance of the new layout. Once both players have indicated that they accept the layout without any intervening changes, then the initial cards are played from the draw pile and play begins.

If edits are disabled, then the game immediately sets out the initial cards.

The Split
For each round of play, one player will be the divider and the other will be the chooser. The players alternate each round with the divider of the current round becoming the chooser for the next round, etc... Player 0 is the initial divider.

The divider is given seven cards face up. He must then split the seven cards into two groups. He may split them in any way he wants as long as there is at least one card in each group. That is the only requirement for how the cards are divided up.

Once the divider has signaled that the split is done, his opponent (the chooser) decides which of the two groups to take and the divider gets the group that the chooser did not pick. All "hand cards" are placed into the player's hands and are hidden from the other player. "Immediate action" cards are left face-up in front of the players, as these must be settled before the end of their current turn.

Once the chooser has completed any movement he is able to make and has used all of the action cards he has in front of him, his turn for this round is concluded. At this time, he must make sure that he is not over his allowed hand limit. If he is, then he must discard down to the limit.

It is then the divider's turn to use the cards left to him by the chooser. At the end of his turn, he must also be sure he is within his current allowable hand limit.

Explanation of Cards - Hand cards
Hand cards may be held in a player's hand and played in that turn or future rounds

Height card - These cards are used to get the height required to clear a jump. The number on the card corresponds to the number of rungs your horse can clear on any given jump. For example, a height card of 4 will allow your horse to clear a 1, 2, 3 or 4 rung jump.

Length card - These cards are used to give your horse the required length to clear jumps. At a minimum you'll need a length of two to clear any vertical jumps, assuming you are beginning the jump directly in front of the jump. A minimum length of five is needed to clear the water jump.

Canter card - Canter cards allow you to move your horse between the jumps. You move your horse the corresponding number of spaces as the number on the Canter card(s) played.

Saddle card - A saddle card is required to play any of the movement cards (jump or canter). For each saddle card played you are allowed to play one set of jump cards and/or canter cards. You may play any number of cards, but once you change from either cantering or jumping you can't play more of those types of cards unless you play another saddle card.

''Example: A player plays a saddle card to start moving, followed by two "canter 1" cards to move his horse forward 2 spaces. He then plays a combination of jump cards equal to 3 height and 2 width to clear a 3 high jump. If he wishes to continue cantering from this	point, he would need to play another saddle card.''

Ribbon card - Ribbon cards allow you to rely on your past accomplishments. As such, you can play a ribbon card and either reduce your fault count by 1/4 point or use it to trade in for another card from the deck. If the card you get is an Immediate action card, then you must use it this turn, otherwise the card will be put into your hand.

Explanation of Cards - Immediate Action cards
Immediate action cards must be used in the same turn as acquired and cannot be held for future turns.

Stable card - Stable cards increase the number of cards a player may hold in his hand by 1. The beginning hand limit for each player is eight cards (enforced at the end of their turn.) Stable cards are not recycled into the discard deck.

Fault cards - These cards penalize the player with fault points. The player gets the appropriate number of fault points.

Dual Rider card - This card allows the player to draw two cards from the top of the draw pile and, after looking at them, decide which to keep himself and which to give to his opponent. If you have already taken your turn for this round and receive an immediate action card from your opponent, then you must satisfy that card before the end of the round, but you may not take another "normal turn" in the process. If you have already taken your turn for this round and receive a hand card from your opponent, then it goes into your hand. You do not have to discard down to your hand limit until at the end of your next "normal" turn.

Race Official card - If you receive this card your horse has failed a vet check. As a penalty you must either take one full fault point or discard half of your hand cards - rounded up. (If you have 7 cards, you must discard 4.) You can choose when during your turn to apply the Race Official card, so you may play cards during your "normal" turn before having to discard half of them, if you choose that option.

Clearing Jumps
To clear a jump, height and length cards are played in combination. You must play enough height cards to equal or exceed the number of rails for a jump and, at the same time, also play enough length cards to carry your horse to the space beyond the jump. The space the jump is on counts as one so the minimum value of length cards needed to clear a jump would be two, assuming that the horse began the jump in the space directly in front of the jump.

You may use any combination of height and length cards with the two restrictions:

1) Height and length cards may only be used when going over a jump. You may use the length of the jump to clear more space ahead of or beyond a jump, but under no circumstances may you use a jump to simply move forward in lieu of canter cards.

2) You card combination cannot exceed a value of seven.

''Example: You could not use a height of 5 and a length of 3. Therefore, to clear a 5-rail jump cleanly, you must begin your movement directly in front of the jump and play cards equal to 5 in height and 2 in length.''

Note: A height card is required to clear the water jump with no faults, but any value will work.

Fault Points
Throughout the game, players will accumulate fault points. There are three different ways a player can be penalized fault points:


 * Fault Cards - The player gets as many points as listed on the card.


 * Race Official Card - If a player does not want to lose half of his cards, he is penalized one full fault point.


 * Not clearing a jump - A player may purposely not play enough jump points to clear a jump. For each rail not cleared, then player is penalized one full fault point.

For the water jump, players are penalized for coming up short length-wise. For each space short, they are penalized one full fault point.

The maximum amount of fault points a player may have is four. If a player goes over the limit of four faults, he is immediately disqualified and loses the game!

The only way to reduce your fault points is through the use of the Ribbon cards to reduce your fault total by 1/4 point per each Ribbon card played. If both players should happen to go over the four point limit during the same turn, then the player with the fewer fault points is the winner. If both players are tied, then the player whose horse is further along the track is the winner. If both players are on the same space, then the game is a tie.

Ending the Game
The game ends when, after a full round, either one (or both) players has more than four full fault points, or when either one (or both) players has their horse on the last, checkered, space of the board. If the other player's horse is still on the course, he is penalized 1/4 fault point for each space he is behind as a time penalty. (The amount of penalty fault points to assign is shown on the board.)

The player with the fewer fault points is the winner!

If both players are tied, then the player whose horse made it to the finish space is the winner.

If both horses are on the same space and both players have equal fault points, then the game is a tie.

= Interface Details =

Note that this game uses a very wide board. You probably will need to adjust the size of the game window to play.

Game Parameters
When staring a new game, there are two options you must choose from to configure the game.

Initial Board Setup - This sets the initial placement of the fences on the board. Random setups will place the fences on the board randomly with the following characteristics:
 * There will be two each of height 1, 2 & 3 fences and one each of height 4 & 5 fences.
 * There will be one water fence and it will be located on the second or third row of the board.
 * No two fences will be immediately next to each other.
 * No fence will be located directly in front of or behind the water jump.

Enable Editing - If enabled, then the players may change the configuration of the fences on the board before the game begins. If disabled, then the board is locked to the initial placement and play proceeds directly to the first sorting phase.

Fault Point Panel
At the top left corner is the fault point panel. This shows the number of fault points that each player has accumulated. As fault points are gained, the bar will fill in with that player's color. When a player goes over the maximum of four full fault points, the bar will wrap around back to the left side and start filling in in red.

Done Button
Below the fault point panel is the done button. Players must press the done button to indicate that they are done with their turn. The text of the done button will change to indicate the action that will occur when the button is pressed. If the button is disabled, then it is not legal to end the turn at that point. This is usually caused by having immediate action cards that haven't been played yet.

Dividing Panel
Below the Done Button is the dividing panel. As each round begins, seven cards will be placed in the left side of the dividing panel. The player that is the divider for this turn will divide the cards into two groups, one on the left and one on the right. Moving the mouse over the groups will show which card will move when clicked on.

When the divider is done dividing the cards, he should press the Done Button to indicate that dividing is finished.

After the divider has finished his action, the chooser must now decide which pile he will take and which he will leave for the divider. Mousing over the groups will outline one of the groups. Clicking on a highlighted group will cause the chooser to get those cards and the divider to get the group not chosen.

The player who is to take the next action is shown by the horse in the lower left corner of the Dividing Panel.

State Panel
The lower left corner of the table shows a text panel that indicates what the current state of the game is and whose turn it is.

This also indicates that number of cards in the draw pile. When this number hits 0, then the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new draw pile. A chat message is also displayed that indicates that the reshuffle occurred.

Hand Panel
The top of the window shows your hand. Moving the mouse over a card will cause it to move up a little to show which card is being pointed at. Only cards which are legal to play at any given time will respond this way to the mouse. Clicking the mouse will select the current card and play it.

Hand cards appear on the left side of the hand panel and are kept sorted.

Immediate action cards appear on the right side of the hand panel and are kept in the order in which they are received during the current round.

A grey box near the bottom of hand panel indicates what your current hand limit is. It displays two numbers as "x / y" which indicate that you currently have x cards and your limit is y cards. The box is positioned such that it's right edge is located where the right edge of the card would be painted when you've reached your hand limit. As Stable cards are drawn, the box will move to the right.

When Saddle, Canter, Height and Length cards are played, they are darkened and an icon representing them is placed on the game board to show where they will be applied. Clicking on a darkened card will un-play the card and move it back into the player's hand. Note that un-playing a saddle card will also un-play any Canter, Height and/or Length cards that follow that Saddle card. Cards must be played from the hand in the order that they will be applied toward movement. This means, for example, that the first movement card selected must be a Saddle card to start the movement. After that, either a Canter, Height or Length card can be played.

When a Ribbon card is clicked on, the player will have to choose whether to apply the card to reduce the fault points by 1/4 point or to trade it in for another card. Click on the appropriate half of the card to take the action. Clicking outside of the card will cancel the selection and put the ribbon card back into the player's hand.

The results of Stable and Fault cards are immediately applied by the game when drawn and will always show up in the Immediate Card area darkened.

When a Race Official card is clicked on, the player will have to choose whether to receive one full fault point or to discard half his hand. Click on the appropriate half of the card to take the action. Clicking outside of the card will cancel the selection and put the Race Official card back into the player's hand.

When a Dual Rider card is clicked on, the Immediate action cards will be replaced by a display of the next two top cards of the deck. The player must choose one of these two cards for himself by clicking in it. The other card will be given to his opponent. There is no way to undo clicking on the Dual Rider card.

When it is a player's turn, his horse will be shown along with a highlight button in the lower left corner of the appropriate hand panel.

Main Board
In the center of the table is the main board. This shows the current positions of the horses and the jumps.

As you play movement cards from your hand, small icons will be placed on the main board to show where those cards will be applied. To remove a card and put it back into his hand, a player may either click on the darkened card in the Hand panel, or click on the small icon on the track.

As movement cards are applied, a line is drawn to show the horse's progress along the track. If the current sequence of cards is a legal play, then a shadow horse is drawn at the end of the line. If the current sequence of cards is *not* a legal play, then the line will just end with a dot.

If the current sequence of cards is a legal play that ends with jump cards, then a small "+" icon will appear by the shadow horse. Clicking on the "+" will place a fake saddle on the board and allow another jump to start. In this way, multiple jumps, each of which is limited to a total value of 7, can be played by one saddle card.

If you remove a fake saddle card by clicking on it's icon, then the jump and canter cards of just that jump are removed as well. If you remove a real saddle card, then all of the subsequent fake saddles coming after that are removed as well.

When a player is ready to commit to moving his horse, he must click on the shadow horse shown on the board. This will take all of the cards played on the current turn and remove them from the player's hand and move the horse to the target location.

While a player is building a jump, the opponent (and spectators) will only see the location of the shadow horse as it moves along the track. The opponent and spectators only see the actual cards played when the move is committed.

When jump is made over a fence that does not clear the jump, a warning sign is placed near the jump indicating how many fault points will be accrued by the player if the jump were to be committed. These warning signs cannot be removed by clicking on them. They are removed by adding additional height (or, in the case of a water jump, length) cards to overcome the fence.

Opponent Hand Panel
Below the track is the Opponent's Hand Panel. This shows the cards for your opponent's Hand and Immediate cards. Opponents Hand cards are shown face down while opponent's Immediate cards are shown face up.

= Links =