Big Two ver. 2

Sourceforge download page | PUMB discussion board(Cantonese)

 

Big Two is a game for the Palm OS. It is a game of 'Choi Dai Di' in Chinese and is very fun to play among four players. The aim of the game is to get rid of all your cards. The interesting thing about this game is that the biggest card is 2 and hence the name 'Big Two'. Download the game now, it is freeware. Please also feedback any comments or bugs to me. I have released the source code under GPL, get the source code from here.

Simple instruction (Full instruction here):

Player with the 3 of diamonds, leads. You can play a single card, a pair of cards (e.g. two 5's), 3 cards of same rank, or 5 cards in a flush, straight, or full house.

Object of the game is to get rid of your cards first. 2's are high, 3's are low. Suit rank in ascending order is diamond, club, heart and spade.

Minimum Requirements : Tested on OS3.5,~ 5.4 devices
(Please report to me if any flaws are found on your Palm!)

Size : 87KB
Version : 2.2.8
Email : billypchan@gmail.com

Download game

Download source code (SVN)

Screen Capture


Start
 portrait
 landscape
 menu
BigTwo v2 support 5Nav. You can select the cards with the rock keys
 For devices support HiRes+, you can monitor which cards are played
 Landscape mode display
 Menu of BigTwo
prefs
 Game History

Enable autopass for 5-card turn for a faster pace. Use Hong Kong Rule Set for "winner play first", "23456 is biggest straight"
 You can view what cards are played and export the history to Memo pad


Change Log

v2.2.8
11 February 2007
#update the game instruction, thanks Headcronie at Brighthand discussion board
#redraw sort by rank and sort by suit icons
#Landscape mode: remove the title bar line in card history area
#bug fix :"BigTwo disabled auto off"

v2.2.7
30 January 2007
#bug fix -"no longer hangs on M505, tested on emulator"
#bug fix -"Game Hist memory leak problem"

v2.2.6
27 January 2007
+The old name is filled in edit name dialog
+Help text updated for new functions
#Bug fix: "5 Nav focus ring left a mark when multiple cards are selected"
#Arrange the Pref widgets, fix the 2nd check box can't not be focused correctly problem

v2.2.5
21 January 2007
#Bug fix: "WIN does not appear in score form, after form is redrawn"

v2.2.4
19 January 2007
#Bug fix: "exit in score form resets prefs"

v2.2.3
17 January 2007
# use windrawchar to draw the red "WIN!!" in score form

v2.2.2
14 January 2007
    #Bug Fix "pointer error in Game Hist form"

v2.2.1
2 January 2007
    #Bug Fix "Soft reset after checked 'Show card left in score dialog
    #Adjust "Card Left" location in score form

31 December 2006
v2.2    + Hong Kong rule set. Enable it in Preference menu item
    2 rules different from standard Big Two rules are :
    1. other than first round, the winner of last round can play first. It is the reward of the winner!
    2. 23456 is the largest Straight
    + Show total rounds,total seconds, max score in one game and score balance in High score dialog.
    + show suit of cards leaf on players' hand in score form
    + add "*" in "WIN!" string
    #Change the icon of Club and Spade, looks more 3D now.
    #Bug fix : "flush autopass wrongly problem"
    *replace the C struct with C++ class


17 December 2006
v2.1    + Select Card for new game(click customer in New Game)
    + Show "WINS! in score form"
    + show card left in exported history
    #bug fix: flush holder can not play when last player holds straight
    * change programming language to c++ (better language than c, for complex project)   
    * It is beta version now!
2 October 2006
v2.0.12 + use bitmap to draw spade and club
    December 2006 bug fix: "rotate form in HiRes+ not redraw"

24 September 2006
v2.0.11 + user can modify the players' names
    + support Xplore M68's DIA (make the card history region tighter, since M68's DIA is ~40 pixels height)
        + (under debugging) use M68's keypad of card selection, key 0 for first card, key 9 for 10th card, key * for 11th card and key # for 12th card (Thank you to Inputspector Hazelware(c), very useful for get the key code)
    TODO: Make spade and club to bitmap.

16 August 2006
v2.0.10 - hold down button to select all card with same suit
    - bug fix: prevent generate unnecessary nilevent
        -          remove game history at this version, do it again in next version

1 August 2006
v2.0.f - bug fix: "color picker cancel bug"
          "multi-player round number not reset bug"
       - Game History display and export
16 July 2006
v2.0.e - bug fix: "Press OK not start a new game bug"
          field color use system default color

16 July 2006
v2.0.d - bug fix: autopass for 5-card turn: change LookForFourOfAKind(), LookForStraight() for supporting check human cards, fix the problem "com play full house, human have four of a kind but can't play problem".
          Score form press "OK" reset game bug

27 June 2006
v2.0.c - add sort by rank high density icon.(Next version I will introduce alpha blend of icon, make it appears without "white edge" in dark background)
       - bug fix: change EvtGetEvent(&event, SysTicksPerSecond() / 10); to
          EvtGetEvent(&event, SysTicksPerSecond() / 100);
          prevent "click pair but play one card" bug
                       
25 June 2006
v2.0.b - menu item "Select Background Color"
       - use "10" instead of "T" in High Density support device (also, OS >= 4.0)
                       
25 June 2006
v2.0.a - Change the Background color to lighter green (00cc00)
       - Add diamond and heart hi density bitmap resource
       - bug fix: heart and diamond bitmap in 1x mode: set transparent  color
                       
24 June 2006
v2.0.9 - Change the Background color to a card game feel green
       - bug fix: autopass for 5-card turn: change LookForFullHouse() and VerifyPlay() function to support check human has card to play
                                            now it can handle 5-card turn with same 5 card type correctly.
                       
22 June 2006
v2.0.8 - Add menu item "Send BigTwo to Friends!"
       - bug fix: M68 compatibility: disallow M68 calling frmNav*** function when company ID 'gsRl' is detected(hope it works on M68)

19 June 2006
v2.0.7 - Autopass for 5-card turn. You may enable it in Preference
       - bug fix: the application would not start Bluetooth unless Bluetooth button is selected in Multi-player form(Bluetooth game not yet complete)
                  M68 compatibility: disable 5 Nav when company ID 'gsRl' is detected

16 June 2006
v2.0.6 - bug fix: disable DIA and 5Nav when Xplore smartphone is detected
          (but not sure the problem came from DIA or 5Nav...
          however M68's 160x220 screen can't show all the card history,
          disable it, prevent the flaw)
          IR multiplayer game score bug fix
       - Bluetooth: Insert the library into the code, but not yet work in this version.
       - Change score form to non model form, good for standardize the overall code style, and can handles pkt now
       - If more then 10 cards left, add "DOUBLE!" string in the score form, after the left card.
             
6 June 2006
v2.0.5 - show the card left on hand in score form, you may disable it in preference
       - Create a Bluetooth game button(not work yet)

5 June 2006
v2.0.4 - bug fix: fix the problem "choose 4 com => hang"
    (however, it can not be terminated during COMs are playing... fix later)
    (recommend use the slower machine as the host... use newer machine as host course some problem)
                  use sysFileCVirtIrComm instead of serPortIrPort in release build, it works on Visor Platinum vs LifeDrive via IR port now!
       - icon: set the transparent color, the icon is visible when selected
               create the small icon(for list view or quick launch view)

3 June 2006
v2.0.3 - 5 Nav improved: press down rock key when a card is highlighted to select all cards with same rank

2 June 2006
v2.0.2 - Bug Fix: use PalmOSGlue to fix older devices compatibility problem
       - 5 Nav improved: able move to "toggle" and "clear" button
             when the focus ring is drawn on the smallest card, press "left" rock key can move to right-most card, and vice versa

1 June 2006
v2.0.1 - 5 Way Navigation support(oops...crashed on PDA not support 5nav...)

30 May 2006
v2.0.0 - First release of Bill
       - (Alpha release, tested on Garnet Simulator but not on real Palm)
       - UI improvement:
       -    Red suits' rank number is change to red
       -    Dynamic Input Area(DIA) shows the played cards.(If you don't like it, just hide it.)
       -    Four Player's name change to Adam, Bill, Carl and Dean
       -Multi-player game support:
       -    multi-player can play on one Palm
       -    IR Game support(tested on simulator, not ok when I play with my LifeDrive and Visor Platinum)

v1.2   - Added color support.
v1.1   - Fixed bug of double-tap on "Pass".
       - Displayed "I will not play with real money" when score is zero.
       - Fixed bug when cards are selected and the game is restarted.
       - Released source code under GPL.
v1.0   - Improved AI.
       - Fixed bugs with AI play.
       - Disallowed JQKA2 and allowed A2345 and 23456, for ranking please refer to the table below.
       - New scoring system, now if you win, points will be added instead of deducted. After 10 rounds, your score is calculated and you will be prompted to enter your name if you've a new high score.
       - Added "Clear Selection" button above the "Sort cards" button.
v0.51  - Minor bug fix.
v0.5   - Added "Sort cards" button on the game screen. Click on the 'spade' to sort by suit and the '2' to sort by rank.
       - Display "Lead" button when it is your turn to lead.
v0.3   - Fixed bug of selected card display error. Bug occurs when card is selected and the sort order is changed in preferences.
       - Hide "Pass" and "Play" buttons when it is not your turn.
v0.2   - Display "Your Play" so that you know it is your turn to play.
       - Added "Auto pass" to preferences. If checked, your turn will be automatically pass if your hand do not have bigger cards than the current play for 1, 2 and 3 cards play.
v0.1   - Original release.

Rules of BigTwo

A deck of cards is distributed to four players. The player with the 3 of diamond will play first and it has to be included in the first play. Each player can play either 1, 2, 3 or 5 cards. The next player must put something higher than the previous play with the same number of cards from the previous play. If a player decided not to play, he can pass his turn. If all three players pass their turns, the player with the last play will start a new round with anything he chooses.

The ranking of cards in ascending order is 3 < 4 <...< A < 2. The ranking of suits in ascending order is diamond < club < heart < spade. In other words, 2 of spade is the highest card and 3 of diamond the lowest card. Two or three cards play must be of the same rank. The rank of a pair is determined by the rank, i.e. 2 pair is higher than Ace pair which is higher than King pair. When the ranks are the same, the pair with the spade is higher, e.g. 10 spade, 10 diamond pair is higher than 10 heart, 10 club pair. Similarly, the rank of threes is determined by the rank of the cards, i.e. threes of 2 is higher than threes of Ace which is higher than threes of King, etc.

The ranking for five cards play in ascending order is straight < flush < full house < four of a kind < straight flush.

Type Description Ranking
Straight Five cards in a sequence of rank, e.g. 34567, 9TJQK. Lowest of the all types. Highest straight is TJQKA and lowest is A2345 followed by 23456. Within straight, ranking is first determined by rank then by suit, e.g. 45678 is higher than 34567 & 3456(7spade) is higher than 3456(7heart).
Flush Five cards having the same suit, e.g. 3589J of club, 479TK of heart. Higher than straight only. Within flush, ranking is determined by the rank of the highest card, e.g. 689TK of diamond is higher than 79TJQ of spade.
Full House Consist of a pair and a threes, e.g. 33888, 99KKK Higher than flush and straight only. Within full house, ranking is determined by the rank of the threes, e.g. 33888 is higher than 99777.
Four of a kind Consist of four cards of the same rank and any other card, e.g. 44443, 7777K. Lower than straight flush only. Within four of a kind, ranking is determined by the rank of the four cards, e.g. 3KKKK is higher than A3333.
Straight Flush Five cards having the same suit and in sequence, e.g 34567 of heart, TJQKA of spade. Highest of all types. Ranking of straight in first row also applies here. Within straight flush, ranking is first determined by rank then by suit, e.g. 45678 of diamond is higher than 34567 of spade & TJQKA of spade is higher than TJQKA of heart.

After one player gets rid of all his cards, the rank of remaining cards is used to compute each player's score, -1 point for 3, -2 points for 4 and -13 points for 2. If there are 10 cards or more left, the score is doubled. The player who wins will have the total points of three players added to his score. A round is ended and the deck of cards is re-dealt to the four players to continue play. After 10 rounds of play, your score is calculated and you will have a chance to enter the high scores list. The game is then restarted and the cycle continues.

Operation


For the Palms which support 5-way Navigation, you can play BigTwo with one hand only!
Tricks:
press "DOWN" to select all cards with same rank(good for pairs, three of a kind or full house)
hold "DOWN" for a sec. -select all cards with same suit(play straight easily)

Multi-player Game

Start multi-player game by selecting "New Multi-player Game" form menu. Current version supports up to 2 Palm play together. For multi-player game on one Palm, Select "Man" for human player beside to the seat. You can change the Player Name.  Before each human player's round, a big pop up box "Next Player's Turn" appears, to hide the previous player's hand card. Then you may pass the Palm to the human player as shown on the screen.
For IR multi-player game, Highlight "IR Game" button, one palm should select the "Host" button and other should select "Join" button, then select the "man" button beside to the set you want. The Palm which chose "host" then start the game by clicking "Start Game!" button.


© Chan Yiu Por Bill, 2006
© Woo Kok Tong, 1999