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Last update: Sep 27, 2002

Menus Players List and Chat Window Timer, Rolls, Dice, Now Rolling and Next Roller    Game Play, Rolling & Scoring Hints, Tips, Tricks, and Sound Known Bugs

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Menu-
    Options-
     Preferences-
        Server(ip:port)-
        Manually setting the server ip and port you wish to  join (obsolete, use ServerBrowser instead)
        Like this:  000.000.000.000:6050 or this: schmatzee.guessasketch.com:6050 
           Note:  As with all  of the text entry boxes found in Schmatzee you MUST hit 'return' to get Schmatzee to acknowledge your changes.

       NickName-
       Set your player name here.
          Note:    As with all of the text entry boxes found in Schmatzee you MUST hit 'return' to  get Schmatzee to acknowledge your changes.

       ServerPass-
       Set the server join password here.   Public servers have the pass of ROLL.
          Note:    As with all of the text entry boxes found in Schmatzee you MUST hit 'return' to  get Schmatzee to acknowledge your changes.

       Browserpath-
       This is here in case you would like to point GAS to  a web browser other than your windows default browser.
        Note:    As with all of the text entry boxes found in Schmatzee you MUST hit 'return' to  get Schmatzee to acknowledge your changes.

       Help Popup-
       Check here to activate/deactivate the popup  help on some buttons.

       Draw Cursor-
       Here you can select from a menu list which  cursor will be your freehand drawing tool cursor.

       Show rx/tx-
        This will display in the title bar the number  of seconds since your last reception and transmission to the server.
       When you receive data,  the rx turns into a big and when you transmit the tx    turns into a big TX..
       The numbers after the dots indicate the number  of RX seconds since your last activity  in that direction.
       The GAS server will give you a heartbeat  every 30 seconds. If you don't receive a heartbeat every 30 seconds,
       you might be lagged. Each heartbeat will  reset your rx counter. If you miss more than two heartbeats, you will  get 
       a Lag Warning popup with additional   information. If you miss 4 heartbeats, you will get a Serious Lag Warning   
       with additional information.

        Lag Popup-
        Check here to activate/deactivate the   Lag Warning popups.

       Font (type,size)-
       Click on font name to get pull down of available  fonts and styles. Left/Right click on number next to font to change size.

       Set Colors-
       Where you configure all the possible text  colors and chat window background.

       Override client colors-
       Check here to override everyone else's text  colors.  Sometimes people will select a color that is hard to read on  your
       background color.

       Save & Close-
       This saves the changes you've made and closes  the preferences window.  You changes will also be saved if you use
       the Windows X icon in the upper right of  the window as well.

Menu-
  Options-
     Quit Schmatzee-
       Closes the Schmatzee program.

Menu-
  Connect-
    Join Game-
     Connects you to the server specified in the preferences.
     Once you've joined, the server indicates your name has been added to the user list.

   Find Server-
    Launches your web browser and points you to the Guess-A-Sketch servers page, since there isn't one for Schmatzee yet.

    Leave Game-
      Removes you from the server, but leaves Schmatzee open.

Menu-
    Start a Game-
        Invite users to start a game of Schmatzee-
        This initiates a vote on all the players screens. They have the option of joining the game of Schmatzee that is
        about to start, or passing. If they select yes, once all the votes are in, the game will start, and they will be able to
        play.  If they select no, once the votes are in, they will not be part of the game, but they will be able to chat
        and watch the others play.

        Reset my card-
        This is more for offline practicing... which also can be used online, but only if there isn't an active game. 
        By selecting this you can reset your card, if you've been doing some practice rolls, and scoring them on your card.

Menu-
  Help-
     Schmatzee Docs-
     Launches a browser pointing to your off-line Schmatzee  documentation.

     Visit Schmatzee Home Page-
     Launches a browser pointed to the Schmatzee home page.

     Visit Schmatzee forum-
     Launches a browser pointed to the Schmatzee forum for feedback, bugs, suggestions or just chit chat.

     About Schmatzee-
     Find version number & contributors here.

Players List-
Score    Users-
Displays the word --disconnected-- when you are not connected to a server.  Once you are connected you will find your name in this list, along with the names of the other players on that server.  Also listed is each players score.  The list attempts to sort itself top to bottom in relation to highest score.

Chat Window-
This is where you read all information coming from other players and the server.  All server messages are preceded by the name: Server-> and are in red letters.  However, don't go by color alone, for it is possible for another player to chose red as their color.

Text Entry Window-
Here is where you enter any messages you want to send to the other players.
Note:  As with all  of the text entry boxes found in Schmatzee you MUST hit 'return' to get Schmatzee to acknowledge your changes.

Timer-
This counts down the time remaining in your turn.  You must complete your rolls and score your result before the time runs out.  If you fail to do so, the server will roll for you (if you haven't rolled at least once), and attempt to score the highest box for you (be forewarned, the server is not too smart in deciding what is the best box.  It picks the highest point value, paying no attention to strategy).

Roll-
This is the button you press when it's your turn to roll the dice.  Once pressed, you must wait for the dice to stop rolling before you can press it again.  This button is not available to you unless you are the current roller, or there is no current game being played.

0/3 Rolls-
This tells you which roll of the three rolls the current player is on.  Once a player hits 3/3, they have no more rolls left and they must score the result in an open box.

Speaker Icon-
Pressing this little speaker button will mute all the Schmatzee sounds.  If you Schmatzee program crashes when it tries to play a sound file, you'll want to click this button and try again.  I'm using a third party sound library to play the sounds, and I have no control over how it plays the files.  I've had one (maybe two) reports from people who say when the sounds play, it crashes their game (That was Guess-A-Sketch... but it's the same internally).

Dice Images-
These are actually buttons that you can press.  Once you roll the dice, these buttons will display a little rolling animation.  when the animation is complete, you must click on the dice that you want to exclude from the next roll (turning their border red).  When you press the roll button, the locked dice will not animate... thus holding the value when they were pressed.  Upon completion of the third roll, all the dice borders turn red, indicating you can no longer do anything with the dice, and you must score the result in an open box on your score card.

Current Roller-
Displays the name of the current roller, the player in control of the dice.

Next Roller-
Displays the name of the next player to roll,  after the current one.    The artist cue is infinite, but your name can be listed only once.

Game Play-
Once the vote to start a new game is complete, the server will respond with a list of names of the players to be included in the game that is starting.  If your name is in the list (if you answered Yes to the popup invite to play a game), you will be included.

Each player will be given 13 turns in which they will be able to roll all five dice up to three times, in order to fill all the boxes on the score card with the highest possible values.

The server will randomly pick a player to start turn one.  Once the player has rolled and scored their first turn, each additional player will be given their first turn, in which they will get to roll and record their score.

Once all 13 turns are complete for all the players in the current game, the server will compare the scores and declare a winner.  During the game, the scores for each player will be displayed by their name in the Score Players window in the upper left of the Schmatzee program.

Rolling-
When it's your turn to roll, the dice will be replaced by a big word <-ROLL, indicating it's your turn.  If you don't roll within 5 seconds of it becoming your turn, there is a nice audio notifier to make it absolutely clear that it is your turn to roll.

Once the dice have settled on your first roll, you review their values and determine which you want to keep, and which you want to roll again.  Click on the dice you want to keep, turning their borders red.  Now click on the roll button again to roll the rest of the non-locked dice (which will have green borders).

Once the dice settle on your second roll, you can once again select any green bordered dice to hold or lock (turning their border red), or click on a previously locked dice (red border) to free it up and allow it to roll with the rest of the green bordered dice.  once you are satisfied with your selection of locked and unlocked dice, hit the roll button again for your third and final roll.

Once the dice have settled on your third roll, you'll notice all their borders have turned red.  This is a clear indication that you can no longer make changes to the dice... and you must score the result of your roll. 

You can chose to not roll all three of your rolls at any time in your turn by simply scoring the dice early.  You may chose to do this if your first roll is exactly what you had hoped to get in your turn.

Scoring-
When you are finished rolling, decide which box to score on the score card.  Schmatzee calculates the score potential in each box after each roll, based on the values of the dice.  There are 13 scorable boxes on your card, which is always displayed on the left side of the Schmatzee window.  You MUST fill in a box on each turn... even if you have to enter a zero.  You can only score each box once, there is no undo.  To score a box, simply click on it.

The game calculates all the potential scores for you every roll, and displays them in all the open boxes.  As a result, you don't have to have a full understanding of the scoring system to play... although it does help to make intelligent choices on where to score each roll.  The following section will attempt to familiarize you with the method of scoring Schmatzee.  You'll notice it may be similar to another popular game you've played before. 

The score card is separated into two sections, the upper (left) and the lower (right).  You can get a bonus of 35 points in the upper section, if your sub total for that section is at lease 63.  To score at least 63 on the upper section, you must average three of a kind for ones through sixes.  The sub total and bonus are calculated for you.

The upper section consists of 6 scorable boxes, aces through sixes.  You can only score the value of the dice which match any given box, in each box.  For example, if a roll of all five dice resulted in the following combination: 1-2-2-3-6... In the upper section, it could be scored six different ways:

Full House:  The dice show two of one number and three of another number.

Small Straight:  The dice show four numbers in sequence, 1 2 3 4, 2 3 4 5, or 3 4 5 6.

Large Straight:  The dice show five numbers in sequence, 1 2 3 4 5, or 2 3 4 5 6.

Schmatzee:  The dice show five of a kind.  The first Schmatzee you enter in the Schmatzee box is worth 50 points.  For each additional Schmatzee you roll, you earn a 100 point Schmatzee bonus, and you score the roll in another box according to the Joker Rules (see below).

If you roll a Schmatzee and have already placed a zero in the Schmatzee box, you do NOT earn a Schmatzee bonus.  However, you must fill in one of the 13 boxes using the Joker Rules (see below)

Joker Rules:

   Score the total of all 5 dice in the appropriate box in the upper section.

   If the box in the upper section is already filled in, score in the lower section as follows:

       3 of a Kind:  total of all 5 dice
       4 of a Kind:  total of all 5 dice
       Full House:  25 points
       Small Straight:  30 points
       Large Straight:  40 points
       Chance:  total of all 5 dice

Sub Totals, Bonus and the Grand Total-
These are only calculated on the completion of your turn.  During your turn, they will display your current scores, minus the current turn you haven't scored yet.  

The other score card-
The other score card to the right of yours represents the other players score cards.  It defaults to Current Roller, which will follow who has control of the dice.  You can also select the card (where it displays the name) and pull out to display any specific players card.  Doing so will prevent the card from following the current roller.  You can select the card again, and pull down to Current Roller to restore the card to it's default function.

Sound-
There are several sound effects tied to different actions. Try typing /sounds in the text entry window to see the list.  You can click  on the speaker button to turn the sounds on/off.  Sound library for  Windows provided by The Snack Sound  Extension  for Tcl/Tk.

GAS doesn't fit on my screen-
The GAS program is 580x600, so if you're running your desktop at 800x600, it will be very tight.  GAS can also be resized (height only),
so you can grab the top title bar of GAS and resize it. Or you could increase the size (resolution) of your desktop.

How can I save a screen shot?-
  In windows, if you're fast, before the next round begins, hit Alt-PrintScreen.   Then immediately load a paint package (windows paint is fine) and paste the image. Now you can save the snapshot as an image and send it to your friends.     

Can I send a private message to another user?-
Yes.  In the text entry window, first enter /msg nickname message.  If you have sounds on, there will be a ringing phone sound played when you send or receive a private message. Here is an example private message from FON to rin:

   /msg rin I can't believe you got another Schmatzee!

    Which would result in the following message in FON's chat window:

   <Privately to FON->  I can't believe you got another Schmatzee!

    Which would result in the following message in Rin's chat window only:

   FON <Privately-> I can't believe you got another Schmatzee!

Can I do IRC like actions on myself?
Yes.  Just type /me in front of your message.  Here's an example of FON performing an action.

    /me throws a bone in Derek's direction.

    Which would result in the following message in the window only:

    >>FON<< throws a bone in Derek's direction.

Can I remove myself from an active game?   
Yes, there are several.  Either select Leave Server from the Connect menu, or close the Schmatzee program.  Once you leave, you will not be able to rejoin the game you left.  Your name will be removed from the active game, and all your turns will be skipped.  You are free to join the next game when the vote is initiated.

Why do I feel like I'm wrestling Schmatzee to change   my nickname?
The nickname field (in the Options>Preferences popup) updates whenever you hit return OR move your mouse out of the entry field. It also truncates an entry to 20 characters and replaces spaces with underscores. There are also several illegal characters that it will prevent you from changing your nick, including the following. { } ( ) @ ` \ / |

Audio stops working-
This has been reported by one person on the beta   test team for Guess-A-Sketch.  Since they are built form the same base code, it's possible that the same bug will show up here in Schmatzee.  To get audio back they shut down GAS and restarted.    If you're in a game, you can return and keep your points, provided the round  hasn't been won yet.  If I could recreate this problem I would have a chance to fix it... otherwise it's basically impossible for me to track down.  Since missing audio isn't a fatal bug, I will not hold back the public release of Schmatzee, but I will continue to hunt it down.

My typed text appears twice-
This happens occasionally in GAS, and as stated previously, this bug could show up in Schmatzee too.  I have not been   able to recreate it predictably, so it is difficult to track down.   I will continue to try and fix this one, but since it doesn't impact game  play, it will not hold up the public release of Schmatzee !