blackjack help

Question

I have been working on a (very very) basic blackjack game and it all works except for if you deciede to get a new card more than once, it will only store the most recent value for when the player gets a new card. To put it in a simplier way, if you get another new card it will delete the value of the last card that was given to the player and because i am very new to small basic i cant think of a way to fix this problem. Any help would be much appreciated

Answer 1

Welcome to the Small Basic Forums! Perhaps you could store all the card's values in an array? Small Basic's array's can be quite slow, but they get the job done. I could provide more help, if you post some code. Or perhaps you could use multiple variables to store that card's data, or you could write values to a .TXT and use the File.Readline function to get the value. That would be my choice.

---

-Noah J. Buscher "Nothing is Impossible Until Proven Impossible."

Answer 2

Sub twist
twistrannum = Math.GetRandomNumber(11)
TextWindow.WriteLine(twistrannum)
finalnum = twistrannum + randnum3
If twistrannum + randnum3 <22 Then
  stickortwist()
ElseIf twistrannum + randnum3 >22 then
  TextWindow.WriteLine ("Oh no, your bust, better luck next time ")
  EndIf

EndSub

thats the code for when the player twists  (gets a new card)

Sub stick
    CPUnum = Math.GetRandomNumber(4) + 17
    TextWindow.WriteLine (" Your number was " + finalnum)
    TextWindow.WriteLine (" The computers number was " + CPUnum)
    If CPUnum < finalnum Then
      TextWindow.WriteLine ("Congratulations ! you won ")
    Elseif CPUnum > finalnum then
      TextWindow.WriteLine ("The computer had a higher number than you, better luck next time")'
    elseif CPUnum = finalnum then
      TextWindow.WriteLine ("It's a draw !")
    EndIf
  EndSub

and thats the code for figuring out if the player has won or lost

im not to confident in using arrays as im still learning, but i could try and do that i suppose

Answer 3

Would there be any reason you would need to keep the old card's value if the player picked a new one? But if you need to store two card values, you would be best off storing the card's values in a .txt file. Please let me know if you have any more questions. :)

---

-Noah J. Buscher "Nothing is Impossible Until Proven Impossible."

Answer 4

yes, because each cards is ment to be kept to go towards the ultimate goal of getting as close to 21 as possible and how would i store them in a text file and retrieve them ?

Answer 5

OK... Save As the program in a Folder, and run this program:

card1 = Math.GetRandomNumber(10)
card2 = Math.GetRandomNumber(10)
File.WriteLine(Program.Directory + "\CardValues.txt", 1, card1)
File.WriteLine(Program.Directory + "\CardValues.txt", 2 card2)

It will get a random number for card 1 and 2 and store them in a .txt file called "CardValues.txt" that it creates. To read the values:

card1 = File.ReadLine(Program.Directory + "\CardValues.txt", 1)
card2 = File.ReadLine(Program.Directory + "\CardValues.txt", 2)
TextWindow.WriteLine(card1)
TextWindow.WriteLine(card2)

To over-write the variables, just use the file.writeline command with the same line # and the program will over-write the value. Hope it helps! :)

---

-Noah J. Buscher "Nothing is Impossible Until Proven Impossible."

Answer 6

because there is no way of knowing how many times the user may want a new card would there be any way of putting that operation in a loop ?

Answer 7

You could do a While Loop:

while endGame =  "False"
     checkForNewCard
endWhile

or you could use a GoTo:

Loop:
'CODE GOES HERE
Goto Loop

Please let me know if you need any more help. :)

---

-Noah J. Buscher "Nothing is Impossible Until Proven Impossible."

Answer 8

Heyya samualsock!

One of the secrets to design a good logical program is to know how to make subroutines w/ very specific tasks.

For your BlackJack game, we can have a Sub to draw 1 card, check total drawn, ask user what to do, check bust hand, compare results, etc.

And then, after initializing all necessary variables, make a game loop which will call each Sub orderly.

Below is what I got. Hope you like it.  ^_^

'#############################################'
'BlackJack (v1.1)
'SamualSock & GoToLoop (2012/Aug/31)

'http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbasic
'/thread/8520042c-fc42-49a4-ba97-f6b0eda8b0ee
'#############################################'

'________________________________________________________________________'

TextWindow.BackgroundColor = "DarkGreen"
TextWindow.ForegroundColor = "Yellow"
LF  = Text.GetCharacter(10)
ESC = Text.GetCharacter(27)

'________________________________________________________________________'
GameLoop:

TextWindow.Clear()
ResetVars()

While isTwisting
  
  DrawACard()
  GetTotalSum()
  
  If total < 22 Then
    StickOrTwist()
  Else
    isTwisting = "False"
  EndIf
  
  If key = "S" Then
    isTwisting = "False"
  EndIf
  
EndWhile

Stick()
AskExit()

Goto GameLoop
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub ResetVars
  
  cardsInHand = ""
  cards = ""
  
  isTwisting = "True"
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub StickOrTwist
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine("<S>tick or <T>wist?")
  
  key = ""
  
  While key <> "S" And key <> "T"
    key = Text.ConvertToUpperCase( TextWindow.ReadKey() )
    Sound.PlayClick()
  EndWhile
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine(LF)
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub Stick
  
  cpuTotal = Math.GetRandomNumber(4) + 17
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine("CPU got a hand total of " + cpuTotal + LF)
  
  If total > 21 Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("Oh no, you're bust!!! Better luck next time!" + LF)
    Sound.PlayBellRing()
  ElseIf cpuTotal < total Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("Congratulations ! You won!!!" + LF)
    Sound.PlayChime()
  ElseIf cpuTotal > total Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("It's higher than yours! Better luck next time!" + LF)
    Sound.PlayBellRing()
  Else
    TextWindow.WriteLine("It's a draw!" + LF)
    Sound.PlayChimes()
  EndIf
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub DrawACard
  
  cardsInHand = cardsInHand + 1
  cards[cardsInHand] = Math.GetRandomNumber(11)
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine("You got a/an " + cards[cardsInHand] + LF)
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub GetTotalSum
  
  total = ""
  
  For cardNum=1 To cardsInHand
    total = total + cards[cardNum]
  EndFor
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Current total is " + total + LF)
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'
Sub AskExit
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine ("Hit 'Q' ou 'Esc' to quit or any other to restart..." + LF)
  key= Text.ConvertToUpperCase ( TextWindow.ReadKey() )
  
  If key = "Q" Or key = ESC Then
    Sound.PlayClickAndWait()
    Program.End()
  EndIf
  
EndSub
'________________________________________________________________________'

---

Click on "Propose As Answer" if some post solves your problem or "Vote As Helpful" if some post has been useful to you! (^_^)

Answer 9

Well, the version above uses an array variable called cards[]. However, its usage there is totally unnecessary! I've just wanted to introduce you how arrays worked!  :P

Anywayz, the only thing we need is to keep feeding the var total with all of the drawn card's values. Nothing complex, so no need to use an array to keep track of all cards drawn!

To remove the array var cards[] and its auxiliary index var cardsInHand, just replace the old code w/ the following modified Subs below:

Sub ResetVars
  
  total = ""  
  isTwisting = "True"
  
EndSub

Sub DrawACard
  
  randNum = Math.GetRandomNumber(11)
  total = total + randNum
  
  TextWindow.WriteLine("You got a/an " + randNum)
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Current total is " + total + LF)
  
EndSub

And remove Sub GetTotalSum from whole code, since Sub DrawACard unified both tasks now.

And that's it!

Still, there is much more you can do to better your BlackJack game.

For example, you can add score & hiscore; a money bet mechanism in which both player & CPU have to pay for each card drawing; and also display a number/letter or figure representing the card just drawn.

But for the bet mechanism to work, you have to make an AI for CPU to draw 1 card each time and to decide to keep drawing or not, like a player is obliged to go through; rather than having CPU toss a safe 21-ranged random number!

And of course, in the future, convert this TextWindow console mode into a GraphicsWindow full-fledged game!

Well, cya laterz!

---

Click on "Propose As Answer" if some post solves your problem or "Vote As Helpful" if some post has been useful to you! (^_^)

Answer 10

Thank you for the response, i havnt had time to look through it thoroughly but ive already got a few ideas of how to use what you said :P however i dont quite understand what

LF  = Text.GetCharacter(10)

does ? and it is used quite alot through out the code

Answer 11

GetCharacter

Text.GetCharacter(characterCode)

Given the unicode character code, gets the corresponding character, which can then be used with regular text.

characterCode

The character code (Unicode based) for the required character.

Returns

A unicode character that corresponds to the code specified.

---

-Noah J. Buscher "Nothing is Impossible Until Proven Impossible."

Answer 12

The ASCII code 10 means Line Feed. It is a special non-printable character which makes the cursor to jump to next line.

With LF = Text.GetCharacter(10), I can use the var LF in various places as a shortcut replacement of the longer TextWindow.WriteLine("")!  :P

Here's a picture to illustrate the concept better:

---

Click on "Propose As Answer" if some post solves your problem or "Vote As Helpful" if some post has been useful to you! (^_^)