PLAYING CARDS
Cards are combinable objects that combine into "stacks". However these stacks can have several names, as the various card manipulation commands are used on them for playing. A group of cards can be: a stack The most common form. Just a group of cards without any other implied property. a stack (Name) A named stack normally contains cards that were either dealt indirectly to a player or that were played by that player. Strictly, however, named stacks can be created with any name and for any purpose. a hand A group of cards that was just dealt directly to a player. The card will have the (Name) in it whenever it's not being held by that player. a deck A group of cards that form a full deck. Most manipulations will disturb this back into a "stack". a discard pile A group of cards that have been discarded by various players. half of a stack/deck/etc This is a transient state through which cards go when you "cut". (Named) things can be referenced by name, i.e. "a stack of 2 cards (Cronel)" can be examined by "examine cronel stack" or "examine cronel cards".
You can manipulate single cards from inside a deck by using their short description. For example if you're holding a deck and type "drop 1h", you will drop the ace of hearts from the deck. If you "examine 1h", you will go through the deck, find the ace of hearts if it's present, bring it to the top of the pile and examine it.
Wherever you see the word "cards" in the rest of this help file, you can assume it's the ID for a stack of cards around you. For example: flip hand (flips your hand of cards) flip cards 2 (flips the 2nd stack of cards). flip (floor) cards (flips the stack of cards on the floor). If on the other hand you see simply "cards" (without brackets) it means you must type exactly that, as the command refers to more than one or to not yet existing stacks of cards (cf. "gather").
Command and syntax:
spread cards Spreads a stack of cards so they are all visible.
pile cards Piles up a stack of cards so only the one on top is visible.
flip [range] cards If used on a single card it will flip it, so it is face down. If used on a whole stack of cards, it's taken to mean to turn the whole stack around, so they are all turned and the order is inverted. If used on a stack, but with a range, it flips the specified range of cards within the stack, for instance "flip 2-4 cards" would turn the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cards in your stack of cards. Unfortunately, to flip a single card inside a stack you have to specify a range of one card, for example, turn 2-2 cards.
check cards Checks a stack of cards for a full deck. If you are missing cards it will tell you which. If you have extra cards the deck will segregate itself from the rest. This will also un-reverse any reversed cards in the stack.
shuffle cards [r] Shuffles a stack of cards. Must be done a few times to get a good shuffle. If the last word is "r" or "reverse" you will shuffle in such a manner that some cards will be reversed by the shuffle, i.e. they will be turned upside down. Most cards are symmetrical in design which means that they can't be reversed, but reversed cards are very important, for instance, in fortune telling. To fix reversed cards use "straighten" or "check".
sort cards by suit|card,card... Sorts a stack of cards. If "by suit", it will be sorted by suit and in ascending order. Else, you must provide names of cards separated by commas. Example: sort deck by 1h,2h,kh,5s.
deal number cards [u|d] to player,player... [on surface] Deals number cards to each player in the list, from the cards stack. They can be dealt face up or down; down is default. The list of players must have no spaces, and can contain the names of stacks in addition to player names. You can optionally specify a surface to deal on, and the stacks you specify to will be created on that surface instead of on the floor. Example: deal 5 stack 2 u to bubba stack,buffy stack on table (Would deal 5 cards to the stacks "buffy" and "bubba" on the table, from the second stack of cards you are holding, face up).
play card[,card...] [from cards] [u|d] [in stack stack] [on surface] Plays the specified cards in the given pile from your hand of cards. If "from stack" is used you can specify a different stack in your hands to play from. If "in stack stack" is omitted, your default stack is used. They can be played face up or face down; up is default. If "on surface" is provided you will use that surface instead of the ground.
discard card[,card...] [u|d] [from cards] [on surface] Discards the given cards to the discard pile from your hand of cards. Face down is default. You can specify a different stack to discard from and a surface.
cut cards uncut cards "Cut" is used by a player to separate a pile into two parts; "uncut" will restitute the pile, reversing the original order of the two halves. You can only cut stacks of cards that you aren't holding, and can only uncut the halves of stacks that were recently cut. Two halves of a stack that were recently cut will rejoin themselves if no one uncuts them.
gather cards [from surface] Gathers all stacks, discard piles, hands, etc into a single stack in your hands. Everything in your inventory or in the room will be gathered. To gather from a surface you must use the "from surface" syntax.
straighten [d] cards When a stack has some cards face down and some face up, use this command to flip them all face up. If 'd' is specified, they will be flipped face down instead. This will also un-reverse any reversed cards in the stack.
use surface You will start using the designated surface for all future "deal", "play", "discard" and "gather" commands. To stop, do "use none". If you move or if the surface is destroyed you will automatically stop using it the next time you deal, play, etc.
draw number from cards [r] Draws the given number of cards from the specified stack into your hand of cards. If 'r' is specified, they will be drawn from a random point in the middle of the stack; otherwise, from the top of the stack.
on table command Some tables are specially designed to hold card games on them. These tables make it easier to see all card content of the stacks, and permit the manipulation of cards without having to lift them from the table, via this command. An example of one such table is the one at Skull's. Example: on table flip cronel stack Would flip the stack named cronel, on the table in front of you.
syntax command This command just shows you a quick reminder of the syntax of any card command, or of all commands if no argument is given.