BoltBait Dominoes

[Chuck]

Hey BoltBait,

Love your dominoes game, but have run into an issue several times where the game is prematurely declared over. In the picture below you can see the computer has no more moves it came make (it has to be holding the 4:4 domino), but I have 2 possible moves I can make.

And from a game several days prior, the 2:4 domino is missing. I had drawn several times from the boneyard, and could not see the last domino. So I clicked on the enlarge to full screen button. I don't know if that would have caused the problem, but the computer later went out playing a different domino than I expected it to have.

[BoltBait]

In the situation that no player can play, the player with the fewest number of dominoes in hand removes that many dominoes from the opponent's hand and then scores 5 points for each domino remaining.

 

Looks like something strange is going on there in the first screenshot though.  Show me your options screen so I can debug with those specific options. I'm not sure why it didn't see the 2:4 in your hand and allow you to play it on the double 2.

 

As for the second screenshot...

 

I see the 2:4 domino in your hand... lower left corner. Was there another problem?

 

[Chuck]

Boltbait, sorry for the delay in responding. I was thinking the forum would automatically send a notice if you responded. On the second screenshot, you are right; the 2:4 is in the lower left corner. I simply missed seeing it. 

 

As for the first screenshot, I came across the same problem today. The program declared the game over when I could still play 1s, 3s, and 5s. I've attached a screen shot, and a screenshot of the options menu. The only difference in options is that I was probably playing against Jonathan before. All other options remained the same.

 

[BoltBait]

Wow. That's really weird. I've played hundreds of games with those exact same options (except I always play to 250) and I've never seen it make a mistake like that.

 

I'll check it out though.  Thanks for the report. The options screen shows that you are playing with multiple spinners, but it looks like the game thinks you're playing with single spinners.  Maybe change that option, then change it back?

 

EDIT: Nope, that can't be it. You'd still be able to play your 5's. Although, it is true that the computer can't play and should have passed. Looks like the computer is holding the double 4.

 

I think you should have been able to win that game by playing 1:2 then 2:2 then 2:3 for 30 points, then 3:0 for 30 points, then 0:0 for 30 points, then 2:5 for 35 points before having to play the 1:4 where the computer would have gone out and only scored 15 points instead of the 45 claimed. You won that one... despite what the computer says.  Sorry about that.

 

BTW, the opponent doesn't matter for that part of the code. It only comes into play when the computer is deciding which dominoe to play. There is a set of rules that it considers when choosing a dominoe--maybe 10 or 12 items it considers.  The opponent you choose will make the computer stop after a certain number of rules. Elizabeth simply picks a random valid play--that's the first rule. Robert picks a random scoring play (for example), Jonathan picks the highest scoring play. Once you get to Marie it takes positional play into account when choosing a dominoe.  And, for David (me) it includes all rules (like closing down available numbers on the board).  The rest of the program, like when enforcing rules, etc. it all works the same.

 

Looks like I better dig out the code and take a look...

 

[BoltBait]

Sure enough, there was a simple "cut-and-paste" error in the routine that checks to see if you can play.

 

I will put out an update as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, after updating my compiler, I'm unable to open the installer for the game... researching...

[BoltBait]

@Chuck I released build 3.1 of Dominoes on my web site:  https://BoltBait.com/Dominoes 

 

Let me know if it fixes the problem for you.

 

[Chuck]

BoltBait, your new release has been working just fine, until today. Several times when the computer is beating the pants off me and has over 150 points with one domino left to play, I've taken all remaining pieces in the boneyard. The updated program has let play continue whenever I've had a move. But, today it didn't. Probably because you didn't properly label the release. 🙂 Even though I wouldn't have won this game, I still had several possible moves. 

[BoltBait]

You are still running v3.0 and the fix is in v3.1.

 

 

 

[Chuck]

BoltBait, I don't know what happened. Here is a screenshot of what I had downloaded and extracted from your site. You see that the folder says "Dominoes31" while double-clicking on the setup.exe brings up a wizard labeled v3.0. I assumed you changed the program and forgot to relabel it to v3.1. (Hence my little joke above.) Perhaps my computer had a bad case of indigestion.

 

But I erased everything Dominoes-related from my download folder and re-downloaded the file. I'm happy to say the game now shows v3.1 in the title bar. Thanks you.