## Description

_DeadEnd_ is a single player, shareware, card game from southern Russia. In
the real world, it may be played by two, three, or four players. In this
version, it is played by one player against the computer.

This is a card capturing game. The object is to accumulate as many cards as
possible during game-play by taking bribes. The player with the most cards at
the end of the game wins.

The game is played with a standard deck of fifty-two cards. Play starts with
each player receiving four cards and between them four cards are placed face
up. Players take turns to play a card to capture a card from the central store
and when all four cards in their hand have been used up they are dealt four
more until the pack is exhausted.
Cards are captured by:

* Playing another card of the same rank, so a queen will capture a queen.
* Point count, an ace, a three, and a five add up to nine so playing a nine will capture all three.
* Playing a jack, a jack is considered the highest ranking card so it takes all exposed cards.

Other rules are that a player must play a card when it is their turn, if it is
not possible to capture cards by taking a bribe then they must still play
something. Additionally a player cannot take more than one bribe in
succession.

Scoring
In each game, a maximum of five points can be scored. The two of clubs and ten
of diamonds are the eponymous Dead Ends and the player holding these cards at
the end of the game may claim one point for each.
Cards in the club suit have special significance and the player holding the
most clubs at the end of the game can claim an extra point. The player with
the most cards at the end of a game claims two points.

A match is over when a player achieves fifteen points.

There is a variation to the basic game in which the court cards have
individual point counts and the jack loses its special status. In this game,
the king has a value of thirteen, a queen counts as twelve, and a jack as
eleven. Each may capture an opponent’s cards that total their point value. A
second version _DeadEnd Variant B_ using this rule installs alongside the main
game.

The game is played entirely with the mouse. There is no in game sound or
music, nor are there any game configuration options. The help file is in
English, Russian, and German, it opens in a browser window and cannot be
accessed via the game.

DeadEnd