Sinclair User
1st September 1984
Author: Richard Price
Publisher: MFM Data Services Ltd
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3
Published in Sinclair User #31
Double Dealer
COMPUTER DEALER GOES BUST
CARD GAMES such as Bridge enjoy obvious benefits from computerised versions, which can act as tutors in enhancing players' skills. Games of chance are another matter as the excitement lies in the bluffing and risk taking. Computers cannot provide the atmosphere and tension which comes from human interaction.
MFM Software have produced Double Dealer, a program which offers both Blackjack - pontoon - and five card Stud Poker. In both options the cards are displayed clearly on a green background with a prompt and betting window beneath.
In Blackjack the player can split, stick or twist as well as lay out money from the initial float of £3,000. The Poker option allows you to raise, fold or look at your own blind card and offers four levels of play, each with larger financial limits on each bet.There is no two-player option and that could be seen as a severe limitation especially since the player's only inputs are to register bets or to make decisions on folding, sticking and so on. After a time the whole business seems rather passive, hardly the fantastic, superb and exciting game promised by the hyberbole of the cassette inlay.
Richard Price
Memory: 48K Price: £6.50
Other Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3 Game Reviews By Richard Price
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