I. Learner Objectives:
At the conclusion of this programming assignment, participants should be able to:
Apply repetition structures within an algorithm
Construct while (), for (), or do-while () loops in C
Compose C programs consisting of sequential, conditional, and iterative statements
Eliminate redundancy within a program by applying loops and functions
Create structure charts for a given problem
Determine an appropriate functional decomposition or top-down design from a structure chart
Generate random numbers for use within a C program
Summarize strategy involved with the 2-player dice game Yahtzee
II. Prerequisites:
Before starting this programming assignment, participants should be able to:
Analyze a basic set of requirements and apply top-down design principles for a problem
Customize and define C functions
Apply the 3 file format: 1 header file and 2 source files
Open and close files
Read, write to, and update files
Manipulate file handles
Apply standard library functions: fopen (), fclose (), fscanf (), and fprintf ()
Compose decision statements ("if" conditional statements)
Create and utilize compound conditions
Summarize topics from Hanly & Koffman Chapter 4 & 5 including:
What are counting, conditional, sentinel-controlled, flag-controlled, and end file-controlled loops
What are while (), do-while (), and for () loops
What is a selection or conditional statement
What is a compound condition
What is a Boolean expression
What is a flowchart
III. Overview & Requirements:
Develop and implement an interactive two-player Yahtzee game. Yahtzee is a dice game that was invented by Milton Bradley and Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The challenge of the game is to outduel the other player by scoring the most points. Points are obtained by rolling five 6-sided die across thirteen rounds. During each round, each player may roll the dice up to three times to make one of the possible scoring combinations. Once a combination has been achieved by the player, it may not be used again in future rounds, except for the Yahtzee combination may be used as many times as the player makes the combination. Each scoring combination has different point totals. Some of these totals are achieved through the accumulation of points across rolls and some are obtained as fixed sequences of values.
The Rules of Yahtzee:
The scorecard used for Yahtzee is composed of two sections. A upper section and a lower section. A total of thirteen boxes or thirteen scoring combinations are divided amongst the sections. The upper section consists of boxes that are scored by summing the value of the dice matching the faces of the box. If a player rolls four 3's, then the score placed in the 3's box is the sum of the dice which is 12. Once a player has chosen to score a box, it may not be changed and the combination is no longer in play for future rounds. If the sum of the scores in the upper section is greater than or equal to 63, then 35 more points are added to the players overall score as a bonus. The lower section contains a number of poker like combinations. See the table provided below:
Name
Combination
Score
Three-of-a-kind
Three dice with the same face
Sum of all face values on the 5 dice
Four-of-a-kind
Four dice with the same face
Sum of all face values on the 5 dice
Full house
One pair and a three-of-a-kind
25
Small straight
A sequence of four dice
30
Large straight
A sequence of five dice
40
Yahtzee (think five-of-a-kind)
Five dice with the same face
50
Chance
May be used for any sequence of dice; this is the catch all combination
Sum of all face values on the 5 dice
What is required for this assignment?
You may design the Yahtzee game with functions that you see fit. I recommend that you start with a structure chart and determine sub-problems and functions accordingly. However, your Yahtzee game must implement the following algorithm:
(1) (5 pts) Print a game menu for Yahtzee with the following options:
1. Print game rules
2. Start a game of Yahtzee
3. Exit
(2) (5 pts) Get a menu option from the user; clear the screen
(3) (10 pts) If option 1 is entered, then print the game rules stated above and repeat step (1)
otherwise if option 2 is entered, then continue on to step (4); player 1 starts the game
otherwise if option 3 is entered, then print a goodbye message and quit the program
otherwise repeat step (1)
(4) (5 pts) Ask the player to hit any key to continue on to roll the five dice
(5) (10 pts) Roll the five dice and display the face values of each die; enumerate each die with
a number 1 - 5; add 1 to the total number of rolls for this round
(6) (10 pts) If the total number of rolls for this round is less than three,
then ask the player (Y/N) if he/she wants to use the roll for one of the game combinations
otherwise a combination must be selected
1. Sum of 1's 7. Three-of-a-kind
2. Sum of 2's 8. Four-of-a-kind
3. Sum of 3's 9. Full house
4. Sum of 4's 10. Small straight
5. Sum of 5's 11. Large straight
6. Sum of 6's 12. Yahtzee
13. Chance
(7) (10 pts) If the number of rolls is three or "yes" is entered, then save the combination and it may not be selected again in the future;
continue on to step (8); clear the screen
otherwise if "no" is entered, ask the user which dice to re-roll (1 - 5); re-roll the selected die or dice; clear the screen;
repeat step (6)
otherwise repeat step (6)
(8) (5 pts) Alternate players
(9) (10 pts) If each player has rolled for the round, then increment the round number
if the round number is equal to 14, then continue on to step (10)
otherwise repeat step (4)
otherwise repeat step (4)
(10) (5 pts) If the total score in the upper section is greater than or equal to 63 for a player, then add 35 points to the total score
(11) (5 pts) Print the scores for both players and print the winner
(12) (5 pts) Repeat step (1)
IV. Expected Results:
I recommend that you check out this website Yahtzee Online - Play Yahtzee to grasp the game play for Yahtzee. Of course the game you build is text based.