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More about Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1 (from Wikipedia):
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Platform: DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST
Release: NA: 1989
Genre: Card game
Hoyle's Official Book of Games (later Hoyle Classic, Hoyle Card Games, or the Hoyle Series) is a series of computer games released from 1989 to 2016 that was initially developed and published by Sierra On-Line. The series focuses primarily on playing cards, but has also included board games, puzzles, dice, and dominos. It spawned a spin-off series dedicated to casino table games and machines called Hoyle Casino in 1996.
The series is named after 18th century playing card expert Edmond Hoyle, but some titles in the series also used trademarks and designs from the Hoyle brand of playing cards under license from Brown & Bigelow. Early titles had a volume numbering and included humorous computer opponents drawn from other Sierra video game series. Later titles saw yearly releases or specialized in particular types of games.
Encore Software took over publishing the series from 2005 to 2016, leading to the development of their own Encore Classic Games series in 2020.
Volume 1
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1 was the first card game simulator in the series, and a spiritual sequel to Sierra's Hi-Res Cribbage (1981). It included five multi-player card games and the Klondike variant of Solitaire (Patience). The Hoyle trademark and facecards were used under license from Brown & Bigelow Inc.
Games
The games included are: Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Hearts, Gin Rummy, Cribbage, and Klondike.
Characters
For all games, except the last, the player could choose opponents, each having their own AI and manner of playing. These opponents included historical figures, members of Sierra staff, and characters from Sierra games.
When the player took too long making a decision, the characters started having dialogues, each according to his background. For example, Leisure Suit Larry begins to comment about women, while Roger Wilco wants to escape the game to save the universe again.
Sonny Bonds
Bulldog
Cassie
Christina
Devin
Diane
Colonel Henri Dijon
King Graham
The Kid
Larry Laffer
Shelly LeBlanc
Lenny
Jerry Moore
Princess Rosella
Warren Schwader
Sol Silverman
Thelma
Roger Wilco
Development
The original concept was submitted to Ken Williams (CEO/Founder of Sierra On-Line) by Warren Schwader. Once the project was greenlit, Warren acted as the Lead Programmer as well as the Game Designer. The games were programmed using Sierra On-line's proprietary scripting language: Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI). SCI was originally created to aid in the development of Sierra's core line of adventure games. Working with SCI to implement card games and to code artificial intelligence for the characters proved challenging.
Warren Schwader continued as the Lead Programmer and Game Designer for the next two games in the series. Rob Atesalp was the composer and sound designer for the original and next two games.
Reception
The game sold over 250,000 copies by 1990.
Computer Gaming World stated that interacting with Sierra characters in Volume 1 such as Leisure Suit Larry and Princess Rosella was fun, but annoying for those who preferred cards to humor. It criticized Volume 1 for slow performance and cribbage's deviation from the official Hoyle's rules, and stated that the other games were "really children's games and offer no great excitement".
By the mid 1990s, new versions of the game were published yearly, with some variants for particular types of games. All these releases are for PCs, unless otherwise specified.
Hoyle Casino series (1996–2016)
Hoyle Children's Collection (1996)
Hoyle Classic Solitaire (1996, 1998)
Hoyle Classic Board Games (1997)
Hoyle Bridge (1997)
Hoyle Card Games (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Hoyle Board Games (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
Hoyle Battling Ships & War (1998)
Hoyle Bridge & Euchre (1998, 1999)
Hoyle Hearts & Spades (1998, 1999)
Hoyle Classic Games 2 (1999)
Hoyle Word Games (1999, 2000, 2001)
Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage (1999)
Hoyle Solitaire and Mahjong Tiles (1999, 2000)
Hoyle Crosswords (1999)
Hoyle Card Games (Game Boy Color; 2000)
Hoyle Kids Games (2000, 2001)
Hoyle Mahjong Tiles (2000)
Hoyle Puzzle Games (2002, 2003)
Hoyle Table Games (2003)
Hoyle Majestic Chess (2003)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games (2004)
Hoyle Backgammon (2006)
Hoyle Enchanted Puzzles (2008)
Hoyle Children's Collection (2007)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games (2008, 2009)
Hoyle Card Games [2010] (2009)
Hoyle Card Games [2012] (2011); re-released as Encore Classic Card Games (2020)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games [2012] (2011); re-released as Encore Classic Puzzle & Board Games (2020)
Hoyle Classic Board Games Collection series (2012–2015)
Hoyle Official Card Games Collection (2015); re-released as Encore Card Games Collection (2019)
Subscribe bit.ly/sub-cgs
#sierraonline #boardgames #dosgames
No Commentary
More about Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1 (from Wikipedia):
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Platform: DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST
Release: NA: 1989
Genre: Card game
Hoyle's Official Book of Games (later Hoyle Classic, Hoyle Card Games, or the Hoyle Series) is a series of computer games released from 1989 to 2016 that was initially developed and published by Sierra On-Line. The series focuses primarily on playing cards, but has also included board games, puzzles, dice, and dominos. It spawned a spin-off series dedicated to casino table games and machines called Hoyle Casino in 1996.
The series is named after 18th century playing card expert Edmond Hoyle, but some titles in the series also used trademarks and designs from the Hoyle brand of playing cards under license from Brown & Bigelow. Early titles had a volume numbering and included humorous computer opponents drawn from other Sierra video game series. Later titles saw yearly releases or specialized in particular types of games.
Encore Software took over publishing the series from 2005 to 2016, leading to the development of their own Encore Classic Games series in 2020.
Volume 1
Hoyle's Official Book of Games: Volume 1 was the first card game simulator in the series, and a spiritual sequel to Sierra's Hi-Res Cribbage (1981). It included five multi-player card games and the Klondike variant of Solitaire (Patience). The Hoyle trademark and facecards were used under license from Brown & Bigelow Inc.
Games
The games included are: Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Hearts, Gin Rummy, Cribbage, and Klondike.
Characters
For all games, except the last, the player could choose opponents, each having their own AI and manner of playing. These opponents included historical figures, members of Sierra staff, and characters from Sierra games.
When the player took too long making a decision, the characters started having dialogues, each according to his background. For example, Leisure Suit Larry begins to comment about women, while Roger Wilco wants to escape the game to save the universe again.
Sonny Bonds
Bulldog
Cassie
Christina
Devin
Diane
Colonel Henri Dijon
King Graham
The Kid
Larry Laffer
Shelly LeBlanc
Lenny
Jerry Moore
Princess Rosella
Warren Schwader
Sol Silverman
Thelma
Roger Wilco
Development
The original concept was submitted to Ken Williams (CEO/Founder of Sierra On-Line) by Warren Schwader. Once the project was greenlit, Warren acted as the Lead Programmer as well as the Game Designer. The games were programmed using Sierra On-line's proprietary scripting language: Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI). SCI was originally created to aid in the development of Sierra's core line of adventure games. Working with SCI to implement card games and to code artificial intelligence for the characters proved challenging.
Warren Schwader continued as the Lead Programmer and Game Designer for the next two games in the series. Rob Atesalp was the composer and sound designer for the original and next two games.
Reception
The game sold over 250,000 copies by 1990.
Computer Gaming World stated that interacting with Sierra characters in Volume 1 such as Leisure Suit Larry and Princess Rosella was fun, but annoying for those who preferred cards to humor. It criticized Volume 1 for slow performance and cribbage's deviation from the official Hoyle's rules, and stated that the other games were "really children's games and offer no great excitement".
By the mid 1990s, new versions of the game were published yearly, with some variants for particular types of games. All these releases are for PCs, unless otherwise specified.
Hoyle Casino series (1996–2016)
Hoyle Children's Collection (1996)
Hoyle Classic Solitaire (1996, 1998)
Hoyle Classic Board Games (1997)
Hoyle Bridge (1997)
Hoyle Card Games (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Hoyle Board Games (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
Hoyle Battling Ships & War (1998)
Hoyle Bridge & Euchre (1998, 1999)
Hoyle Hearts & Spades (1998, 1999)
Hoyle Classic Games 2 (1999)
Hoyle Word Games (1999, 2000, 2001)
Hoyle Backgammon & Cribbage (1999)
Hoyle Solitaire and Mahjong Tiles (1999, 2000)
Hoyle Crosswords (1999)
Hoyle Card Games (Game Boy Color; 2000)
Hoyle Kids Games (2000, 2001)
Hoyle Mahjong Tiles (2000)
Hoyle Puzzle Games (2002, 2003)
Hoyle Table Games (2003)
Hoyle Majestic Chess (2003)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games (2004)
Hoyle Backgammon (2006)
Hoyle Enchanted Puzzles (2008)
Hoyle Children's Collection (2007)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games (2008, 2009)
Hoyle Card Games [2010] (2009)
Hoyle Card Games [2012] (2011); re-released as Encore Classic Card Games (2020)
Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games [2012] (2011); re-released as Encore Classic Puzzle & Board Games (2020)
Hoyle Classic Board Games Collection series (2012–2015)
Hoyle Official Card Games Collection (2015); re-released as Encore Card Games Collection (2019)
