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Click here to download the paper, "On Setback." |
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Setback is a card game that is very popular in the Northeast. It is a game that I learned literally at my father’s knee, and I have loved to play the game almost as long as I can remember. The rules of Setback are not difficult; however, they define a game that is fast, challenging, and fun. The game is also a vigorous test of character and intelligence, including one’s abilities to assess fast-breaking situations, tolerate risk, calculate risk-benefit ratios, and think quickly. "On Setback" is a paper I wrote in appreciation of the game. It is aimed at those players who already know the game but want to learn more about its finer points. The appendices give the rules of Setback, many rule variations, and a set of statistics that apply to it.
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Click here to download the paper, "On Setback." |
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"Setback and the Loss of Innocence" is a short story, one of my many memoir-stories. In this story, the game of Setback plays a crucial role. Although the story relates an incident of my youth about which I am not proud, some Setback players may enjoy walking a few yards in my sneakers.
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Click here to download the story, "Setback and the Loss of Innocence." |
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Life's journey took me away from my native Connecticut, to an area where people rarely play cards and almost no one plays Setback. Missing the game, I searched for a Setback-playing computer program but could find none. So, in 1999 I finally bit the bullet. I sat down to write a computer program that would not only play Setback, but would play at a level that would satisfy me. Killer Setback debuted in late winter, 1999, and over the years has improved. KS plays me and my Setback-playing kin and friends even-up. KS includes elaborate scripts for bidding and playing-out, a powerful inferencing engine, several rule variations, and many bidding and playing levels from novice through expert. If you are looking for a Setback-playing program with cute characters, many card backs, optional backgrounds, and witty sayings, this program is not for you. But if you want a program that plays Setback at the highest level, Killer Setback will challenge you as you have not been challenged before.
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Click here to download Killer Setback V4.32 (released 2/3/2008; for now it is free). |
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