Poker Face Paul's Gin

n/a

Poker Face Paul's Gin
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega of America
Developer: Spidersoft, Freestyle Software
Supporting companies: Adrenalin Entertainment (production)
Genre: Table
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1994 2328

Poker Face Paul's Gin is a gin game for the Sega Game Gear. It was only released in North America.

Gameplay

Hand

Knocking

The game simulates playing the card game gin rummy. It uses a cursor interface where the D-Pad moves the hand-shaped cursor between cards and or picks up or places down a card.

Gin is a two-player game, but the game only supports one player playing against a computer opponent. The goal of a game is to win a "box" by earning 100 points. Games are played until a player wins a certain number of boxes (2 by default but changeable to any number from 1 to 9), thereby winning the game. This is accomplished by forming "melds" of three or more cards. The cards in the meld must match by having the same face value (such as three 2s or three Jacks) or by having the same suit and being in numerical sequence (such as the 4, 5, and 6 of clubs). Any cards that are not in a meld are considered "dead"; the goal is to place as many cards as possible in a meld and to be holding as few dead cards as possible.

On each hand, both players are dealt ten cards, which are automatically sorted in ascending value (with Aces worth 1 and face cards all worth 10). The player can pick up and move cards to sort them into melds. One "upcard" is turned up in the middle of the table, with the remaining 31 cards placed face down in the stock next to the upcard. The player can draw one card from the upcard or the stock (which draws an unknown card from the top). After drawing a card, the player must choose one card to discard (which can be the drawn card if the player decides not to keep it) to keep the hand at ten cards. Discarded cards are placed in the upcard pile. Then the opponent takes a turn and does the same. This continues until a player "knocks" or declares "gin." Pressing  START  raises a menu that allows the player to knock, declare gin, or ask for a hint (show all the cards in the upcard pile or suggest the next move).

Either player can knock when not drawing a card and when their dead cards total less than the Knock Limit (which is 10 by default but can be set to any number between 1 and 10 or only when calling gin); knocking ends the hand and shows the melds that both players have made and the dead cards that they have left. The values of the dead cards are added up. The opposing player (whichever player did not knock) has the opportunity to "lay off" any dead cards onto the other player's melds if they fit (which the game figures out automatically). Then the values of both players' dead cards are subtracted, and the difference is added to the knocking player's score. If the opposing player has fewer dead points after laying off, then the knocking player loses points and the other player gains those points plus an Underknock Bonus (which is 25 points by default but can be changed to any multiple of 5 between 10 and 50).

If the player has no dead cards (meaning all ten cards are in melds except the discard), the player can call gin. This is similar to a knock, but the opponent is not allowed to lay off any cards. The value of the opposing player's dead cards are added to the player's score, plus the player is given a Gin Bonus (which is 25 points by default but can be changed to any multiple of 5 between 10 and 50).

After the first hand, the loser of the last hand goes first. If neither player knocks or calls gin, the hand ends when the stock is down to the last two cards. The player whose turn it is can use the upcard and must either knock or call gin; if the player can do neither, then the other player must attempt to do the same. If neither player can end the hand, the hand ends with no score.

Characters

These characters can be chosen as opponents. They increase in difficulty.

	Jack
	Jane
	Ming

Production credits

• Executive Producer: Jay Smith
• Programming: Brian Beuken
• Graphics: B. Davis, R. Ward, Richard Ashton
• Music: Spidersoft

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Executive Producer: Jay Smith
• Programming: Brian Beuken
• Graphics: B. Davis, R. Ward, R. Ashton
• Music: Spidersoft
• Product Manager: Chrissie Huneke
• Producer/Lead Tester: Bill Beach
• Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Poker Face Paul's Gin/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 80

	80
Based on 1 review

Poker Face Paul's Gin

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 afd61b89 MD5 c2c37127003087a7c5eebd63dce219c6 SHA-1 e21d29b2864b6eed3a4eb4dcf7443f1114e92bd4	128kB		Cartridge (US)