History

Tele-Games was a bundle of three plug-ins for Moonshae Telecomm's Action Teleconference, later, the Entertainment Teleconference in Galacticomm's Entertainment Edition. They were unique in that they provided fun competitive multi-user games directly inside the system's main teleconference. This was important, because other third-party developers had created multi-user games that allowed users to chat while playing (or watching), but it scattered users around the system. This innovation by Moonshae Telecomm allowed the users to be in the regular teleconference and play the games - users not playing would not be burdened with the game output.

Action Teleconference was sold to Galacticomm to become the Entertainment Edition's teleconference. These games were released under the Galactic Innovations name, and were incorporated into the Entertainment Edition after the Galacticomm acquisition.

Game Information

Tele-Games were actually three games in one: Tele-Blackjack, Tele-Poker, and Tingo (Tele-Bingo).

Tele-Blackjack

Tele-Blackjack is the game of 21, in which the players compete against each to win the "pot" – the sum of all of the players' bets minus a "house cut". Aces count as either 1 or 11, and the person whose hand comes closest to 21 without busting (going over) wins the game. If enough users want (request) to play, the game will automatically begin, and proceed via normal Blackjack rules. In the event of a push (tie), the pot is divided among the winners.

Tele-Blackjack Commands

"bj on" ......... request to play     "bj off" ....... stop playing/fold
"bj hand" ....... display your hand   "bj help" ...... this help list
"bj fold" ....... fold your hand      "bj turn" ...... whose turn it is
"bj scan" ....... show player list    "bj pot" ....... show current pot
"bj bet #" ...... increase your bet   "bj call" ...... match current bet
"bj low/high".... set stakes (Sysop)  "bj raise #" ... call and raise
"bj hit" ........ take another card   "bj stay" ...... stay w/current hand

Tele-Poker

Tele-Poker is standard five-card draw Poker, interfaced with The Major BBS teleconference. Players ante and bet their online credits, and the winner of the hand wins the "pot" – the sum of all bets made by the players, minus a "house cut". If enough users want (request) to play, the game will begin automatically, and proceed via normal Poker rules. (Aces are high, not low)

Tele-Poker Commands

"poker on" ....... request to play     "poker off" ...... stop playing/fold
"poker hand" ..... display your hand   "poker help" ..... this help list
"poker fold" ..... fold your hand      "poker turn" ..... whose turn it is
"poker scan" ..... show poker players  "poker pot" ...... show current pot
"poker bet #" .... increase your bet   "poker call" ..... match current bet
"poker low/high".. set stakes (Sysop)  "poker raise #" .. call and raise
"poker discard # # # #" ..... discard and draw new cards (no #'s to stand)

Tingo

Tingo is a Bingo-style game interfaced with The Major BBS teleconference. If enough users online "request" to play, the game will begin automatically and play will continue until one user wins by getting five marked spaces in any row, column, or diagonal. The winning user (or "users" if two or more users get Tingo at the same time) is given a credit prize, automatically.

Tingo Commands

"tingo on" ....... request to play     "tingo off" ...... stop playing/quit
"tingo card" ..... display your card   "tingo help" ..... this help list
"tingo scan" ..... show tingo players  "tingo pot" ...... show jackpot amt.

Gameplay

The games were played right inside the teleconference. The commands listed above were entered directly at the teleconference prompt. All games were text mode. Conveniently, users who were not playing did not have to see any of the game messages.