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Do you like to beat people up? Sure, we all do. But the process of beating people up for real can be painful and messy. Thus, Button Men. This is a surprisingly addictive and ridiculously fun dice game invented by mad genius James Ernest of Cheapass Games. The concept is simple: you fight with dice. The object is to get the most points by capturing your opponent's dice and keeping him from capturing yours. Of course there's a bit more to it than that, but the rules are explained in detail at beatpeopleup.com, so if you need specifics, go there.
My applet gives you a way to play Button Men without having to find, purchase, and carry around all those different kinds of dice (not to mention all those different button recipes). Here you can use virtual dice, and the computer will keep track of the recipes and the scores for you. You can even design your own recipes, and play against a computer opponent.
This was the first big Java project I took on, and I taught myself the language in the process of writing it, so currently it's a bit inefficient, but I plan to sit down some time soon and rewrite the whole thing from the ground up, using all I've learned about Java in the meantime. Also, be aware that my applet only lets two people play each other if they are both sitting in front of the same machine--no Internet multi-player shenanigans. If you want the massively multi-player version of the game, I suggest you go here. My login is jgenzano, and I'm always willing to accept a challenge.
NEW as of 05-09-2003:
I fixed a bug that caused the applet to freeze sometimes when the computer tried to use Socrates's special attack. Thanks to users Mark & Susan for finding this one!
Word to the wise--if you're playing as Tuxedo Mask against anybody with an auxiliary die, don't accept the auxiliary! This causes the applet to freeze! (Getting this to work would require me to change the whole size and layout of the applet, and add a whole new die label to both sides, which is way more work than you'd think.) Also, note that I do not support the special abilities in the Sailor Moon or Tenchi Muyo sets--yet. I'm hopeful that I will get these working eventually, but don't hold your breath. As always, please try out the new stuff and tell me if it works!
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