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High/Low Card Game
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by Evelyn Rothman
CSTA Member
Arthur L. Johnson High School
Clark, New Jersey
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Overview
- Simulate a deck of playing cards.
- Shuffle the deck.
- Deal (five) cards into the hand.
- Turn over the first card.
- Leave the remaining (four) face down.
- The user must guess whether the next card is higher or lower.
- Turn over the next card.
- If the user guesses correctly, the game continues.
- If the user guesses incorrectly, the game is over and the user loses.
- If the user guesses correctly (four) times, the game is over and the user wins.
Objectives
- Using classes to represent objects
- Using public and private methods
- Using data structures
- Two-dimensional array (card deck)
- ArrayList or array (hand)
- Using the compareTo method
- Card class implements Comparable
- Order is the rank
- Implementing the CardDeck shuffle
- Each Card in turn is swapped with a random Card
Level
- AP Computer Science
- Reinforces the objectives specified above
Time required
- Four or five 45-minute classes
Guide to the Teacher
Concepts
- Create and use classes: Card, CardDeck, Hand
- Use the Comparable interface
- The Card class compareTo method compares the ranks of two Card objects.
- Use Data structures: ArrayList, array
- Create a permutation of objects (i.e., shuffle the CardDeck)
- Create a GUI
Prerequisites
Before starting this project, students should have an understanding of the following:
- Strings
- Methods
- Arrays and/or ArrayLists
- The Comparable interface and the compareTo method
- Classes and objects
- Applets
Notes
- I introduce this project in the AP course to reinforce the concepts stated above. Before the students begin the high/low applet, we work as a class on:
- The Card, CardDeck, and Hand classes
- Some methods are done as a class; others the students do individually.
- The creation of an ordered CardDeck
- An algorithm for shuffling the CardDeck
- Dealing Cards
- After they complete the high/low card game, students can go on to write programs for card games that are more complex, such as blackjack or war.
- For a greater challenge, consider games that require students to extend the Card class (e.g., card ranks differ from 2, 3, . . . , jack, queen, king, ace) and/or the CardDeck class (e.g., old maid eliminates one queen: see http://saturn.cs.ukzn.ac.za/~robd/2005/courses/comp200/pracs/05prac06/oldmaid.html).
High/Low Card Game -- Expected Results
Students will write the high/low card game applet, which will behave as follows:
- A new CardDeck is constructed and shuffled.
- A Hand of five* Cards is dealt; the image of the first Card is shown face up, and the remaining four are face down (card back image).
- The user guesses higher or lower.
- If the user is correct, the game continues.
- If the user is incorrect, the game ends.
- If the user guesses correctly four times (i.e., all card images are face up), the user wins.
- The user can play again.
- Reinitialize
- New CardDeck, shuffle, deal
- Variables reinitialized
* Of course, the number of Cards in the Hand can be greater or fewer than five.
This lesson can be introduced using the included Card Project PowerPoint presentation.
 High/Low Card Game -- PowerPoint Slides (.ppt/164KB)
Completed code for the classes and applet is also available.
High/Low Card Game -- Completed Classes and Applet (.pdf/59KB)
Evelyn Rothman is a Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) member.
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