A Dicey Game

Build a small dice game according to the rules stated below. The intermediate tasks will guide you along to help build the program step-by-step.

The Rules

This is a game for 2 players, called Player 1 and Player 2, which each start with a score of 0 points. It is played with a six-sided die with the numbers 1, …, 6 on it. The goal is to collect as many points as possible over 5 rounds (or until one player looses) without exceeding a limit in each turn. This limit usually is set to 21.

In each round, the players take turns. At the beginning of each turn, the die is rolled three times and the shown numbers are added up to get the turn sum. Then the current player can decide to either

• Stop, in which case the turn sum is added to the players score and the next players turn starts.
• Roll again, which rolls the die again and adds the number shown to the turn sum.
  • Should the turn sum exceed the limit the player was too greedy and looses the game.

If all rounds have passed and no player has lost yet, the players scores are compared and the player with the higher score wins. In case the scores are equal, it is considered a draw.

Preparation

If you haven’t done so yet, create a new Python file dice-game.py in which to put the code for this task.

Create constants and variables as follows:

Name	Value	Comment / Explanation
PLAYER_1	"Player 1"	The text used to represent the first player
PLAYER_2	"Player 2"	The text used to represent the second player
DRAW	"Draw"	The text used to represent if a draw occurred
INPUT_ROLL	"roll"	The word which the user has to input to roll again
INPUT_STOP	"stop"	The word which the user has to input to end their turn

Roll the Dice

To simulate dice rolling, we can use functions from Pythons built-in module random.

Read up on the randrange(…) and randint(…) functions from the module in the Python Documentation. Decide which one you want to use to generate a number between 1 and 6 to simulate a dice roll.

Before you write any actual code, test in the REPL if you can import the function of your choice from the random module. Also try calling the function a few time to try out generating random numbers.

Write a function called roll_dice() that uses the random functions to simulate a dice roll, prints the rolled number, and also returns the number that was rolled. (Don’t forget the import!)

Take a Turn

We will wrap the inner workings of a turn into a function, so it can be re-used.

Define a function take_turn(current_player).

It will start by printing which players turn it is. Next it will prepare a variable turn_sum which starts at 0. Afterwards it calls the roll_dice()-function three times and adds the results to the turn_sum. The turn_sum is printed to inform the player about their current amount of points.

Prepare a variable current_input, that starts out with no data (yet). Now, the function enters a loop. As long as the player did not input the stop-word according to INPUT_STOP or the turn_sum exceeded the limit, the following is done:

• Request an input from the player.
• If the input was anything else then INPUT_ROLL or INPUT_STOP, print which words the player is allowed to use
• If the input was INPUT_ROLL, call the roll_dice()-function and add the result to the turn_sum

After the loop, the function returns the achieved turn_sum.

The complete Game

Define a function play_dice_game(…).

The limit a player may achieve in each turn (default: 21) and the maximum_rounds to be played (default: 5) should be made available as parameters so users may choose their own rules if they want to do so.

You will need a variables to count how many rounds you have already played and what the total score of each player is. Also introduce a variable looser to keep track if any of the players has lost early. Of course this initially is None.

Create a loop that runs as long as there is no looser or the maximum amount of rounds have not been played yet. Inside, print the current round and print the scores so far. To play the round, first, PLAYER_1 takes a turn, then PLAYER_2 (use the take_turn(…)-function accordingly). If their turn sum did exceed the limit, announce that they lost and stop the function immediately. Otherwise update theirplayer_…_score`-variables by adding the turn scores onto them.

If the loop completes and no player has lost yet, compare the scores and print the name of the winner or the DRAW-text as appropriate.

Run your game by putting

if __name__ == "__main__":
    play_dice_game()

at the end of your file.

Custom Rules

Inside the if __name__ == "__main__":-block, ask the user if they want to play with custom rules. If that is the case, allow them to set a different limit and maximum_rounds. Call the play_dice_game(limit=…, maximum_rounds=…) with the according values.