VB6 Yahtzee game

[Daniel Demesmaecker]

I come from a java background, but start a new job tommorow, where everything still is written in vb6.
To get myself a bit familierd with the language I started to make a simple yathzee game.
Everything works great, but somethings take way more could as they should.
For example I included the code I use to check if the player has a three of a kind...

Private Sub lblThreeOfPl1_Click()
If lblThreeOfPl1.Caption = "" Then
Dim points As Integer
points = 0
If lblDice1.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or _
lblDice1.Caption = lblDice4.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or lblDice1.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or lblDice1.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or _
lblDice1.Caption = lblDice3.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or lblDice1.Caption = lblDice3.Caption And lblDice1.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or _
lblDice2.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or lblDice2.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or _
lblDice2.Caption = lblDice4.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice1.Caption Or lblDice2.Caption = lblDice3.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice2.Caption = lblDice3.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or lblDice2.Caption = lblDice5.Caption And lblDice2.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice3.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or lblDice3.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice3.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice2.Caption Or lblDice3.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or _
lblDice3.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or lblDice3.Caption = lblDice5.Caption And lblDice3.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice4.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or lblDice4.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or _
lblDice4.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice2.Caption Or lblDice4.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice5.Caption Or _
lblDice4.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or lblDice4.Caption = lblDice5.Caption And lblDice4.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice1.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice2.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice4.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice2.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Or _
lblDice5.Caption = lblDice4.Caption And lblDice5.Caption = lblDice3.Caption Then
points = points + Val(lblDice1.Caption) + Val(lblDice2.Caption) + Val(lblDice3.Caption) + Val(lblDice4.Caption) + Val(lblDice5.Caption)
End If
lblThreeOfPl1.Caption = points
lblTurns.Caption = 0
holdD1 = False
holdD2 = False
holdD3 = False
holdD4 = False
holdD5 = False
If lblTotal2Pl1.Caption = "" Then
lblTotal2Pl1.Caption = points
Else
lblTotal1Pl1.Caption = Val(lblTotal2Pl1.Caption) + points
End If
Else
MsgBox "You already have choosen this field, choose something else!", vbExclamation '
End If
End Sub

Take note of the second if statement, there most be a easier way to do this...?

[Piet Souris]

I'm not familiar with yahtzee, but in poker I make a frequency table of a hand. If the table has 3 keys, and one of the key values = 3, then it is three of a kind. (the other two keys must have values 1). The points is then simply 3 times the value of the card, ot in your case the caption of your label.

By the way: in your current routine, must you not also check that the other two cards are not a pair? You would have full house in that case (if applicable to yahtzee).

[Daniel Demesmaecker]

A full house is still three of a kind, if the player chooses to put it at three of a kind instead of full house, cause for example he already has filled in full house, he should be able to.
Poker and yahtzee are about the same, one is with dice, the other with cards...

[Piet Souris]

I see.

If the values of the table contain a 3, then if there are three keys, it's three of a kind, otherwise it's full house.. This made it very easy for me to characterize a hand of poker, keeping away from all those ifs in the code, and reducing the methods that check for a certain combination. How many subs á la lblThreeOfPl1_Click do you have?

Edit: switched three of  a kind and full house into their correct places.

[Daniel Demesmaecker]

There would be six

[Piet Souris]

Less than in poker, I guess there is no such thing as a street flush or two pairs. Well, I hope that such a ft makes the coding of yahtzee easier, wit much less if's. If not, let me know where an ft fails for yahtzee.