Nertz 
Cliodhna Reidy, Sarah Svahn, Owen Thomas 
Tufts University
CS 21 Concurrent Programming 
Spring 2025 

Packages to install: 
- pip install flask flask-socketio
- pip install requests 

How to play: 
- Real-time (no turns)
- Objective: get rid of all 13 cards in your nertz pile 
- Scoring: 1x (# of your cards in the community section) - 2x (# of cards in 
  your nertz pile)
- Acceptable input: 
    - m [card] [pile]       move a card to a pile (ex. m qh cp2, m 5d wp3)
    - s                     declare you want to shuffle, or shuffle 
    - d                     draw 
    - nertz                 declare you have nertz
- Community piles: stack in ascending order of the same suit
    - You can start a new pile with an ace at any time 
- Working piles: stack in descending order of alternating colors
    - Any card can move to an empty pile 
- Draw pile: draws 3 at a time, you can access the top card only
- Wikihow instructions: https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Nertz (note that community
  piles are referred to as foundation piles)

Sources: 
- https://python-socketio.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/77360099/emitting-event-from-client-to-server-using-python-socketio-is-extremely-slow
- Brennan and Mark - thank you!!!

File Guide: 
- client.py: this file contains the client class and main functionality of 
  Client. Handles connection to server, and handles the query loop in which a 
  player enters their moves. Communicates directly with Server to play Game.
- windows.py: this file contains the Windows class which represents the 
  different windows in the user’s terminal. It deals with printing to and 
  receiving input from different windows. 
- hand.py: this file contains the Hand class which represents an individual 
  user's playing cards. The cards are divided into four WorkingPiles, a nertz 
  pile, and a DrawPile. Each player has a score which is updated as appropriate 
  as cards are discarded/moved.
- draw_pile.py: this file contains the DrawPile class which represents the pile 
  of cards that a player uses to draw from. The only instance of the DrawPile 
  class exists in the Hand class. The DrawPile has two piles of cards, face_up 
  and face_down to simulate actual gameplay. 
- working_pile.py: this file contains the WorkingPile class which represents one
  working pile as a list of Cards. There are four instances of the WorkingPile 
  in the Hand class. Working piles may be added to from any other piles in a 
  Hand. Cards must appear in decreasing order with alternating colors 
  (black/red).
- flask_server.py: this file contains the Server class which handles the main 
  functionality of the flask server. It communicates directly with 1 or more 
  clients to play the game. 
- game.py: this file contains the main logic for the game. The Game stores the 
  player's scores and initializes and adds to the CommunitySection 
- community_section.py: this file contains the CommunitySection class which 
  represents the concurrent, multiplayer section of our game. It has a list of 
  CommunityPiles and a lock protecting access to that list.
- community_pile.py: this file contains the CommunityPile class which represents
  one pile in the community section. A CommunityPile has a list of cards, a 
  suit, and a mutex that protects adding to it.
- card.py: this file contains the Card class which represents a playing card, 
  which has a suit, value, and color. Two cards are equal if they have the same
  value and suit