Moraff's Stones

Moraff's Stones is a video game in the strategy genre developed by Moraffware and published by Moraffware originally released in 1992. It is currently playable on DOS.

Shareware fans will no doubt have heard of Steve Moraff, author of a series of cult classic RPGs named after him. Moraff's Stones is the most obscure entry, mainly because it is not an RPG. It's more like a game of chance inspired by the World of Moraff, and a lot of fun.

You play a human who enters one of the many taverns in Moraff's World, and you are invited to participate in a game of Stones being played by a group of monsters. Stones is a game in which you trade precious/semi-precious stones around the table, trying to get the most valuable hand, or the most complete and valuable hand (you get a bonus of 100 pieces of silver for the most complete and valuable hand). You keep playing until you are eliminated by smarter opponents and don't have enough silver pieces to buy back into the game.

While the game itself is little more than a popular card game in disguise, what makes Moraff's Stones a lot of fun is the fact that the game gets more challenging each time you win. It starts out fairly straightforward and easy to beat, and even relatively friendly. But every time a monster goes bust and can't buy in the next hand, it's replaced by a smarter, not-so-friendly monster.

In the end, you will be surrounded by tough and treacherous players at the highest levels of the game. Monsters will curse you, cheat and do whatever they can to win. This real-life aspect adds a lot of atmosphere to the game, and makes it that much more fun.

Definitely one of the most overlooked game titles ever made, shareware or not.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.