World of Card Games

An update was applied to the site this morning. You can now play ranked Hearts with the "Tournament Rules" Option. You will see both types of ranked Hearts games in the list of tables. A table with the "Tournament Rules" Option is annotated with "tr". The "Standard Rules" table is not annotated with anything special.

two possible games of Hearts

You will get a separate Elo rating for Hearts games played with these "Tournament Rules". If you play both types of games, you will see your Elo rating for each Option in your stats area for Hearts. Just click your stats link in the upper right corner, and click the "Hearts" radio button to see your Elo and Skill for the two ranked Hearts Options. Here's a view of my stats:

stats show Tournament Rules with (tr) next to them

I hope you have fun with the new Option!

This morning, the site was updated to apply some modifications.

In Hearts, shooting the sun now only applies a penalty of 39 points to other players (as compared with the previous 52 points). It appears that a majority of players dislike the large sunshot penalty, based on a previous vote. This is an attempt at a compromise.

Also, a new Hearts Option is available. It is called "Tournament Rules". When using this new Option, the no-passing round is skipped, so you always get to pass cards. Further, if you are stuck with the Queen of Spades as your last card to play before hearts have been broken, you are not forced to lead with it. Instead, you can play a heart.

If you select "Either" for the "Tournament Rules" Option, you will be seated at either type of table. You can see what type of Options apply at your table by clicking on the "table info" link in the lower left corner of your table. Also, "Tournament Rules" tables will show up with a "tr" in the list of tables. Note: in order to "create" a table that uses Tournament Rules, you must select "Use Tourmament Rules" in the "New Hearts Option" panel, shown below. For the regular Hearts Options panel, set "Tournament Rules" to "Yes".

new Hearts Option "Tournament Rules"

Finally, in 3-5-8, the "Fan Cards Wider" Setting is now functional. You can fan your cards wider or narrower.

I've counted up the votes on the proposal to change the rules of the Hearts game. You can read the previous blog post for details. This is a summary of the proposed rule changes, along with the results:

1. Remove the "no-passing" round. There were 37 votes opposed to removing the no-pass round, 14 in favor of it.
2. Remove "shooting the sun" penalty. There were 20 votes opposed to removing the penalty, 30 in favor of it.
3. Remove forcing a person to play the Queen of Spades if hearts have not been broken and they only have hearts plus the Queen. There were 31 votes opposed to removing being forced to play the queen if hearts not broken, 10 in favor of it.

I excluded "maybe" votes when counting. The counted votes include several emails that were sent directly to me, as well as comments on the previous blog post.

I am a little bit surprised at the results, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It stands to reason that anyone who feels very strongly about these rules wouldn't be playing at the site for any length of time. Apparently the one rule that the majority would like changed is the shooting the sun penalty, and this is something that doesn't happen that often.

For anyone who feels very strongly about these rules, I'm sorry. You may have heard this before: I know I can't make everyone happy. While I'd like to make the site infinitely customizable with all possible Options, I can't. Given that a majority are opposed to (1) and (3), I cannot see implementing these as a default. I may implement them as an Option to the game in the future. If I do introduce them as an Option, I'd need to put some thought into how the rule is applied to ranked games. For example, should there be a whole new ranked leader board for Hearts when played with different Options? This seems more entertaining, but is also more labor-intensive.

I have mixed feelings on (2). The main reason that people dislike the shooting the sun penalty is - correct me if I'm wrong - that it ends the game too soon, and depends too heavily on luck. I'm actually surprised that so many people are opposed to this penalty, given that other card games often have a similar rule. For example, in Bridge, there's the "grand slam". Some people play Spades with a special award for winning all the tricks (the "Boston").

If I recall correctly, the one time that I shot the sun, it could have been prevented. What I recall is that I got hit with the Queen. I had exactly one hearts card, the King of Hearts. I played the King of Hearts, someone did not cover by taking it with the Ace, and I then proceeded to take the rest.

In some cases, such as this, the "shooting the sun" penalty seems deserved. I would argue that the "shooting the sun" penalty is so severe that it encourages people to "cover their passes", to pass a low hearts card, and in general play better, strategically.

Please argue with my points in the comments section. I freely admit that I am not a very good Hearts player, and it may be that my impressions about shooting the sun are false.

Hearts Card Game!

The Hearts card game has been around in one form or another since about 1750. With such a long history, it is no surprise that numerous variations have sprung up.

The Hearts rules at World of Card Games require that after cards are dealt, each player must remove 3 cards from their hand and pass them face-down to another player. This is done in a particular order: After the first deal, cards are passed to the left. After the second deal, they are passed to the right. After the third deal, they are passed to the player across from them. And after the fourth deal, no passing is allowed - so you are stuck with the cards dealt to you. This is the "no-passing" or "hold" round.

Another rule is that if you are so lucky as to take all the tricks in a hand, you have "shot the sun", and the other players get a penalty of 52 points. It's a bit like shooting the moon (in which you take all the point cards and penalize others with 26 points), but probably involves more luck than skill.

In addition, there's a rule at the site which says you cannot lead hearts until hearts have been broken, or if you have no other cards except hearts cards in your hand. This rule is painful when you are holding just the Queen of Spades and all other cards are hearts cards. In this case, the rule forces you to lead the Queen! You'll almost always take that trick, leading to a 13 point penalty. Often, getting into this situation is just due to bad luck.

I've had a few requests to change the rules as follows:

(1) Remove the "no-passing" round. The "no-passing" round adds more of an element of luck to the game. You may get stuck with a lone Queen of Spades, which usually doesn't end well! You may also get stuck with a very good set of cards - it's all down to luck.

(2) Remove the "shooting the sun" penalty, so it is treated the same as "shooting the moon".

(3) Allow a person to lead hearts if hearts have not been broken, and they are holding only hearts cards and the Queen of Spades.

I have chatted with Joe Andrews, who is a leading expert in card games, and who ran Hearts tournaments for many years. He told me that the rules above all applied at these tournaments, so that skill was emphasized over luck. This is the reason that I'm proposing the rule changes. In particular, the strategy for passing cards is a huge factor in Hearts, and having a "no-passing" hand adds excessive randomness to the game.

I'd like to get some feedback from players at the site. Please let me know what you think about these rule changes in the comments.

The Double / Redouble Option has been added to the Twenty-Nine card game at World of Card Games!

Double / Redouble is described at Pagat as a popular variation of the game, and I've had several requests to add it. It works like this: the opponents of the team that declared trump have a chance to say "double" after trump is chosen. Then if the declarers do not make their bid, they will lose 2 game points instead of 1. If they do make their bid, they will win 2!

The declarers can respond with "redouble". If they do not make their bid, they will lose 4 game points. If they do make their bid, they win 4!

It only takes one player on a team to declare "double" or "redouble" - either player can do it.

The Double / Redouble Option is turned on by default. If you start a table using the default options, then Double / Redouble applies. If you do not want to play with this option, you will need to set the radio button for "Allow Double-Redouble" to "No" in your Options settings.

Double Redouble option for Twenty-Nine card game

Tables which use this new option are designated with "drt" (it stands for "Double Redouble Twenty-Nine") in the list of tables. Tables with the Seventh Card option are shown designated with "sct".) In the screenshot of the list of tables below, the Twenty-Nine table has both of these options applied, and a single Guest is sitting at it:

Table having Seventh Card and Double Redouble options applied

If you're one of those players who hates the "Stick the Dealer" (STD) rule in Euchre at World of Card Games, you now have an option to avoid it.

Stick the Dealer option

Open your "Options" for Euchre. The new option is called "Stick the Dealer". By default, it is set to "Either". It is the least restrictive option. If you keep it this way, you'll be seated most quickly, at any Euchre table, no matter whether the rule is applied or not. If you are first to the table, the STD rule is applied.

If you really like the STD rule, you may want to click "Yes" for this option. This means you will be seated only at tables where the STD rule applies. If you are first to the table, the STD rule is applied.

If you strongly dislike the rule, click "No" for this option, and you'll be seated at tables where the rule is not applicable. If you are first to the table, the STD rule is not applied.

Note that Euchre tables where STD is applied are shown with the notation 'std' in the list of tables. In the screenshot below, the ranked Euchre table has STD applied, while the unranked one (which is for Registered Players Only - 'reg only') does not:

STD applies at all ranked Euchre games

If you are seated at a Euchre table, and you want to know whether the STD rule is enforced, just click the "table info" link in the lower left corner. It will show you all the options that apply to the game:

Euchre table info shows Stick the Dealer option

There were a few other updates this morning.

The Euchre bots have been tinkered with, so they should play a little better now. If you see them make a particularly bad move, you can always send me the hand history so I can look into the problem.

The Pinochle bots had a problem with their meld bids, and this should now be fixed as well.

In Hearts, the rule for who gets points when shooting the moon has been modified. Now, points are deducted from the shooter's score, unless adding points to the other players' scores keeps (or puts) the shooter in first place.

There's also a new "welcome" banner that can be clicked to find out more about ranked tables. You can play ranked Hearts games already. Rankings will come to other games in the next few months.

I'm asking for feedback about new Hearts options. If you've played Hearts at World of Card Games, you may have noticed that there's an option to "Allow First Turn Hearts":

allow first turn hearts option

The default rules require that you cannot play Hearts on the first trick. However, if you choose this option, it is allowed, provided that you do not have any Clubs in your hand.

Over the last two years, I've had requests for several other options:

1. Someone would like to see the Omnibus Hearts option, described at Pagat: it applies a bonus to the player who takes the Jack of Diamonds. That person gets 10 points deducted from their score, even if someone else shoots the moon or sun.
2. Someone has a house rule that disallows passing the Queen of Spades. The idea is that by passing the Queen of Spades, two players know where it is, giving them an unfair advantage over the other two players. I haven't seen this variation before.
3. Another user would like to see a shorter version of Hearts, in which the maximum score is perhaps 56. This would let people play a quick game when they don't have so much time.
4. A player requests that when the Queen of Spades is played, Hearts should not be broken. Only when the first Heart card is played should Hearts be broken, allowing others to lead with Hearts.
5. Someone is interested in seeing a redeal option which would work as follows: if a new player takes a seat that has a high score, then with the agreement of all players, the game would be reset. I'm inclined to oppose this option, because it seems to me that it's about the same as having everyone leave the table and start over.

What do you think? I cannot promise that I'll have time to implement any of these in the near future, since I have a number of issues to address that are high on my to-do list. However, it helps to know if a majority of players want a specific option, so I can prioritize accordingly.

If you have your own favorite option that you don't see here, post it in the comment section!

This morning, World of Card Games was down for a short time to apply some bug fixes and new features.

Exclude Games in Progress option

Here's a brief summary:

1. There is now an additional option to "Exclude Games in Progress". If you only want to be seated at tables where the game has not yet started, choose this Option (click the Options button to get to your game options). Keep in mind, it may take you a bit longer to get started in this case.
2. The List of Tables now shows how long a game has been in progress. If you really dislike being seated at a long-running table, this is a good feature to use!
3. A few people reported to me that when joining a game in progress, sometimes their cards did not appear in front of them. This bug is now fixed. Please let me know if you see this happen again; it should not! A big thank you goes out especially to "no bots plz" and "davidly" - the two players who gave me enough information to reproduce this bug, so that I could squash it!
4. There is now an audio alert when a game that was paused is restarted.
5. You may use the "replace robots" link after a game has started, now. Previously it could only be used at the start of a game.
6. The "Seventh Card" option has been added to Twenty-Nine. I've written about that in a separate blog post.

A number of players have written asking that some variations of the game "Twenty-Nine" (29) be allowed at World of Card Games. One popular request is the "Seventh Card" option. Today, this option is available, and it is turned on by default. (If you absolutely don't want to play with this option, you will have to edit your Options, and set "Allow Seventh Card" to "No").

Choosing the 7th card to decide the trump suit

The Seventh Card option gives you a new choice for choosing the trump suit. If you choose this option, the trump suit is taken from the 7th card that is dealt to you. The 7th card is placed to one side of your hand. It is not allowed to be used until you cannot follow suit (i.e., you cannot lead with this card). When you do play it, the trump suit is declared.

The 7th card is 8 of Clubs; the trump suit is Clubs

Trump is usually declared when a player cannot follow suit. However, if the high bidder chose the 7th card, then they do not have to declare trump when they are unable to follow suit. They also do not have to play their 7th card. Instead, they can discard an off-suit card, if it appears strategically wise to do so. This keeps the trump suit secret for longer than is usual in 29.

I hope you enjoy this new option! Please let me know if you see any bugs related to it. I'll be adding options for other variations when I have more time.

To celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday, 6 new avatars have been added to World of Card Games. Happy Easter everyone!





There's also a small change to the "no bag penalty" option in Spades, which was introduced a couple of weeks ago. Previously the option was "Yes" or "No," which made it very exclusive.

This has been changed to be similar to the "Bots" option. Now, there is a radio button with the choices "Yes," "No," or "Either." The option is turned off by default, which means you can continue to play games in the usual way without doing anything.

If you absolutely love the "no-bag-penalty" variation of Spades and only want to play that way, edit your Spades options and hit "Yes" next to the "No Bag Penalty?" question. If you are happy to play either way, choose "Either."

Note: If you are the first person to be seated at a table, your options decide how the table rules are configured. If the "No Bag Penalty" option is set to "Either" or "No" then the table does not use the new option. If you set it to "Yes," then the table will apply the "No Bag Penalty" rule.

Once seated at a table, you can check what the options are by clicking the "table info" link at the bottom left of the screen:

I've played with the new option, and it's fun! I had to adjust my usual strategy a bit, which has been interesting. Also, if you prefer shorter games, this option makes the game go more quickly.

When I deployed the new "no bag penalty" option in Spades, last week, I didn't quite get it right. Some people noticed that they were being seated at tables where the option applied, even when they had not chosen that option. This is fixed with today's update. If you don't want to use that option, just keep it unchecked. That's the default, too.

[Note! This post has been edited to reflect some small changes to the options dialog that were made April 14 2014. The new changes are cosmetic.]

My mid-March post about a "no bag penalty" variation of Spades caused a little stir, with lots of comments. There were a surprising number of players who wanted to try it. So let's give it a whirl! Starting this morning, you can try out the new variation at World of Card Games.

To explain how the variation works, I quote Pagat: "Some play without any penalty for 10 sandbags - overtricks are simply worth an extra point each." It's that simple. You have to forget about being concerned about accruing too many bags. Their only effect is to give you 1 point each. Otherwise, they don't add up, and they don't roll over with a penalty at the count of 10.

To avoid disrupting the (apparent) majority who prefer playing with the usual penalty, I've added this option to private tables only. You may only play with the new option at private tables.

This is how you set up a private table:

1. On the main page, click on the Spades "Options" button, which is at the lower left of the Spades panel. This opens the options settings dialog (a screenshot is shown above).
2. Click the "Private Table" checkbox. Below this will appear the text "Name: none (change)". Click on the "(change)" link, and enter your table name (it can be whatever you want). If you leave it "none," then no one else can get into it - usually people do this if they want to play with robots, only.
3. Click the "No" radio button next to the "Bag Penalty" setting.
4. Hit the OK button in the dialog, which closes. Your options have been saved!

The next time you play Spades, you'll be sitting at a table with these options applied. Keep in mind that you will need to share your private table name with other people in order to play with them! So for those who are eager to try this out, you'll need to chat with others to find some recruits to sit at your private table and play with you.

I've also excluded these games from the Spades statistics, at least for now. I'm going to wait for feedback before deciding what to do about the stats. I may add them in later on.

I am interested to know what people think about the new option. Leave feedback in the comments section, or send me an email.

And as usual, please report any bugs, should you notice anything strange happening.

sandbagging near Missouri Route 63

I sometimes get requests to allow new options for variants in the rules of a card game. Recently, I got a request to have an option to play without the penalty for taking bags in Spades.

The standard rule for Spades, according to Pagat, is to keep track of "bags" or overtricks as they accrue. These are just extra tricks taken, above what the team bid. When a team collects 10 bags, they are penalized -100 points, and their bag count is wiped clean.

It seems that "most" players do play with a penalty for bags. Tell me - how do you feel about playing a game of Spades without the bag penalty? Have you ever done this? Opinions, pro and con, are welcome.

Edit: I'm adding this not to make it clear that if this feature is added as a new option, it would be opt-in. So a player would have to edit their Spades options to sit at such a table. There is a similar kind of option for Hearts, right now ("allow first turn hearts").

Some players at World of Card Games get frustrated with new users of the site. What do I mean by a "new user"? That's a person who has never visited the site before, or someone who has only played a game or two at the site. They are probably still learning the ropes. They might play poorly, or leave a game quickly because they don't understand what they should do. That can annoy more experienced users, who just want to get on with their game.

Up until now there was not much you could do about this. There's always been an option to play with "Registered Players Only". However, this excludes a lot of unregistered players (Guests) who have been playing card games at the site for a long time, and who just haven't bothered to register. And it includes very new registered users who may have the same issues as an unregistered new user.

Today, I added a new feature which should help with this problem. Experienced users may now choose to exclude new users from their tables. You will find this new setting under the Options panel (screenshot below).

exclude new users option

The option is not checked, by default - to use it, you will have to edit your options.

In addition, newer users are now indicated by the color of their name - it's shown in yellow (the default color for names is white):

new users have yellow name tags

If you see someone with a yellow nametag, the person hasn't been playing at the site for very long. They might be fine players, but they might also act a little confused. It's just a little warning that you might see unexpected behavior.

There's nothing wrong with being a new user; everyone was a new user at one point! But if you're not the patient sort, you probably will want to choose the "Exclude New Users" option. It might save you some frustration.

Finally, remember that you can always exclude specific players in a more fine-tuned way by using the "dislike players" icon. Disliking a player means you won't be seated with them again.

A few months ago, I started collecting statistics on the table options that people are using at World of Card Games. I thought it might be interesting to some people, so I'll share the results here.

In all of the games, the most popular table options are the default ones: robots allowed, do not require registered players, no private table setting. That may mean people don't realize that they can change them, or perhaps they don't want to be bothered. Here's the breakdown by game:

• Hearts: 60% of tables have the default options.
• Spades: 53% "
• Euchre: 56% "
• Go Fish: 94% "

The second most popular option is to use a private table with no table name (table name is set to "none") - this setting is used by players who want to play with robots only. Here's the breakdown for that:

• Hearts: 29% of tables are private, for playing with robots only.
• Spades: 19% "
• Euchre: 22% "

The third most popular option is to forbid robots. Some people really dislike the robot players (I admit, they need improvement!). Here are the statistics for that category:

• Hearts: 7% of tables forbid robots.
• Spades: 11% "
• Euchre: 17% "

Well there you go! Very few people have the "Registered Only" option set. That's interesting. If you set this option, only registered users will be allowed into your table. This may be useful if you want to recognize who you're playing with. Guest numbers change, so if you played with Guest #10 yesterday, they may be labelled as Guest #251 today.