The site was down for a few minutes while it was updated for bug fixes this morning. Apologies for the interruption in your games! It's now back online.
There is one minor change that you may notice. The redeal feature that is available in Spades and Double Deck Pinochle has been modified so that players are given 30 seconds to redeal if someone leaves the table. This is true regardless of whether the game is paused or not. I hope this helps those who found that they were not able to agree upon a redeal before the game restarted.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Monday, December 14, 2015
holiday word puzzles 2015
If you like word puzzles, you might want to try these holiday themed puzzlers, courtesy of World of Card Games. Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
new euchre option to avoid stick the dealer
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.
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:
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:
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.
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| Stick the Dealer option |
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:
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| STD applies at all ranked Euchre games |
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| 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.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
hearts ratings bug fix, list of tables bug fix
There was a bug in the update to the Hearts ratings last week which caused the losing players to get more points deducted from their Elo ratings than they should have. My apologies, I know some of you take the ratings very seriously!
I've applied a fix to the problem this morning. Anyone who would like to get their Elo ratings set back to where they were last Wednesday need only write to me and ask (marya@worldofcardgames.com). To do this, just make sure that you send me the email from the address that you registered with, so I know it's you. I will do this for people up until the end of November.
[Edit on Nov 24 2015: Only a small number of requests to reset Elo ratings have come in. After receiving negative feedback on the way this was being done, I decided to just go ahead and do the work to perform a bulk update of Elo ratings. Anyone who played at a ranked table prior to Nov 17 has had their Elo rating reset to the value from Nov 11, before the bug was introduced. To be clear, this was only done if it led to an increase in their ratings - I did not reset values that were lower.]
I've written a page about how the Elo ratings are computed at World of Card Games, so you can always check for yourself to make sure you are getting the correct results.
I've also applied a fix for the "list of tables", which had a bug that caused the list to stop updating. Third times the charm? I hope so!
I've applied a fix to the problem this morning. Anyone who would like to get their Elo ratings set back to where they were last Wednesday need only write to me and ask (marya@worldofcardgames.com). To do this, just make sure that you send me the email from the address that you registered with, so I know it's you. I will do this for people up until the end of November.
[Edit on Nov 24 2015: Only a small number of requests to reset Elo ratings have come in. After receiving negative feedback on the way this was being done, I decided to just go ahead and do the work to perform a bulk update of Elo ratings. Anyone who played at a ranked table prior to Nov 17 has had their Elo rating reset to the value from Nov 11, before the bug was introduced. To be clear, this was only done if it led to an increase in their ratings - I did not reset values that were lower.]
I've written a page about how the Elo ratings are computed at World of Card Games, so you can always check for yourself to make sure you are getting the correct results.
I've also applied a fix for the "list of tables", which had a bug that caused the list to stop updating. Third times the charm? I hope so!
Sunday, November 15, 2015
list of tables bug fix, Pinochle bots improvement
This morning, the server was updated to repair a bug in the "list of tables". It's supposed to update every few seconds, but had stopped. This is now fixed.
I've spent a little bit of time updating the bots in Pinochle, based on feedback. They'll still need more work, but overall should be a little bit better in playing their cards now.
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| list of tables updates every few seconds |
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
new features! chat after game, spades hand history
This morning, the server was down for a brief time in order to apply some updates.
Registered players can now chat after their game has finished at World of Card Games! After the game finishes, you will now see three buttons: "Home", "Chat", and "Play ..." (see screenshot below).
Clicking the "Home" button takes you back to the main home page, where you can decide what new game you want to play. Clicking the "Play ..." button takes you directly to a new game of the same type that you just finished (for example, Hearts or Spades).
Clicking the "Chat" button takes you to a "chat" table where only the registered players from the game you just finished are invited. This gives you time to discuss the game in as much detail as you like, should you care to do so. The "Chat" button goes away after 30 seconds, so be sure to use it as soon as possible if you are interested in a chat with your group of players. Caveat: No one is obliged to go to the chat table, so you may find that no one joins you there.
If any who played with you goes to the chat table after your game is finished, this chat table will show up in the list of tables. Here's a screenshot of how to recognize it:
Another new feature is the ability to save your "hand history" in Spades. The hand history is already familiar to those who play Euchre. Registered players can download the history of their previous hand, and replay it in the browser to review all the cards played, one step at a time. In Euchre, this feature can be a nice tool to discuss strategy. It is also very useful to report bugs in the bots to me. I'm hoping Spades players will find it useful as well. Sometimes, people report problems with the bots, but it's too time-consuming for me to figure out just what happened. With this new feature, if the bots make a boneheaded mistake, you can grab the hand history and send it to me with a description of what went wrong. I will be more likely to fix a problem when I know exactly what happened, and can reproduce the issue.
To download the hand history, click the old-fashioned "floppy disk" icon that appears next to your avatar after a hand has finished. You can see what it looks like in the screenshot here.
Hm, I can't believe I just called a floppy disk "old-fashioned"! :)
Another important change: at ranked tables, the Elo ratings now reward the first-place player only. Elo ratings in Hearts was discussed in the previous blog post. I did not receive a lot of feedback, one way or the other, about this... but most players appear to like the idea, so I've made the change. I will continue to keep track of any feedback on the issue. Please post to Facebook or Twitter or here on the blog if you have comments. (FYI: anonymous posts are not treated very seriously; anyone can post anonymously multiple times, so I don't consider them to be so useful.)
Registered players can now chat after their game has finished at World of Card Games! After the game finishes, you will now see three buttons: "Home", "Chat", and "Play ..." (see screenshot below).
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| Click Chat button to chat with the Registered players after your game |
Clicking the "Chat" button takes you to a "chat" table where only the registered players from the game you just finished are invited. This gives you time to discuss the game in as much detail as you like, should you care to do so. The "Chat" button goes away after 30 seconds, so be sure to use it as soon as possible if you are interested in a chat with your group of players. Caveat: No one is obliged to go to the chat table, so you may find that no one joins you there.
If any who played with you goes to the chat table after your game is finished, this chat table will show up in the list of tables. Here's a screenshot of how to recognize it:
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| "chat" table shows up in the list of tables |
To download the hand history, click the old-fashioned "floppy disk" icon that appears next to your avatar after a hand has finished. You can see what it looks like in the screenshot here.
 |
| Click the floppy disk icon to download the hand history in Spades |
Another important change: at ranked tables, the Elo ratings now reward the first-place player only. Elo ratings in Hearts was discussed in the previous blog post. I did not receive a lot of feedback, one way or the other, about this... but most players appear to like the idea, so I've made the change. I will continue to keep track of any feedback on the issue. Please post to Facebook or Twitter or here on the blog if you have comments. (FYI: anonymous posts are not treated very seriously; anyone can post anonymously multiple times, so I don't consider them to be so useful.)
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Hearts ratings should not reward second place - guest blog
This morning, an update was applied to fix a bug which caused some players to be unable to see existing ranked tables in Hearts.
The new rankings have generated some discussion! Constance, a Hearts player, has written today's guest blog on that topic. Please take a look at what she has to say. - Marya
The new rankings have generated some discussion! Constance, a Hearts player, has written today's guest blog on that topic. Please take a look at what she has to say. - Marya
I
am delighted to see ELO ratings being applied to Hearts, which should
strengthen the competition. The current ELO ratings reflect place
position - that is, 1st is better than 2nd, is better than 3rd, with 4th
being the big loser. Classic Hearts rewards only 1st place; there are 3
last-place finishers - regardless of score. I am in favor of this
Winner-Take-All position and Marya has offered me the opportunity to
defend it.
For
a game with such simple rules, Hearts is remarkably complex. The
primary goal for Low is to end the game as quickly as possible by
eliminating High or to increase his lead at any opportunity. A
temporary, yet shifting alliance is formed by the other players who
attempt to unseat Low using their knowledge in identifying the Q-holder,
suits in which players are void, and how many of a suit are
outstanding. This forms the complex strategy of the game: teamwork with a
selfish goal - becoming Low.
Part
of the strategy is trusting your 'team' to not hurt you in the effort
to go after Low. It means protecting High, who may be on the brink of
elimination, by taking some of his point-tricks and possibly helping him
moon. It means doing what is necessary to prolong the game at the
expense of increasing your own score: taking a Q to stop a moon, not
leading spades until you are sure it will not hurt the wrong person,
leading suits which Low holds and in which the Q-holder is void, passing
cards that will not prematurely end the game, avoiding dumping the Q on
first opportunity until you are reasonably sure it will target Low.
Having
a rating system which has proportional rewards weakens the game.
Strategy will change to the extent that ratings matter. Players will
begin to strategize for place position. Trust will deteriorate. Dumping
the Q and ducking points will become more frequent, at least as end-game
approaches or in games with skewed scores. If Low has a substantial
lead, he will most likely be given a pass by the 'team' who will now
turn on each other for 2nd place and a resulting ELO rating increase, in
most cases.
Decisions
become more conflicted in Proportional-Reward games. A 2nd place player
may end the game by dumping the Q on high in order to ensure a 2nd
place position. A moon-stopper may not be employed if it results in the
player's own position to be shifted downward. In Winner-Take-All games,
where 2nd is no better than 4th, players make decisions that will
extend the game - not to end it. There is no benefit to ending a game in
which the 'team' places last to a single winner.
I
have no doubt that there will be players who will continue to play
traditional, classic Hearts and that at the beginning of the game,
everyone will strive to win. But traditional players will find
themselves at odds with an increasing number of new players who are
conditioned to a Proportional-Reward game of Hearts, bringing with it a
changed strategy - one which includes trying to improve place position
behind the winner, especially if it appears too risky to go after Low.
The
primary argument I have heard in favor of a 2nd place reward is to keep
players in the game longer - that they find a consolation prize
justification that they did better than 3rd & 4th, that there is no
incentive for high-scorers to remain in the game just to come in last.
To that I say So What! Who wants to play with people of such fragile
egos anyway? On this issue, I would like to reference Marya's Hearts Strategy & Tips: "With 4 players in Hearts, and only 1 winner,
your odds of losing are good: 75%, all other things being equal. So if
you are going to play Hearts, you need to be willing to accept taking a
loss in most of your games. The game is a good test of character, in
this respect!"
I leave with a quote from G Berns: "To
watch 3 excellent hearts players playing cooperatively, stalking the
low-scorer adept at evading, is to watch hearts at its very best."
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