Updated Features
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
New Challenges Menu Item
We’ve added a new menu item, Challenges, that lets you view the results of challenges you’ve played and find challenges created by your friends and our new Daily Challenges.
Beat the Bot in a Daily Challenge!
Each day we create two Daily Challenges for each of our games. Each challenge has different rules and are created by having a bot play with and/or against other bots.
To see if you can do better than our bot (and other real players), choose a challenge from the list of Daily Challenges, finish the game, and choose “Results” from the final scorecard.
Friday, March 24, 2023
Better Bridge Defense
With advice from experts, we’ve continued enhancing the defensive play of our Bridge bots (computer players). Changes include better leads after the first trick, smarter discards when they can’t follow suit, and pushing the declaring team to play high to win the trick.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Better Bridge Bot Opening Leads
We’re kicking off a series of updates to our Bridge bots to make them better players and partners. This first update improves opening leads on defense. Keep an eye out for further improvements to both play of the hand and bidding behavior in future updates.
Export Hand to PBN
In Bridge Practice and Join games you can now export the current hand to PBN. This includes the current deal, auction, and played cards. We’ve been using this to easily create test cases for our bots as we continue to work on improvements.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Large Cards
Have trouble telling which card is which? Try flipping the new “Suit and Rank Size” setting to “Large” to help. Find it in “Card Suits” under the Settings menu item alongside options to change the shape and color of suits.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
More Boards
Based on feedback, we’re now splitting leaderboards by team vs. solo and number of players. For games with many options, you will now see sections such as 2v2, 3v3, 3-player, 4-player, etc. We made this change because a 2-team game has a different expected win percentage than, for example, a 3-player game.
The Leaderboards menu item now contains a drop-down menu at the top to select the game you’re viewing. Below the game, select the leaderboard play mode: Play, Join, or Compete.
Thursday, October 27, 2022
VIP Watch Replays
A new feature of the VIP Pass is the ability to watch face-up recordings of games you have completed in the last 28 days. To try it, choose “Watch Replays” from the menu and click or tap a game.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Qualify for Compete
Starting today, players who have never played a “Compete” mode game must qualify before doing so. To enter your first “Compete” mode game, your account must be more than 24 hours old, and you must have completed 7 games in the “Play,” “Join,” or “Practice” mode sections.
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Why Block?
Our “Block” feature now asks for a reason. With this change, blocking not only helps you but also helps improve Trickster Cards for everyone else. Behind the scenes, we use block and report data to help us monitor and take action against players who spoil the game for others.
To block someone from playing games with you in the future, click on their player name during a game and choose “Block.”
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
New Zealand 500
We’ve added a “Bid after pass” option that allows players to continue bidding after passing when a player’s bid is changed. This new option in conjunction with existing options, allows a 500 game with rules popular in New Zealand.
Joker as Best Card in 500
By request we’ve also added a “Joker low in Misère” option which makes the Joker the lowest card (and non-trump) when playing a Misère/Nullo contract. Basically, the Joker effectively loses any trick to which it is played.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Become a
Enhance your Trickster Cards experience with our new VIP Pass! Buy 1, 3, or 12 months of access to these premium features:
- Ad-free access to all games
- Receive 2,500 each month
- Wait for a player in Play games
- Friends join your games ad-free
- Exclusive status icon
Anything else you’d like as a VIP? Let us know!
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Spades Allowed Bids
We’ve added two new Spades rules options. One lets you set when you can bid Nil: anytime, losing by 50, or losing by 100. Another requires that the total of the bids not equal the number of tricks available. See the updated Spades Rules form.
Clear Statistics
Players who wish to clear their historical play statistics can now do so either for a specific game or for all games. See the new “Clear” links and “Clear All Statistics” button in the Statistics menu item. Leaderboard data is not affected.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
500 for 3
We’ve added a 3-player variant of 500. Our game uses a 33-card deck (7–Ace plus Joker). Ten cards are dealt per player and there’s a 3-card kitty.
Use the “More Games/Rules” button to access the 500 Rules form and choose this option.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Call Trump Easier/Harder
Based on feedback, we’ve added a “call trump” option to Euchre. This option lets you decide whether you can call trump anytime, with any trump in your hand (today’s rule), or with only “natural” trump in your hand (“natural” trump does not include the off-Jack).
See the new “Call trump” option on the Euchre Rules form (accessed with the “More Games/Rules” button).
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Cornish Euchre
As requested by a player in Cornwall, we’ve added three new options to Euchre: 1) dealer bids first; 2) defend alone anytime, and 3) dealer bids blind when the Joker is the up card.
Try these in your next Euchre game by using the “More Games/Rules” button and setting the game rule options the way you like.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Show Bids During Play
Bridge players can now choose to view the bid history during play of the hand. Click on your player name and choose “Show Bid History” from your player menu. The bids will be shown until the end of the hand or you choose “Hide Bid History” from your player menu.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
New Bot Names
We occasionally update the names used for our bots (computer players). Today, we update the list with the US Census Bureau’s top 2,000 baby names (1,000 each male and female) from 1956.
Friends’ Game Letter Key
We’ve added a key for the game letters shown after friends’ names in the Friends menu item.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Invite-Only Compete
By request, we’ve added the “Must be invited” option to Compete games. This allows you to limit your Compete game to just those friends you invite. Use the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Must be invited” to Yes when creating your next Compete game.
Friends’ Games Played
Based on feedback, the Friends menu item now indicates the card games your friends like to play. For example, you will see a B icon for a player who plays Bridge.
The Invite Friends menu item now organizes friends into two parts: those who play the game you’re inviting them to and those who don’t.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Customize Oh Hell
The Oh Hell “More Games/Rules…” form has been reorganized to offer a “Custom Deal Pattern” choice in its “Deal pattern” option. Choose that and you’ll see a new section where you can specify the first hand’s number of cards, the last hand’s number of cards, and the switch point.
To try these new options, use the “More Games/Rules” button when creating your next game.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Score More in Oh Hell
Based on customer requests, we’ve added new scoring options to Oh Hell. With the “Trick points” option you can control whether 1, 2, or 3 points per trick are added for a successful bid. The “Failed bids score” option lets you give no points when players miss their bid.
To try these new options, use the “More Games/Rules” button when creating your next game.
Monday, May 23, 2022
Show Off Your Score, Too
All players can now share their scorecard with others by using the “Share” button on the final scorecard of any style game – Play, Join, Compete, or Practice. Practice mode players can challenge others to play the same game.
The “Share” button replaces the “Challenge” button previously available only in Practice games.
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Bids are Blind
Spades players may now choose to offer blind bids other than Nil. Use the “More Games/Rules” button to view the Spades Rules form and the new “Blind bids” and “Min blind bid” options.
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Watch Face Up
“Join” games can now be set to allow watchers to watch the game with cards face-up. Create your next game using the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Allow watching” to “Face Up.”
Play Face Up
“Join” and “Practice” games can now be played with all hands face-up. Set the game rule option “Show all hands” to “Yes.” Suggestions and the bots’ play does not change when playing face-up.
Friday, April 22, 2022
Don’t Give Up
Players who don’t want the new Pinochle “throw in” option can turn it off. When creating your next game, use the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Ask throw in” to No.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Give Up in Pinochle
We’ve added the ability for the Pinochle declarer to “throw in” if they don’t think they can make their bid. If you want to play out the hand, just lead a card.
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Euchre Misdeal
We’ve added an “allow misdeal” rule option to Euchre. This option allows you to let players with “Ace, No Face” and/or “No Ace, No Face” to call a misdeal. Use the “More Games/Rules” button when creating your next game and try this option.
Show Off Your Score
The Challenge feature (see Bragging Rights, below) has been enhanced to display a scorecard that you can copy and share. Choose “Challenge” on the final scorecard of a Practice game.
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Colorful Trump
By customer request, we’ve added more colors you can use to highlight the trump cards. See the new “Trump Highlight” option in the Theme section of Settings (in the main menu).
Play and Stay
To improve the overall experience in “Play” mode games, we encourage all players to stay and finish the games they join. If you leave a “Play” game too quickly without finishing, you must wait before joining a new “Play” game.
Saturday, April 9, 2022
Faster Melds
We’ve added a Pinochle game rule option to control the speed of the meld display. Players creating Join, Practice, and Compete games can choose from five settings ranging from Very Fast to Very Slow. To try it, create your next Pinochle game using the "More Games/Rules" button and set the "Meld display speed" rule option.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Lead Trump in Oh Hell
We’ve added the popular “Lead trump” option to Oh Hell. This option allows you to specify that trump cannot be led on the first trick or until trump has been broken. Use the “More Games/Rules” button and try this on your next game.
Saturday, April 2, 2022
Dealer Display Before Start
We now show who will be the dealer of the first hand when you are waiting for the game to start. This allows you to position yourself relative to the dealer.
Bragging Rights
We’ve added a feature to Practice games so you can challenge your friends to replay the same game. On the final scorecard, choose “Challenge” and then share a link with friends. They will get to play the same cards from the same seat as you. See who plays it best.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
No First Blood
By customer request, we’ve added a “Lead trump” option to Euchre. This option allows you to specify that trump cannot be led on the first trick or until trump has been broken. The default behavior is that trump can be led anytime.
Failed Nil Nada
Also by request, we’ve added a “No Bags/No Help” option to Spades’ “Failed Nil” option. When chosen, the overtricks from a failed Nil are neither added to the failed Nil bidder’s score nor added to the team score.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Work Harder for One
For those who think taking 3 tricks in Euchre is too easy, you can now make it so you have to take 4 tricks to make your bid for 1 point. Use the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Take 4 for 1 pt” to Yes.
Alone for Less
Euchre players can now choose to score just 2 for an “alone” bid when taking all 5 tricks. Set “Alone worth 2 pts” to Yes.
Spades Like Hearts
We’ve added a new Spades option “Low ♣ first trick” that requires players to play their lowest club on the first trick. The player holding the low club leads first.
Play It Safe
The new Spades option “No ♠ first trick” makes it so a spade cannot be led or dumped on the first trick.
Friday, March 11, 2022
Spades Pass More
Based on customer requests, we’ve increased the number of cards that can be passed on Nil/Blind Nil to four.
Double-deck Kitty
Double-deck Pinochle players can now choose to play with a kitty. Create your next game using the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Kitty” to Yes.
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Love Your Rules
We’ve added the ability to mark rules as favorites. Favorite rules appear at the top of the list in each game section. To make a rule a favorite, simply click or tap the open-heart icon in the upper right corner of the rule tile. Favorites are indicated by a solid heart, as shown below.
Example of a favorite rule
You can also mark favorites on the game rules form next to the rules summary at the top. Use the “More Games/Rules” button to access.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Leaderboards Account for Ties
Based on customer feedback, starting tomorrow the leaderboard categories % Games Won and # Games Won will count ties as half a win. We round up halves so that 3 ties count as 2 wins.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Trickster Bots Now Open Source
Based on players’ interest in enhancing our bots, we have made our Trickster bots open source. Programmers with experience in C# are invited to visit our GitHub repository TricksterCards/TricksterBots.
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Bidder Goes Out in 500
We’ve added a “Bidder goes out” game rule option to 500. When set to yes, the bidder team wins if both teams go over 500.
To try this option in your next 500 game, use the “More Games/Rules” button and set “Bidder goes out” to Yes. Ensure the other options are as you want them and create the game using the “Create” button at the bottom of the form.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Upload Decks for Bridge
Based on customer requests, we’ve added the ability to upload decks for use in Bridge Join and Practice games. See the new help topic Uploading Decks to learn about this new feature.
