KubiTarock is a card game with four players. It is based on the popular Austrian Tarock - also known as "Königsrufen (King Calling)". See chapter Game Rules for the details.
The current version supports four playing modes:
- Offline mode
In this mode, the user controls at least1)one player. All other players will be controlled by the simulator "Tarobot". The simulator by the way sees only those cards the human player would also see. But you, too, can let the "Tarobot" support you in playing. If you select the appropriate setting, it marks the action on the user interface that it would perform in your place. You can also undo and redo all actions of the game.
- Learning mode
In the learning mode you can question any action that the "Tarobot" simulator proposes for you. He will then tell you the reasons why he thinks the action makes sense. Of course, the Tarobot is not a person who takes into account the psychology of other players. He is a pure numeric, who expresses everything in numbers to evaluate them with his algorithms. But he knows all the rules and can give the beginner important hints when practicing the game.
- Quiz mode
This mode is a variant of the offline mode. In addition to the fun of playing, you can train your memory and thus your playing skills improve. Randomly selected questions about the current playing cards state are presented to you during the game. After you have selected the supposedly correct answer, the solution will be presented to you immediately. Depending on the question you will get different numbers of points for the correct or also for an almost correct solution. In the quiz statistics you can read the development of your success in a calendar. If you have reached a minimum number of points and a minimum success rate, you will also receive symbolic awards such as flower pot, medal, and cup.
- Online mode
In this mode, a maximum of 4 KubiTarock users can play against each other online. They must be members of an online group. Additionally, a maximum of 3 members can participate as bystanders. Bystanders and players can swap roles during the game. If less than 4 players are participating in an online session, the remaining players are simulated. In parallel to the playing session, a Skype audio conference should be held, enabling the same conversation between the players as in a real card round. Before starting the first session, one of the online users must create an online user group2). To do so, he must purchase a corresponding add-on, which is valid for 1 year. This player acts as group administrator and is responsible for the administration of the group.
The first logged-in online user must take over the role of the game master: At the end of the game must perform the actions to book the scores, save the game, and start a new game. In certain stituations, he must initiate the simulator to perform the next action of a simulated player. If the game master leaves the session, the next online user in the game will automatically become the master.
Normally, the simulator performs the actions of the players it controls without any user intervention. This autoplay function must be suspended in certain situations, such as selecting a Talon half, so that the user(s) can see what the simulated player has done. In these situations, the game master must trigger the simulated player to perform the next action. If the auto-play function is not used, the game master must always trigger the simulator if it is to act for a player.
If a player has his turn, he will be activated. This is made visible by the highlighted rectangular frame around the player view. In addition, the user portrait on the player view is pulsating. On the gaming table, an advice is shown telling the player what he can and should do. If current system user controls the activated player, the user has three possibilities to act:
- He manually performs an action: He leads a card by dragging and dropping the card with his finger or with a mouse for example. Alternatively, he selects an action or an announcement from the action box and executes it by clicking on the action button.
Further options are provided by the optional assistance function. For online games this is usually locked. But, the group administrator can release and lock it even during a running session:
- The assistant function marks an action or card, and the user then decides whether to use the pre-selection or another action. To confirm the pre-selection, simply press the enter key or the space key.
- As an extension of the assistant function, the learning mode can be activated additionally:
- If this is activated, the user can request an explanation for each suggested playing action. All he has to do is to click on his player portrait. An explanation of the suggestion will appear on the assistance pane. The user can then accept the suggestion or make the pane to disappear and perform an action by himself.
- If the learning mode is not activated, a click on the player portrait causes the execution of the suggested action immediately.
If a player is not controlled by the current system user, the simulator must select and perform the player's action. Thereby, the following situations can come up:
- After an adjustable interval, the autoplay function triggers the simulator to act for the player automatically.
- The autoplay function is deactivated or suspended. In such cases, the current system user must trigger the simulator by clicking the pulsating user portrait to act for the player.
There are special conditions for the quiz mode and for the online mode, which are described in the following chapters:
All actions of the game can be selected and executed by using the keyboard too. To make this possible, the user must ensure that the desired element has the input focus assigned. A highlighted border indicates the input focus. However, a focused input element is only marked if the trigger for focusing is a keyboard input or the app itself.
By pressing the Tab key or the Shift+Tab key combination, the focus can be set to the next or to the previous input element, respective. If the desired input element has the focus assigned, there may be additional selection options available depending on the type of the input element. Finally, the user can trigger the action by pressing the Enter key or the Spacebar. More details about the keyboard interface you can find in chapter Keyboard Interface.
The following chapters are describing the playing actions the current system user can perform:
1) For analyzing purposes, a user may even control multiple players. For the autonomous mode the user should even take over all players, so that he can see the cards of all players.
2) The group should have at least 2 members and must not exceed 12.