This site, CardGames.io, has been growing a lot since it was founded by Einar, and with a large userbase come many support emails. It's gotten to the point that we can't always personally answer every email, facebook post, or instant message. However, a lot of the questions are the same, and so we've listed the most common questions we get here so that if needed we can simply point people to this page.
Click the question you want an answer for
Are the games fixed in any way?
No. The cards are always randomly shuffled, the dice rolls are always random numbers from 1-6. That's really the truth, we have no reason to manipulate the cards or dice, it would just be more work for us. We don't gain anything by cheating, in fact we only make money when people stay on the site so driving them away by cheating would make no sense. A lot of people feel like Bill always gets the dice roll he needs (especially in Backgammon!) or that he always gets more doubles etc etc, but still he only wins around 35% of his games. So, we really don't want to answer more emails about this one or have this argument anymore, card shuffling and dice rolls are random, if you don't believe it we won't spend the time trying to convince you otherwise. Also, the computer players never get to know your cards or anything like that, they only make their decisions based on knowledge of their own hand and what has already been played in the game.
Can you please make [INSERT GAME NAME HERE]?
Probably not. But the standard answer is, if enough people request a game and we feel like it's a good fit then I'll probably make it eventually. If you send me an email requesting a specific game I'll count it as one vote towards that game.
How can I change my face and name?
Go to https://cardgames.io/avatars/. There's a text box under the face, click on that to change the name.
My statistics and face got erased. Why?
That happens if you delete your browsing data/cookies. We store your data only in your own browser, so when you delete your browsing data you lose your stats and face.
Can I play against other people?
Yes, most of the games offer the possibility to play against other real people. Click on the "Multiplayer" button next to your face to get started. In two player games like Chess or Yahtzee you'll see a list of the players that are online and can click on them to challenge them to a game. In four player games you'll see tables, click a table to join it and when it fills up the game starts.
How can I play many cards at once in Idiot/Crazy Eights/Switch ?
If you have a mouse you right-click on all the cards to select them, then click once on one of the selected cards to play them all together. If you have a touchscreen you touch and hold your finger down on a card to select it for about 1 second. Do that to all the ones you want to play, then tap on one of them to play them all together.
What do green checkmarks mean on players and tables?
Checkmarks are meant to tell you which players are good at finishing their games, so you don't end up playing with people that abandon a game as soon as it starts going badly for them. You earn a checkmark by finishing three multiplayer games in a row. If you abandon a multiplayer game you will lose your checkmark. So generally it's a better idea to challenge someone with a checkmark than someone without one.
Tables with checkmarks are only available to players who have checkmarks. If you join a checkmark table you can be sure that all the other players that join it will have a checkmark as well, so it's more likely to be a good game with players that stick around.
I can't join a table because I didn't finish my last game
In order to prevent people from jumping tables as soon as things go sour we put a small time delay on those that abandon games. There is no delay on the first offence. However with each game you do not complete after that half a minute is added to the clock, up to a maximum of a five minutes waiting time until you can join again. For every game you do complete the timer goes down a minute. Those that have a green checkmark do not have to wait at all (albeit they do get closer and closer to losing their checkmark)
We tried to select a time-range that is long enough to annoy frequent offenders and hopefully allow the other people a bit of respite from table-jumping, but short enough that people who just happened to have to leave aren't unfairly punished. However as always our suggestion to avoiding this is to simply finish the multiplayer games you start, even if things aren't going your way. If you don't have the time to complete a multiplayer game you may not wish to start one at that moment.
Do you have an app?
Yes, we have apps for iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets. Click here for iPhone/iPad app, and Click here for the Android app.
Your AI is terrible! Can I get better robot opponents/partners?
No, I'm afraid you're stuck with poor ol' Bill and his various flaws. This is a common complaint and in many cases are well founded. Our robot players often make what can be classified as beginner mistakes, are unaware of spoken social convention in trick taking games, make strategic blunders, or lack the contextual intuition built up by years of playing card games. While we tried to make our players decently competent in the games they play often at times laying out a perfect list of commands that enable the AI to play perfectly with no flaws is not a trivial task. If you're in need of a proper human opponent or partner we suggest joining a multiplayer table, it has it's own set of challenges but the partners at least are able to adapt on the fly.
I have some strategy tips for how you can make the players better.
You can still send those to me, and we might use some tips from them when I'm working on the game in question next, but we don't often go back to old games to improve them, we prefer to work on new stuff, so don't be surprised if you don't see your suggestion implemented, we honestly just get way more suggestions than we can handle.
Can you add [SOME OPTION] to [SOME GAME] ?
No. We like having only one set of rules for each game. The thing people like about this site is that it's simple, we try very hard to keep it that way.
I don't like ads, can I turn them off?
No. Ads are what pay for these games, without the ads we wouldn't be able to have these games online. If you prefer seeing ads between rounds instead of on the side of the game then you can click on Options and turn on the option "Interstitial Ads", but there's no way to fully turn off ads.
Spades: What is a Boston?
A Boston is when one team gets all 13 tricks in a round.
Hearts: The scoring is wrong
Do you know what Shooting the moon is? It's part of the rules, when one player gets ALL the hearts AND the queen of spades then he gets 0 points and everyone else gets 26 points.
Euchre: How do I know who is the dealer?
The dealer has a large black hat with the word "DEALER" on it. You can also tell the makers/defenders by looking at their names, the maker who ordered up gets a large (M) next to their name, their partner gets a small (m) next to theirs, and the defenders get a (D).
Euchre: I don't like Stick the Dealer. Can you change it back?
No, we have no plans to change it back. It was a much requested feature and we don't like having multiple ways of doing things, so we don't want to add the old way as an option.
Lockup: Other players are not following suit
There are cases where it's allowed to play clubs instead of following suit. Please read the rules carefully!
I have an amazing business offer for cardgames.io!
Thank you for your interest, we're humbled you'd want to work with us.
That being said, we are a fairly insular company that prefers to work with a limited number of partners on our own terms. We've sometimes gone to great lengths to preserve the control we have over our products and limit our need to rely on other companies beyond what is strictly necessary. As such we rarely accept new partnerships.
If you still want to try your luck, send your proposal to support@cardgames.io and someone will get to you as soon as possible. Thank you.
About our founder
Cardgames.io was founded by the late Einar Egilsson, who sadly passed away in early 2022. Einar was an exceptional programmer, a passionate supporter of open sourced solutions, and was very generous with his time and efforts when it came to the things he loved and the projects he contributed to.
Having started Cardgames.io as a hobby, it quickly grew into a vision to provide people easy access to the classic games they know and love without any artificial complications, without having to sign up for accounts, and without having to give away any personal information. The choice of games often was what he personally was interested in or what he was teaching his kids to play at the time. He championed these pillars of simplicity and putting the player first, and passed them on to his team as the company grew. Einar cared a great deal about his users, and in all things strove to make games he himself wanted to play, paying close attention to the feedback his core community sent to him.
Cardgames.io was his pride and joy in life, and while there is no replacing him we are dedicated to making sure that his site keeps being a testament to his hard work and talent.
Other questions?
If you have a question that isn't answered above, you can still send it to support@cardgames.io. We can't promise we'll reply, but we do still read all emails that we get and consider any feature or game suggestions people make. All we ask is that you remember the human. We do value your input, and are always glad when people take the time to contact us. However, all your messages will be read by an actual human working at a digital card game company. Hateful comments written in moments of anger are unnecessary and are the least likely method to actually convey the point you want to make or affect the change you wish to see on the site. The stakes very seldomly are so high on this site that profanities or rude messages can be justified.
