German Whist is a two-player game using one standard deck of 52 cards ranked Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, (low).

The aim of the game is to score points by winning more tricks than your opponent. The winner of the game is the player whose score first reaches or exceeds the win target (see Settings).

The rules of play are those of standard trick-taking games. During a hand, one of the four suits is allocated as the Trump suit. A card is beaten by a higher card of the same suit or any Trump card. A lower card of the same suit or any card of the remaining two non-trump suits loses. When a card is played, the other player must follow suit (play a card of the same suit) if possible. If they do not hold any cards of the leading suit, they may choose to Trump by playing any Trump card to win, or Throw Away by playing any non-trump card to lose.

The initial dealer is chosen at random and then alternates for each hand. 13 cards are dealt to each player and the 27th card is placed face up on the deck. The suit of this card determines the Trump suit for that hand.

The non-dealer is the first player to act. They must decide which card in their hand they wish to play in order to win or lose the card face up on the deck. The other player must respond by playing a card from their hand. The winner takes the card face up on the deck into their hand and the loser takes the next hidden card from the deck. The two cards played are discarded. The next card in the deck is displayed and the winner of the previous trick is the first to act. This repeats until there are no cards remaining in the deck.

The player who wins the final trick during the foreplay is the first to act in the endgame. They select a card to play and their opponent must respond by playing a card from their hand. The winning card (a higher card of the same suit or, if Trumps was not played first, any Trump card) takes the trick, and the winner is the first to act next. This repeats until all cards have been played.

There are two scoring options (see Settings). In ‘Last 13’ scoring mode, a point is awarded for every trick in the endgame while in ‘Every Trick’ scoring, a point is awarded for every trick during both the foreplay and the endgame. In Last 13 scoring, at the end of a hand, the winner scores the number of tricks by which they exceed six. In Every Trick scoring, at the end of the hand, the winner scores the number of tricks by which they exceed 13. For example, eight tricks to five would score two points (Last 13 scoring) and 23 tricks to three would score 10 points (Every Trick scoring).

In Last 13 scoring, 10 points are awarded to a player if they win every trick that hand.

There are two scoring options (see Settings). With ‘Last 7’ scoring, a point is awarded for every trick in the endgame. With ‘Every Trick’ scoring, a point is awarded for every trick during both the foreplay and the endgame. In Last 7 scoring, at the end of a hand, the winner scores the number of tricks by which they exceed three. In Every Trick scoring, at the end of the hand, the winner scores the number of tricks by which they exceed six. For example, five tricks to two would score two points (Last 7 scoring) and 10 tricks to four would score four points (Every Trick scoring).

In Last 7 scoring, five points are awarded to a player if they win every trick that hand.

Classic:

Classic German Whist is the official 52 card version of the game identified above.

Small Whist:

Small Whist is a quicker 28 card (piquet deck) version, where the 2 - 7 cards of each suit are removed from the deck before playing. It plays the same way as Classic German Whist, but the foreplay and the endgame are each only seven cards long.

Choose from the following settings (defaults shown in italics):

Sound: On, off.

Speed: Normal, fast.

Orientation: Portrait, landscape left, landscape right or landscape free.

Single click play: On, off.

AI level: Easy, hard.

Game type: Classic, small whist. Small whist is played with a smaller deck of 28 cards, (2-7 removed from each suit).

Scoring: Last 13, every trick. In 'Last 13' only the end game tricks score points. In every trick, endgame and foregame tricks score points.

Win Target: 10, 25 or 50. In 'Last 13' only the end game tricks score points. In every trick, endgame and foregame tricks score points.

Cards: Classic, coppercod or modern.

Deck: Choose from 18 different deck designs for coppercod, 16 for modern.

Mobile Cards: Off or on. Only available on phones.

Theme: Green, merlot, dark red, light blue, black, purple, teal, pink, orange or blue

Home screen:

From the home screen you can access the following options:

• Start new game
• Continue game: if there is a game in progress it can be continued
• Settings (cog icon, bottom left). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
• Information (question mark icon, bottom right). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
• Stats (trophy icon, top left)
• Sound: Tap the speaker icon at the top right of the home screen to toggle between sound on and off

Your cards are displayed face up at the bottom of the screen and your opponent’s cards are face down at the top. Within a suit, your cards are ordered high to low from left to right. The suit order depends on the chosen settings (see Settings). Your opponent’s cards are ordered at random.

Each player’s score is shown to the right of their hand. A green light is displayed next to the score of the player whose turn it is to act.

During the foreplay, the deck is positioned to the left of the screen. The symbol above indicates the Trump suit and below is the number of cards remaining in the deck. The Trump suit symbol is shown to the left during the end game.

When it is your turn to act, tap the card in your hand that you wish to play. The card will rise above the rest of the cards in your hand. This selection can be changed by tapping a different card. Tap the chosen card a second time to play. If your chosen card ‘bounces’ and cannot be selected, it is because you are attempting not to follow suit or to play out of turn.

When a Trump card is revealed on the deck or played by your opponent, a sound is heard and the Trump suit icon above the deck pulses.

At the end of each hand a scoreboard is displayed. From here you can choose Continue or Home (this ends the current game). When a player reaches or exceeds the win target (see Settings) a trophy is displayed next to their score and the game ends. From here you can choose New game or Home to return to the home screen.

Thank you for playing German Whist!