Meet the players

Familiar faces at your table

Alice, George, Ruth and the rest of our table companions are fictional computer players. You play with one partner and two opponents; there is no live matchmaking or waiting for other people.

A different table, the same fair deal

Three different companions are picked when you begin a new game. Each has a fixed playing level. All three remain with you through every round, including after you leave and resume the saved game. Their names in the game identify their seats; they are not real people who are online.

Every companion follows the same rules as you. They can use their own hand and public information, including the melds on the table. They cannot inspect your hand, their partner's hand, unopened feet or the order of cards in the stock.

What the playing levels mean

These are differences in decision rules, not a guarantee of who will win. A casual companion can receive an excellent hand, and an experienced companion can have a difficult game. The hint feature uses the experienced approach with only information available to your seat. Going-out requests are resolved automatically at this solo table, including a request from your partner to you. All levels use this same automatic agreement.

LevelHow decisions differ
CasualPrioritizes immediate card points when choosing melds; protects matching hand cards but does not defend against opponents' table melds when discarding.
RegularBalances canasta bonuses and wild-card use, considers neighboring cards in Samba, and avoids discards matching opponents' melds.
ExperiencedAlso gives more weight to nearly completed melds and protecting cards that extend the team's unfinished groups; pays closer attention to opponents' exposed ranks.

A little routine in the day

The hour reported by your device makes some companions more likely to appear in a new game. Each preferred six-hour window has four times the selection weight of other hours. Everyone remains possible, and no companion appears twice at the same table.

Time only influences the roster. It does not seed the card shuffle or improve a player's cards. Changing the clock or returning at another hour will not change an existing game's companions. A game without a reported local hour uses the server's UTC hour.

The full catalogue

NamePlaying levelPreferred local hours
AliceCasualMidnight–6 am
GeorgeRegularMidnight–6 am
RuthExperiencedMidnight–6 am
HenryCasualMidnight–6 am
ElenaRegularMidnight–6 am
ArthurExperiencedMidnight–6 am
MargaretCasual6 am–noon
RobertRegular6 am–noon
RoseExperienced6 am–noon
JamesCasual6 am–noon
ClaraRegular6 am–noon
PeterExperienced6 am–noon
HelenCasualNoon–6 pm
FrankRegularNoon–6 pm
GraceExperiencedNoon–6 pm
DavidCasualNoon–6 pm
LuciaRegularNoon–6 pm
WalterExperiencedNoon–6 pm
SusanCasual6 pm–midnight
CharlesRegular6 pm–midnight
MariaExperienced6 pm–midnight
PaulCasual6 pm–midnight
DorothyRegular6 pm–midnight
SamuelExperienced6 pm–midnight

Names are ready before the first deal

The empty table already shows the three companions selected for your next match. Pressing Deal cards starts the cards moving; it does not replace those participants with different identities. If the hour changes while you are looking at the prepared table, the participants shown there remain the ones used for that deal.

Starting another match can produce another group. Preparing that new table does not erase the old saved match until you actually deal. Once a game exists, its companions persist across rounds and when you reload. The words You identify the seat you control; the other names identify the partner and opponents.

We’d like to hear from you

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A moment before you continue

Start a fresh game?