My husband grew up playing pinochle. He taught the kids from a young age, but I am not a game player. I was not interested, but he talked me into learning about 5 years ago. Now I really enjoy it!
This has come in handy as a way to spend time with family remotely this last couple of weeks. Our oldest daughter found the website trickstercards.com. and we have used it quite a few times during quarantine.
The website is free (there was one short ad before starting a game) and has 9 card game options. We briefly looked at the other options, but stuck with pinochle. I would assume a lot of the features carry over, though.
There are a few pre-set variations of the game, but there is also a menu that allows for fine tuning the rules to your preferences. You can set these AFTER you click “Play now on this site” and choose your card game.
The first time you play a game you pick a name. It also remembers any rules you set up from before. But you don’t have to sign in with an email unless you want to be able to play as the same person across different devices.
Some of our game participants have played on their phones, which could be handy for travel, but a couple of times someone hit a bid higher than they meant to because the buttons are smaller on the phone. And there’s no going back!
I have fun with the setting options for what the cards can look like. During our last game, I uploaded a photo so my online cards are personalized.
In the photo above, you can see a gear wheel in the bottom left corner. That is where you can find the settings for changing cards, table covers, score fonts, and how long certain things are displayed.
The metal butterfly is one of my yard decorations that I had a photo. Only about half of the settings menu shows in the photo below.
We have always had a video chat going at the same time as the card game. We have used either Zoom or Facebook for that. If the video is on the same device as the game, you can’t really see.
There really needs to be at least voices to enjoy the game with friends. I don’t imagine ever wanting to play with random strangers, but never say never.
Still, I am really looking forward to seeing people in person again!
Note: On Quarantine Day 17, I spent all day on getting help fixing computer issues. Then on Quarantine Day 18, I came down with a little intestinal bug, so slept most of the day. All is fine now, but I won’t be filling in for those days.
The original declaration for staying home is supposed to end this coming week, so hopefully there will only be a couple more days of posts in this series!