Play Whist against the computer

Setting up a table of bots

Whist here is for exactly four, in two partnerships. Open a table and press "Add an opponent" three times for a whole table of bots, or fewer to play with friends. Seats go in the order people sit down: first and third against second and fourth, so the second bot is your partner.

The table rules are the length of the game — 5 or 7 points — and whether honours are scored. When the table is full, the host presses "Start the game".

What a bot can see

Its own thirteen cards, the turned trump and the trick on the table, the same as you. Hands are kept on the server, so no bot — not even your partner — can see what you hold.

Bots take about a second over each card, so you can follow the trick as it goes round.

How the bots play

A bot leads its lowest card. If its partner is already winning the trick, it plays its lowest card too. Otherwise it wins the trick with the cheapest card that does, and if nothing wins, it plays its lowest.

That is the whole of it. A bot does not lead from length, does not draw trumps on purpose, does not signal and does not count the cards that have gone.

How to beat them

Draw trumps. The bots never do, so a side that clears the trumps early and then runs a long suit takes the last tricks of almost every hand.

And because a bot leads its lowest card, the first round of a suit it leads is usually cheap to win in third or fourth seat — which puts the lead back with your side.

Bots and people together

Invite friends with the code and let bots take the empty chairs. The seating decides the partnerships, so sit down in the order you want to play — one friend and you against two bots is a good way to learn.

After each hand everyone presses "Ready for the next hand"; bots are ready at once. If somebody leaves mid-game a bot plays their seat, and if their connection drops it is held for twenty-five seconds and handed back when they return.