Pick A Card / Pick A Suit

I’ve reworked my Pick A Card games and updated the website.

Those of you who have been paying attention will remember this:

That was my inspiration for a game where you picked from the 13 ranks, with two optional side bets. All those betting spots was too cumbersome so I made it where you pick from 4 suits with the same side bets. But then I added the joker to give the suit version more flexibility.

Then Harris added the Pick A Suit game to his Mega Table Game Site, (Thanks again Harris!), but also made some comments that the wording on some of my payables was confusing. After a review, I agreed with his observations. While reviewing things I also got confused with both the math and wording, so I started again, more or less from scratch, just to make sure the math was right and that the wording made sense.

Lastly, while doing all that, it occurred to me that these games are either different versions of the same game, or not two, but FOUR different games.

I mean, why not add the joker to the regular version? Why not have one where the suit version does NOT use a joker?

Well, I didn’t really want to have four websites and four sets of documentation that would all be very similar, so I decided that they are all slightly different versions of the same game. Put it all on one website that merely references the differences, and includes comprehensive pay tables.

In short: In each version players pick from ranks or suits (or both!), and optionally bet on two side bets. The difference between the versions was that one uses a deck of 52 cards and the other added a fully wild joker. Beyond that, the casino has the option of providing the rank bet. Or not. Option of the suit bet. Or not. Using the pay table. Or not. Etc.

So now, all of that has been condensed into one new website. Any bookmarks to the individual websites will still work, but there will be no additional updates to them. They may eventually come down.

There are other threads about these games, but please keep the new comments here.

What do you think?

Thanks.

direct to site, https://harrismowbray.com/poker .

shuffling after each round, alas

Nice! I placed two $1K bets and won both. That’s it for me; I’m walking away with my virtual 2K. Great design in that the general public can understand the game immediately. Nice clean layout. I don’t know whether my criticism should be directed to you or Harris, but the layout is far from mobile friendly. In portrait orientation only the top 40% of the layout is used making the information hard to read. The format is butchered in landscape orientation. Next month will be the ninth year anniversary of when mobile usage surpassed desktop; you can’t ignore that and be competitive, imho.

The criticism about the website's layout is completely fair!

The next few weeks are very busy for me but I intend to completely redesign the website. Do you think that it would be appropriate to design the website specifically for landscape orientation, or should it be in portrait mode?

Thanks for the comments. But some of them should be directed to Harris.

The game concept, website, math and documentation are my responsibility.

The online demo game is all Harris. While I'm extremely grateful for his choosing to add my game to his demo site, that's all his decision and responsibility.

Harris: Great job, but now I'll make two comments about the demos, coming from a regular user's point of view. And this probably applies to all your games.

You should probably allow both portrait & landscape modes. And ALL FOUR directions. I HATE that I can't use some apps with the phone upside down - with the charging cable at the top!

Also, perhaps you should consider how slot machines are designed: The payout and help info is on separate screens, allowing the game screen to be a cleaner dedicated layout.

Quote: harris

… Do you think that it would be appropriate to design the website specifically for landscape orientation, or should it be in portrait mode?
link to original post

I second Dave’s opinion that both orientations should be well supported, favoring neither, and dynamically displaying either in response to device orientation. Supporting all four possibilities is an easy addition once you get both landscape and portrait working. That said, go with portrait first as mobile devices can be locked in portrait format but not landscape. Be mindful of how the portrait layout will display on a desktop. Good luck!