Play Scalade Online is a webpage where you can play the card game Scalade against bot players.
Scalade is a trick-taking card game, primarily for three players, played with a traditional 52-card pack of cards (usually with some cards removed).
Each player plays for themselves. There is a 'ladder' in each suit, represented by a card of that suit on the table. Players win control of ladders by winning tricks that contain the card above the current rank (the 'rung') in that suit, with this new, higher, rank becoming the rung for that ladder.
Players score points by having control of ladders at the end of a deal, with additional bonuses for holding onto ladders in suits that they had control of at the end of the previous hand. These 'holding bonuses' can grow from deal to deal, leading to potentially very high-scoring bonuses.
Full rules for the game are available at this Scalade web-page
This app currently only the three-player version. It can be played with 'Standard Scalade' rules, or 'Mobile Scalade'.
The game runs entirely in-browser. If you navigate away from the page, or refresh, the current game will be lost. There are no current facilities for saving/loading a game.
Bot players run using trained neural networks at their core. They have access only to the same information a real player would, or less (depending on the bot).
There are three bot players currently, Arundel, Bodiam and Camber. Both computer positions are currently hard set to use 'Camber'. They both always pick the move they think is best. They both have access to:
Arundel has access to no further information, so cannot for instance remember which cards have been played already.
Additionally, Bodiam and Camber have access to:
Other bot players may become available in due course, along with the ability to choose.
You can view the source code for the app here. Any suggestions to improve the app in any way are welcomed.