Sogaly Tricks

Whist has survived a few centuries without anyone asking it to change. Sogaly Tricks asks it to change slightly. The rules, briefly Seven cards each in the first round, six in the second, and so on down to a single card. Follow the led motif if you can. The highest trump takes the trick; failing that, the highest card of the led motif. Finish a round without a trick and you leave the table. The last player still seated wins. The drift This is the part purists may wish to skip. Whatever motif wins a trick becomes trump for the next one. Win with a Parang and Parang is trump. Let a Kawung lead go untrumped and the dye pot tips over to Kawung. Each round starts from the motif on the turned dye card, and from there it wanders wherever the tricks take it. The cards Four batik motifs stand in for the usual suits: Kawung, Parang, Truntum and Mega. Each has its own shape as well as its own colour, so nobody has to tell indigo from soga brown by lamplight. Where you play — Five tables in a dyers' courtyard, from Ratna's porch to Wulan's pavilion: fifteen rivals in all, and each table a little less forgiving than the one before — Three stars per table: one for winning, one for taking a fair share of the tricks, one for clearing the table before the final card — A daily deal, identical all day, with a streak counter for those who enjoy keeping count — A gallery of seven dyed cloths, earned at the tables and by keeping the daily streak alive Settings Sound, haptics and reduced motion can each be switched off. The rules are written out on the settings page, for anyone who prefers reading to losing. Nothing to sign up for and nothing on sale. Stars, cloths and the streak are kept on the phone, much as a cautious player keeps trumps.

1.0.2 is the first public deal: five tables, fifteen rivals, a daily deal and seven cloths still waiting for their dye.