Kordon Pishti

Eight tables along the Kordon, the waterfront where tea glasses never stay empty for long: a pier tea garden, a barbershop, a fish market café, a ferry saloon, up to the masters' corner table at the old club. Every regular has a habit you can learn and turn against them.

Pishti, the Turkish fishing card game, against the computer: a duel or four-player partners, a twelve-table ladder, house rules, a daily deal.

Pick the table on the title screen: a duel against one player, or four players in two partnerships with your partner opposite. Four cards go to the middle, three face down and one face up, and four to each player. In turn, everyone lays one card on the middle pile. A card of the same rank as the top card takes the whole pile, and a jack takes any pile. Taking a lone card with its match is a pishti, worth 10 points; a jack on a lone jack is worth 20. When the hands are empty, four more each until the deck runs out; the last player to take a pile also gets the cards left in the middle. Points per deal: every ace and jack 1, the two of clubs 2, the ten of diamonds 3, the most cards 3, plus the pishtis. Matches run to 101 or 151 points. The ladder has eight duel tables and four partnership tables, each with its own regulars and table rules: all middle cards face up, no pishti with the last card, or a jack turned up that stays in the middle. The friendly table lets you pick the level, the length and the house rules, and the daily deal gives everyone the same two deals. Tap a card to play it; cards that take the pile have a gold edge. Keys: Tab and the arrow keys move between cards, Enter plays, 1 to 4 play a card directly.