A bug with the points table of Wiezen
Recently we've been made aware that the points table that is used in Wiezen did not properly correspond to the points table used by the IWWA. More specifically, if a contract for winning 5 tricks on your own is lost, you lost an incorrect amount of points.
The points table of IWWA for a Solo 5 contract is
| Tricks | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | -30 |
| 2 | -24 |
| 3 | -18 |
| 4 | -12 |
| 5 | 6 |
| 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 12 |
| 8 | 15 |
| 9 | 18 |
| 10 | 21 |
| 11 | 24 |
| 12 | 27 |
| 13 | 60 |
meaning that if you win 5 tricks, you get 6 points, and all the opponents get -2 points. If you win only 4 tricks you should get -12 points, and all opponents win 4 points.
This is where the points on Whisthub were wrong. If you won only 4 tricks, you got -18 points and all opponents got 6, whereas this is actually what should happen if you win only 3 tricks!
As you might know, we normally don't change the rules once a game has been launched. The reason is that consistency of the rules is key. Changing rules all the time is confusing for the players, and every rule will always have proponents and opponents. It's often better to just make a choice and then stick with it.
However, for Wiezen we've opted to use the exact same rules as those used by the IWWA, so the fact that there was a difference in the points is actually a bug rather than intentional. Hence we've decided to make an exception and change the points in Wiezen to align them again with those from IWWA. Thank you to the people making me aware of this!
On a completely unrelated note, this is likely the last blog post of 2023, so Whisthub wishes you a happy New Year and good cards in 2024!