The host owns the rules of the table. Everything below is set by the host and applies to everyone, so it is worth knowing what each switch does before twelve people are waiting on you.
Before the game starts
Seats
Two to thirteen players. Set it a little higher than you expect — an empty seat costs nothing, and a full room turns latecomers away.
Number of decks
One to four. Multiple decks are normal for Canasta, big Rummy tables and anything with more than six players. Changing this later rebuilds and reshuffles the deck.
Deck type
Four decks are available, and the game list filters to match whichever you pick:
| Deck | Cards | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 52 (+ up to 4 jokers) | Poker, Rummy, Hearts, Spades, Go Fish, Teen Patti, Bluff — anything with suits and ranks. |
| Crazy 8 | 108 | Crazy 8s and its variants. Colour-coded with Skip, Reverse, +2, Wild and Wild +4. |
| Phase Runner | 108 | Phase Runner — numbers 1–12 in four colours, plus 8 Wilds and 4 Skips. |
| Drinking | 50 prompts | Adult party play. Requires a separate 21+ confirmation. |
The game preset
Presets pre-load sensible turn rules, a default deal size and scoring for about thirty games. Choosing Free Play loads nothing and gives you a bare table — see Free Play: how to run any card game.
Dealing
The host is the dealer by default and can hand the dealer role to any player. Dealer controls live in the Host menu:
- Deal cards… — opens the Deal Sheet.
- Shuffle — shuffles what is left in the deck. There is also *Shuffle discard into deck*.
- Collect everything — pulls every card back out of hands, piles and the table into the deck.
- Reset game — a full reset that rebuilds a fresh deck from the current deck settings.
The Deal Sheet
Two modes. Equal deals the same number of cards to everyone in one press. Custom sets a different number per player, across several rounds if you want, and the pattern can be saved and reused. Turn on *Collect before deal* to gather the cards back first, and *Deal to piles* (Settings › Deck) to include shared piles as recipients.
Turn order
Turns are optional. With them off, anyone can act at any time, which suits Free Play and fast games like Speed or Snap. With them on, only the current player can draw or play.
- Enable turns so play passes in order, and reorder players to decide who follows whom.
- Set a per-turn timer if your group has a slow thinker.
- Direction can reverse — and in the Crazy 8 deck, a Reverse card flips it the moment it lands.
- Any player can toggle Sit out to be skipped for a while.
House rules
Under Settings the host controls what the table allows:
- Table — whether players may give cards to each other, how cards land, the trump suit, and a free-text house-rules note everyone can read.
- Deck — draw and deal face up or down, deal into piles, lock the deck or discard so nobody drags them around.
- Display — card size, owner names and borders, sound effects. These are per-device, so each player sets their own.
Templates: set it up once
When the table is exactly how your group likes it, save the whole configuration as a template from Settings › Templates. It stores the deck setup, turn rules, house rules, display options and any drinking-game configuration. Templates live on your device and are shared with the pre-game lobby, so one you save in either place shows up in both.
Set it up once, save it as a template, and start the next game in seconds.
Host a table