Cancel Submit. Vijay B. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. A subscription to make the most of your time. Try one month free. This site in other languages x. Settlers of Catan is a widely-known board game in which the ultimate goal is to reach ten victory points from building settlements, cities, and development cards. As with all games, players typically need elements of both skill and luck.
However, some games are known for needing more skill than others. Respect the Development Cards. Monopolize and Conquer. Trade Big or Trade with the Bank. Two Last Things to Remember.
The game really is unique, unlike any other board games we have played before. Catan was also an accessible and solid game, so it was the right game at the right time. It was a go-to designer game, and the reputation stuck. For a long time, it was the specialty game you might spot on the shelf outside of game shops. The goal is to spend the resources to get a total of ten victory points.
However, even with a simple game play, it is quite challenging. When played by 2 players, the game has issues that affect play if standard rules are used. Here are some of the concerns: There is less competition for territory because there is more land per player.
CATAN has proven game rules and is easy to learn. Worth it. Catan is a classic. Social, simple, fun, and well known. I would strongly recommend getting the base set for now. If you want to start getting expansions, you may like the Traders and Barbarians set since it is a collection of several mini expansions. The computer uses all three hands against the player.
The game ends when at least one player has or more points at the end of a hand. The winner is the one who has the fewest points. Every heart taken in a trick is one point. However, if one player can succeed in getting all the cards that carry points — all the hearts plus the queen of spades — that player gets no points, and every other player gets 26 points.
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Hearts card dealing rigged? Thread starter David White Start date Dec 6, David White. The Hearts game does not appear to deal the cards in a remotely random manner. Certain characteristics occur far too often, such as a 4,3,3,3 distribution of the 13 spades, or the 2,3,4,5 of hearts each being with a different player.
Although the computer players are hopeless players, and I win more games than my three electronic opponents combined, it does get a little tiresome when you see the same thing happening so often. If the 3 and 4 of hearts are on the table and I'm next with the 5, you can almost count on it that the last player will play the 2. It's as though the programmer decided that card distribution should be more even than would occur with a properly shuffled real deck of cards, and rigged the deal to some extent, or maybe it's just a lousy random generator being used.
Anyway, if someone knows why the cards are dealt this way, I'd like to hear it. I've noticed this also, I doubt anyone has a solution though Liverpool, England "Do you know where you're going to? Certain characteristics occur far too often, such as a 4,3,3,3 : distribution of the 13 spades, or the 2,3,4,5 of hearts each being with a : different player. Although the computer players are hopeless players, and I : win more games than my three electronic opponents combined, it does get a : little tiresome when you see the same thing happening so often.
If the 3 and : 4 of hearts are on the table and I'm next with the 5, you can almost count : on it that the last player will play the 2. It's as though the programmer : decided that card distribution should be more even than would occur with a : properly shuffled real deck of cards, and rigged the deal to some extent, or : maybe it's just a lousy random generator being used.
Anyway, if someone : knows why the cards are dealt this way, I'd like to hear it. Joined Oct 5, Messages 3 Reaction score 0. David, Laura, quite a delay in responding but I have morethan a suspicion about the way the cards are dealt as well. Next hand: West who led played the Queen of Spades!! I stopped the game and vowed not to play again on Vista windows until I find another program tthat is not rigged.
I;m going to Check out Joe Anderson, an expert on online games. I have sent him and email with the same message as this one. Good luck David and Laura. Joined Jul 17, Messages 1 Reaction score 0. On topic, for Windows Vista. The hearts game does not appear to shuffle the deck randomly true. This can be overcome to some degree some times , but ultimately makes the game more frustration than fun Cheating is something that only humans can do.
I suspect that it is the programmers are cheating Vista Hearts players. I just finished a game where I was passed or had the queen of spades in every hand but one the one was a keeper. I got stuck with the queen five times! In general I have noticed that the computer players aggressively lead spades any time that I hold the queen, otherwise they use low card leads in long suits.
This is only because I have figured out that chances of shooting the moon are actually increased when the program is "out to get you". Keeping low hearts can be the worst thing you can do when you have a bad hand. It prevents you from switching strategies after you are burnt by the program. I think Vista hearts is more difficult than the XP version. I have not shot the moon four times in a row, which I manage in XP on a few occasions.
I came across this blog looking for verification that MS Hearts cheats, and I believe that it does. First, I'm sure the players collude, in that I've seen situations where players work together in situations where it is not in their best interest. Secondly, almost always from the first hand, one player gets 'hot', and that player continues to stay hot all game. It seems to be East a majority of the time.
Lastly, I have a question. I'm on version 5. Is that because I upgraded from and didn't wipe my drive? Yet another person who thinks that Microsoft Hearts isn't entirely on the level.
As with other people, I've seen the computer make moves that no person in their right mind would make without collusion. East was definately trying to shoot the moon.
It lead off with KH. West followed with a 3H. OK, last trick, and an AH left. Probably east had it. I was wrong, as West had it. You're telling me it wouldn't sacrifice one for the team so we all wouldn't get 26? And I've seen at different points the computer lead off with cards to force me to get multiple points where any normal player would never play anywhere near as stupidly.
But like other people, I think it's trying to compensate for overall poor playing. I know this is a bit off topic, but has anyone managed to burst all the little "heart bubbles" at the end of the game? I've got close, but never managed to get them all. I just wondered if anything special happened. To the person that posted Feb 3 at am, I'm sorry, I don't know enough to know about your scores being wiped.
To the person who posted right befoe this, I did not even know you could pop the bubbles! Now, I'll have to try :- Mrs. I think the term "cheats" is nonsensical. It's also paranoid. By the same token, the game isn't played by the rules of chance and there are not really any specific cards in any players hands except the human player. I've seen too many ridiculous outcomes to believe that. Rather, the program determines, not which of the other computer players will win, but what percentage of the time the human player won't, or will, take your pick.
Since I don't know the programming or the intent of the programmer, I don't know the rationale behind the way it plays. I too have seen the program withold the queen when an ace or king was already on the table and too many times I've had the cards to attempt a run only to find all the rest of the hearts in one other players hand.
Nevertheless, I continue to play because, apparently, I enjoy it. Maybe that's what MS was after all along. Of course, the program "cheats," for lack of a better term. If you've taken even a basic statistics class, you can tell that after 10 hands.
Those people claiming otherwise are just trying to make themselves feel smarter than everyone else. Well, here I am getting close to a year after I first posted this. I even won one game just one with a score of zero! East still seems to win the majority of the games that I do not. Thanks for all of these comments Google is amazing!
The better term is "programmed". Programs can't cheat and since it's obvious to everyone else that when playing against a computer, you have very little chance of winning at all, unless the program wants you to, cheating isn't necessary or possible. It's doing exactly as the programmer intended.
It simply doesn't want the human to lose all the time. Fair enough on my "cheats" comment. You are correct. A program can't actually cheat. Didn't realize the semantics police were out in force. My bad. There are computer vs.
When a program violates the rules, it is disqualified for cheating. Secretly sharing information about hidden cards with other players is a form of collusion. It is a serious no-no in card games like poker, bridge, and hearts, and definitely qualifies as cheating.
Rigging the shuffle to come out a certain way is an even more serious form of cheating. Some humans "card mechanics" do this kind of thing, too, and they get kicked out of the game, beaten up, or worse if caught.
If Microsoft Hearts is cheating, it sure isn't cheating very well. If a computer program was cheating, you wouldn't be winning. I suspect it is just not programmed to perfection. No, I do not think it cheats I reckon it is just bloody good programming Hi Mrs. B, I found this facinating blog today and want to add my 2 cents.
I am sure that the game breaks the rules but am not sure that it was programmed to do so. My latest example, and the one that led me to this blog, is one where I am void in hearts and setting up an easy shoot when the player in front of me leads a heart.
Hearts had not yet been played and the player had other suits available. Made me mad enough to quit the game and end up on this blog. I suspected something was amiss when I lost so frequently when I first started playing Microsoft Hearts on my Windows Vista computer. I had won so consistently on a Windows XP computer that I eventually stopped playing, as there was so little challenge.
I had also "mastered" a freeware 3D Hearts game. Hello, Mrs B. I came across your blogspot when, out of sheer frustration, I crawling the Net for some "cheat" strategies on Windows Hearts. I always play my games fair and square but, when a mindless robot beats you 17 consecutive times, you're just about to axe the robot in half.
Right now, I believe the robot has this funny smirk behind the glow of the monitor Anyway, I am playing Vista Hearts and have not found any cheats Thanks for your blog.
As a test: There is a way to see your opponents cards. I used this to track the plays of the computer. Yes it indeed cheats.
It will hold the Queen when it can play it on another opponent if it can play it on you in the next one or two hands. It will also deliberately "juggle" the plays in order to give you the queen or prevent you from shooting the moon. Give it a name of ZB and a value of Note that this doesn't seem to work in Vista. My proofs: 1. The other "players" [West, North, East] do NOT know or is unwilling to block others from "shooting the moon" other than you.
When it is obvious that one is gunning for the moon, the others just give it all the chances. You have to block it yourself, if you can. When I try to do it, I get ganged up. At the start of a game, when I have two to four spades, one of them the Queen or an Ace, and I pass this to another player, I get in return the King, Queen, or Ace spade. The same thing happens when I pass on high value Hearts. This rarely happens when I pass clubs or diamonds. When it becomes clear that you are "losing", the others gang up on you.
Try it for yourself. The game is one big cheat When you're running second or third in the middle of a game, Hearts will "save" the player who is leading, give you all the crap cards, and make the fourth place player lose some more so that there is no way for you to catch the first place player To them, second or third place is a loss so your overall statistics gets even crappier Oh, well, since when did Microsoft play fair?
I agree with "2 The computer stinks as a hearts player. To complete the cards, high hearts are passed. If you want to shoot the moon, play low hearts first, they aren't taken at all - only if it is the last card.
On playing clubs or diamonds, the last player always takes the highest card unless a heart is inbetween. And yes, they toss happily their high hearts if one of them makes a run, but not on you Is there a better free version around? Cheers : H. Have any of you actually played Hearts against humans? The Vista version of Hearts definitely plays better than previous versions, but still not as well as humans. All of the behaviors that I see complaints about are exactly what human opponents would do but that previous versions were not quite intelligent enough for.
I see absolutely no evidence of cheating, just decent, somewhat intelligent play. I just re-install my vista on my HP computer.. I played the hearts program on a whim.. I dont think it cheats because if you create a shortcut on your desktop and quadrouple click on it real fast so that two game start within the same second, you get the exact same game all hands are exactly the same throught the entire game So it must calculate a ton of rounds from the start. In the Start Menu, select run. Type in ''regedit'' and then hit enter.
Click on Software 5. Click on Microsoft 6. Click on Windows 7. Click on CurrentVersion 8. Click on Applets 9. Click on Hearts Select New String Value from the Edit menu. Name the string ZB, and give it a value of Now open up a hearts game and you should now be able to press ''Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F12'' to see your opponents hands. I did it and it works fine. I read this thread with much interest. Most of those who have replied seem to agree that the softwriters have included a degree of bias, whether by design or accident, and this reinforces what I have long suspected, i.
The question that remains for me is this: how good a player am I? That, however, only compares me with the "players" that the softies created and I suspect that if I were to play with three competent humans my rating would take a big tumble. I have never played Hearts against human opponents and would be very interested to learn of the experiences of those who have. Graham, Belper, UK PS I have recently acquired a Vista pc and find it much more difficult to win, which seems to indicate that a bias was written in to one or both versions.
There is NO doubt that Vista-Hearts 'cheats', by utilizing any of the equalizing methods mentioned above. I've had other players 'fall on the grenade' by, say, saving an Ace of spades to eat the queen to prevent me from shooting the moon--before it would be obvious to any human player that didn't know my hand and thus my likely intentions , and their hand was junk and they could've safely dropped the ace before.
It's maddening. I fully agree with what clearly appears to be the majority here--that in Vista the Hearts is rigged.
In XP it was much easier to ride herd on the players--they were idiots. The registry hack cheat shown above doesn't appear to work in Vista--I'd like to 'get even' myself, does anyone know of an 'equalizer' for Vista? Vista hearts definitely captures many human traits than XP before, nonetheless the programming is not perfect. There are many things that human opponents in hearts do not do but statistically the computer player tends to do as per Vista programming logic.
Few examples below Computer player at started taking all the points in order to let another computer player win. A human would have tried to take as less points as possible. Computer player do not give points to another computer player on the first pass of a void trick. A human would have passed the point, we normally hold points only when we anticipate that one of the player is trying to shoot which is not possible early in the game.
Computer player plays queen of spade when there is only an ace or king of spade in the human player's hand and other small spade s in another computer player's hand.
That's a hell of a risk very few human will take. When a computer player shoots, more often the other computer players rarely hold their point cards. Having said that initially the game do allow you to win, but after you notch up a certain win percentage new set of rules kick in As far as the software goes, I think the game's got pretty good AI; in a live game I think most players gang up on the leader so I don't think it's unrealistic that the computer always gangs up on the live player.
Playing lots of online poker has proven to me that I'm not very good at cards, but I do have a basic strategy for hearts. If possible, I pass all of my clubs, 2nd choice I pass all of my diamonds. If I can't completely dump either suit, I consider shooting the moon. I rarely shoot the moon if I can fully get rid of diamonds clubs or hearts.
I've noticed that the computer often holds it's final ace out no matter what, if you play your hearts with this in mind you can sometimes fox it.
If anyone else has strategy, I'd love to hear about it. Even the guy who says you're just whining admits that the game is harder than it was under XP.
How the hell would a fair, randomly-dealt game get harder if the game itself is not manipulating the cards? Has this guy never played hearts with, you know, like, cards? I have not tracked statistics on it, and while I've seen some whacky deals, randomly, you're going to get some odd hands from time to time - so I'm not so sure about it manipulating the deal. But two things I'm certain it does: 1. Play based on what's in other pc-player's hands, e.
If you get close, one of the other hands will suck up points to lose so that the protected pc hand wins. Is there a reasonable hearts game out there? Found this blog looking for cheats for Microsoft Hearts on Vista because I got so frustrated with it. I wondered if the game might have been programmed to produce a more and more difficult game, as it seemed like it was stacking the deck against me with lousier hands each time I won a hand.
It also seemed to 'know' whenever I had the Queen of Spades and very few other spades, as the other three players would bombard me to force me to produce the Queen and take the trick. I can understand if the game is programmed to analyze and counter my strategies, as any human opponent would do that, but unless I'm playing against psychics and telekinetics, I would expect more variance of good and bad hands, and more cautious draws when presumably the only players who know who is holding the Queen are the one who is holding it and the one who passed it.
Exiting the game for a few hours does seem to reset whatever part of the program is tripping the computer to collusive tactics. I hope Microsoft figures out a way to create a tough game without resorting to letting the computer collude against the human opponent. Has anyone ever had a perfect round? The closest I have come is 3 in a row and then a 25, just missing out on the last heart.
Also the other perfect hand where the three computer players all end up with points? Microsoft Hearts Network That I play. Being programed into my comp. I have learned to play hearts on this program and have multiple multiple times I have recorded on paper the hands played. I just think that if the comp. Publish this if you want these are my personal feelings and I will continue to play.
MSHearts is a wonderful concept by Microsoft. What other organization has a "flagship" game which perfectly reflects its corporate philosophy? Gang-up on people,steal knowledge and ideas and, when all else fails, just blatantly cheat. Absolutely brilliant! I searched around for some info on whether this game cheats because of some hinky play by the computer. Primarily, leading with the Queen when I only have an Ace or King left without enough spades having been played to know this and the fact that the computer players will never prevent each other from shooting the moon.
There's another quirk to the program that I haven't seen mentioned here, but it can't just be me. I'm taken aback whenever I don't have the 2 of clubs.
I think I have the lead first at least 19 hands out of Anyone else have this happen? I think a lot of what people here are calling "cheating" is simply just a better AI than existed in the Windows XP version of Hearts. I have found one very simple rule that the computer players always do, and knowing that rule gives you a HUGE advandage: If a computer player is dealt the queen of hearts, it will ALWAYS pass it when there is a pass hand. Knowing this simple little fact allows you to know who does not have the queen that is, if you don't have it.
For example, if you are passing to the left, and you don't pass the queen, then you KNOW that the player to your left does not have the queen. If I was more serious in counting cards, keeping track of what cards were played, etc.
I just played a hand where, with most lower spades still out, East led with the Queen of spades very early in the hand. Because I had no spades other than the Ace and King, of course!
The other "players" both had spades in their hands. This is the sort of nonsense play that cannot be attributed to the East "player" being better than me. No one who had less than perfect, actual knowledge of an opponent's hand would lead that way. There were so many spades unplayed at that point that it was many times more likely that the player leading the Queen would take the trick.
And it was not part of an attempt by East to shoot the moon East had far too poor a hand for that, as proven in the course of the hand.
And the observation that the "players" collude to permit one of them to shoot the moon appears to have merit, as well. I have too often seen cards that could have stopped the moon shot played at what would otherwise be described as poorly chosen moments, while I watched helplessly.
The nearly-universal, even distribution of the 2,3,4 and 5 of hearts is another anomaly I had noticed, too. There have been very few occasions where that nice little pattern did not hold true.
Another point: in many games, there seems to be one "player" that is designated to "take one for the team" by repeatedly taking the most points. One or both of the other players maintain low point totals while you become the one who is most likely to gather all points not taken by the "sacrificial lamb".
Looks like collusion again. Whether due to intent or to poor programming, the result is the same - Microsoft Hearts cannot reasonably be described as "fair". But as noted by a few commenters, that pattern does seem to fit well with Microsoft's approach to business I could probably do better if I paid more attention.
I don't think the computer players 'cheat'. I think they play in a mechanical fashion and that it's possible to exploit that. They DO try to prevent moon shots, but they usually wait until the last minute. They also frequently pass low hearts, even though this rarely makes sense. This means that you should pass spades less frequently than you would if playing human players.
When playing the game, try to figure out who has the queen. Some tips Before passing, see if it's possible to shoot the moon. Most of the time, it will not be likely. If you don't get any clubs passed to you and you don't get the queen, you can get rid of the high spade in the first trick. If you do get the queen passed to you, the high spade can help protect you from the queen. If you're not trying to shoot the moon, try to have as many spades as possible, and at least one low card 5 and under for each high card 6 and over of the remaining suits.
Count the 2 of clubs as a high card and the ace as a low card, unless you have both. If you have both, count them both as high cards. Pass clubs and diamonds first. Then look to pass hearts. Try to figure out who has the Queen of Spades at the beginning of each round and play accordingly. If you don't have the queen, and you didn't pass the queen, then the queen is in the hand of one of the two players you did not pass to. If you don't want to count all the cards, then count the cards of just one suit either spades or the suit which you have the most of.
When 13 cards are accounted for, then no other players have cards of that suit in their hand. In the first trick, the computer players always play their highest club, or the 2 of spades. If you don't have the Ace and the Ace doesn't win the trick, it means that the player who threw down the 2 of clubs also has the ace.
The computer players play mechanically. When they start a trick with a low card, they start with the lowest card of that suit. A human player won't always do that. If I had the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of diamonds, I might start a trick with the 6 so that other players won't know I have the 2. In general, try to have the other players distribute points among themselves. Once the queen of spades is played, hearts are broken and nobody is shooting the moon, try to steer the other players into playing with suits you don't have, or where you only have low cards.
Then play a game where you are one card away from winning. Exit the game so that this is your saved game. When you resume, play the card and win the game.
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