About Us
About whistgame.app
A free, modern browser version of whist — the classic four-player partnership card game — built to start instantly, play well on a phone, and keep your record on your own device.
Play WhistThe game
What whist is, and why it lasts
Whist is a trick-taking game for four players in two fixed partnerships, played with a single 52-card deck. Every player is dealt 13 cards. The dealer's last card names the trump suit. Play goes around the table one card at a time, everyone must follow the led suit if they can, and the highest trump — or, failing trump, the highest card of the led suit — takes the trick.
A partnership's first six tricks score nothing. Each trick beyond that is one point, and the first side to 7 points wins. There is no bidding and no hidden information beyond the cards in your hand, so a game rewards two things: memory, and cooperating with a partner you cannot talk to. Learn the rules in a couple of minutes; the strategy takes a lifetime.
Origins
From triumph to bridge
- 01
From triumph to whist
Whist descends from "ruff and honours" and the older game of "triumph," played in England in the 1500s and 1600s. Its name is usually traced to "whisk" — the sweeping up of a trick — and later to the "hush!" demanded by serious players who wanted silence at the table.
- 02
Hoyle and the golden age
Edmond Hoyle published "A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist" in 1742, setting out the odds, the etiquette, and the strategy so clearly that "according to Hoyle" became a byword for correct play. Through the 18th and 19th centuries whist was the fashionable game of clubs and drawing rooms, with duplicate and tournament formats following.
- 03
The road to bridge
Around 1900 the auction variants of whist began to displace the original. Bridge added a bidding round and a declarer, and by the 1920s contract bridge had taken over serious card-table play. Whist survives as the simplest, purest form of partnership trick-taking — and as the direct ancestor of games like spades.
- 04
This build
whistgame.app is an independent, modern implementation of American whist: four players, 13 cards each, trump from the dealer's last card, a book of six, and a game to 7 points. The rules are traditional; what is new is a table that fits on a phone, synthesized sound with a real mute, and tools — hints and unlimited undo — that the card room never had.
Design
What we built, and what we left out
Everything runs in your browser. The game engine, the computer players, the sound effects (synthesized with the Web Audio API, no audio files), and your saved stats all live on your device, which is why a hand starts the instant you press Play.
Instant to start
Press Play and a hand is dealt. No account wall, no download, no splash video.
Honest defaults
The standard American rules with no gimmicks: nothing is gated behind a "pro" toggle and nothing nags you to install an app.
Yours to keep
Games won, streaks, hands won, and your best margin live on your device. We do not hold your record behind a login, because there is no login.
Free, for real
The whole game is free. No energy meters, no interstitial video ads between hands, no paywall on the hint button.
The opponents
How the computer players think
What the computer knows
Each computer player sees only its own 13 cards, the cards already played, and the trump suit. It never looks at your hand or its partner's, and it does not cheat on the deal — every hand is a fresh shuffle.
How it leads
It cashes cards that are guaranteed winners (those no unplayed card can beat), then leads from its longest side suit — the top card if it holds a King or Queen, otherwise low.
How it follows
It wins with the cheapest card that does the job, plays third hand high, supports a winning partner with a low card instead of overtaking, and trumps only when void and the trump wins.
Rules used here
American whist, without honours
This version follows the American rules: game to 7 points, six-trick book, trump from the dealer's last card, and the trump lead allowed at any time. It does not score honours — the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of trump — which older British rulebooks added on top of the tricks. Tricks alone decide every game.
The game is accessible by keyboard (arrow keys and Enter), labelled for screen readers, and designed to meet WCAG AA contrast on a dark theme. Sound can be muted with the M key or the toolbar button, and the preference is remembered.
Contact
Feedback, bug reports, hello
Found a bug, disagree with how a computer player played, or have an idea? Email malam169@gmail.com. For how we handle data, read the Privacy Policy.