> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://organized-chaos.gitbook.io/organized-chaos-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://organized-chaos.gitbook.io/organized-chaos-docs/duck-down/playing.md). # Playing How a game runs, from sitting down to the last round. ## Sitting down Walk up to a free chair and press **E**. The first player to sit down starts the game and chooses the number of rounds and the time per step in the lobby. A game needs at least two players. Free seats can be filled with computer players. | Key | Action | | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **E** | Sit down, or open the board again | | **ESC** | Close the board. You stay seated | | **X** | Stand up. You are asked to confirm first | | **C** | With the board closed, switch between the camera over the table and the normal view | | **G** | Watch a game from beside the table | When the table is waiting for you, the hint at the top left says so. ## The board Your four cards are the large ones at the bottom. The other players sit around the table as they do in the world. In the middle are the deck, the pile and the card that was just drawn.
The Duck Down board with a drawn card and the player's first card picked

A 5 has been drawn and card 1 is picked. The green button swaps it in, the one beside it throws the 5 away.

## A round begins You see your two outer cards. Remember them and press **Got it** or **Enter**. They are turned over again. ## A turn 1. **Draw.** Click the deck or press **Space**. Or take the top card of the pile with a click or **T**. 2. **Swap it in, or throw it away.** One click picks one of your cards, and so do the keys **1** to **4**. A second click on it, **Enter** or the green button swaps the drawn card in. The other button, or **Backspace**, throws the drawn card away. The special cards ask for a little more: | Card | What you do | | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Peek | Pick one of your own cards to look at | | Swap | Two picks: one of your cards and one of someone else's | | Double | It draws its first card when you play it, and the card says "1 of 2". If you would rather have the second, click the deck again, press **Space** or use the button that says so. The first is thrown away and the second drawn | **Duck Down!** or **K** calls the end of the round. You can press it at any point of your turn, and take it back until the turn is over. See [Rules](/organized-chaos-docs/duck-down/rules.md) for what each card does and how a round is counted. ## Following the game Every card is seen on its way: from the deck into the hand, from the hand into the row while the card it replaces turns over and goes to the pile, and two swapped cards past each other across the table. A card that has just changed stays ringed for a moment: gold for one swapped in, green with a ⇄ for two that changed places. Under the table stands what was last done, for those who looked away. ## Running out of time Every step of a turn has its own clock. If it runs out, a card is drawn for the player and thrown away again. A card taken from the pile goes back there. ## Around the board * **Help.** The **?** at the top right explains the game in a few sentences. Beside the table are the scores of every round and what the special cards do. * **Reactions** at the bottom right. One click, and the symbol appears for a moment beside your name on everyone's board. * **Leaderboard.** The trophy at the top right opens it. It needs `oxmysql`. * **Volume** at the bottom left. Every player keeps their own setting, and it also applies to the sounds at the table. ## Against the computer The player who starts the game fills free seats with **+ Computer**, in the lobby and after every game, and sends computer players away again with **×**. The computer plays on the server by the same rules as everyone else and knows only what a person in its seat would know. A click on the strength next to its name switches to the next one: | Strength | How it plays | Points a round | | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------- | | Easy | Forgets a card now and then. Keeps any low card it draws without much thought for where it puts it. Calls early, with cards it has never seen | about 15 | | Medium | Forgets less. Weighs a card against the one it would replace. Takes a low card it knows from someone else's row | about 13 | | Hard | Forgets nothing. Swaps a bad card of its own away. Makes the most of its last turn once someone has called, and takes a card from whoever called | about 12 | The points are from games of four computer players, the three strengths mixed. Fewer is better. One against one, hard wins about three games in four against easy and a little more than half against medium. A ped sits on a computer player's chair and reaches over the table when it moves a card. It thinks for a moment before each step. If the last human stands up, the computers leave too. Games with computer players are never played for money. ## Watching Anyone standing at a table opens the board with **G**, without buttons, and sees the game in progress as a bystander would: no hidden card. ESC closes it again. ## Leaving and losing the connection Whoever stands up in the middle of a game drops out, and their cards leave the game with them. If only one of several players is left, that player wins. A player who loses the connection in the middle of a game keeps the seat and the cards for two minutes (`Config.ReconnectTime`). After reconnecting they get a notice, and **E** at their own chair continues the game. While the player is away, a card is drawn and thrown away for them every turn. If they are not back in time, or the game ends before that, the seat becomes free. ## At the table Everyone's four cards lie face down in front of them, the deck and the pile in the middle, and a rubber duck sits with whoever's turn it is. Cards fly in an arc from the deck to the player, into the row and onto the pile as they are played, to the same places for everyone. A card that leaves a row turns over on its way to the pile, two cards that are swapped pass one over the other, and a card being looked at is lifted by its edge. When a round ends, all cards are turned over. Until then a card is a face-down prop for everyone, and what it is is sent only to a player who may know it. Anyone standing nearby hears the cards. Every table has a blip on the map. A marker can float over free chairs, which is off by default.