Goal. You and your party cooperate to defeat all 12 royals — the Jacks, Queens and Kings — in order. Clear every royal to win; if any player can't survive a royal's attack, the whole party loses.

Each royal has health (damage needed to defeat it) and an attack value (damage it deals back). On your turn you attack, then defend against the counter-strike.

In this app you take one seat; the other seats are bots running in your browser.

Attack. Play a combo from your hand to damage the current royal. The damage dealt equals the total pip value of the cards you play.

Playing a suit also triggers its power (equal to the cards' value):

Joker. Playing a Joker deals no damage, but it prevents the royal's counter-hit (no defense needed this turn) and lets you decide which player takes the next turn.

You may Yield (play nothing) when it's allowed — hover Submit with no card selected and it becomes Yield.

Defend. After your attack the royal strikes back for its attack value. You must discard cards whose total value covers the incoming damage.

Accumulated block (from Spades played this fight) reduces the incoming damage first — if block already covers it, you take no hit. If you can't cover what's left, you fall and the party loses.

A legal combo is one of:

• A single card.
• An Ace + one other card — their values add together.
• Two to four cards of the same rank, of different suits, whose values sum to ≤ 10 (e.g. two 4s, or three 3s).

Playing a multi-card combo triggers every suit power among its cards, and powers combine: a suit's power uses the total value of that suit's cards in the combo.

In this app, click the cards you want, then press Submit — it only lights up when your selection is a legal combo.