When it works it is ideal...however there are issues.
Sun Apr 12 2020 Jrice21I actually purchased and set up a tablet for my grandmother for the sole purpose of being able to play this game with her grandchildren during this time since we are all socially distancing from her. Had it all set up and working and got one game in before we encountered the same issue that multiple other people in this thread have mentioned about a lack of connectivity. It is sporadic and unpredictable in when it can and can’t connect. While I understand that servers face and incredible load during this time, it is difficult to do remote tech support for someone who has a very specific set of instructions to follow on how to play a game and now feels like they are just simply doing it wrong, when in fact it is a developer issue that I hope can be addressed in the near future.
I am understanding of the greater issues at hand in the world and won’t let yet another negative element ruin this quarantine period, but I am greatly disappointed that something I looked forward to greatly improving this time only led to further complicating it. I wish that I had looked further into the fact that this has apparently been an ongoing issues for months and not wasted the time, money, and effort that I did. Just taking the time to share so that perhaps others will take that into consideration.
I love this game! Except 2 things…
Tue Jan 16 2024 MamaMoosicorn1: There’s not enough time to leave a game before it starts without losing tokens. I don’t like joining games with a 500 token fee! I try to leave as fast as possible, but I still lose tokens often. I see two options: 1. Increase the time to join to allow people enough time to leave once they see the join fee, or 2: give people the option before joining. For example, after clicking Play Now we could have the option of joining a 100 token fee game, a 500 token fee, or whatever other fee levels are available at the moment.
2: Having ALL the tiles removed from the board if even one tile is out of place. Only invalid tiles should be returned. It’s maddening playing a bunch of tiles, trying to place the last tile only for it to not go into place for some reason (the play mechanics aren’t perfect for tile placement), having the timer run out, and then ALL the pieces being returned despite the one tile out of place being from my hand and could easily be returned to my hand while leaving a valid board.
3: This doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the game, but I would like to have more time increments when making a custom game. Increments in 5s, 10s, or even 15s would be preferable to 30s.
Easy to cheat, a lot of ads, but great aside from that
Tue Jul 20 2021 buffnrubUPDATE: UGH!!! The cheating I mentioned in my first review is becoming much more rampant. I’m starting to wonder if these people think that this is how this game is actually supposed to be played?! Whether it’s cheating or people think that’s how it’s played, what’s the fun in that? It’s no fun to play people who save the Wild tiles until the very last round to ensure that they win. This would never happen in an in-person game. It’s become so common now that I no longer wish to play this app. So sad as I really love this game.
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Possible solutions - Remind players that that’s not how this is played. Allow players to block players who choose to play this way. Otherwise, I won’t come back. Deleting the app now. Feel free to respond to this review if you make these changes.
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I love Rummikub, have been playing the in-person game for years. This game is well done, no issues, except that I’d love an option to opt out of ads, such as paying 3.99 or something. Also, it’s easy to cheat, with no repercussions whatsoever. Twice in a row just now, 2 different players saved their joker tiles for their very last play in order to win. Ugh. In a real life game, they’d totally get called out on that and would not be allowed to win. This is an extremely frustrating part of the game and I don’t know how it can be remedied. Surely there must be a way though?
BELOVED FUN FAMILY GAME DEFILED BY THIS DEVELOPER!!
Thu Feb 10 2022 Pfunkin77I have been playing Rummikub the actual hands on game in my family for decades, we love it! It is fun makes you think and use strategies but this online game as MANY MANY others have pointed out is anything but fun! I have contacted the developer over 10 times about the app stating “connectivity issues” which will freeze the app, throw you out of a game losing what ever place you were in and now my biggest issue and concern is that when I have purchased coins to play my purchase is processed just fine apple and says the purchase is complete, I hit ok and the app does nothing stating that it is “Processing purchase please be patient” only to have the app shut down and when restarted my purchase is no where on my profile. I understand growing pains with such a popular game but today it happened again; so that makes it twice and my purchase is no where to be found! The customer support for this app by the developer is useless and next to impossible to get any real response from. This first few or 20 times the app stated there was connectivity issues and kicked me out of my game losing my round and coins used to enter it I emailed the developer and got a very stunted and rude reply of “this is what you get when playing an multiplayer virtual game”! I have reported this app and developer to apple and caution anyone to not purchase anything from either the free or paid app until this developer gets their act together!!
Flawed and rigged to put you at a disadvantage
Mon Nov 13 2023 babyblue86As far as design, I really suggest they fix the issue with the logo/trademark bar located at the bottom of the screen. It overlaps with the bottom row of tiles which jeopardizes your game play. It’s practically unavoidable to hit the logo, and doing so takes time off your turn.
Speaking of time, Play Now turns are only 15 seconds long, which is an unreasonably short amount of time. They should allow the player to choose how many seconds are given per turn (an option that is provided in Practice mode), or at the very least increase the length of time allotted per turn from 15 seconds to 30.
This is more of an opinion and an issue I have with the app: The Play Now games really feel designed to put you as the player at a big disadvantage. Too often do I find myself in positions where I have 25 or more tiles on my board and still haven’t drawn the tiles needed for the initial play (30 points). Meanwhile, the other players are down to 7 or less tiles. Sure, you can sometimes have that level of bad luck but if the distribution of tiles during game play were truly randomized, that would not happen as often as it does.
It feels like a cheap ploy designed to leave you without any coins, essentially forcing you to either purchase coins to continue playing or wait at least 24 hrs before you’re able to collect “free coins”.
Game Cheats!
Thu Jul 22 2021 AwolphyoneSo done with this game cheating!
Computerized players (and don’t tell me these players making 30 moves per 30 second turn aren’t a computer) should be limited in the number of moves it can make in a turn. The computer shouldn’t be able to make more than an actual human who has to think about what they’re doing can make in a turn. Algorithms put human players at a severe disadvantage.
Tiles I am in the process of dropping when the timer goes off end up being tossed back and all my moves undone, but yet other players can lay tiles down after I hear the timer for the end of their turn sound. I’ve lost games over this and it’s not fair play. And don’t try to say it’s a connection issue because it’s happened in multiple places, on different connections and happens to friends who play as well.
Special sound for giving someone a Joker should be stopped. It’s no one’s business who has the jokers or when they get them. The current rules do not say when a Joker has to be played by. If they did, the game could automatically prevent that player from making any other moves until they play it, but it doesn’t.
Players should not be allowed to arrange melds they don’t play on the make the board pretty. It’s called cheating. If one can’t play on a disorganized board, they should take up another game. You can’t move stuff when playing the table game, so same should go on the computerized version.
Stimulate your mind!!
Wed Sep 15 2021 JB1kenobiThe beauty of this app is that unlike the physical game, you get the chance to throw caution to the wind and try different melds & strategies. And if they don’t work, just hit the undo button and try something else! I bumped up my practice sessions to allow 2 full minutes to play my tiles, and only wish you could increase it to 3 minutes or more. I also wish there was a way to slow down the laying of your opponents’ tiles during practice sessions, and maybe even see your opponents’ tiles, for better learning opportunities, even if it meant you would forgo any points being earned. Lastly, it would be great if the practice games had a “hint” option or maybe a “coach” mode so you could see if you have a viable move to make or not, something as simple as highlighting a playable tile. As you might guess, I’m using this app to make myself a better player when I play the physical game using tiles. One small complaint is that I’ve experienced an advertisement that I couldn’t close so I’ve had to force close the app. But overall, great app!
Good game - customer support is fantastic
Fri Feb 07 2020 TriciaWBI love playing Rummikub with friends and I was very excited when I found this app. Because I like playing on my own time I choose the Practice game, which is against the computer rather than against live people. That way if I have to leave in the middle of a game or get interrupted I can close it and reopen it at my convenience. To play any game you need coins. I initially bought coins for $2.99, but even in the Practice mode you can earn more coins by watching videos or winning so many points. I don’t feel that I will need to purchase coins again. Twice when something didn’t work quite right I contacted Customer Support and both times got an immediate response and they quickly resolved the issue. Sometimes the game seems to lock up (where it’s stuck on one of the players), but I usually exit the game and come back in and it gets resolved. This game is very close to the real thing, although when I play with friends we have stricter rules.
Rampant Cheating via Jokers
Thu Apr 28 2022 Disappointed111ZZZXXXStill having the same major problem with this app, which that it allows players to mis-use a joker tile that has been previously played to get an unfair advantage — i.e., to CHEAT! Others have complained about players holding on to jokers until the end (which is also bad for the game), but I can understand not wanting to play your joker tiles with the way this app allows others to rampantly break the rules in order to win!
Rules clearly state that a joker tile must first be REPLACED by a player’s previously unplayed tile that satisfies the same meld, followed by the same player using other previously unplayed tiles to form a NEW meld with the joker. In reality on this app, the rule is being properly followed less than 10% of the time. Players actually following the rules and not abusing the jokers are almost guaranteed to lose every time. I was still hopeful that the developers would fix this glaring problem, but it seems that will never happen. It’s a shame because otherwise it’s a great app with fun online game play against other players at the same skill level…… when they’re not cheating.
Love this game! Hope to see one change!
Mon Aug 23 2021 Boomerang!I love this game. I love the original, so I was excited to find it! The only thing that is tempting me to delete it is- I only play custom games, 30 seconds is not enough time for me. But as soon as someone leaves, the computer takes over and changes the whole board and usually goes out 1-2 turns. Maybe we could just disqualify that person and throw the tiles back in or something. It pretty much disregards the “win stats” as you advertise since you’re not playing a human. It’s pretty much every time someone leaves the game, the whole game is over anyways.
I did see someone else mention the set up for iPhone. It’s kind of a pain when you try to move tiles closer to your board, it says you’re trying to put them back on your board and if you click to high it pulls down notifications and has to reload. However, it’s a small inconvenience I can work with!
