Thieves and Kings

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Basic Rules

When you start Thieves, you are dealt seven columns of five cards each, face up. The next card is dealt face up in the center of the bottom of the screen (the stack) and the remainder of the deck is fanned on the bottom left of the screen.

The object is to "take" all 35 cards off the table. The card on your stack can take any card on the bottom row of the table which is one card greater or less than the card on the stack. For example:

7's can take 6's or 8's.
Jacks can take 10's or Queens.
Jokers can take or be taken by anything.
Kings cannot take Aces or vice-versa.

To take a card with the card on the stack, simply point to the card you want to take with the mouse and click the left mouse button. The card you took will be placed on the stack, which you can then use to take another card on the table. Points are awarded to you whenever you take a card off the table, unless it is a joker.

If you can't take any cards with the card on the stack, click on the stack and a new card will be dealt. When you run out of cards without clearing the table, the game is over.

If you clear the table, a joker is removed from the deck, the deck is shuffled and dealt, and you are allowed to add to your current score.

Undo

The Undo button on the menu bar is only valid while playing Thieves, and then only valid when taking back a move, not putting back a card you have drawn from the deck. You can undo any card you've taken from the board since the last time you drew a new card. Each time you do, however, the points you scored for taking the card are taken away plus a penalty point. You may not undo a card you have drawn from the deck. If you could, it would be a great temptation to use it at the end of a round to change the way you took cards from the board, knowing what card was coming up.

Scoring

The point value of each card is as follows:

Card	Value
Ace	8
2	6
3	6
4	4
5	4
6	2
7	2
8	2
9	4
10	4
Jack	6
Queen	6
King	8

The joker isn't worth any points. An extra fifteen points is awarded each time a player takes all the cards from the board.

The top ten scores are recorded, even if you are playing in two-player mode. They can be viewed by selecting the "Thieves Best" menu item and can be reset by pressing the "Reset Scores" button after selecting the "Thieves Options" menu item.

Strategy

The strategy of Thieves changes with the cards, the player's mood and the alignment of the stars. Over-all strategy is probably best learned by playing the game for several hours at a time while you really should be doing something else, but here are some ideas:

Generally, the smallest and largest cards are the hardest to take, since aces can only be taken by twos and kings can only be taken by queens. It is usually best to take those whenever possible.

It is usually better to take cards from the columns with the most cards in them. I.e., it is better to take a card from a pile of five cards than from a pile of two cards, in order to uncover four cards rather than one.

It's sometimes better to not take cards which will help take other cards later. For example, you might want to leave a queen behind to use to take a king later.

Use the joker on the table as soon as it is uncovered. It is almost always better to uncover cards using the joker than to save it.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of the above recommendations, so if at first you don't succeed, keep playing.