Psellos
Life So Short, the Craft So Long to Learn

Coming Soon: Schnapsen Card Game iOS App

November 7, 2011

Recently we at Psellos have been building a new OCaml iOS app. We enjoyed writing the Cassino app, and we like playing cards ourselves, so we built a second card game app. It plays a classic two-person card game named Schnapsen. We’re expecting to bring it to the App Store in December.

If you wanted to pitch Schnapsen to somebody during an elevator ride, you might say it’s a miniature version of Pinochle for two players. The deck is only 20 cards, and there’s just one melding combination: the king and queen of the same suit. Everything is stripped to its essentials, and so every play counts. We were introduced to Schnapsen by an old friend who considers it to be the best two-person card game.

In fact our app plays two games, Schnapsen and a very similar game known as Sixty-Six. They don’t seem to be widely played outside Germany, Austria, and Hungary, but I think they should be!

If you know one of these games, or would interested in learning, you can try out the app right away by signing up as a beta tester. To get started, send me an email at jeffsco@psellos.com. Our beta process is pretty informal and painless, and we really appreciate the help with debugging and fine tuning.

Posted by: Jeffrey