Taking pules into account

[RihardsZ]

Current implementation of play with pules is fundamentally incorrect. I'll try to describe the common practice of playing with pules.

Putting pules in

Whenever all the players pass, common (i.e. collective) pule is recorded.

• if there are three players in the game, then, each time everybody passes, one common pule is recorded.
• if there are more than three players in the game, then, if there are currently no pules of any kind (neither common nor personal) then two common pules are recorded. Otherwise only one common pule is recorded.

Whenever somebody loses a game where he/she was lielais and took the talon and there was at least one pule already present, they are given one personal pule.

Taking pules out

Pules are taken out (i.e. deleted) when somebody wins a game where he/she was lielais and took the talon. If a player wins such game, then

• if he/she had any personal pules of his/her own, then he/she takes out first of his/her personal pules; otherwise:
• if there are any common pules, then the player takes out the first common pule; otherwise:
• if there are any personal pules of other players, then the winning player takes out the oldest untaken such pule.

Awards for pules

• if a player took out his own personal pule, there are no changes in chips.
• if a player took out a common pule, he is awarded one additional chip from each of other players.
• if a player took out a personal pule of another player, he is awarded amount of chips, equal to the number of players in the game from that other player whose personal pule was taken out. E.g. if player A won a game when the only available pule was the personal pule of player B and also playing were players C and D then player A besides usual winnings is awarded 4 additional chips from player B.

If a play has to be interrupted when there are still untaken pules left, then:

• any common pules are ignored
• for each personal pule its owner is paying one chip to each of other players

References

Unfortunately, Zole Federation of Latvia has poor homepage and game rules published there are in some aspects lacking. Among other things, explanation about pules leaves a lot to be desired.

Some references to information about pules from other sources:

www.zolmaniem.lv, section Pules
spokuspeles.tvnet.lv (to view, one needs to be registered user of spoki)

It is common for tournament organizers, along with the tournament rules, to publish also the game rules in their own wording. Still, at least in the ranking tournaments de facto game rules are always the same.

[JanisE]

These are some serious references you've got there. All right, let's do it your way! I'm on it.

[JanisE]

The implementation is fixed, no more fundamental incorrectness.

There are two more things to do: support for more than three players and support for leftover pules at the end of a game run. And maybe some code tests to create.