Hi Four Kings developers!

I've been playing this game on Nintendo Switch since its launch (far too often thanks to shelter in place ).

It's such an incredible concept with so much potential, but there are some major interface issues and glitches holding it back.

It seems like the developers follow this forum, so I figured I'd share my thoughts. I mostly play poker and, periodically, blackjack, so much of my feedback is centered around those experiences.

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POKER

PRE-CHECK AND PRE-FOLD: Please add "Check" and "Check/Fold" options that players can select when it's not their turn. ("Check" would automatically check when it becomes their turn if no bet has been made, while "Check/Fold" would automatically check if no bet has been made or fold if a bet has been made.) These options are standard in just about every iteration of online poker, and the failure to include them in this game makes each hand move WAY too slowly.

BLINDS: The blinds go up FAR too quickly in tournaments. After a few increases, most of the skill gets removed and it comes down to luck of the draw when you're in the big blind. I understand you want these games not to last too long, but so few hands are played before the blinds go up that it takes a lot of the fun out of it. Adding pre-check and pre-fold options (see above) would speed things up greatly and would allow you to keep the blind increases at the same time intervals but have far more hands played and inject more skill back into the game.

SHOW CARDS GLITCH: When all but one player folds and the remaining player chooses to show his or her cards, it's very difficult to actually see them. They only display distantly on the table itself other than a split second right before being returned to the deck. They should be displayed in the same manner cards are displayed while each hand is in process.

CHOICE OF SEATS: Let us choose where we want to sit at a tournament table (like you do at ring tables and for every other game in your casino) rather than automatically sitting us down in order. There are certain players known to bet erratically, making it a huge disadvantage to be to their left at the table. We should be able to sit where we want like we would in a real casino.

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BLACKJACK

HIT WARNING: Stop asking us if we're sure we want to hit when we have soft 17, 18, or 19. The game seems to be programmed to provide this warning on all hands of 17 or higher (which makes sense except in the case of soft hands), but you're ALWAYS supposed to hit or double on soft 17, you're supposed to hit or double on soft 18 against anything except a 7 or 8, and you're supposed to double on soft 19 against a 6.

MULTIPLE DOUBLES AND SPLITS: Let us double after a split (this one wouldn't even require any graphical change). Let us split (anything but aces) multiple times (at least up to four hands, which is the bare minimum at most casinos). I understand the latter option was probably nixed for graphical reasons, but you could always just display the cards on the user's screen. Not being able to ever have more than one extra bet on the table results in a massive disadvantage for the player.

INSURANCE: Offer us insurance when the dealer's up card is an ace before checking for blackjack like they do in real casinos. (It's not a smart bet, but you should still offer it for realism purposes.)

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CHAT

I bought a keyboard controller (Dobe Wireless Keyboard for Nintendo Switch Joy-Con) for about 25 bucks, and it was well worth it... but even with a keyboard, there are MAJOR problems with your chat system.

SWAPPING BETWEEN THE GAME AND THE CHAT: Allow us to swap between the game and the chat without losing everything we've typed. Currently, if you're typing a message and it becomes your turn to play, the only way to exit the chat is to either send the message you haven't completed typing yet or quickly erase the whole thing.

CHANGING SENT MESSAGE AUDIENCE: Allow us to view ALL messages (global, local, table, and private) while being able to change the audience of the messages we send. Currently, when you sit down at a table, you're viewing ALL messages and sending messages to the table by default (which makes sense). If you want to message the whole room, you have to switch to local view. If you subsequently want to message just the table, you have to switch back to table view, at which point you can't see any global or local messages. Switching back and forth between chats is not optimal, particularly while mid-game... There should be a way to just lock in to seeing ALL messages while switching the audience of YOUR message between global, local, table, and private.

FRIEND REQUESTS AND PRIVATE MESSAGES: Allow us to make friend requests and to send private messages while at a table. Currently, if you're mid-game, scrolling to a user's name, bringing up the sub-menu, and selecting either of these options results in nothing happening. For poker, it may make more sense to disable the private messages tab entirely to help prevent cheating.

SELECTING A PRIVATE MESSAGE RECIPIENT: Allow us to scroll through our list of friends to select a private message recipient from the chat window while at the table. Currently, if you're mid-game, you have to know their entire username by heart and type it manually. If you mistype once, the box where you enter the recipient's username becomes stuck until you stand up from the table. Again, for poker, it may make more sense to disable the private messages tab entirely to help prevent cheating.

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GENERAL

SPEED: Everything. Moves. Way. Too. Slowly. When you play War, it takes forever for the bets to pay out and the cards to be discarded. When you play Big 6 Wheel, the betting slots flash for a good 10 seconds every time you sit down before you can do anything. There's example after example of this across the entire experience.

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EVENTS

ALL LUCK, NO SKILL: Mix it up with events rather than the same four on loop week after week. Add some poker events that incorporate a little bit of actual skill rather than just awarding the person who has the most time on his or her hands that weekend. Maybe this is too much to ask of a free-to-play game, but a giant poker tournament starting at a specific time would be awesome!

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LEADERBOARDS

AGAIN, ALL LUCK, NO SKILL: Calculate leaders based on something more complex than just RP. For poker, this should include some element of skill (winning percentage, average placement, etc., presumably with a cutoff of minimum games played) rather than being based solely on how often people play. The way it works now makes it impossible for anyone without high roller status and a ton of free time to get anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.

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Individually, some of the above may seem minor, but collectively, these interface issues and glitches have a drastic negative influence on the overall experience. This game could be so amazing if the interface were just cleaned up and bugs were squashed.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this novel!

--DanG