29 Royale's next update adds the Training Grounds, gifts and a smarter skip

The next version of 29 Royale, 1.0021, is in release-candidate testing. It goes to Google Play once it clears. These are the changes in it.

Training Grounds

New players are greeted by the King and offered a free practice match before anything is at stake. The practice deal is arranged for learning. Every hand opens with a point card, the rivals always hold a trump so the reveal can be explained, and nothing is counted or rewarded. The tutorial's hints sit on the game's own controls, so what you learn transfers straight to ranked matches. The full tour is in our Training Grounds guide.

Gifts at the table

Each avatar now has a round gift button beneath it. Tap it to send a short animated gift to another seat. Gifts step aside while an avatar's idle animation plays, and they disappear as soon as the match ends, so nothing hangs over the result screen.

Skipping a hand

Skip is offered whenever more than one card is left in the hand. The Skip text and the card tap are separate, so you cannot trigger both by accident. The wording is team-based. The message "Your team won N points!" fits on one line, and shrinks on narrow phones rather than wrapping.

Bots

The bot engine has been tuned for the contract. It now fights for the bid against a team sitting at +4 or +5, doubles a caller who reaches +5, handles double and redouble with more attention to the score, and reveals the trump more readily when it is long in that suit. The engineering behind the bots is in our bot engine post.

Shop

Newly unlocked avatars and borders move to the end of the unlocked row, with a glow and a "new" tag. Locked items show the arena they unlock at. The shop guide covers how each item unlocks.

If you already play 29 Royale, the update will arrive through Google Play. If you do not, it is free here.