Is plotting together allowed in 2v2?

[Pedros]

I haven't played Tock anywhere except here, and somewhere I'm sure I read when the game first appeared on BGA that there should be no conferring between partners - I think specifically when swapping cards at the beginning of each hand (although looking back I cant find where I read it!) This rule needs clarifying; are partners allowed to chat at all during a game, and if so when?

To me the unusual feature of the game is the need to assess, with the very limited information derived from the position on the board, what discard is going to be most useful to your team as a whole. I think that this rule is generally recognised and played here.

However, I believe that it should extend throughout the game - no talking at all about what's going on in the game. We had an example in a game today. Player A said to their partner B "Why didn't you take red's pawn?" It seems to me tat this could draw attention to a feature of the particular situation and give some clue about A's and or their plans for the next few cards, and therefore I would not allow it.

Am I being too strict?

[7h48567b4]

I'm sure that when people play the physical game they talk. I can't imagine everyone keeping quiet.

When I play online, I often respond to good or bad moves. I don't make suggestions about what my partner should do, I enjoy the telepathy that occurs in exchanging cards... sometimes my partner gives me a card and I recognize quickly what it is for (like a 10 or a 4 or the exact number I need to enter home, etc).

I think chatting about the game is ok because it is public, just like playing the physical game would be. You wouldn't be able to talk to your partner without the other players overhearing you.

If there were private chat between teammates, I would dislike it, but I don't think it would bother me if partners talked about their cards publicly because it gives me a lot of information about what they have and what they plan to do.

[Robo65]

In my opinion, planning how to swap - or how to move if both players play one color in endgame - is cheating.

Where I play Tock-oid games in real life, it is very frowned upon when somebody tries to give signals (verbally or otherwise) about the next best card. It is an essential part of team game to read the situation and to find the best move by yourself (and then to be thwarted by tens or jacks...)

Sad thing is: you cannot make sure that private chats don't happen. Even if BGA did, there's Skype, Teamspeak, Discord, or POTS. Or worse, players sit in the same room or one is a sock puppet. Only thing you can do: if you notice players that are astonishingly lucky, and not only once, don't play with them. Speaking to them won't help, they'll only deny everything and mock you about your inaptitude - which MIGHT sometimes really be the reason why you lost

Robo

[NolwennT]

I'm sure that when people play the physical game they talk. I can't imagine everyone keeping quiet.

I can assure you that this game is played purely quietly in my community.
We even gently reprimand someone if it starts talking about the game or even implying things, even body langage. We say "We do not play 'talks'."
This is almost like something very religious and osmotic.