Machiavelli: Incorrect translation (English)

[Konker]

Hi! I haven't done much translation here, but I played my first game of Machiavelli today, and noticed that an error message came up saying "You must play a set of at least 3 cards with same value and different color or a run of at least 3 cards with the same color" -- this does not agree with the rules of the game.

I believe this may have been an error in translation, where the translators meant to say, "You must play a set of at least 3 cards with same value and different suit or a run of at least 3 cards with the same suit".

I can't seem to work out how to edit this -- as I said, I'm fairly new, so that may just be a fault on my part, but I wanted to point it out to someone who might notice it.

Thanks,
Konker

[Een]

Hi,

It's possible there is a mistake. Games are developed in English, but not all developers are native English speakers.
Being not a native speaker myself, I'm not really sure to get the difference between suit and color in this context. Do other native English speakers agree that this is appropriate? If so, I can change it.

Cheers,
Een

[Jest Phulin]

Native English speaker here. I haven't played the game to see, but if using a standard bridge-type deck (as implemented in the Hearts game), yes, there is a difference. Hearts and Diamonds are different suits, but they are both red, the same color. The same with Clubs and Spades -- they are both black, and therefore the same color, but are of different suits.

Saying 3 cards of the same value and different color would be impossible, as there are only 2 colors. You would need a red, black, and non-red/non-black.
Saying 3 cards of a run of the same color would imply that 5-heart, 6-diamond, 7-heart would be a valid set.

If each suit were a different color (several oriental decks do this -- Black swords, yellow stars, green gems, blue pagodas for example [from the game Tichu]), then it doesn't matter. Actually, on BGA, the game Haggis is like this. Suit and color can be used interchangeably for that game, as each symbol that defines the suit is also a different color.

Hm.... and, I just looked at a game in progress, and it does use the standard western deck. So, yes, there definitely is a difference between "suit" (spade, club, diamond, heart) and "color" (red, black).

[Een]

@Jest: thanks for this very clear explanation (and for your many other helpful posts on the forum )

@Konker: fixed, thanks for reporting this translation error!

Cheers,
Een