How to Play Ratel: Command‑Line Dou Dizhu Game in Minutes

What is Ratel?

Ratel is a command‑line implementation of the Chinese card game Dou Dizhu. Below is a screenshot of the game interface:

How to start?

Ratel consists of a client and a server. You can either run a local server and let friends connect, or connect directly to the public server at IP 39.105.65.8 port 1024.

To get the source, clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/ainilili/ratel.git Then open the landlords-client module and run the SimpleClient class.

Alternatively, download the released JAR files and start them with:

java -jar landlords-server/target/landlords-server-#{version}.jar -p 1024

java -jar landlords-client/target/landlords-client-#{version}.jar -p 1024 -h 39.105.65.8

The -p flag sets the port, and -h specifies the host address.

Playing the game

After connecting, the client prompts you to set a nickname:

Connection to server successful, welcome to ratel !!

Please set your nickname

[ratel@nickname]$ Nico

Then you enter the options menu:

Options:

1. Create Room

2. Room List

3. Join Room

Please enter the number of options

To create a room, type 1:

You have been create room with id 2

Please wait for other players to join !

When three players have joined, the game starts. Cards are ordered from 3 up to the big joker, as shown below:

To play a straight, input the sequence of card numbers, e.g., 7890j or 789tj. To play a bomb (both jokers), input sx.

The full card alias mapping is:

poker-> │3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|J|Q|K|A|2|S|X

alias-> │3|4|5|6|7|8|9|T t|0|J j|Q q|K k|A a|1|2|S s|X x

If you do not want to play a card this turn, type pass. To quit the game, type exit.

Enjoy a quick game of Ratel during a break, and find the project at:

https://github.com/ainilili/ratel