<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>Follow Me 42 News</title>
    <link>https://followme42.com/news</link>
    <description>Updates, milestones, and what's ahead for Follow Me 42 online.</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>
    <atom:link href="https://followme42.com/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    <item>
      <title>Bring a Friend: The Ambassador Program</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-05-ambassador-program</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-05-ambassador-program</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Milestone</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The Ambassador Program is here. Find your personal invite link in the Ambassador section of your Profile (13+ with a birthdate on file, an account at least 7 days old, and 5 games played). A friend who signs up through it earns you a point once they are an established rated player, 15 rated games with a settled rating, within 180 days. Points unlock the Bluebonnet tile design, the Green table color, an Ambassador-only blue avatar ring, a pip theme, a player theme, Bronze to Diamond badges, and table hosting time, which subscribers receive as renewal credit. Your friend gets the Bluebonnet tile too. Also: solo games show whether they are rated from the first bid, the result screen shows your rating change, hosted games check hosting access at start, older browsers get a clear update screen, and updated Terms (v1.4) and Privacy Policy (v1.5).]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Fairer Leaderboards and Honest Bid Stats</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-03-fairer-leaderboards-honest-bid-stats</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-03-fairer-leaderboards-honest-bid-stats</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2026 20:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[A leaderboard should show who is playing well right now. Rating uncertainty now grows each week you sit out (your rating itself never drops for being away), leaderboards rank by rating minus twice its uncertainty, and rating boards show each rating with its range. A month away costs some rank; about fifteen idle weeks makes an established rating provisional until you play again. Solo Bid Accuracy now counts only contracts you called yourself, as multiplayer always has, so it can no longer pass 100%; bid achievements follow the same rule, and anything already unlocked stays unlocked. Plus an amber bell for maintenance notices, easier-to-read panels, and a clear message when your browser blocks storage.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Helping-Hand Bids, Now in Beta</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-02-helping-hand-bids-beta</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-02-helping-hand-bids-beta</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 20:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! The helping-hand bid is here as a beta table option. With it on, a 30, 32 to 34, or 37 to 39 made while your partner has not bid yet says "I have help for you, overbid me if you can," and 31, 35 and a free 36 still mean you want to play the hand. Every seat sees a help tag on those bids, and the AI plays the convention too: Hard and Expert send help bids, and Medium, Hard and Expert read them. Turn it on in solo under Custom, then Settings, or in Table Options at your hosted table. It is off by default, never used under Tournament rules or in Moon.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The AI Throws Down, and Third Seat Gets Sharper</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-02-ai-throws-down-sharper-third-seat</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-10-02-ai-throws-down-sharper-third-seat</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[One week into multiplayer, two of this week's changes came straight from player reports. At multiplayer tables only the bidder can throw down, so hands an AI seat bid always played out all seven tricks; now an AI bidder throws down once the hand is decided, made or set, on tables with Throw Down on. Solo play is unchanged: the Throw Down call stays yours. On Hard and Expert, the AI in third seat now takes an opponent-won trick with the cheapest tile the last opponent cannot beat, worth about a sixth of a mark each time it changes the play across 12,000 paired test matches. Also: re-created hosted tables no longer freeze or lose results, browser page translators no longer crash the game, updated Terms are shown for acceptance instead of failing in the background, and Profile rating trends load faster.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Multiplayer Is Open: Pull Up a Chair</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-25-multiplayer-is-open-pull-up-a-chair</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-25-multiplayer-is-open-pull-up-a-chair</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Milestone</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! As of today, anyone can host a multiplayer table on Follow Me 42, and anyone can sit down at one. Playing is free: with a free account you can sit at any table you are invited to and play rated multiplayer, and Quick Match opens after 15 rated games. Hosting is $3.99 a month, and guests at a subscriber's table never pay. Hosts get one permanent table (2 players, 3-player Moon, or 4 players) with their own rules, AI difficulty, felt, tiles, and watermark, plus a public table page, matchmaking for empty seats, Outfit creation, and tournament registration. Players join by link, by handle, or from a player card; the host lets knockers in or sets a passphrase. Canceling takes a few taps from your Profile through Stripe's billing page: no email, no phone call. You keep hosting through the month you paid for, your table goes dormant instead of being deleted, and you keep your ratings, achievements, and cosmetics. Why subscriptions: multiplayer runs on our servers around the clock, and a small commitment keeps tournament brackets full of players who show up.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Follow Me, Now Complete</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-19-follow-me-now-complete-doubles-low</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-19-follow-me-now-complete-doubles-low</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We named this place Follow Me 42, and it would not have sat right to carry that name without every way of playing Follow Me in the game. Doubles Low is here: under it a double is the lowest tile in its suit, so the 6-5 and the 5-4 walk and a boss-heavy hand with no doubles is suddenly biddable. Tables can be set to Doubles High (the default), Doubles Low, or Bidder's Choice, where the winning bidder declares High or Low as they name Follow Me. The AI evaluates both treatments before it bids, picks Low on about one hand in ten, and makes those hands 38.5% of the time versus 25.0% when forced high. Also: mute now persists across games and reloads, multiplayer no longer resets cumulative achievement progress, offline games are no longer dropped from the upload queue, storage-blocked browsers can sign in and register, unrated games now say why, tournaments handle short fields, ties and match-token expiry correctly, and Moon scoreboards label the right row for guests and spectators. This is the last mode before Multiplayer.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Custom Tables Are Close, Plus Pace Controls</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-11-table-hosting-pace-controls-livelier-lobby</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-11-table-hosting-pace-controls-livelier-lobby</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! Phase 3 Custom Tables is close - host a 2-player, 3-player Moon, or 4-player table on a $3.99/mo host subscription, free for everyone who joins. Hosting has been tester-only while we refine the lobby; general availability is the next thing to land, and we are down to the last mile on small New Game and lobby UI issues, counting the release in days to weeks. By player request, solo games against the AI now have a Pace setting (Normal, Relaxed 1.5x, Slow 2x) for more breathing room between tricks and AI turns; multiplayer tables are untouched, and the deal and tutorial keep their timing. The lobby Hall leads with a five-tile row (Profile, Table, Community, Market, Support), a notification bell opens a slide-in announcements drawer, and quick one-question polls let you steer what we build next. Support & Feedback is now a real ticket system that replies straight to your email. The New Game screen got unified preset tracks, a folded mode-switch-and-Start header, and a collapsible summary, plus a run of phone-first fixes.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Sharper AI, Honest Defense &amp; Platform Polish</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-05-sharper-ai-honest-defense-platform-polish</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-09-05-sharper-ai-honest-defense-platform-polish</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Since our last update, we focused on eliminating tactical blind spots at the table, sharpening partner defense, and hardening the platform. In Splash and Plunge contracts, the AI now checks whether remaining opponents can beat a winning trick and overtakes/secures it rather than dumping count into an opponent's trap. Defenders against Nello now prioritize suits the bidder must follow instead of leading known voids. Partner count-feeding follows a disciplined tie-break order, preserving the double-five to catch later leads while discarding tiles that draw dangerous nine-leads. Expert-tier AI bidding dropped an overly cautious defer-to-partner rule to contest winnable hands. Plus: player card avatars on private profiles, unified segmented controls, Throw Down and Suit Sort mobile alignment, an overhaul of canonical Texas 42 definitions, over 60 security/platform audit fixes, and double-dummy ground-truth simulation tooling.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Fair Play &amp; Fewer Lost Seats</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-30-fair-play-and-fewer-lost-seats</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-30-fair-play-and-fewer-lost-seats</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! Six days of hardening since Outfits shipped. We closed holes that let a properly seated player bend a multiplayer game (illegal trump declarations, out-of-ladder bids) and a defect that could discard a finished game's results, ratings and XP for every seat. Reconnect timing is now derived from the seat grace period, so an 8-second phone hiccup no longer costs your seat, and you are told why a connection dropped. The AI's plain-English reasoning is kept and shown to everyone after the game. Reports cannot be closed without a reply and the backlog is answered. Merch is open to all players, no subscription. Outfit rosters are leaderboard cards with member avatars, and new Outfits no longer all report Rank #1. Plus a 27 percent smaller critical download and a lobby welcome that no longer grows with the crowd.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Introducing Outfits: Ride Together in Player Guilds</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-24-outfits-player-guilds-launch</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-24-outfits-player-guilds-launch</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Milestone</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! Over the past three days, we shipped Outfits (Player Guilds). Players can now team up, tag their tables, manage rosters, and compete collectively on brand-new Outfit leaderboards. Subscribers can create and lead an Outfit of up to 42 members, assign Officers, and select join policies. Tagged table games roll into collective stats, and Outfits rank on the Hall of Fame by mean multiplayer Glicko-2 rating of established members. Public Outfit pages are live at followme42.com/o/{slug} with private member anonymization.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Throw Down in Quick Match</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-21-throw-down-in-quick-match</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-21-throw-down-in-quick-match</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! Three player reports drove most of this week's work. Throw Down is now on by default in every rated 1v1 Quick Match, so a decided hand can be claimed or conceded instead of played out (tournament tables keep it off). The Quick Match queue counter now reads "Players: 1 of 2" instead of "Pos: 1 of 1", and a stuck queue entry that Cancel could not clear is fixed. Locking your phone or losing signal mid-hand no longer costs you your seat: resume retries the moment you unlock or reconnect. Also: the pass-out redeal toast now shows in multiplayer, Hand History bid labels lead with points ("84 (2m)"), face-down tiles no longer lift on hover, Learn to Play cards are dismissable with a Settings row to restore them, the profile back arrow takes one tap, and the lobby chat header pills follow your felt theme. AI bidding now prices the calf in trump control, and the Nello bidder sheds its highest safe tile.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Streamlined Chat &amp; Free 1v1 Play</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-16-streamlined-chat-free-1v1-play</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-16-streamlined-chat-free-1v1-play</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! We just pushed a fresh set of chat revisions to the table this evening, bringing Quick Match (⚡) and Spectate (👁️) controls directly into the lobby chat header, always-on online presence signals with an unread pulse, live queue announcements, and in-game seat speech bubbles. 1v1 Quick Matches will be free forever! Select ⚡ in the lobby chat header or head to Community -> Tables -> Quick Match to jump in.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>August Roundup: Faster Play, Matching Tables &amp; Ghosts of the Alamo</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-13-august-roundup-faster-play-matching-tables</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-08-13-august-roundup-faster-play-matching-tables</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy y'all! August has been a heads-down month at the table, spent on how the game feels to play. Your Timer setting no longer slows the AI down (it was making AI turns roughly twelve times slower), trick pacing is tighter, and multiplayer tables are pixel-identical to solo at every screen size, with seat badges that clear the played tiles and a table chat composer you can actually reach on a phone. Table connections now carry a heartbeat so hosts stop missing knocks, the Quick Match queue count updates live for everyone waiting, and mobile player profile, report, and Live Games popups center properly. The Ghosts of the Alamo Halloween pack is live at $5.99 with seven items including the new Ash and Bone player theme, plus Jimothy the raccoon watermark. AI partners also play Splash and Plunge measurably better.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Activity Bar: Quick Match, Spectate &amp; Chat</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-30-activity-bar-chat-quickmatch-spectate</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-30-activity-bar-chat-quickmatch-spectate</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to the table! Today we have deployed a new Activity Bar, bringing fast navigation to Quick Match matchmaking, live table spectating, and smooth-scrolling straight to lobby chat.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smarter Hand History &amp; Clean Statistics</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-26-smarter-hand-history-and-clean-statistics</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-26-smarter-hand-history-and-clean-statistics</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Over the past 48 hours, we have upgraded our hand history tracking and refined game statistics visuals for Follow Me 42. Full seat attribution and scoring breakdowns are now integrated into hand history for Moon 3-Hand and multiplayer games, No Trump, Nello, Plunge, and Splash labels render cleanly without visual clutter, and spacing and readability improved across phone screens.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Marching to Multiplayer: Rated 2-Player Quick Match &amp; Throw Downs</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-22-multiplayer-quick-match-phase-2</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-22-multiplayer-quick-match-phase-2</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to the table! Over the past 48 hours, we have rolled out a major feature release, officially kicking off Phase 2 of our multiplayer rollout with Rated 2-Player Quick Match (free head-to-head partnership play with AI partners). We also introduced Throw Downs for early hand resolution when the outcome is mathematically decided (configurable via a toggle in custom settings), and grouped sorting, throwing down, and shaking the bones into a unified hand control overlay.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Pin &amp; Popout: Trick History Upgrades</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-19-trick-history-pin-and-popout</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-19-trick-history-pin-and-popout</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[The bones are shuffled, the felt is clean, and we have just rolled out a fresh batch of upgrades focusing on how you review previous tricks, plus some bidding and layout polish. We've added Pin and Popout controls to the Trick History drawer for desktop and tablet players, allowing you to keep the history visible while playing or detach it into a draggable, resizable, floating window. We've also resolved layout height conflicts on short viewports, kept bid badges visible through trump selection for all contracts, unified trick holds at 2000ms, and hardened our production deployment pipeline.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smoother Chat &amp; Table Polish</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-18-smoother-chat-and-table-polish</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-18-smoother-chat-and-table-polish</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:54:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to the table! We have rolled out a weekend update focusing on chat optimization, visual polish for our game tables, and a major cleanup of our style system. We optimized lobby chat roster performance, added virtual keyboard spacing fixes with measured fallback send/exit buttons for Android PWA players, and centered the felt radial symmetrically on the playing area. We also corrected bot Nello doubles-low bid protection evaluation, ensured mid-game AI-substituted seats are reopened to real players after a game ends, and completed a wholesale cleanup of CSS cascade layers and overrides.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Stay at the Table: Seamless Connections &amp; Smarter Nello</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-16-stay-at-the-table-seamless-connections-smarter-nello</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-16-stay-at-the-table-seamless-connections-smarter-nello</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 21:31:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to the table! Tonight we have rolled out a major backend infrastructure update to make multiplayer tables persistent. The server now remembers your exact game state, allowing us to deploy updates in the background without interrupting games, and provides resilient automatic reconnection if your internet drops momentarily. We also upgraded our Nello AI play engine for smarter opening leads and low double preservation, integrated custom Nello database settings sync, and optimized Sentry monitoring.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Midweek Update: Smarter Void Play, Stable HUDs &amp; Rate Limiting</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-15-midweek-refresh-void-play-hud-rate-limiting</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-15-midweek-refresh-void-play-hud-rate-limiting</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:45:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Howdy players! Over the past 48 hours, we have rolled out a round of improvements focusing on smarter bot play, interface stability, and backend security. We resolved a bug where AI players would overtrump their partner on guaranteed wins when void, keeping their trumps safe. We stabilized HUD heights under Nello/Sevens to prevent height snapping on the scoreboard, and implemented per-colo rate limiting on Cloudflare Workers along with tournament round-sweep reporting retries for improved reliability.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>AI Partner Polish: No More Trumping in Splash &amp; Plunge</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-13-ai-partner-deference-splash-plunge</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-13-ai-partner-deference-splash-plunge</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:05:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Welcome back to the table! We have rolled out a targeted update to make our AI partners much more cooperative and strategic during special contract play. We resolved a frustrating bug where AI players would sometimes trump their own partner's tricks during Splash and Plunge contracts. Now, when their partner is already winning the trick, AI players will actively avoid playing trumps unless they have no other legal options or the led suit itself is trump. This keeps the winning trick in the partner's hand and preserves valuable trumps for later in the round.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Sunday Updates: iOS Storage Resilience &amp; Centered Modals</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-12-ios-storage-resilience-centered-modals</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-12-ios-storage-resilience-centered-modals</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jul 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Today we have deployed a stability and visual polish update! Key additions include Cloudflare Turnstile bot protection on registrations to keep the lobby secure, alongside a resilient browser storage fallback for iOS players experiencing start-up blue screens under strict cookie-blocking settings. We also centered modals symmetrically on mobile screens, blended Safari's minimized bottom tab bar with our auth-gate scrim, and resolved signup race conditions.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>July Bug Scrub: Better Reconnections &amp; Chat</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-10-bug-scrub-smooth-chat-lockouts-reconnections</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-10-bug-scrub-smooth-chat-lockouts-reconnections</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 23:30:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Today we have rolled out a batch of quality-of-life bug fixes and performance polish! We've made dragging the floating chat window completely smooth and lag-free, added automatic re-connection retry guards mid-game to prevent transient failures, and fixed potential infinite page reload loops. We also resolved browser autocomplete popups in chat boxes, hardened passphrase lockout persistence in private game rooms, and optimized behind-the-scenes tournament scheduling.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Centered Modals &amp; Tournament Privacy</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-09-centered-modals-tournament-privacy</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-09-centered-modals-tournament-privacy</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2026 19:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Today we have rolled out several visual and spacing refinements to gameplay modals for mobile and tablet portrait layouts, alongside a critical privacy fix to completely mask competitor player IDs in tournament brackets. We've also optimized the recommended play and bidding engines to reduce dependency triggers and improve render speeds, and swept away the obsolete bidding-skipped FAQ entry after the retirement of the score-based bidding cap.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Login Stability &amp; Bid Privacy</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-08-login-stability-bid-privacy</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-08-login-stability-bid-privacy</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 20:30:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Today we have rolled out two critical updates! First, we've resolved the iOS and PWA login loop issues by updating our same-origin auth proxy allowlist and service worker configuration, and bumping the reload version to 44 to clear out cached logins. Second, we've introduced full bidding privacy to keep Nello and other contract types hidden as simple numbers during the auction, protecting hand integrity from leaking information on outbid hands. We've also added a post-bid contract switcher on the trump-selection screen for standard auction winners to correct bidding mis-taps.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Standard Bidding, Smarter AI &amp; Tactile Polish</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-07-standard-bidding-smarter-ai-tactile-polish</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-07-standard-bidding-smarter-ai-tactile-polish</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 18:15:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've rolled out today's update featuring several play improvements and bidding alignments! We have completely removed the score-based bidding cap from the game engine and slider, allowing unrestricted bids up to the 7-mark ceiling, and hardened our validation checks for jump bids and special contracts. We've also upgraded the AI play engine to intelligently trump in void suits to protect insecure partner trick wins. On the player dashboard, game logs now explicitly show variant and solo/MP modes, and stats toggles are placed side-by-side. Finally, mobile bone-shaking haptic vibrations have been synchronized to co-terminate with the animation (at 1880ms), and cosmetic loading issues have been resolved.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Marching to Multiplayer: Table Roster, Spectator Controls &amp; UI Polish</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-06-multiplayer-roster-spectator-ui-polish</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-06-multiplayer-roster-spectator-ui-polish</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:15:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've been hard at work over the past 72 hours polishing the game client on our march to multiplayer! Key additions include a new Table Roster Drawer for hosting tables (allowing hosts to manage spectator seats, promote spectators to players, or kick users) and a gold Spectator Popover. We've also polished the UI with a high-contrast pure black dark theme for player cards, transparent modal backdrops, a fix for tablet/mobile virtual keyboard layout shifts, and centered achievement progress meters. Finally, we resolved a partner trump-declaration bug in Plunge/Splash, refined seating layouts and widow exchanges in Moon, and restored close-on-mute behavior in player chats.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>July 4th Watermark, Multiplayer Progress &amp; Moon GA</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-02-july-4th-watermark-multiplayer-moon-release</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-02-july-4th-watermark-multiplayer-moon-release</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States with a new commemorative "Semiquincentennial" (yeah, let that swirl around a bit) table watermark! We've also opened up multiplayer tables for Rated players, allowing them to join hosted tables and view community leaderboards. While hosting remains disabled for general availability during lobby refinement, active testers can host, and interested players can reach out on Facebook to participate. Plus, following a highly successful beta, the three-player cutthroat variant Moon is now in General Availability, alongside underlying backend server security and play hardening.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Table Polish: Smoother Chat &amp; Faster Loading</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-01-table-polish-smoother-chat-faster-loading</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-07-01-table-polish-smoother-chat-faster-loading</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 23:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've rolled out a new update making your games run faster and feel much smoother! Updates include smarter chat scrolling that won't forcefully scroll your window down when a new message arrives, unified chat font sizing, toggles to hide chat scrollbars, and improved player cards. We've also optimized page loading to eliminate layout flickering, sharpened our logo text rendering on all browsers, and improved database speeds so your profiles, stats, and achievements load instantly.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smarter AI Play: Defensive Leads &amp; Bidding Safety</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-29-smarter-ai-leads-and-defense</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-29-smarter-ai-leads-and-defense</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 21:21:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We have rolled out two significant updates to the game's artificial intelligence engine, refining how bots handle critical opening leads. When defending, bots will now prioritize leading safe off-suit doubles after verifying that neither opponent has shown a void in that suit. We also resolved an issue where bidding bots would blindly lead count-carrying tiles when they had safer alternatives. Simulation testing verifies that AI defenders are now significantly more effective at setting contracts, capturing more count points while bidders play with much better safety.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Connecting the Table: In-Game Chat &amp; Presence</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-28-chat-social-presence</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-28-chat-social-presence</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 01:29:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Milestone</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've deployed our long-awaited in-game chat and social features, marking a major milestone on the march towards multiplayer! This update brings real-time player presence using Durable Objects, a resizable desktop popout chat window, a collapsible nicklist, inline emoji picker, custom in-game chat window scaling, COPPA age compliance gating, and chat moderation controls. Join the conversation at the table today!]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Express Yourself: Custom Player Themes</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-24-custom-player-themes</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-24-custom-player-themes</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:18:26 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've released a new customization update introducing Custom Player Themes! You can now change the visual identity of your playing board by swapping accent colors for the scoreboard, teammate highlights, and team badges. To celebrate, we have seeded four beautiful themes into the cosmetic catalog completely free for everyone: Classic, Ocean Breeze, Sunset Mesa, and Forest Trail. Style your board today!]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smarter AI Play: Partner Count-Feeding Safeguards</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-23-smarter-partner-count-feeding</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-23-smarter-partner-count-feeding</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 19:10:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've optimized the AI play engine to be seating-aware when feeding count to a partner's winning play. By analyzing clockwise remaining players and outstanding unplayed dominoes, the AI now detects opponent threats and defensively withholds count tiles on insecure tricks. Headless simulation testing shows a statistically significant reduction in count points gifted to defenders on Hard and Expert difficulties. Thank you to the player who flagged this through our in-game reporter!]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Return of "Low-No": Nello Pass-Out Rule</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-22-return-of-low-no-passout-nello</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-22-return-of-low-no-passout-nello</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 22:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We've added "Low-No" (Nello Pass-Out) as a third Pass-Out Rule option! When all players pass, the forced dealer can choose to bid Nello instead of a standard 30. Setup is seamless with new settings panel interlocks.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Happy Father's Day, Moon &amp; Free Cosmetics</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-21-fathers-day-moon-early-access</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-21-fathers-day-moon-early-access</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Happy Father's Day! To celebrate, we are opening early access testing for Moon (3-player partnerless 42) for the next two weeks. We've also gifted everyone two free cosmetics: the "Lunar Midnight" Felt and the "Sleeping Fisherman" Watermark. Read the rules and play today!]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Clarity on Capped Bidding</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-19-capped-bidding-toast</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-19-capped-bidding-toast</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 13:46:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Added a Bidding Capped announcement toast to explain early auction termination. Under standard Texas 42 rules, a team's maximum possible bid is capped by the marks they need to win. If the bidding reaches a point where the other team cannot legally outbid, the auction ends early. The game now displays a transient amber "Bidding Capped" toast at the start of the play phase to clarify why the bidding terminated early, resolving player confusion about skipped turns.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Bidding Rules: Opening Cap &amp; No Jump Bidding</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-18-opening-bid-cap</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-18-opening-bid-cap</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2026 22:50:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Fixed two unenforced N42PA bidding rules. Opening Bid Cap: no player may open the bidding higher than 2 marks (84 points). No Jump Bidding: once a bid reaches the 2-mark cap, subsequent overbids may only increase by 1 mark at a time (84 → 126 → 168, etc.). Both constraints are now enforced in the engine, AI, and bid slider. A new "Opening Bid Cap" setting has been added to Custom mode. Tournament and House presets default to the standard 2-mark cap. Special contracts (Splash, Plunge) are exempt. Thank you to the player who reported this through our in-game reporter.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Introducing Sevens: A New Way to Play 42</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-17-sevens-contract</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-17-sevens-contract</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2026 13:49:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Introducing Sevens - a new luck-based contract where tricks are won by the domino closest to a pip total of seven. No trump, no suit-following - just proximity to seven. Bid at a minimum of one mark, bidder's team must sweep all seven tricks. Games with Sevens hands are excluded from skill ratings to protect competitive integrity, while XP, titles, and achievements still accrue. Four new Sevens achievements are available to unlock.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Custom Game Fixes</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-16-custom-game-fixes</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-16-custom-game-fixes</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 21:56:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Fixed a bug in Custom game mode where Nello, Splash, and Plunge toggles were not being respected during gameplay. Disabling these options in the settings lobby now correctly hides them from the bidding interface, and AI players will respect the settings and not attempt to bid disabled contracts.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Splash &amp; Plunge AI Adjustments</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-14-splash-plunge-ai-adjustments</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-14-splash-plunge-ai-adjustments</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2026 09:35:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We have resolved a bug where AI players called Splash and Plunge contracts too aggressively on weak hands. The AI now evaluates these high-stakes contracts with a much stricter criteria, bidding them only on truly dominant hands. We also corrected and optimized the play strategies during active Splash/Plunge contracts: AI partners will now lead trumps aggressively to support their teammate, and defending AI players will fight with maximum coordination to set the contract.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Introducing Immersive Play for Mobile &amp; Tablets</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-13-immersive-play-mobile</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-13-immersive-play-mobile</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 17:15:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We have rolled out our new Immersive Screen Mode for mobile and tablet players, running the game in fullscreen to hide browser navigation bars and prevent accidental misclicks. Features include a self-healing fullscreen state that automatically restores after device interruptions, and synchronized status bar coloring that matches your chosen table surface felt color.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Tactile Trick Wins &amp; Localized Feedback</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-13-tactile-trick-feedback</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-13-tactile-trick-feedback</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Based on player feedback, we have replaced standard center-screen trick toasts with tactile, localized board feedback: DOM-measured domino sweep animations, color-coded winner avatar/hand halos, and floating point indicators. We've also animated the shaker (dealer) indicator to rattle while shuffling and dealing tiles before play starts.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Sign In Once, Play Anywhere: Offline Solo Mode</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-12-offline-solo-play</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-12-offline-solo-play</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Introducing offline solo play against our AI! Once signed in, you can play anywhere without an internet connection, and your scores, stats, and XP will automatically sync back in the background once you reconnect. We've also resolved accidental sign-outs when connections drop, improved responsive mobile layouts, and fixed audio loading issues.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smarter AI Bidding</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-07-smarter-ai-bidding</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-07-smarter-ai-bidding</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Bug Fix</category>
      <description><![CDATA[AI bidding improvements: the AI now bids bigger on strong hands instead of always playing it safe, Nello opening plays improved to lead doubles first (the textbook play), and the "Max Opening Mark" setting has been removed in favor of natural score-based bid limits.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Refining Trick History</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-04-trick-history-refinements</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-06-04-trick-history-refinements</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Feature</category>
      <description><![CDATA[We just rolled out an update focusing on the game board's Trick History drawer: responsive flex-proportional column layout, team-colored pill badges for locations/bidders, unified typography, centered play explanation tooltips, and simplified Nello summaries.]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>What's Coming Next</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-05-29-whats-next</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-05-29-whats-next</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Update</category>
      <description><![CDATA[With go-live behind us, we're settling into the production soak period: watching the servers, listening to feedback, and making sure everything runs the way it should at scale. Once we're satisfied that the foundation is solid, the next wave of features heads to beta: Multiplayer, Tournaments, Circuits, and Moon (3-player 42).]]></description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Happy Birthday, Follow Me 42 🎂</title>
      <link>https://followme42.com/news#2026-05-28-happy-birthday</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://followme42.com/news#2026-05-28-happy-birthday</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <category>Milestone</category>
      <description><![CDATA[Follow Me 42 is live. This started as a personal project born from a simple frustration: I couldn't find an online version of Texas 42 that got the rules right and respected the game the way it deserves. So I built one. What began at a kitchen table has grown into something real, and today it's yours. A huge thank you to our beta testers for making this possible!]]></description>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>
