Frantic^-1

Calm until it is personal

Easy to learn. Dangerous to almost win.

Frantic^-1 may look calm at first: match a card, play a card, draw if you have to. But the closer someone gets to winning, the more dangerous the table becomes. Suddenly players gift you cards, skip your turn, exchange hands, trigger events and do everything possible to stop you from emptying your hand.

How to play

Start a server. Destroy friendships.

Start the server, connect with one or more clients, create or join a lobby, then start the match.

1. Starting the game

Frantic^-1 uses a server-client system. One person starts the server. Every player starts a GUI client and connects to that server.

Server java -jar not-frantic.jar server

GUI Client java -jar not-frantic.jar client

With Name java -jar not-frantic.jar client localhost:5555 Alice

2. Connecting

In the connect screen, enter host, port and username.

For a local game, use host localhost.
The default port is 5555.
Then click Connect.

3. Starting a match

One player clicks Create New Lobby.
Other players select the lobby and click Join Selected Lobby.
When everyone is ready, click Start Game.

4. Game screen

The game screen shows the draw pile, discard pile, current player, current phase, your hand, other players, Game / Info log and chat.

Click a card to play it. Click the draw pile to draw. Click End Turn when ending your turn is allowed.

5. Goal

The goal is to get rid of all cards in your hand. A round ends when one player has no cards left. At the end of a round, players receive penalty points for cards still in their hand.

The player with the lowest total score wins the match.

6. How a turn works

On your turn, you normally do one of these:

Play a legal card.
Draw a card.
End your turn when the game allows it.

You usually cannot end your turn without first playing or drawing. If something is not allowed, the Game / Info log shows an error.

Cards

Every card is a problem.

Some cards are simple. Some cards ruin turns. Some cards ruin friendships. Here is what each card type does in the current game.

BLUE

7Normal

7

Normal cards

Normal cards have a color and a number. They can be played if they match the current color, current number or active request.

Score value: face value

BLACK

TRIGGER EVENT

5

Black cards

Black cards have a number but no normal color. If the number matches, they can be played to trigger a random event card automatically. One black card can reverse the order, block special cards, force draws, swap hands, or end the round immediately.

Triggers events No normal color Number match Score ×2

Score value: face value × 2

SPECIAL

SECOND CHANCE

Second Chance

Lets the player immediately play another card. If no card is played, the player draws instead.

Score value: 10 points

SPECIAL

SKIP

Skip

Choose one player. That player's next turn is skipped. Simple, direct and extremely annoying.

Score value: 10 points

SPECIAL

GIFT

Gift

Choose cards from your hand and give them to another player. It is called a gift. It is probably not a nice one.

Score value: 10 points

SPECIAL

EXCHANGE

Exchange

Choose cards from your hand and exchange them with cards from another player's hand.

Score value: 10 points

SPECIAL

FANTASTIC

Fantastic

Choose one color or one number. That choice becomes the active request for the next play.

Score value: 20 points

SPECIAL

FANTASTIC FOUR

Fantastic Four

Choose a requested color or number. Then assign four drawn cards to players. The same player can receive multiple cards.

Score value: 20 points

SPECIAL

EQUALITY

Equality

Choose a player and a color. The chosen player draws until their hand size reaches your hand size.

Score value: 20 points

SPECIAL

NICE TRY

Nice Try

Stops a player from safely ending the round. The chosen player draws up to three cards, so the round can continue.

Score value: 20 points

SPECIAL

F%&/ U

A unique card. It can only be played when the current player has exactly 10 cards in hand.

Score value: 69 points

Black-card events

Events change the round.

Event cards are triggered automatically when a black card is played. Players do not choose them manually. In the GUI, the game announces them with a dramatic black banner across the screen.

All Draw Two

Everyone draws two cards.

All Draw One

Everyone draws one card.

All Skip

Everybody except the triggering player gets skipped once.

Instant Round End

The round ends immediately.

Reverse Order

The turn order is reversed.

Steal From Next

The current player steals from the next player.

Steal From Previous

The current player steals from the previous player.

Discard Highest

Highest-value cards are discarded.

Discard Color

A whole color gets discarded.

Swap Hands

Hands are swapped around.

Block Specials

Special cards are temporarily blocked.

Gift Chain

Cards start moving around the table.

Hand Reset

Hands are reset.

Lucky Draw

Someone gets lucky with extra cards.

Penalty Draw

Penalty cards are handed out.

Equalize

Hands get pulled closer together.

Wild Request

A new request changes what can be played.

Cancel Effects

Pending effects are cancelled.

Bonus Play

The current player gets another play.

Double Scoring

This round will count double.

Scoring

Lower score wins.

At the end of a round, every card still in your hand gives penalty points.

Card type	Points
Normal card	face value
Black card	face value × 2
Second Chance	10
Skip	10
Gift	10
Exchange	10
Fantastic	20
Fantastic Four	20
Equality	20
Nice Try	20
Fuck You	69
Event card	0

Double Scoring

If the Double Scoring event happened during the round, the round score is doubled.

Match end

The match ends when at least one player reaches or exceeds the score limit:

150 - (3 × number of players)

The player with the lowest total score wins.

About the project

This project was developed as part of the Programmierprojekt course. It combines a full game implementation with a graphical client, a server-client architecture and a polished final presentation.

What the project includes

Java game logic, JavaFX GUI, multiplayer lobbies, chat, special cards, black-card events, persistent high scores and a fully playable final game.