by Alicia Verlager
ZForm Poker has everything you want from a poker game except the cigar smoke — and you won’t lose your pants playing — or paying for — it. ZForm Poker is a multi-player online version of five-card draw poker which allows both blind and sighted players to play and socialize together. Note, however, that these players are using virtual poker chips, not real money, and that this is a poker game, not an online casino. ZForm Poker does provide quite a lot of casino ambience, however, thanks to some great background sounds. If all this begins to sound complicated and confusing, trust me, it is not. The clean intuitive interface allows players to play a fast-paced game while still being able to hear the cheers — and jeers — of their fellow players. The hardest facet of game play is trying to remember what “GMT” means, and what time it is in the U.K. or Australia. Since the release of ZForm Poker in April of this year, it has quickly gained a worldwide following of dedicated players. Indeed, ZForm Poker players are an eclectic group, from everywhere in the world, both blind and sighted, and they embrace not only the seriously single-minded card shark but the more easygoing social sort of player.
ZForm provides not just a game, but a community. Some of the tables offered are specifically set for a slower pace to encourage socializing, and it is easy to search the tables for a friend and then to jump right to the table your friend is sitting at. There are plenty of tables at all levels of play, however, so players rarely have to wait long to play, whether it is “just a hand or two” and a quick chat or a more intense to-the-death (and the last chip) high roller session. There are scoreboards to find out who the top players are, and mailing lists on which subscribers can ask questions or share tips.
Despite the diversity of the community, the game is very customizable. Players can toggle easily between novice and expert modes, allowing for lots of spoken cues to help one play the game, or only a few spoken suggestions for people who don’t need much help. Spoken messages can also be turned off completely, for sighted players who may find this too distracting. Most game options can be set from the keyboard at any time, and many features of the game, such as whether the player hears the background sounds, are easy to change right from the keyboard without even leaving the game. The sound effects are also customizable by an individual player. This is one of my favorite things about ZForm Poker: you can tailor the interface to what you want to hear and what you need to know. Anyone who has spent even 10 minutes using a screen reader knows how frustrating customizing the screen reader to say what you want to hear can be, and how different everyone’s preferences are.
Another great thing about ZForm Poker is you are not stuck playing in one mode all the time. My previous experiences with accessible games were always pretty boring, since almost all the accessible games I had tried felt one-dimensional and predictable. ZForm Poker, however, lets you play at whatever level you wish. You can sit back and socialize at the social tables one day or play a killer game at the high rollers table the next. This does provide one of the drawbacks of the game also, in that some players play way over their heads and slow down an otherwise good game, though selecting “game-set time limit on turns” prevents you from getting too frustrated by this sort of thing.
All in all, it is this community diversity which makes the game so interesting. You can never tell if the other players are sighted or blind, from Sydney or Shanghai, new players or players with lots of experience. One of the things I enjoy hearing about are the couples and friends who finally have a game they can play together without finding the fact that one of them is blind to be an impediment to playing the same game.
You won’t have to break your piggy bank to pay for ZForm Poker: the monthly subscription rate is $7.95 per month, but if you sign up for a year, you’ll pay just $59.95, which averages out to only $5 a month.
To learn more about ZForm and ZForm Poker, or to download the free 15-day version and join the ZForm community, go to ZForm’s web site at http://www.zform.com or send email to [email protected].
(Editor’s Note: To read more interesting reviews and views from Alicia Verlager, check out her web site at: http://theworld.com/~aeryadne/index.html.)