Capote controls & chat commands

Capote is mouse-and-keyboard first. There is no controller layout in the current build, so this page is the canonical reference for every input that exists in the game today.

Lobby and pre-match

• Mouse left click — choose a table slot, accept the ready-up prompt, kick off the match.
• Mouse right click — open the player menu (mute, report, view profile).
• Esc — leave the lobby or return to the main menu.
• Tab — toggle the scoreboard overlay showing every player’s shots and current bid.
• F2 — open the in-game settings menu for volume, voice, and visual options.
• F11 — toggle fullscreen.

Bidding phase

• Number keys 0 to 3 — quick-bid the matching number of tricks (0, 1, 2, or 3 in the standard deck).
• Mouse wheel up/down — adjust your bid by one. The bid is locked when the timer runs out or when you click Lock Bid.
• Enter — confirm your bid before the timer ends. Hitting Enter on an empty bid is treated as zero.
• Backspace — clear your bid back to zero during the bidding window.

If you are playing a custom ruleset with more than three cards, the bidding window expands with extra number keys. The HUD always shows the legal maximum.

Playing cards

• Mouse left click on a card — play it from your hand. This is the only way to play a card.
• Mouse hover — peek at a card effect reminder (only the card owner can see their own reminders).
• Right click — cancel a hover and return the card to your hand position (only works before the play is committed).
• 1, 2, 3 — play the leftmost, middle, or rightmost card in your hand. Useful for fast keyboard play once you know your hand order.

There is no drag-and-drop mechanic. Capote is built around deliberate clicks so that the table does not turn into a UI arms race.

Special cards and prompts

When you play a special card or one is played against you, a modal prompts you to choose a target or confirm an effect.

• Mouse left click — select the highlighted target.
• Esc — decline the optional effect if the card allows it.
• Enter — confirm the default highlighted option.

Some special cards, like Force High, auto-resolve once you confirm the target. Others, like Reverse Order, resolve immediately with no prompt.

Voice and text chat

Capote ships with built-in voice and text chat for every lobby.

• V — push-to-talk. Hold to broadcast voice to the lobby.
• T — open the text chat input box.
• Enter — send the message.
• Esc — close the text chat input without sending.
• Up arrow / Down arrow — cycle through your last ten chat messages.
• / — quick command prefix. Typing / followed by a keyword (see below) inserts an emote or system action.

Chat command list

• /wave — wave at the table.
• /laugh — laugh emote.
• /drink — virtual shot emote. Useful for taunting after a clean bid.
• /capotado — surrender emote, for when you are one shot from elimination.
• /gg — good game.
• /replay — request a rematch vote at the end of a match.
• /mute <player> — mute a specific player in text and voice. Replace <player> with their display name.

The text chat supports basic markdown for bold and italic. Emojis render through Steam’s standard font set, so they look identical to your chat client.

Spectator mode

Once you are capotado, the camera shifts to the winning player’s seat.

• Mouse scroll — zoom in and out on the active player’s hand.
• A and D (or Left / Right arrows) — cycle through players at the table.
• Space — open the lobby chat while spectating.

Spectators can still send chat and react with emotes. They cannot rejoin the match until the next round.

Troubleshooting input issues

• Bid does not lock — wait for the timer; the bid only commits when the clock runs out.
• Card does not play — check the special card modal first. Capote waits for your effect choice before resolving the play.
• Voice chat is silent — open the volume mixer; voice chat has its own slider separate from SFX.
• Key bindings stuck — Capote currently does not expose a remap menu. Reboot the client to clear any stale key state.

If you discover an input that is not documented here, please open a thread in the official Discord and we will add it to this page. The full Capote Controls reference is the single source of truth for player input.