Pika Cards

How to play

• On your turn you play a card matching the top of the discard pile in COLOUR or NUMBER. Black cards (wild and +4) are always valid.
• If you cannot play, you draw one from the deck. If that card works, you may play it right away; if not, the turn passes.
• When the deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled again, leaving the card in play. If even then there is nothing to draw, the turn passes; and if the table goes all the way round without anyone playing a card, the round closes and whoever has fewest cards wins.
• Block: the next player misses their turn. Reverse: the order of play is inverted (in 2-player games it does the same as the block).
• +2: the next player draws 2 cards... unless they chain it. +4: on top of that, you choose the colour in play.
• +2 and +4 STACK. On a +4 you can only chain a +2 of the chosen colour, or any other +4 (and then you pick a new colour). On a +2 any other +2 works. Whoever cannot chain draws the whole stack at once.
• Wild: you choose the colour in play, without forcing anyone to draw.
• Pika! When you are down to a single card you have to call "Pika" before the prompt runs out. If you do not, you draw 2 as a penalty.
• The winner is whoever runs out of cards... unless their last card is a +2 or a +4: then the round carries on, because the next player can chain it and send the stack back. It only ends when someone takes the stacked cards, and they take them even if that ends the game.
• The remaining places are ranked by the cards left in your hand, fewest first. Equal cards means an equal place.
• You can reorder your hand by dragging the cards.

By number of players

• 2 players: reverse does the same as skip, because there is only one opponent to jump over.
• 3 players: here the direction of play really matters, and a reverse can hand you the turn straight back.
• 4 players, free for all with no pairs. The more of you there are, the more the +2s and +4s stack up before someone has to swallow them.

Modes and prizes

• Against the computer: you play bots, offline and as often as you like. It pays no coins and no experience, so it is there to practise and try out settings without risking anything.
• Against friends: you open a room and invite them by username. Here only the winner is paid, and at half rate, because you pick who you sit with.
• Online: we sit you with people from all over the world. Every place is paid, most to least, and it is the only mode that counts towards the weekly League. If the room is slow to fill, simulated players complete it; in that case the League counts half.
• Buy-in tables: online you can sit at a 100, 250, 500 or 1000 coin table. Every player puts in that amount on sitting down and the whole pot goes to the winners, with no commission. These tables only fill with real people: if they do not fill in time the table is cancelled and your buy-in is returned. Neither the gold booster nor the VIP pass multiplies the pot.