Game Mechanics
Game Flow
Each match is a series of rounds. Each round follows this sequence:
- Deal — Both players draw a hand of 3 creatures. Surviving creatures from the previous round carry over (healed 50% of missing HP). Dead slots get fresh draws from your deck.
- Betting Round 1 — Standard poker-style betting with check, bet, raise, call, fold, and all-in actions. Blinds are posted based on the current blind level.
- Reveal — Both players' hands are revealed simultaneously. Each player has a free reveal token to scout one opponent slot before the reveal.
- Betting Round 2 — A second betting round with full information about both hands.
- Battle — Creatures fight slot by slot. The side with more surviving creatures wins the pot. If both sides have equal survivors, the side with higher total remaining HP% wins.
- Result — Chips are awarded to the winner. The match continues until one player runs out of chips.
Betting Rules
Betting follows standard poker conventions:
- Blinds — The small blind and big blind are posted automatically each round. The dealer position alternates between players.
- Actions — Check (pass when no bet), bet (open with a wager), raise (increase an existing bet), call (match the current bet), fold (forfeit the round), all-in (wager all remaining chips).
- Position — The non-dealer acts first in each betting round. The dealer has positional advantage (acts last).
Blind Schedule
Blinds escalate every 3 rounds to prevent infinite games:
| Rounds | Small Blind | Big Blind | Starting Pot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| 4–6 | 8 | 16 | 24 |
| 7–9 | 12 | 24 | 36 |
| 10+ | 20 | 40 | 60 |
Combat Resolution
Creatures battle slot by slot. In each slot:
- The faster creature (higher speed) attacks first.
- Damage = attacker's ATK, modified by type advantage (1.75x if advantaged).
- Abilities trigger based on their conditions (first strike, thorns, etc.).
- Combat continues in the slot until one creature is defeated or a draw occurs.
The side with more surviving creatures wins the round.
Type Matchups
There are 6 creature types arranged in a wheel. Each type has advantage over the next two types and is weak against the two types before it:
Beast → Bird → Plant → Undead → Arcane → Dragon → (back to Beast)
Each type beats the next 2 in the chain. Advantage deals 1.75x damage.
Combos
Your hand is checked for patterns before battle. The best combo found applies stat bonuses to all your creatures. Higher-tier combos take priority when multiple are possible.
| Combo | Condition | Bonus | Min Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evolution | Same type with consecutive levels (e.g., Lv1, Lv2, Lv3) | +25% damage on all attacks | 3 |
| Trio | All 3 creatures share the same type | +15% HP to all creatures | 3 |
| Spectrum | All creatures are different types | +3 ATK to all creatures | 3 |
| High Hand | All creatures are Level 3 or higher | +4 ATK to all creatures | 2 |
| Underdogs | All creatures are Level 1 | +20% HP to all creatures | 2 |
| Pair | At least 2 creatures share the same type | +2 ATK to all creatures | 2 |
In team modes (2v2), only combos requiring 2+ cards can activate. In 1v1 and 3v3, all combos are available.
Team Modes
Creature Poker supports three battle formats:
| Mode | Cards Per Side | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| 1v1 | 3 | Classic mode. You draw 3 creatures from your deck. |
| 2v2 | 2 | You contribute 1 creature, your AI teammate contributes 1. Two slot battles. |
| 3v3 | 3 | You contribute 1 creature, two AI teammates each contribute 1. Three slot battles. |
In team modes, you can only mulligan your own card (slot 1), but you can swap card positions across all team slots. Betting is shared — the whole team pools chips.
Creature Persistence
Creatures that survive a battle carry over to the next round. They heal 50% of their missing HP between rounds. Dead creatures are replaced with fresh draws from your deck. This creates an incentive to keep your creatures alive rather than just winning battles.
Deck Building
Your deck contains 6–12 creatures. You can buy new creatures from the shop using gold earned from matches. The shop offers random creatures with rarity-weighted appearance rates. You can also sell creatures for 50% of their shop price.
Stakes
Matches are played at three stake levels, each with different buy-ins and rewards:
| Tier | Buy-in | Win Reward | Starting Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 50 gold | 120 gold | 100 |
| Medium | 100 gold | 225 gold | 300 |
| High | 200 gold | 450 gold | 600 |