[Redefinition]
Games are always in a race to redefine the genre they exist in. The 2d platformer became stale feeling after the New Super Mario Bros’ reliance on the NES originals as a backbone aesthetically and design wise, and left such a sour taste in my mouth that it took years to come back to the genre.
solitaire never held any appeal to me for the same reason. Card games perhaps should never be redefined because they serve as a constant of gaming that can therefore bridge the gap between gamers of all expertise and Pocket Card Jockey (3DS) makes no attempt to do so, rather, it recontextualises its core gameplay of solitaire into something enitrely fresh. It may seem gimmicky, but it is so novel when something as simple as solitaire can become an anixety inducing task that has immediately noticeable ramifications outside the context of the cards.
Playing solitaire well increases your horse performance in a race
Whilst recontextualising, its important to consider what needs to be kept about the context of the source material. Pocket Card Jockey recognises the importance that solitaire is a game played to pass time in quick, insignificant intervals of boredom, so it keeps the solitaire extremely quick and adds its own spin in order to reduce the contextual relation to boredom. solitaire piles aren’t dragged or moved, nor is there any nuance to the colours or suit, rather, you simply tap when there is a higher or lower number whilst still maintaining the core logic of solitaire that allows for skill based combos. Its gratifying and still differentiating itself enough to not just be entirely solitaire.
Aside from that small distinction to normal solitaire, the game is about racing horses. Better performance in the solitaire will increase the performance of your horse in the home stretch, and between rounds of bite sized solitaire you can strategically position your horse within its “comfort zone”, absorb your potential to move into a greater boost in the final stretch, position your horse on the track to be closer to the inside, or align your horse with special pickup cards that can permanently improve your stamina and skills.
Drawing your path with the stylus is its own game of strategy
the solitaire and positioning all happen multiple times in a 5 minute window, keeping the lightning fast pace of solitaire whilst providing a whole new scope of entertainment, not to mention the management of your horses and breeding that happens outside the races.
horse breeding!
By questioning how something stale can be recontextualised into a brand-new idea, video games as a medium can evolve in a way that seemed unimaginable prior. Pocket Card Jockey is simple enough that it once had a mobile port, and yet it feels so creatively and technically rich because it dared to question whether a game so foundational it existed prior to video games as a concept could be reimagined and recontextualised into something entirely new.
Notably, this game was made by Game Freak as part of their Gear Project initiative which aims to allow developers to internally pitch new ideas during downtime. It’s stunning what this studio can do (backed by infinite revenue) when not constrained to the Pokémon machine, with interesting other projects such as Drill Dozer and Tembo the badass elephant. Its worth playing their other games both as a means of supporting them and seeing what this studio is capable of when creatively liberated.
Famed Pokémon composer Go Ichinose did the soundtrack, its a punchy fanfare that wouldn’t feel out of place in a JRPG. Check it out!