How to Play TCGRNG

Overview

TCGRNG is a head-to-head digital trading card game played with five cards per hand, with random initial pack generation, poker-like scoring, card power levels and element-based card suits. Ten games per day can be played against your friends or random opponents, and initial hands can be improved by swapping in cards saved from winning previous games or from daily/weekly reward packs. Additional features include: card fusion; the trading of cards already used for swaps in previous games; multiple familiar but unique side games including Blackjack, Five-O Poker and Crazy Eights that award free daily single-card packs; fully featured leaderboard and social tabs; and a basic clan system that allows you to combine stats with your friends and display a clan tag.

Scores are determined by: 1) poker-inspired combos your hand forms; 2) elemental set bonuses based on the number of cards of the same element in the player's hand; and 3) battles between armies consisting of each individual element in the player's and their opponent's hands (i.e. 3 Fire cards vs. 2 Water cards, or 2 Aether cards against 4 Death cards).

The Cards

Face Values

Each card has a playing-card face value: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K), Ace (A), or the rare Joker card. The face value of a card has a direct effect on a card's overall strength.

Elements

Each card also has one of eight possible elements associated with it, assigned at random: Life, Death, Aether, Physical, Fire, Water, Earth, or Air. Elements factor into scoring in two distinct ways: 1) element set bonuses; 2) element battles, which occur between groupings of the player's cards' elements as well as their opponent's.

Rarities

Card rarity multiplies a card's base value in battle. But really… it's just more satisfying to pull an extremely rare card, isn't it?

Metallic Finishes

Along with its rarity, a card may be rolled with a metallic finish, which adds a flat power bonus and a satisfying visual shimmer.

(Note: The effect was a pain in the ass to implement. Please clap.)

Card Power

A card's power is determined by a formula involving its rarity, face value and whether or not it has a metallic finish.

For example, a King of Fire that rolls with "Rare" (blue) rarity and a Gold metallic finish would gain a face value of 13, a Rare multiplier of 2.5 and an additional 35 points from its Gold finish.

floor(13 × 2.5) + 35 = 32 + 35 = 67

I know what you're thinking: what's the weakest card in the game, then? That would be a Common rarity "2" face card without a metallic finish, which would have a paltry power of 2. If you roll this card, you officially have the worst pack luck in the world. I'm sorry.

Special Cards

Cards with a power level of 50 or higher gain visual effects that coincide with the card's specific element. For instance, an Aether card will pulse/glow with a purple aura.

How a Battle Works

1. The Challenge: Pick an opponent from your friends list or a random player (using the "Challenge Random Opponent" button) and send a battle challenge. They will receive a notification.
2. Accept/Decline: The would-be opponent will accept or decline your challenge. If they decline, the battle will be outright cancelled and both players will have the battle cleared from their daily limit. All invites expire after 24 hours.
3. Open Your Packs: Move to the battle screen by checking your notifications or the Battle screen, and open your randomly generated pack. If you've collected a card by winning a previous battle, you will be given the option to replace a single card in your current hand before moving forward.
4. Confirm and Wait: Confirm your hand and either wait for your opponent to confirm their hand as well, or move forward to the battle itself.
5. The Battle: When both players have confirmed their hands, they will be presented with the battle results screen, which will show the score for each player, as well as their hands and more details about the battle.
6. Choose Your Card: Did you win the game? Congratulations. You get to choose a card to keep in your inventory and either save forever or utilize in a future battle. Just remember not to choose the Common 2.

Daily Limits

You may participate in 10 battles per day, as a challenger or opponent. You may only battle the same opponent a single time per day. Expired/declined invitations do not count against a player's daily limit, but may hurt their feelings.

Dealer Draw

After your cards are revealed, you're presented with a choice: either swap in an available card from your inventory, or draw from the Dealer Deck - a special deck with higher-rarity odds and exclusive card variations.

The Dealer Draw intelligently targets your weakest card that isn't part of your current poker combo or element set. The replacement card is then drawn from the Dealer Deck with boosted odds. There is a small chance (~15%) the dealer targets a different non-combo card instead.

This is an either/or decision: you can choose to either use an inventory card or draw from the dealer deck - not both. Players with no cards available to swap in will still be given the option to utilize the Dealer Draw.

Dealer Deck Odds

The Dealer Deck features no Common or Uncommon cards - every draw is at least Rare.

Prismatic Rarity

Prismatic is the highest rarity with a 10.0× multiplier. Prismatic cards feature an animated, shifting border that cycles through a full spectrum of colors. They can be obtained through the Dealer Draw or through Fusion upgrades.

Titanium Metallic

Titanium is the highest metallic finish, featuring a brushed blue-silver holographic effect with horizontal visual striping that catches light differently than any other finish. It adds +80 power. It can be obtained through the Dealer Draw or as a Fusion upgrade when combining high-metallic cards. Titanium finishes can also be extracted from existing cards and applied to other cards via Fusion's Extract and Apply modes.

Strategy

The Dealer Draw is a gamble: you know what you're getting when you swap in an inventory card, but the Dealer Deck provides you with a chance to reach for something extraordinary. While a known Legendary from your collection is a safe play, an ultra-rare Prismatic Titanium Joker from the Dealer Deck would be worth a staggering 230 power, the theoretical power limit.

Following a win, Dealer cards can be saved to your inventory - as with any other card. Building a collection collection of Dealer-exclusive cards is one of the most rewarding long-term goals in TCGRNG.

Scoring

Your total score consists of poker combos and element set bonuses. Element battles between opposing element groups serve as a tiebreaker when the game would otherwise end in a draw.

1 - Poker Combo

Your card faces are evaluated for combos influenced by true poker combinations, and only your best single combination counts toward your score. Jokers can complete Straights and Royals but count as Aces for all other combos.

Base bonuses are amplified by a 1.1x multiplier and then scaled by your hand's average card power. The scaling intensity depends on your hand rank: stronger poker hands like Straights and Full Houses benefit significantly from powerful cards, while weaker hands like High Card receive little to no power scaling. Additionally, your single strongest card provides its own individual bonus, so swapping in a powerful card always makes a meaningful difference.

2 - Element Set Bonus

Should two or more cards in your hand share the same element, an element set bonus will be earned. Only one elemental set can receive the bonus - your best set. The bonus will then be scaled by the set cards' average power.

Three Legendary Life cards in a player's hand would trigger an Element Triple, which would be scaled by those cards' average power level. Element sets provide a meaningful boost that can tip close matchups, especially with powerful matching cards.

3 - Element Battles (Tiebreaker)

When two players finish with the same total score, element battles break the tie. Each element group in your hand is matched against opposing element groups based on the matchup table below. The player who wins more individual element battles wins the game.

If element battles are also tied, the player with the single highest-power card wins. If even that is tied, the game ends in a draw.

Element battles do not add points to your score - they only matter when the scores are otherwise equal. Score comes entirely from poker combos and element set bonuses.

Element Matchups

Each of the eight elements defeat two elements and lose to two others. The relationships between these elements are grounded in mythology and the physical relationships between them.

No single element is dominant. Element battle outcomes are dependent on the overall power of their element set and your own, which is then multiplied by element advantage. Any element group consisting of very high rarity cards has a significant advantage.

The Joker

Each of the five slots in your pack have roughly a 3% chance to generate a Joker card. Every Joker has a face value of 15, higher than even an Ace's 14, which makes it the most powerful base face in the game.

As with other card types, Jokers also roll a random element and still have a chance to appear with high rarities and metallic finishes. Be on the lookout for a Legendary Platinum Joker, which could be placed into a hand from your inventory and singlehandedly change the result of a game. Just be aware that you cannot play a card from your inventory, win a game and then choose that same card as your reward; once you play a card, it's gone forever - unless your opponent wins and steals it.

For poker combos, a Joker acts as a "Bug" - it can fill in missing cards to complete a Straight or Royal, but for all other hands (Pair, Three of a Kind, Full House, etc.) it simply counts as an Ace. So a Joker alongside two Kings is still only a Pair of Kings - the Joker is an Ace, not a third King. Jokers only group with each other and with real Aces: two Jokers and an Ace is Three of a Kind, because that's three Aces. For element set bonuses, the Joker is treated like any other card — its element counts normally.

Winning & Rewards

At the end of a game, the player with the higher total score prevails. If both players finish with the same score, the card with the single highest power level will determine the winner. If, by some stroke of fate, even the power level of each player's highest power card is the same, the match will finish as a Draw, and no card will be available to save for either player. Draws are extremely rare.

Saving a Card

Following a win, you will be given the opportunity to choose one card from either player's deck. That card will be added to your inventory, and can be used as a replacement card in a future game - but the echo of the card will always exist in your permanent inventory as a trophy.

However, there is one noteworthy restriction: you cannot choose to save the same card you brought into a game from your inventory. Be careful not to waste your high power level or high rarity cards in situations that may not require it.

Using Inventory Cards

Should you have any saved cards in your inventory, you will be allowed to swap one card in your dealt hand with one of those saved cards. You can only swap in a card that you haven't already used in another battle, and you can only swap out one card per battle.

Weekly Reward Packs

Players who remain active throughout the week earn a free Weekly Reward Pack containing five randomly generated cards. All five cards are added directly to your inventory and can be used as card swaps in future battles.

How to Earn

Play at least 3 games per day on 5 out of 7 days during the week (Monday through Sunday), and if you qualify, you will receive a notification on Monday that your pack is ready to open.

Opening Packs

Earned packs appear at the top of your Inventory page. Tap a pack to tear it open, then reveal each individual card and send it to your inventory by tapping it twice.

Weekly Reward Packs utilize the same card generation odds as battle packs, so every rarity and metallic finish is available - with the exception of Dealer-exclusive Prismatic and Titanium.

Practice Mode

Practice mode allows you to play a quick game against a CPU opponent with no risk involved. The result is not recorded, daily battle counts are unaffected, and you can choose no card as a reward after a win.

The benefit to this mode is in its low-stakes nature, which allows you to get a feel for the scoring system, test pack rarities and substitute a rare card from your inventory with no risk of losing it.

Hit Play Again after a practice game to generate another fresh deck immediately.

Side Games

Challenge any friend to a side game using the yellow button on the battle hub or friends page. Pick Blackjack, Crazy Eights, or Five-O Poker, and your opponent can accept or decline. Games are played in real time with a 30-minute turn timer. Missing 3 turns forfeits the game.

You can play as many side games as you want with any friend. Your win-loss record against each friend is tracked per game type. You can also practice against AI at /play/practice with no records or rewards.

Daily Side Game Pack

Complete 2 side games of different types in a single day to earn a bonus 1-card pack. Any combination counts - for example, one Blackjack game and one Crazy Eights game, or one Five-O Poker game and one Blackjack game. Win or lose, completion is what matters. One pack per day.

Forfeited games only count for the non-forfeiting player. If you forfeit or get auto-forfeited for missing turns, that game does not count toward your daily pack.

Blackjack (Best of 3)

Each match is best of 3 hands. First to win 2 hands wins the match. Both players are dealt 2 cards from an Obsidian deck (standard face values, no elements or power). One of the opponent's cards is face-down until the hand ends.

Card values: 2-10 are face value. J, Q, K = 10. Ace = 1 or 11 (whichever is better). No Jokers.

Gameplay: Players take turns choosing Hit (draw another card) or Stand (keep current hand). Going over 21 is a bust - you lose that hand immediately. When both players stand or bust, the higher hand wins. Equal totals or both busting is a push (draw).

Crazy Eights

A card game using a 104-card deck: 12 face values (2-7, 9-A) across all 8 elements, plus 8 wild Obsidian 8s. Each player is dealt 7 cards. A starting card is flipped face-up to begin the discard pile.

Gameplay: On your turn, play a card that matches the top discard's face value or the active element. 8s are wild - playing one lets you choose any element. If you can't play, draw a card. You may then play the drawn card if it's legal, or pass.

Deck exhaustion: If the draw pile runs out, both players vote on whether to reshuffle the discard pile (minus the top card) back into the draw pile. If either player declines, the game ends and is scored by remaining hand values.

Winning: First player to empty their hand wins. The winner scores points equal to the value of the loser's remaining cards (8s = 50, face cards = 10, Ace = 1, number cards = face value). If the game ends by stalemate or declined reshuffle, the player with the lower hand value wins.

Scoring: Points accumulate across games against each opponent. Your cumulative Crazy Eights score is tracked separately from wins and losses.

Five-O Poker

Build 5 poker hands by placing cards one at a time. Each game uses a 52-card deck made from 4 randomly chosen elements (out of 8) and 13 face values. Each player starts with 1 card pre-dealt in each of their 5 hands.

Gameplay: Players take turns drawing from a shared pile and placing the drawn card into one of their 5 hands. Hands must be built evenly: you can't add a card to a hand that has more cards than any other hand (like building houses in Monopoly). Both players can see each other's hands as they build.

Hidden 5th card: The final card placed in each hand is hidden from your opponent until the game ends. All 5 hidden cards are revealed at once for the final showdown.

Winning: After all cards are placed, hands are compared head-to-head: Hand 1 vs Hand 1, Hand 2 vs Hand 2, and so on. Win 3 or more of the 5 matchups to win the game. Ties in individual matchups are broken by highest card values.

Hand rankings (lowest to highest): High Card, Pair, Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight (5 consecutive), Royal (10-J-Q-K-A), Flush (5 same element), Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush, Five of a Kind.

Card Trading

Trade collection cards with friends in real-time trading sessions. Only cards marked Collected (already used in a battle) can be traded - available cards and binder cards cannot. Remove a card from your binder first if you want to trade it.

How It Works

Start a trade from a friend's profile, the Social page, or by tapping the Collected badge on any collection card in your inventory. Both players join a trade session where you can browse each other's collections and select up to 5 cards per side to offer.

Both players must Ready up, then Confirm the trade. Cards swap ownership instantly when both confirm. Traded cards leave your collection entirely and appear in the other player's collection.

Trade Rules

• Friends only - you must be friends to trade
• Card-for-card - both sides must offer at least 1 card (no gifts)
• Power balance - total power on each side must be within 25% of each other
• 3 trade slots per day - you can have up to 3 trades at once (active, pending, or completed). Completed trades stay in their slot for the day
• Slot cooldown - cancelling a trade puts that slot on a 30-second cooldown before a new invite can fill it
• 14-day cooldown - after sending or receiving a card via trade, neither player can trade any card with the same attributes for 14 days. Cards on cooldown appear locked in the trade picker
• Binder cards - must be removed from binder before trading. You can manage your binder directly from the trade screen
• No double-offering - a card already offered in one trade cannot be offered in another

Finding Trades

Active, pending, and completed trades appear on your Inventory page between packs and cards, organized by day with pagination. A purple badge on the Inventory icon shows when you have a pending trade invite. You can accept or decline trade invites directly from the notification bell.

Card Fusion

Modify your available cards (not yet used in battle) through the Fusion Lab, accessible from your Inventory page. All fusion modes consume a daily slot.

Modes

• Combine (2 cards) - face values are added or subtracted to determine the new face. Both possible outcomes are shown with power ranges before confirming, and one is picked randomly. The output face can't drop below the higher input face. Rarity and metallic are weighted from inputs - sacrificing a higher-power card increases the chance of rarity and metallic upgrades. Output power is guaranteed to be at least 85% of the average input power.
• Fuse (2-3 cards) - power-based. Output power is random within the range of your input cards (plus a bonus for more inputs). Face, rarity, and metallic are generated to match the target power. Element is fully random. Higher risk, higher reward.
• Reroll (1 card) - change either the face or element of a card. The card is modified in place, not destroyed. Power is recalculated for face rerolls. Free except the daily slot.
• Extract (1 metallic card) - remove the metallic finish, reducing the card's power. The finish is saved to your stash for later use.
• Apply (1 non-metallic card) - apply a saved finish from your stash to a card, increasing its power. The finish is consumed.

Daily Slots

You start with 2 fusion slots per day. Additional slots unlock as your collection grows:

• 0-99 collected cards: 2 slots
• 100-199: 3 slots
• 200-299: 4 slots
• 300+: 5 slots (maximum)

All 5 slots are always visible in your Inventory. Locked slots show your progress toward unlocking them. Cancelling a fusion puts that slot on a 30-second cooldown.

Important Notes

• Available cards only - only cards not yet used in battle can be fused. Collection and binder cards cannot.
• Cards are destroyed (except Reroll) - combined and fused input cards are permanently removed. The output card is a new available card that must be used in battle to enter your collection.
• Battle lock - fusion is disabled while you have an active battle with an opened pack. Complete your battles first.
• Trade protection - cards offered in active trades cannot be fused.
• Finishes - extracted metallic finishes appear in the Finishes tab of your Inventory and can be applied to any non-metallic card.