Pocket Card Jockey is a deep and fun Nintendo 3DS game that is much deeper than a simple game of solitaire.
There are numerous factors that can affect your horse’s performance in any given race, which can frankly be overwhelming for newcomers to the game. That’s why we’ve compiled five simple things to remember when racing and how to take advantage of each aspect of the race.
Of course, a lot of the races are determined by luck, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use these tips and tricks to put your horse in the best position to win. So without further ado, let’s dive into how you can win races in Pocket Card Jockey.
1. Starting off strong with Start Solitaire
The first part of every race is Start Solitaire. This round of solitaire determines how well your horse starts a race right out of the gate.
In order to have the best Start Solitaire score, you’ll want to complete the round with as much time left as possible, and also find the best START! Card in the back of the bunch.
These special cards all have blue spheres on them, the more spheres the better start your horse will have, with a max of five spheres. You can determine which of the START! Cards has the five blue spheres when they are first laid out on the board. But you’ll need to have a quick and keen eye to spot the five-sphere card.
2. Take Your Time
You need to be quick during Start Solitaire so you can finish before time runs out, however the opposite is the case during the other rounds of solitaire during the race.
Jockeys will face three to five rounds of solitaire during each race. Like Start Solitaire you will be timed, but you’ll have a lot more time and the timer is much slower. The best way to complete each round without any cards left over is to take your time. Completing each round will also increase your horse’s energy and prevent you from losing stamina for the homestretch. This is the most surefire way to make your horse be the fastest in the race.
There are a couple of reasons for that. The first is if you make a mistake and tap a card that doesn’t match, you’ll be penalized with energy taken away from your horse. The second is if you are scrolling through your stock of cards, you’ll miss a match and potential combos. Unlike normal solitaire, the deck won’t come back once you pass a card: it’s lost forever.
So take your time and find every possible match and potential combo on the field.
3. Comfort Levels
Now, let’s get to what happens in between rounds of solitaire. Specifically, we’ll be talking about the race track and Comfort Levels.
The race track has these Comfort Levels for horses to travel along. There are three levels of comfort, with Comfort Level 1 giving the least amount of Unity Power and Level 3 giving the most. Of course, Level 1 has the largest surface area with Level 1 being the smallest. This is where you’ll want to stay during the race.
The rule of thumb is, the more Unity Power you gain during a race, the higher your horse’s enthusiasm will be when you reach the home stretch and the better they perform.
Also, the number of cards in solitaire also increases as the Comfort Level increases, which is ideal for gaining more Unity Power. This is also the case depending whether your horse is on the outside or inside track. More cards appear the closer you are to the inside.
The Comfort Zone will move during a race, however. Be aware of the Comfort Zone Forecast during the race, it will notify you when it will move forwards or backwards with arrows. You’ll want to move your horse using the energy gained during solitaire to move around the board to compensate for the Zone’s movements.
If there are no arrows, the Zone won’t move or will move only very slightly.
4. Unity Power, Stamina and Energy
Unity Power, energy and your horse’s Stamina are crucial to your performance. The best way to gain energy and Unity Power is to complete rounds of solitaire with no cards left. As mentioned before, Comfort Zones also help your horse gain Unity Power.
But there are some additional things to be aware of while racing.
The first is your Unity Power Meter. This is the sphere at the top right corner that shows a head of a horse. This number indicates how far you can move your horse in between rounds of solitaire. The max number of Unity Power you can store is 100, so be sure to use as much as possible between rounds.
To store your Unity Power into your Energy, you simply rub the sphere with your stylus to convert the Unity Power into Energy. Again, the higher your Energy by the final turn the higher your horse’s enthusiasm.
The Meter can also change color and indicate the mood of your horse. Blue means your horse is happy and generates Unity Power quicker. From there, it descends to green, then yellow, then red.
Making mistakes and not completing all the cards during a round of solitaire worsens your horse’s attitude. But you can recover the attitude if you complete rounds with no cards left.
5. Homestretch
The homestretch is the final part of every race. There’s no more rounds of solitaire just you and your horse racing to the finish.
Your horse’s performance is based on its enthusiasm, which we touched on before but your horse’s stamina can affect how you run down the homestretch. You’ll begin every race with a certain number of heart cards. These are your stamina cards and the amount is based on your horse and what items you purchase. Those are aspects of the game you’ll learn as you become more advanced, but for the sake of simplicity, you’ll want to know how to conserve your stamina.
Stamina cards can give your horse a boost down the stretch. However, if you use them all up before the race finishes, your horse can become tired. You’ll also lose stamina every time you don’t complete a round of solitaire, emphasizing the need to complete each round.
But if you don’t win a round, you’ll want to keep an eye on the track. If you’re about to make a turn, you’ll want to stay on the inside track. This is where you lose the least amount of stamina.
Keep all these tips in mind while you race and you’ll become a pro in no time. In the meantime, let us know what you think of Pocket Card Jockey and if there are any other tips and tricks that we forgot to mention in the comments section below.
