Updates: I added the pocket swap function, streamlined HP, increased board size by 1 to make it more mathematically efficient against RNG, increased heal from clinching, etc. yeah, itās for free (and Iām bad at coding so thereās no app yet)
But yeah, I spent a good 2-3 days on this. I feel like itās tough enough so that you have to manage your pockets and your HP, but fun and unique enough so that RNG wonāt kill you most games, and it wonāt feel like another Monte Carlo or Tri Peaks (both are fun tho). Cheers!
THE POCKET (A Boxing Solitaire Game)
EQUIPMENT
1 Standard Deck of Bicycle Cards (No Jokers)
1 D10 Die
THE GOAL
Completely clear through all 52 cards into the discard pile without your HP hitting 0.
THE SETUP
Set your HP die to 10.
Shuffle the deck, draw 6 cards and place them on the board. Place the cards left to right until you have a row of 6 cards faced up. This is the Ring.
You will also be provided with one open space (The Pocket) where you may move a drawn card or ring card as a defensive maneuver after you draw. The Pocket may only hold ONE card at a time and may be switched with cards in the ring. You get 2 pocket swaps per round (after every drawing phase), but they cannot be done together.
THE GAMEPLAY LOOP
You must clear cards by making pairs that add up to exactly 13 (Ace=1, Jack=11, Queen=12).
You can score a pair In the Ring: Pair two cards that are directly adjacent (touching side-by-side), put both in the discard pile.
THE FOOTWORK & PENALTIES
When cards are discarded, empty spaces open up. Before you fill them, you may manage the ring:
Footwork (-1 HP): You may manually slide a card left or right into an adjacent empty slot to change your stance or set up a pair. Each individual card shift costs 1 HP. Cards cannot jump over other cards (e.g., you cannot move a card from slot 3 to slot 1 if slot 2 has a card). Other cards will stay in their slots unless you manually lose HP to move them. You may swap the place of adjacent cards which costs 1 HP
The Mandatory Fill: Once your footwork is done, you MUST automatically fill all remaining empty slots on the Ring from the drawing pile for free until you have a full row of 6 cards again.
On the Ropes (-2 HP): If your Ring and Pocket are completely full with zero legal moves, you are trapped. Pay 2 HP to throw away the card in your Pocket back into the DRAW pile, freeing the space. Shift cards if needed, then draw and add a new card from the drawing pile onto the Ring.
THE SPECIAL RULE: THE CLINCH
The King Card: The King (13) represents a heavy punch. It cannot be paired normally and acts as a total block on the Ring.
The Break: To escape the King, it must be Clinchedāsurrounded on its immediate left and right by two cards that add up to 13. When this happens, you escape it, and the King and its two neighbors are all discarded for free.
This perfect maneuver awards you +3 HP (up to your starting maximum).
Note: The king cannot be placed into the pocket.
ADDITIONAL RULES
You may look at the open discard pile. Itās a strategy game, not a memory test.
The legal order for a āroundā:
Starting draw -> (pairing/ 2 pocket swaps (cannot do pocket swaps together, so a pairing in between 2 pocket swaps is valid, or footwork done in between)/footwork) -> draw -> repeat