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How to play the Casino

When your ship is in the hangar bay, open the Casino tab. Inside is a lobby: pick a room from the list on the left, read its blurb, and hit Play. There's a bar, eight games, and a pilot market.

Chips

Everything is played with chips. You start with a small stack, and the cage at the top of the lobby lets you Buy more or Cash Out. Buying uses your chips first, then dips into the crew's shared credits, so you can always get back in the game. Win enough over a session and the house sends over comp chips as a thank-you.

The bar

Grab a drink from Bitters, toast the room, and chat with the regulars. Select a patron to see them and either buy them a drink or ask for a rumor. A rumor is a tip; act on it to see if it pans out. Some pilots are more reliable than others — and a patron who steers you wrong loses your trust, while one who comes through earns it. Build enough trust and the pilot market's grey market opens up.

The games

Parity — the quick one

Three cards' values are XOR'd together into a register from 0 to 15.

  1. Pick a bet: Even or Odd, or High (8-15) or Low (0-7).
  2. The cards flip and the register is revealed.
  3. Guess right and you win an even-money payout.

Fast, simple, and a fair shake — a good place to warm up.

Blackjack

Classic 21 on a standard deck.

  1. You and the dealer are dealt two cards; one of the dealer's is hidden.
  2. Hit to take another card or Stand to hold. Aces count as 1 or 11.
  3. Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over (a "bust").

A two-card 21 is a blackjack and pays extra (3 to 2). The dealer must keep hitting until 17.

Video Poker (Jacks or Better)

Just you and the paytable — no dealer.

  1. You're dealt five cards.
  2. Tap the cards you want to keep — each shows HELD.
  3. Press Draw to replace the rest.
  4. Your final hand is paid by the table shown at the top.

A pair of Jacks or better returns your bet; it climbs from there — two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and a Royal Flush pays 250x.

Nibble — a tough table

An Arvonian cousin of blackjack. Beat the dealer with the highest hand of 20 or less.

  1. Hit to draw, Stand to hold.
  2. Your score is each card's number plus its filled-in castles — and castles count for more on every later card, so pressing your luck adds up fast.
  3. Go over 20 and you bust.

The house here plays a friendlier version than the old Arvonian rules: ties go to you, and the dealer stops drawing sooner. Start with two 0s or two 7s for a natural that pays double. Even so, the castle scoring makes this the house's toughest table — play it steady.

Gates

An Arvonian logic game — you bet on which hand wins, you don't play a hand yourself.

  1. Two hands are dealt: Player and Banker. Each is a bit card, a logic gate printed on the card (AND, OR, NOR, or NAND), and another bit card.
  2. Bet Bet Player or Bet Banker.
  3. Each hand's score is first-bit GATE second-bit (0-7). Highest total wins; the Banker wins ties.

Choga — Soul Tickle

Arvonian stud poker against the Understander (the house computer).

  1. Ante up. You get five cards; the Understander shows one.
  2. Look at your hand and decide: Raise (put up double) or Fold (give up the ante).
  3. Best poker hand wins. The Understander only plays with a pair or better — if it can't, your ante pays and your raise is returned.

A special Arvonian twist: if your five card values XOR to zero ("a clean checksum"), you collect a bonus on top. And a quirk of this 64-card deck — a straight beats a flush here, the opposite of a normal deck.

KoraTa — Ghost-Writing

A five-round duel against the Understander's apprentice. You each build a scoring run from your cards — and the gates those cards carry let you sabotage the other run.

  1. You get a hand of cards and play one each round, over five rounds in the fixed order Value, Opcode, Value, Opcode, Value.
  2. On a Value round, play a card for its number to extend your own run.
  3. On an Opcode round, play a card for the gate printed on it to fold into — and corrupt — the apprentice's run.
  4. Bet across two streets during the duel. The higher final score takes the pot.

Two tables to choose from: the 3-bit game runs values 0-7 (tighter scores, more ties), and the 4-bit game runs 0-15 (bigger swings, fewer ties).

The pilot market

Spend your winnings on real gear. Browse the list, Buy what you want, or Sell something back (for less than you paid). Craft upgrades are pricey on purpose — a big one might cost more chips than you can hold, so it draws on the crew's shared credits too. Earn a patron's trust at the bar and the grey market stocks the rare stuff.