Play Card Capture Online

What is Card Capture?

Card Capture is a single-player deck-building game created by Lucas Gentry. It uses a standard 52-card deck and two Jokers. You begin with low cards, then add captured enemies to your own deck. The same cards become both the obstacles you must overcome and the tools that help you overcome the next ones.

This is the solitaire game played with ordinary playing cards. You do not need to collect trading cards, buy a deck or find an opponent. Deckopedia handles dealing, shuffling and enemy-row refills while you make the decisions.

Setup: your deck and the enemy row

• Your personal deck starts with all four 2s, 3s and 4s, plus both Jokers: 14 cards.
• The remaining 40 cards form the enemy deck: 5 through 10, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces.
• The opening enemy deal sets out four number cards; any Jack, Queen, King or Ace drawn during that initial deal goes to the bottom. Subsequent enemy refills, including the first enemy phase, can bring those high cards into play.
• Draw a four-card hand. Your first turn goes straight to Capture, without an additional discard step.

The oldest enemy is on the right, at Position 1. Keep an eye on this card: one of your choices always affects that position.

How to play Card Capture

After the opening capture, each round has four phases:

1. Enemy: the row slides to the right, preserving order, and empty positions are refilled from the enemy deck. Deckopedia performs this phase automatically.
2. Discard: discard any number of cards from your hand, including none, into your own discard pile.
3. Draw: refill your hand to four cards. When your personal deck runs out, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck. If there are not enough cards to reach four, continue with the cards available.
4. Capture: choose one action: capture an enemy, give a card to Position 1, or sacrifice two cards.

Your discard pile and the enemy capture pile are hidden during play. The enemy capture pile contains cards removed from your deck and from the row, so knowing what you can safely send there matters.

Capture an enemy with matching suits

Select cards of the enemy’s suit with a combined value at least as high as its value, then choose that enemy. Number cards use their printed values; Jacks are 11, Queens 12, Kings 13 and Aces 14.

For example, a 4 of spades, a 3 of spades and a 2 of spades can capture a 9 of spades: 4 + 3 + 2 = 9. A higher total also works. The cards you spend and the captured enemy all go into your own discard pile. You can draw them later after a reshuffle.

How Jokers work

A Joker copies another card in your current hand. You do not have to spend the card it copies. Deckopedia uses the highest available value of the target suit, so a Joker alongside a 4 of spades can count as another 4 of spades. You can spend both to capture an 8 of spades, or spend only the Joker to capture a low enough spade while keeping the original card.

Give a card or sacrifice two cards

Give to Position 1: choose one card from your hand. That card and the oldest enemy go into the enemy capture pile and leave play. If either card is a Jack, Queen, King or Ace, you lose immediately.

Sacrifice: send exactly two cards from your hand to the enemy capture pile, then return one enemy of your choice to the bottom of the enemy deck. This can delay a strong enemy you cannot capture yet. Sending a Jack, Queen, King or Ace from your hand to the enemy capture pile still causes an immediate loss.

These actions are different from a normal discard: cards in your own discard pile can return to your hand; cards in the enemy capture pile are removed from play.

How do you win or lose?

Win by clearing both the enemy deck and the enemy row, without any Jack, Queen, King or Ace reaching the enemy capture pile. You lose as soon as one of those cards enters that pile. You also lose if you reach the Capture phase with an empty hand and cannot perform any of the three actions.

A successful capture strengthens your future draws. Giving away or sacrificing low cards can make room, but it also reduces the cards available to you. Check the oldest enemy and your hand before choosing an action.

Playing on Deckopedia

• Play for free on desktop or mobile, without installing an app.
• No account is required for a local game. Your progress is saved in the current browser; an account adds cloud synchronization.
• The table provides hints and an in-game rules panel. Look for Dica for a hint and the question-mark button for help.
• The Portuguese rules page includes illustrated examples. You can also open the editable Card Capture model in the Deckopedia game builder.

Game design: Lucas Gentry. The implementation’s rules reference is the English rulebook, with layout by Vlad Radionov. Deckopedia is a browser implementation.

Looking for another solo card game? Explore Scoundrel, solo Regicide or the solo card-game guide in Portuguese.