Fortune telling in solitaire

Today I have something really special to share 😊: Hoki, created by Armine and Dave from @mekmek.games, is coming to Kickstarter on 24th January!

It is a small fortune telling solitaire card game to play in just about 5 minutes! This is easily my most played game in January, and you might say it’s because of its length, but that’s not entirely true. I don’t consider myself much of a solo player so that statement might mean something 😉.

It is special in many aspects. Not only does it have a simple but great concept, but it is very thematic. You are basically trying to foresee the future and with the fitting artwork and the pace of the game it makes the experience somewhat esoteric and mystical, if you are open to that. I definitely recommend some coffee and matching music to set the mood. 😉

And if that sounds like all mambo jumbo to you, please bear with me, the rules are coming!

The setup and the gameplay are simple: you set aside 3 cards, create a display with three stacks of 6 cards each, and reveal the remaining 3 cards as your starting discard pile. Your goal is to clear the board, by removing all cards from the display through comparing colors and symbols and following these rules:
🔮 If 2 symbols match, remove both cards
🔮 If 2 colors match, choose one card to remove
🔮 If both symbols and color match, you choose which one to act on
🔮 If there is no match, shift faceup cards from one deck to the other
When every card in the display is revealed, deal the last 3 cards you set aside earlier to the 3 stacks, and continue your game. If you manage to entirely clear the display, you win! That’s it!
Additionally there are 2 achievement based challenges to unlock cards with new artwork and transform your deck step by step (more on this in a future post).

💬 Hoki reminds me of my childhood where I spent hours on end playing Solitaire on my PC, and even if that took much longer than Hoki, I always wanted to play “just one more”. Hoki has the same effect on me… No matter how “simple” the concept is, it’s addictive! I just want to go one more time, and try to unlock that next card for my deck.