Buy LOCUS POKER

About This Game

Head-to-head strategy card game. Luck will help you very little - the better player always wins. Play against seven computer opponents of varying challenge levels, or play against a human opponent in-person or via Steam's Remote Play Together. Touch-friendly - compatible with touchscreen devices.

This is a simple card game you can learn by playing it once or twice - without reading the rules. Give it a try - have fun.

STEAM'S REMOTE PLAY TOGETHER - PLAY NEARLY ANYONE ANYWHERE ANYTIME

Remote Play Together (built into Steam) is available in-game through the Steam Overlay (SHIFT+ALT).

Remote Play Together works nicely with LOCUS POKER's HUMAN vs. HUMAN mode. Through Remote Play Together, you can play almost anyone - even if they don't have LOCUS POKER.

TIMED PLAY - Remote Play Together has a built-in timer. If players want to set a limit on how long each player has to move (30 seconds, one minute, whatever), they can use the Remote Play Together timer.

REASONABLE PACE - Remote Play Together has a chat function. Use it to agree upon a reasonable pace - OR - to give a friendly alert to your opponent that you've been waiting and they should make a move.

NO TIME LIMIT AT ALL - You can play another person on Remote Play Together for as long as the game host keeps LOCUS POKER running.

USE THE LOCUS POKER STEAM COMMUNITY HUB - to find Steam friends to play LOCUS POKER.

LOCUS POKER - COMPLETE RULES OF PLAY

Two player card game.

START

Shuffled cards are laid out face up in a grid of 6 x 5, 6 x 6, 7 x 6, or 8 x 6. Each player starts with different colored poker chips equal to half the number of cards in the grid.

PLAY

Play is in turns. A player puts his poker chip on a previously un-played card in the grid and decides if the chosen card will be played FACE UP or FACE DOWN (discussed later herein). The player's poker chip remains on the card for the duration of the game, and that card cannot be chosen by any player again.

After the poker chip is placed, the player's "hand score" and "bonus score" are added together to make the player's total score for the turn, which is then added to the player's cumulative score for the game. The next player does the same. This continues until each player no longer has any chips, at which point the game ends and the player with the highest cumulative score wins.

CALCULATING THE PLAYER'S "HAND SCORE"

A player's "hand score" is a point total corresponding to the best poker hand in the scoring area.  The scoring area consists of the chosen card and the adjacent surrounding FACE UP cards, whether previously played or not.  The scoring area is illustrated as follows (solid card is the chosen card):

Chosen card not at edge or corner (9 card scoring area):

▒ ▒ ▒
▒ █ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒

Chosen card at edge but not a corner (6 card scoring area, example below is right edge):

▒ ▒
▒ █
▒ ▒

Chosen card at corner (4 card scoring area, example below is upper left corner):

█ ▒
▒ ▒

Previously played FACE DOWN cards in the scoring area cannot be used for the player's poker hand.

If the chosen card is played FACE DOWN, it is scored as a wild card (any card, any suit) for that player's turn only, but is not scored thereafter on later turns by either player. As mentioned, previously played FACE DOWN cards are "dead" for the remainder of the game for both players.

For the "hand score", points are awarded as follows:

PAIR = 2 points
TWO PAIR = 4 points
THREE OF A KIND = 5 points
STRAIGHT (all 5 cards consecutive) = 7 points
FLUSH (all 5 cards same suit) = 8 points
FULL HOUSE (pair + three of a kind) = 9 points
FOUR OF A KIND = 10 points
STRAIGHT FLUSH (5 consecutive cards of the same suit) = 11 points

CALCULATING THE PLAYER'S "BONUS SCORE"

The player's "bonus score" is based on the chosen card's proximity to the player's previously-placed poker chips on FACE UP cards within the same scoring area used for the "hand score". Bonus points for adjacent poker chips are scored as indicated below (solid card is the chosen card):

1 2 1
2 █ 2
1 2 1

As with the "hand score" scoring area, if the chosen card is at an edge or corner of the grid, the "bonus score" scoring area is reduced accordingly. The minimum "bonus score" per turn is "0" and the maximum is "12" (2+2+2+2+1+1+1+1).