GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

CHAPTER 10

“THE THIRD game will now commence,” the speaker muttered that got all the player’s attention. The total amount of players left to 200 and plus only after some of them died due to not following the arena’s rules. The guards are ruthless and they do not leave any crumb. Once you violated their rule, you die. They have no such thing as warning, they shoot you dead as is. “The third main match will be called Luckily Unlucky.” Denton paused upon hearing the title of the third main match inside the game. “The mechanics is easy. There are three hundred cards on the table. There are five sets of cards placed on the long table, each with sixty of it; the hearts, the spades, the diamonds, the clubs and the jokers. One player must attain only one card on the table. If the player gets two or more cards on the table, he will automatically be eliminated. The rule will be explained after the ten minutes discussion. Helpful cards will be swap card and block card.” The speaker paused for a moment before he continued on talking. “You can now grab only one card without peeking on it. Good luck, players.”

The players started their way towards the long table with three hundred cards on it. Some of them even rumbled the fixed arrangement, like they are about to lose their life just by not speeding themselves on getting their cards. Denton was, obviously, surprised to see that. He did not see that coming, and since he is weak physically, he stumbled and fall on himself. Fortunately, there was Paul who helped him stand up eventually. “What do you think the best option for the cards?” Paul asked. “I honestly want to not get a joker. Since it has a bad image, the game head must have had that in his mind.”

“Maybe, the game head thought that the players will think to avoid the joker but he must have thought the opposite one,” Denton answered after he finished in tidying myself. “Put yourself on the shoe of the game head. His brain is already tilted for doing such a game, how would you think that he will think as well as you? I guess, taking a risk is what we can do here. Whatever we want, we will choose the card anonymously and so, we have zero control on what we will get.”

“I guess you are right for that, Denton,” Paul muttered and stopped in front of the table. They are two of the last players to get their cards but there are still a lot of cards on the table. Paul did not take too much time as he grabbed the card on the side-most part of the table. Opposite to him, Denton took time in looking for possible keys and clues like he was a detective on a mystery series. He gave up after some time of not having any of it after. “I got ten of diamonds, Denton. How about you?”

“Got four of clubs,” the other replied. Denton did not bother, same as to Paul as they went back to their lane. The people are already hustling about all their cards while the two did not do anything to start the game. “I believe I must move when I have been given the proper instructions…”

As soon as he said that, the monitor lit up once more and there showed the speaker who was preparing to talk again. “As the players have already gotten their cards and we detected that no one actually grabbed two or more cards, we will now start the third main match,” he muttered. “The third match will be quite different to the other two first main match. The instruction will be revealed after the ten-minute discussion. You can swap cards with other players. If the player you want to swap has no card useful in this main match, then it is required to swap. If the player you want to swap with has block card, the swapping will be disregarded. Either way, the used cards will be disregarded. You can now start the ten-minute discussion.”

The players inside the battlefield started on walking and moving like their life depends on it, or it really does. Surviving is their last resort and that is why they are desperate to swap cards even though they do not know what the exact instruction is. “Do you want to exchange with me?” Paul asked Denton all of a sudden which caught Denton’s attention. “The unfortunate thing is that I do not even have a swap card to swap with you.”

“Well, I also do not have. Plus, I will never swap with you. I am fine with this card,” Denton muttered as he looked at his own card. “Four is already a great number. I would not ask for this. Plus, the symbols of the card have no hierarchy, we can’t just assume that clubs have the least amount or value.”

Paul nodded. “Your choice. Plus, we have no swap card in the first place.” They just stood there for more than five minutes, letting the time pass by without doing anything. “Since I am also already fine with my card, let’s just let the time pass by. If somebody asks us to swap, of course, we must do that. We don’t have block cards, though.”

“M-22,” a voice of a woman suddenly attracted Denton’s attention. “I have a joker card; we must change cards for you to live.” It was the woman who told him that she was a fortuneteller outside of the game. “The joker will be saved in this game. We must change in order for you to survive.”

“What the hell is this woman saying?” Paul asked as he confronted the woman. Denton did not budge while looking at the two other people quarreling in front of him. “Is it your tactic to make Denton fail? He already has no interest of changing cards anymore. Leave him alone.”

“Who even is this guy to talk on behalf of M-22? He has no block card as far as I know, so he cannot disobey what I want.” That time, the woman sounded so authoritative that Denton was too shock to hear. The woman, otherwise, showed her card out and lent it to guard near them. The guard acknowledged the card and ordered them to swap cards. Denton, who has no other choice, just gave up his card and received the joker card. The woman did not bid them farewell and just left without uttering any word.

Paul sighed. “If only we have that block card; I did not know it was useful after today,” Paul muttered like he was the one who has been swapped a card with. “Why are you not telling something, Denton? Do you honestly believe her? No way…”

“It’s not that I was believing her but it has already happened. We cannot do anything about that. Do not be bothered, I am not that bothered actually,” Denton muttered in a chilling tone. “Also, there is no more time to swap, neither do I have a swap card. I will just stay put in this card.”

“The ten-minute discussion is now done,” the speaker muttered, supporting Denton’s remarks. Paul really does not want Denton to have joker card, for he really thinks that having joker card is a jinx. He looked around the area, trying to peak for people with joker cards but he can’t see anyone beside him. Almost all of them holds the typical card and only little no none of them have the joker cards. “The straight up swap with the table cards will start. Remember that this will only be in five minutes. You can swap cards with all the cards on the table. Your existing card will be disregarded.”

And then, it started after that announcement. Since Denton and Paul have no swap cards, they did not bother walking towards the table. They stood there, like they are zombies who are taking a rest on that area. Since they have no swap card, they did not make effort. Paul was, however, worried so he took a walk and peeked on people’s card. He saw only four to five joker cards which bothered him more.

“The straight up swap with the cards on the table has ended,” the speaker muttered, which instructed the guards to remove the table on the battlefield. “The third main match is called Luckily Unlucky. As we are done with the instructed agendas, let me state the main rule of the third main match. This match tests the probability and not the ability of the players. Each card that players have will be counted in groups. Please give your cards to the cards that are assigned to the groups.”

Denton and Paul moved upon seeing the other players moving on their own. They gave their cards to the guards that are assigned to their groups. Upon receiving the cards, the guards ran their way towards a secret room the players never know existed until that time. Every one of them really is surprised about how the third main match is going on right now, since it is not the format that they used on the first and second match. “As you can see on the battlefield, there are four rectangular lanes. Only four of the groups will make it to the next match while the other one will be totally eliminated.” The speaker paused for a minute before he came back with even stronger aura. The moment he came back, he was out of visibility on the monitor. The monitor opened a big screen of pie graph with nothing on it. “Step on the first lane for those people with heart cards.”