Gaia Cards/FAQ

Overview
This subject is a verbatim feature guide for Gaia Cards,

What is the link to play Gaia Cards?
Click here to go to Gold Mountain. Once inside, buy some tokens and click on 'Cards.'

Help! It says I have zero tokens?
Players who disconnect from Cards by closing their browser window, and then open Cards again may notice problems with their token or ticket totals. To fix this, simply open cards, and close the window using the red 'X' button on the blue Gaia bar next to the other game control buttons in the upper right hand corner. When you re-connect you should have the correct ticket and token totals.

Why isn't Gaia Cards loading?
If you see a white page, be calm. It's possible that Gaia Cards is loading, but has not yet loaded the intro screen. If white screen persists for longer than 5 minutes, close the window and launch Cards again.

If you are still having problems loading games, downloading the latest flash player from Adobe should solve your problem.

Still not working? try clearning your web browser cache.

Why isn't the chat window loading?
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15560749

What do I need to play?
You will need at least one token. (Although at least 25 is recommended) Tokens can be purchased for one gold each here: http://www.gaiaonline.com/gaia/shopping.php?key=ndroctlqvprghqqy

How do I play?

 * This game pits you against the dealer. Each hand starts by dealing two cards to the player and two cards to the Dealer (one face down.) Next the player can ask to be dealt any number of cards they wish. After that, the dealer also has the option to draw cards.


 * The person who has a hand value closest to 21, without going over, wins. Number cards are worth their number in points. For example, the 3 of spades is worth 3 points. Face cards (royalty) are each worth 10 points. Aces can have a value of 1 or 11 and will automatically adjust based on your current hand.


 * If you are dealt 21 on your first two cards, you will be awarded three times your original bet!

What can I win playing Cards?
As you play, depending on your skill, you will win tickets. There is also a rumor that dealers are carrying around massive amounts of tickets and are prone to giving them away to players in certain situations. Tickets can be redeemed for cool stuff at Prize & Joy located here: http://www.gaiaonline.com/gaia/shopping.php?key=ndroctlqvprghqqy

What do all the buttons do?

 * PLAY TOKEN raises the current bet with one token.
 * PLAY WINNINGS raises the current bet with one of your winnings.
 * DEAL starts a new hand.
 * HIT tells the dealer you want another card.
 * STAND tells the dealer you don't want any more cards.
 * DOUBLE DOWN is explained in detail below...
 * RESET GAME will send you back to the first dealer who has a full life bar.
 * CHEAT This buttons will appear when you are able to do a super move.
 * CASH TICKETS will exchange your winnings for tickets.
 * X button will exchange your winnings for tickets and quit the current game. You can always come back and continue that game later.

Double down. What exactly does that do?
User Image Double down is only available as an option once right after you are dealt your first two cards. If you have enough tokens and/or winnings, the current bet will be doubled (always takes from tokens first, if any) and you will be dealt only one more card. After you are delt your third and final card, the game continues normally with the dealer turn. If you win the hand, you will double your winnings. If you lose, you will have lost twice your initial bet.

What is push?
Push is a tie. In Gaia Cards, when there is a tie, all the bets stay on the table and carry over to the next deal. Two or three of these in a row followed by a victory can be crippling to your opponent.

If I leave my current game of Cards will I have to start over?
No. Gaia Cards automatically saves your progress while you play. If you leave the game for any reason, you should be able to come back to the same place.

Why is the dealer so stupid?
Some dealers are arrogant and like to show off their powers. Some dealers are smarter and will work hard to beat you.

All dealers must play by the basic rules of the game at all times. One of those rules is that all dealers, in all situations must hit at or below 16.

How do I cheat? What are super moves?
As you play a small meter under your face will fill with red. When this meter fills up you will have the option to use your super power by clicking the CHEAT button.

Beware, dealers also have super moves, and they won't hesitate to use them against you. Like Russell Ace's Pocket Ace ability.

How does my life bar work?
Your life bar is a representation of the percentage of tokens + winnings you have in relation to the amount of tokens you started the current game with.

Very skilled or lucky players may notice their life bar will fill with gold, and even platinum. This is an indication of your elite card playing skills.

How is the deck shuffled?
Gaia Cards uses a 52 card deck that is shuffled between every hand.

What about single player mode?
Those who wish to play alone can use the new password protected room, and room lock features to play in a quieter environment.

How do I chat in color?
This sticky will show you how.

But what about split? And blahbityblah, and flibbity floo!?
The rules of Gaia Cards are unlike other card games in many ways.

OMG THE DECK IS STACKED!!!???!?!!?
As the developer of Gaia Cards, I can assure everybody that the deck is not stacked.

Before every hand is dealt, a deck of 52 cards is put into a completely random order, and cards are dealt off the top.

If you think I am lying to you, I would suggest that ye unbelievers to play a bunch of hands, gather a ton of data, and notice for yourself that the deck is not stacked.

When we designed Gaia Cards, we wanted each dealer to be harder than the one before. However, we all agreed that "stacking the deck" would be a totally cheesy way of doing it and totally NOT FUN.

That is why we put in the super powers, and made each dealer have better, and more useful powers to make them harder. We also gave each dealer more life than the one before.

What do I do if I can't play because of a firewall or proxy issue?
Hold tight. We are working on a solution to this issue. In the meantime, you can always ask your sys admin to open up port 8080. Gaia game servers change frequently, but reside at the gaiaonline domain, or 72.5.72.*

Why doesn't my token total in Gaia Cards match the total in my inventory?
Ghost tokens! No... This is perfectly normal. You have not lost any tokens. For performance reasons, Gaia Cards borrows tokens from your inventory in groups instead of one at a time. Gaia Cards will always return these borrowed tokens after you cash out and quit.

But... I just bought tokens, and I don't see them in the cards window. What's wrong?

 * XP: If the amount of tokens in your inventory does not match the number in your inventory, and you have already read the previous section, know that:


 * 1) Refreshing your inventory window is a good idea.
 * 2) Gaia Cards does not check on inventory updates every hand. Play a few hands, and outside purchases like buying tokens or selling tickets will automatically be updated in the Gaia Cards interface.

If you bought tokens from the store that are not showing up in your inventory, that problem is not related to Cards and should be reported elsewhere.