Mystic Card Paw is a black-cat poker puzzle in the browser: click cards from your hand into a five-card combo row, score standard poker hands, and spend one-use cat abilities on the side panel. Chase a local high score until the deck runs out. About ~36 KB after Play, no install, no account.
Prefer a street-crossing arcade? Try Unlucky Crossing.
Build poker hands with a mischievous black cat dealer. Pounce, purr, hiss, and scratch tilt fate before the deck empties. From ZYXPlay/js13k-2025 (MIT, JS13K 2025). About ~36 KB downloads once when you press Play.
Click or tap cards on the main canvas; ability buttons live on the side canvas. Tap the title screen once to start. Best on desktop or tablet with a pointer.
Welcome to Mystic Card Paw - a free browser black-cat poker puzzle you can play without an account or install. Press Play to load the ~36 KB dual-canvas engine in a same-origin iframe, then tap the title screen to deal your first hand. Click cards from the bottom row into the center combo line; when five cards sit in the combo, the engine scores a standard poker hand and adds points. One-use abilities on the auxiliary canvas let you pounce (swap a combo card with the deck top), purr (peek at the next draw), hiss (redeal your hand at a score penalty), or scratch (burn deck cards and bias the next draw). Your best run score persists locally. Privacy note: nothing leaves this device except the initial page and game files from this site. For more free browser games, open the games hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystic Card Paw?
A black-cat poker puzzle. You click cards from a five-card hand into a center combo row. When five cards fill the combo, the engine evaluates a standard poker hand and adds score points. The run ends when fewer than five cards remain between hand and deck.
How do I control it?
Pointer click or tap only. On the title screen, click the main canvas once to start. During play, click cards on the main canvas to move them into the combo row. Ability buttons (Pounce, Purr, Hiss, Scratch) sit on the auxiliary canvas beside the cat sprite. Long-press or hover an ability for its tooltip.
What do the cat abilities do?
Pounce replaces one combo card with the deck top (click Pounce, then a combo card). Purr peeks at the next deck card. Hiss redeals your hand but applies a 20 percent score penalty on the next combo. Scratch burns the top three deck cards and biases the next draw toward black suits.
Is progress saved?
Only your high score saves locally under ftol:mysticcardpaw:highScore. Each new run starts from the title screen with a fresh deck and one charge of each ability.
How big is the download?
About ~36 KB of HTML and JavaScript after you press Play. The browser caches it for later visits on the same device.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Portrait stacks the two 256 by 240 canvases vertically; landscape places them side by side. Touch taps map to canvas coordinates for cards and ability buttons.
Is this open source?
Yes. Adapted from js13k-2025 by ZYXPlay (ZYXPlay/js13k-2025) under the MIT license. This site build renames the title, adds noindex on the iframe, namespaces the high-score key, and ships LICENSE plus CREDITS next to the engine.