Chapter 86: Poker

In the experience store.

Amy Johnson and Alva Castillo were busy working on Lifeline.

Everyone else was doing their own thing, with Jessica Thompson relaxing on a massage chair while watching a drama on her tablet.

The experience store had become their go-to gathering spot, where they would drop by even when they had nothing to do, often urging Alex to create new games.

Alex said, "Everyone, take a break. Let's play a game."

"Hmm?" Amy was puzzled, "Play a game? What game?"

Alva looked up, equally confused. He was stuck on a tricky part of the storyline.

Paul Wilder said, "Sure, Alex, I'm up for it. What game are we playing?"

Alex took out a deck of cards. "Poker."

Paul: "… You guys play, I'll just watch."

Alex laughed, "It's fine, you can observe, or you can be the dealer."

Jessica lazily remarked, "Alex, don't tell me it's Landlord. There are seven or eight of us here."

Alex said, "It's not Landlord. It's a type of poker none of you have played before."

Lily Emerson was surprised. "None of us have played it? Is that possible?"

Alex replied, "Come on, there are eight of us here. Paul, you can deal the cards, so we'll have a seven-player table."

Amy asked, "Is there a limit on the number of players?"

Alex shook his head, "No, it supports 2 to 9 players."

Amy asked, "What about more than 9?"

Alex replied, "Oh, theoretically, more than 9 can play, but the table won't fit them."

Amy: "… That's convenient."

Alex said, "Come on, let's go to the meeting room. I'll teach you how to play."

Jessica said, "What's so fun about poker… Is there a prize for the winner? If not, I won't come."

Alex said, "Of course, there is. The winner gets a gift worth up to five thousand bucks. You can choose any gift within that range."

"Five thousand bucks?"

"Any gift of our choice?"

"Whoa, Alex has really made it big!"

Everyone immediately jumped up and rushed to the meeting room.

Alva: "…"

Everyone settled around the long table in the meeting room.

Alex had somehow acquired a set of poker chips, neatly packaged.

Amy was surprised, "Alex, what's this?"

Alex said, "Poker chips, to be used as money. We can't play for real money because that's considered illegal gambling, so we use chips instead."

As Alex spoke, he distributed the chips.

The chips were small round tokens slightly larger than coins, each marked with different numbers and colors.

Alex handed out 1 chip worth 500, 3 chips worth 100, 6 chips worth 25, and 10 chips worth 5 to each person.

"So, each person has 1000 chips. The goal is to win everyone else's chips. The last person standing wins. Only one person can be the ultimate winner," Alex explained.

Amy curiously played with the chips in her hand, "Alex, are we really not going to get caught for illegal gambling?"

Alex: "… As long as you don't throw money on the table, we're fine."

Jessica fiddled with her chips, making a clinking sound, "Do we have to use these to play? Not like Landlord?"

Alex nodded, "Yes, you need chips to play. Alright, everyone, take your seats. Paul, you sit here in the middle. You'll be the dealer."

Jessica raised her hand, "I protest. If he's dealing, everyone's luck will go bad."

Paul: "… Jessica, can you consider my feelings?"

Alex said, "No worries. If everyone's luck goes bad together, it's still fair."

Paul: "… Not feeling comforted at all!"

Everyone took their seats.

Alex spread the cards face down on the table, "We'll simplify the rules for our private game. Everyone draws a card. The highest card becomes the dealer."

Amy asked, "What's the dealer for?"

Alex said, "The dealer has a positional advantage. Now, draw a card."

Everyone drew cards. Jessica initially drew a King, thinking she had the highest, but Alva drew an Ace.

Paul said, "All hail the luck gods… trembling."

Alex placed a small toy in front of Alva, "This represents the dealer. It will move to the next person after each hand, clockwise."

"Let's do a practice round."

Alex started explaining the rules of Texas Hold'em.

Texas Hold'em is easy to learn but hard to master. Learning the rules takes less than five minutes.

Under Alex's guidance, everyone quickly got the hang of it.

Half an hour later, after watching a few more hands to ensure everyone grasped the rules, Alex returned upstairs to continue working on the design document.

Alex taught them Texas Hold'em to gauge its acceptance in this world, effectively a trial run for promoting the game.

The rules of Texas Hold'em are extremely polished, with numerous tournaments in the past world proving it flawless. However, leveraging its features to promote Thunder Poker was Alex's main concern.

In the previous world, Texas Hold'em's popularity was largely due to professional players making steady profits. Ultimately, it was about money, the most effective motivation.

But Alex couldn't do that. Playing for money constitutes illegal gambling, and he didn't want his game to cause social harm.

So, Alex planned to maximize Texas Hold'em's appeal while minimizing its gambling aspect, promoting it through tournaments. Players would experience the fun of Texas Hold'em using fun chips, just like Landlord and Mahjong became great games after removing the gambling element.

Many tech and investment moguls in the previous world played Texas Hold'em not just for money—they were billionaires, after all—but because it was a brain game akin to entrepreneurship and investment, involving strategic decisions and risk management.

Confirming Texas Hold'em's appeal in this world, Alex had a preliminary promotion plan to attract other card game users, letting them enjoy Texas Hold'em and stay.

Days passed, and the development of Lifeline and Thunder Poker progressed steadily.

In the first Texas Hold'em game, Alva won with his incredible luck, defeating Jessica and earning the five-thousand-dollar prize.

Alex even crafted a small trophy with the engraving: "First Thunder Poker Internal Champion."

From then on, everyone got hooked. They played poker daily in the meeting room, each determined to win the next week's prize and trophy.

To their surprise, the deeper they played, the more intricacies they discovered. Texas Hold'em was indeed a game easy to learn but hard to master.

Within two weeks, almost everyone was addicted to this poker game.

Of course, the prize incentive played a significant role. Without the few thousand dollars at stake, their enthusiasm would have waned.

Meanwhile, the narrative for Lifeline was continually refined. Alva lost count of how many drafts he had revised, but the story grew increasingly complex and engaging.

Alex meticulously synchronized all dialogue times, ensuring the game's pacing matched the previous world's version. Though the specific text differed, it didn't significantly impact the experience.

Both games were simple for Alex, so including art resources, they were completed within a month. The following period involved fine-tuning user experiences and details.

During this month, the seemingly calm mobile game market was actually brewing a storm.

Through various channels, Alex learned that at least three or four game companies were developing card games similar to I Am MT.

These were just the ones Alex knew about; there were likely more. Depending on their progress, these games would be completed and launched within two to four months.

The mobile game market was poised for a card game boom, with players once again facing the domination of card games.

Though these card games might differ in art and themes, their monetization models and value structures would undoubtedly heavily borrow from I Am MT.

However, Alex didn't mind; it wasn't entirely a bad thing.

I Am MT had secured a strong first-mover advantage. Subsequent card games would always be in its shadow, unable to shake its position.

These games would inadvertently expand the card game user base.

Of course, the quick developers would also make a fortune, but that was inevitable. Alex's mindset was simple: as long as he earned more than them, it was fine.

Moreover, the card game boom would divert attention within the game industry, giving Alex more room to lay the groundwork for his future plans.

The real threat to I Am MT would be a game like Dota Legends, which innovated and surpassed the first-generation domestic card games. However, Alex estimated that it would take other designers at least a year to reach that level.

First-generation card games were inherently money-makers, and their strong profitability would cause most designers to lose their drive and become complacent, unwilling to innovate.

Only when players were thoroughly bored and fed up would designers seek change and innovate the first-generation card game mechanics.

Alex could accomplish a lot in that one-year window.