What’s the best way to start a new year? Arriving at your desk to find that an obscure game you love with a passion, but assumed everyone had forgotten about, is coming back.
So it’s with me and Pocket card jockeya cult title from Game Freak, the creators of Pokémon. Pocket card jockey mixes horse racing and solitaire – inexplicably, but to brilliant effect – and was first released in Japan in 2013, followed by a Western release in 2016. Now Apple has announced that Pocket Card Jockey: Ride! hits its Apple Arcade subscription service on January 20. This means an iOS version at a minimum, with Apple TV and Mac also a possibility, but unconfirmed at this stage.
Pocket card jockey is a horse racing role-playing game where you collect and breed a stable of cute, stocky-legged racing steeds, and ride them in bizarre but highly dramatic races where key moments play out in fast-paced rounds of solitaire. The game uses solitaire golf, a simple variation in which you clear a board by choosing cards of higher or lower value than the previous card. It is, without a doubt, very exciting.
Come up! gives the races a 3D makeover that I’m not sure about quite as adorable as the original 2D artwork, but I can live with it. Otherwise, it seems that many of the features of the original are present and correct, including romance and horse breeding, tactical track positioning, on-track power-ups, and a substantial campaign.
Pretty amusing, Pocket card jockey appeared on iPhone before – it had a short-lived, Japan-only release on Apple’s smartphone in 2014. Mobile has always seemed like a natural home for gaming, so it’s a pleasure to see Game Freak it back on the phones.
