Play Stakes, Free in Your Browser
Chase a finish line that moves while you are running at it.
Opens the table. No download, no sign-up, best on a phone.
Stakes is a push-your-luck card game with one cruel twist. You flip cards toward a target number and try not to go over, which is a bet you already know how to make. But the target is not fixed: it is set by dice, and either player can reroll them. The finish line moves while you are running at it.
That one rule turns a familiar gamble into a read on your opponent. A hand that was safe a second ago becomes a bust when the dice turn, and the run you were about to abandon becomes the winning one. Knowing when to stop stops being arithmetic and starts being nerve.
You play it as a duel against Cindie, the house dealer. She has moods, and she has opinions about the way you are playing. Push too hard and she will let you know. Play it safe all night and she will let you know about that, too.
How to Play
- 1Flip cards toward the target number. Every flip adds to your hand, and busting past the target ends your run.
- 2Bank when the risk stops being worth it. Banking locks in what you have before the next card can take it away.
- 3Twist the dice to move the target. Either player can reroll it, so the number you are racing toward is never settled.
- 4Win the duel against Cindie, the house dealer, who has moods, tells, and opinions about the way you are playing.
One bar across the bottom of the screen, three choices on it, and a dealer watching which one you reach for. The full rules spell out card values, the face card powers, exact hits and everything else, if you would rather read before you sit down.
Play It With Real Cards
Stakes was a card game before it was an app, and it still is one. Two to six people, a standard 52 card deck with the jokers pulled, two dice in the middle of the table and three dice in front of every player. About twenty minutes.
Three to six players play for points across five rounds. Two players play Duel, which is what the browser version runs: you fight over round wins instead of points, you each get a fourth die, and a banked score can be dragged out from under you by a late twist.
The whole rulebook is free. Read it here, print it, teach it, run it at a club night. Nothing in the box is proprietary, because there is no box.
Built for the Phone
Portrait, one hand
The table fills a phone screen top to bottom, with everything you tap sitting in the bottom third where your thumb already is.
Installs like an app
Add it to your home screen and it opens full-screen with its own spade-card icon, then keeps working with no connection at all.
It Collects Nothing
The game itself has no account, no analytics, no cookies, and makes no network calls at all once it has loaded. Your win/loss record and your settings live in your own browser, on your own device, and are never sent anywhere. Clearing your browser data clears them. That is the whole story, and our privacy policy says the same thing in fewer words.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Push-your-luck card duel
- Session
- A few minutes a match
- Players
- One vs the house online, 2 to 6 at a table
- Platform
- Browser, portrait, installable
- Tabletop
- Playable with a real deck and dice, rules free
- Account
- None. No sign-in, no server
- Price
- Free to play
FAQ
Is Stakes free?
Yes. It is free to play in your browser, with no account, no download, and no sign-up.
Do I need an account?
No. Stakes runs entirely in your browser. There is no sign-in and no server behind it.
Does it work on phones?
Yes, phones are what it was built for. It is portrait and mobile-first, and you can add it to your home screen to play it like an app, including offline.
Does Stakes collect any data?
No. No analytics, no cookies, and no network calls once it has loaded. Your win/loss record and settings are stored locally in your own browser and never sent anywhere.
Who am I playing against?
Cindie, the house dealer. She is the only opponent, and she reacts to how you play.
Can I play Stakes with real cards?
Yes. Stakes was designed as a tabletop game for 2 to 6 players and the full rules are free to read and print. You need a standard 52 card deck, two dice for the center of the table, and three dice per player.
Where can I read the rules?
The complete rulebook is on this site, covering the 3 to 6 player game, the 2 player Duel variant, and everything you need to buy. There is a free printable PDF of it as well.
Take the table
One duel takes a few minutes. Cindie is already dealing.
Looking for more? Browse the rest of our free browser games, see our flagship survival city-builder From Embers, or catch studio news on From the Forge.