Pocket Card Jockey Reviews
The difficulty curve is too steep, but the act of moving a horse through a race by playing Solitaire is a fun hook that kept me coming back
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! does not come to Switch with a swathe of bells and whistles or make a host of changes to Game Freak's weirdest mash-up. It's a simple port of the Apple Arcade version - which, in itself, made very few changes to the 3DS original - but with a game this great, that's no bad thing. Sure, not much has changed since 2016 (even less since 2023), but this charming hybrid card-racer is absolutely worth taking for a ride wherever you can. Giddyap.
Pocket Card Jockey is a relatively impressive effort from Game Freak, with terrific presentation, an abundance of charm and hugely addictive gameplay. For some players that's enough to make it a must-have, but there is a caveat - it's also poorly balanced, delivering a video game representation of the futility of compulsive betting. You can be the best player in the world and still lose, or have a mediocre round and win a minor race anyway. It inflates prices, sets ridiculous odds and makes you sweat for every reward, with your fates often in the hands of the pocket Gods. Yet it's addictive and fun, so you might not mind - for this writer, though, it left a tinge of regret at time wasted, where effort didn't seem to be rewarded.Pocket Card Jockey is absolutely worth consideration and will hook many gamers with its irreverent and addictive gameplay, but beneath its charming veneer is a cruel world of lost bets and unfair odds.
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! needed a few tweaks to make the jump from 3DS to newer platforms, but the final result is a strong thoroughbred of a game. The move to Switch gave Game Freak a chance to update some of Pocket Card Jockey's presentation, updating character models to 3D versions of their original counterparts. Outside of that and the aforementioned changes to the game's visual component, Ride On! is the same Pocket Card Jockey fun offered by the original game. Unique prize-winning ponies like this game don't come along every day, so it's nice to see a new generation on Switch get a chance to take a ride.
I never want to stop playing Pocket Card Jockey. This game hit me the same way Tetris hit millions around the world back in the 80s. In fact, I want this game to be the next Tetris. I want Pocket Card Jockey on every Nintendo system. I want it on the Wii U. I want it on the NX. I want it on the iPhone, Kindle Fire, Apple TV, Windows and TI-89 graphing calculator. I want it everywhere, just hook it to my veins. I'll admit it: I'm addicted to this game, and if you try to make me go to rehab I'll say neigh, neigh, neigh.
The best part? Trying to explain why this is your new addiction to pass time when you need a break from something bigger like Persona Q or Bravely Second. It’s a time waster, one that you dare not say… NEIGH to. Get it? If I leave on a joke, I get a carrot, so there you go. [*tosses carrot* ~Ed. Nick Tan]
Make no mistake, Pocket Card Jockey is weird. The plot is ridiculous, the systems are obtuse, and the reliance on luck can be incredibly frustrating. Despite all that, though, I kept promising myself just one more race, and then another, late into the night throughout my play sessions. Its complexity can be overwhelming, but once you hit your stride, it's entertaining all the way to the home stretch.
The cult 3DS game has been refreshed for smartphones and the combination of card game and horse racing is as weird and addictive as ever
Pocket Card Jockey is somewhat addicting and is fun to play and can be done in short bursts. Even if you don’t know anything about horse racing, most people are likely familiar with Solitaire in some form and the game does a nice job of teaching you about the mechanics of both. As a low-cost title and with a demo on the eShop, Pocket Card Jockey is a fun way to pass the time.
For a game based on a laughably weird idea and with a budget price tag, Pocket Card Jockey ended up a lot deeper and more fun than I imagined. The elements of chance might frustrate some for sure. For folks who enjoy solitaire, strategy and even breeding, however, this will be worth hopping onto.
Overall, Pocket Card Jockey is a surprisingly fun title that is definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of either solitaire or horse races. Even if you’re a fan of neither, the addictive nature of the game is quite similar to that of other titles like Candy Crush or Color Switch, for example. While it’s definitely a departure from GameFreak’s regular style, the development team still managed to do a good job at putting the game together. With a price tag of only a measly $7, Pocket Card Jockey is an excellent eShop title to have on the go!
Fantastic gameplay can take you to wild places and whoever was skeptical of this game before playing it will quickly be converted. Funny, fun and frenetic, “Pocket Card Jockey” is a charmer that never lets up. Combining elements of “Pokemon,” “Monster Rancher” and Solitaire, it’s a game that will steal you away from your next generation console.
Pocket Card Jockey combines solitaire, turn-based tactics, and JRPG-like experience and skills into an incredibly fun, accessible diversion on the 3DS.
Pocket Card Jockey sounds like the kind of game which just shouldn't work. But it says neigh to those disbelievers, as it's easily one of the most addictive games of 2016 to grace the Nintendo 3DS.
Its originality, comical plot and artwork will capture the players' attention and its structure will make it seem like a perfect game for short sessions, which will eventually grow into very long sessions as the player goes back and forth between horse racing and Solitary games, with the development of the horse's characteristics in between.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Pocket Card Jockey is, for all intents and purposes, a pretty good game. What it really came down to for a final verdict was the price. It was fun, but 3DS is pretty well known for their high price tagged games.
Horse racing is often called the sport of kings. Gaming could be called the sport of introverts. Here's a quirky handheld that'll satisfy the royal introvert inside all of us.
These [solitaire] areas, the meat of the game, are where Pocket Card Jockey shines, as the timed matches are fast-paced and satisfyingly addictive, creating exciting tension while mostly rewarding prowess
Even though this is more or less my third time playing through Pocket Card Jockey, the game is as enthralling as ever. The main thing holding it back is that it just doesn't flow as well if you primarily play Switch on a TV. As a portable game, especially since the races are relatively quick and easy to pick-up-and-play, it excels. One of the unsung heroes of the 3DS is now on Switch, and at a minimum it should win, place, or show in the pantheon of Switch greats.