Updraft Duel

What is Updraft Duel?

Updraft Duel is our own two-player solitaire. Each pilot lays out a small solitaire of their own, and both of you race to get rid of one pile, the ballast. The first pilot with an empty ballast lifts off and wins the flight.

It comes from a family of old race-to-empty card games. Russian Bank (also called Crapette) lets you load cards onto your opponent's piles. Nerts, also known as Pounce or Racing Demon, is a mad scramble where everyone builds on the same foundations at once. We kept the parts we love from both, a shared middle and a direct way to slow your rival down, and left out the long list of compulsory moves that makes Russian Bank hard to learn.

There is one more twist. By default both pilots get the mirror deal: exactly the same cards in exactly the same places. Nobody can blame the shuffle, because you both had the same one.

It's free and plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install.

How to play

Each pilot has four things in front of them:

• Ballast: 10 cards in a basket, only the top one face up. Empty it to win.
• Four ropes: they start with one card each and build down by one in any suit, so a 6 of any suit goes on a 7. A run going down by one can move together, and any card or run can go into an empty rope.
• Draw pile: tap it to turn one card onto your flip pile. The top flip card can be played. When the draw pile runs out, tap it to turn the flip pile back over.

In the middle is the sky: eight piles that build up from Ace to King in one suit. Both pilots play on all of them, so every card you send up might open a spot for your rival too.

Tossing a card onto your rival

You can put one of your cards on top of your rival's ballast if it is the same suit and one higher or one lower than their top card. Their 7 of hearts will take your 6 or 8 of hearts. That gives them one more card to clear. A tossed card wears a little sandbag tag and can't be tossed back.

Catching an updraft

Send three cards to the sky in a row and you catch an updraft: your top ballast card floats away and drops under your draw pile. Drawing a card doesn't break the chain, but moving a card onto a rope or tossing one does. The three dots above your name count it for you.

Turns or Race

Every flight uses one of two tempos.

• Turns: play as many cards as you like. A drawn card with nowhere to go is a miss, and your third miss ends your turn (the pilot who starts gets two misses on their very first turn). Going all the way round your draw pile also ends it. If the pilot who started lifts off first, the other pilot gets one last turn to match it, so you both get the same number of turns. If both empty their ballast, the pilot with more cards in the sky wins.
• Race: no turns at all. Both pilots play at the same moment and the first empty ballast wins. Computer pilots move at a human pace, from about 2.4 seconds a move for the gentlest to about 0.8 seconds for the fastest.

If both pilots go all the way round their draw piles without anyone playing a card, a gust swings each ballast pile: its top card drops to the bottom and a new card turns up. If the wind keeps failing, the flight is becalmed and the pilot with fewer ballast cards wins.

Controls

Tap a card and it goes to its best spot: the sky first, then a toss, then a rope. Drag a card when you want to pick the spot yourself. Cards with a move glow softly, and the hint button shows a good move.

On a computer you can also use the keyboard: D or Space draws, 1 to 4 play the end card of a rope, B plays your ballast card, F the flip pile, H shows a hint, U undoes and Esc pauses. Undo works for your moves since your last draw in Turns flights, except the Daily Flight.

Modes

• First Flight: a short guided race against a nervous beginner pilot, with tips as each idea comes up.
• The Circuit: 30 rival pilots across six venues, from Meadow Fair to the Aurora Cup. Some venues use Race tempo, Lantern Night draws three at a time, and the Aurora Cup gives everyone 13 ballast cards.
• Daily Flight: one deal for everyone each day against the same rival, in Turns tempo, and you go first.
• Weekly Cup: three heats with that week's twist, like Heavy Ballast or Thermal Race. Win all three for the week's pennant.
• Quick Flight: pick a rival level (Breezy, Easy, Fair, Keen, Sharp or Ace), the tempo, ballast size, draw one or three, and mirror deal or two shuffles.
• Two Players: pass and play on one device in Turns, or race at once on the same screen. Nothing in this game is hidden, so there's no peeking problem.

Scoring, stars and leaderboards

A flight you lose scores 25 for each ballast card you cleared, plus a little for sky cards, tosses and updrafts, and never more than 900. So any win beats any loss.

On the Circuit a win earns one star, a win while the rival still holds a third of a starting ballast earns two, and two thirds earns three. There are 90 stars in all and they go on the all-time stars board. The Daily Flight score goes on the daily board, and only your first finished flight each day counts.

Unlocks

Everything is earned by flying. There are 18 balloon designs for your own balloon, earned with stars, wins, daily streaks, pennants, tosses and updrafts. Card backs are shared with our other card games and unlock at milestones, and each Circuit venue you reach adds its sky to the Hangar.

Tips and strategy

• Dig the ballast first. Every move should help free your ballast card. A sky play that doesn't help is often better saved until it does.
• Keep a rope empty. An empty rope takes any ballast card, which is the surest way to dig when nothing else fits.
• Build long runs. Since ropes take any suit, a rope running 9, 8, 7, 6 will accept a 5 from your ballast whenever it shows up.
• Look across the table before you draw. Check your rival's ballast card. If you hold the same suit one up or down, toss it. A toss straight from your own ballast is a two-card swing.
• Mind what you open. If your rival's ballast shows the 5 of clubs and the sky has the 3 of clubs, think twice before sending up the 4. You would be lifting their ballast for them.
• Line up an updraft. In Turns, do your rope moves first and then send your sky cards up back to back. Three in a row is worth a free ballast card.
• In Race, play your sure moves fast. Sky spots are shared, so a card you could play now might be gone in a second.

Questions