Final Fantasy IX Tetra Master Card Game (2001)

Overview

A "real" card game rendition of a virtual card game which existed inside the Final Fantasy IX video game. A few modifications were made to adjust to the lack of a computer.

Players play on a 4x4 grid (play mat provided), with some spaces randomly blocked out during set-up by special extra cards.

Each card has a set of arrows, and a set of attributes. The arrows point at one of the adjacent cards in the grid (four sides and four diagonals) An arrow may be present or not, each card has a unique combination of arrows. The attributes are: an attack value, whether the attack is physical or magical, and two defense values: one physical, and one magical. There are a few other special cards.

Cards are played from a hand onto the game grid, and marked with a chip indicating the player. If the new card has an arrow pointing at an existing card, and that card has no arrow pointing back, the other card changes owners. If opposing arrows occur, then the cards 'battle' using their attributes. Combat is resolved by comparing the attributes, looking up the value in a table, and then rolling the indicated percentile. Winning a combat can create a chain reaction of ownership changes, based on the card arrows.

To my knowledge, the game was only published in Germany.