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As if you didn’t already have enough actual detective work to do,Chicken Police: Into the Hiveoffers a few fun ways for Sonny to pass the time outside the main story, and one of ther most amusing of the minigames in Into the Hive is Clawville Wildcards.
In Clawville Wildcards, you’ll need to stay several steps ahead of your opponent, carefully planning how to take over an entire row of the three-row board for yourself in the name of victory. You’ll need to be just as offensive as you are defensive to win your next game of Clawville Wildcards!
How To Play Clawville Wildcards
Your first exposure to Clawville Wildcards in Chicken Police: Into the Hive is withUncle Mullenwhen you see him atZipp’s Cafe, formerly known as Hot Dogin the first game. As Sonny and Marty talk to Mullen and Zipp aboutthe goings-on in The Hive, Mullen challenges Sonny to a game of Clawville Wildcards.Your first game is mandatory, it seems, so settle in!
Clawville Wildcards might sound a little complicated with the game’s explanation of how to play, but it’s relatively simple. Your ultimate goal is tofill an entire row with four of your own cards, each of which features a different animal and a few numbers in the top right and bottom left corners, battling it out with your opponent in the name of domination.
The board for Clawville Wildcards isthree rows with four columns, making a four-by-three table for you and your opponent, who always seems to go first. On this table, you’ll see severalcolored circles with numbers on them, which are tokens denotingspaces saved for your cards. The number on the token placed on the board showsfor how many more turns the tile is reserved- once that number hits zero, the tile is removed and your opponent can place a card there if you haven’t already.
But once a card is down, that doesn’t mean the spot is yours! You’ll need toattack your opponent’s cards to clear them out of your way, requiring careful planning ahead of time to ensure that your strongest and best-defended animals are closest to your opponent. You canattack anything to a card’s left or rightduring your turn, keeping everything neatly confined to the three rows on the board. Get them to zero defense to remove the card from the board.
Just beware that having a card attack the card beside it will render it exhausted, which is marked by a swirl pattern over the animal on the card. you’re able to attack with the same card multiple times, but you’ll need to revive that card before you can use it again.
On each turn, you’ll have a set number ofaction points, which is how you’ll make your moves in Clawville Wildcards. Any action you take - placing a card, attacking another card, or reviving a spent card - consumes an action point, so you’ll need tostrategize and plan aheadto ensure your victory. It’s not always best to attack, so be sure to view the whole board and consider all possible moves before acting. When you’re out of action points, your opponent then gets to expend theirs.
A game of Clawville Wildcards is over when one player has filled an entire row of four cards. Each game of Clawville Wildcards isbest two out of three, meaning you’ll play between three and five rounds each time you opt to pay until a winner is decided.
Pay Attention To Attack And Defense Stats
See thosenumbers in the top right and bottom left corner of each cardyou draw? These denote that card’sattacking and defensivestats, and understanding each number is critical to winning Clawville Wildcards.
Typically, you’ll find a relatively fair balance between attack and defense in Clawville Wildcards, typically averaging three or four for both stats. You’ll also find cards, though, that have markedly higher stats, but watch out:any stat increase usually comes with a decrease, leaving cards with good attacking power with little defense, while well-defended cards may not strike the hardest when put into a fight against another card.
The best way to play Clawville Wildcards is to try and strike a balance between your stats, and as always,be mindful of which of your opponent’s cards have higher statswhen choosing where to place your next cards. You’ll need to keep them from advancing, too, so alwayscheck the attack stats of the card next to your new cardbefore placing it to be sure that card won’t immediately wipe yours out - if its attack power is higher than your defense, consider a different card.
There’s no right or wrong way to play your cards other than in a way that leads to your victory, so experiment with different kinds of attack and defense balances as you play more rounds of Clawville Wildcards - practice really does make perfect in this minigame!
