Card flip
Card flip (Japanese: カードめくり card flip) is a minigame available in the Goldenrod and Celadon Game Corners in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
In the games
Gameplay
In playing card flip, players place bets on cards that may be flipped over. The deck used contains 24 cards: each one has both a number (between one and six) and a picture of a Pokémon (either Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Oddish, or Poliwag). The cards are dealt in pairs, and from each pair, the player chooses one card to bet on. Once all 24 cards have been dealt (12 cards have been chosen), the deck is reshuffled.
Bets can be placed in five different ways. Players may either bet on a single card, a single column, a single row, a pair of columns, or a pair of rows. When betting in pairs, limitations are placed. Betting in rows can only be made by pairing an odd number and the subsequent even number (i.e. 1 paired with 2, 3 paired with 4, 5 paired with 6). Betting in columns can only happen when either Pikachu and Jigglypuff or Oddish and Poliwag are paired.
Appropriately, the lower the odds of winning are, the higher the payout will be. By betting only on a single card, the player will get 24 times the bet amount in return, given a win. By winning a bet on a single number the player will get six times the bet amount, by Pokémon four times, by two numbers three times, and by two Pokémon two times.
Unlike the Roulette game featured in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, betting by species or number does not increase the payout if some possibilities are removed from the board.
Strategy
The player has a significant advantage by continuously betting on a single card, since the payout remains 24× even though fewer than 24 cards can be in the deck. For example, on the last play before the deck is reset, there are 13 cards in the deck, so the player has a 1/13 chance of winning a 24× payout for an advantage of ~84.62%. Over all plays, the player edge is ~34.55%, about 4% higher than in Roulette. It can be mathematically proven that there is no better system than placing all bets on a single card.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Gold, Silver & Crystal arc
Card flip was seen being played at the Goldenrod Game Corner in Gligar Glide.
Black & White arc
Card flip also appeared in Sandstorm, where a disguised Grimsley was seen playing it with the Workers of the Desert Resort in order to help them have fun and relax after their exhausting work.
In the TCG
The following is a list of cards named Card-Flip Game.
| Related cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
| Card-Flip Game | T | Neo Genesis | 
|
92/111 | Gold, Silver, to a New World... |
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In other languages
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