Overview
I released my poker app “Exotic Poker” on February 3, 2026, but I’m experiencing that common indie game scenario where you release it and get like 20 downloads (probably mostly friends). Well, I expected this, so I’m not bothered, and honestly, I’d be troubled if too many people used it at this stage with its limited features. Still, it feels a bit lonely, so I’ll keep persistently linking the app within my blog posts.
Eventually, once I feel confident enough about the game’s features and design, I might need to hire someone like a YouTuber to promote it to some extent (within the budget I can afford for my hobby).
This time, I’d like to briefly examine the game design of poker utilizing Fast Fold, as explained in the previous article:
I’ll ponder things like what kind of design I might implement in my own game app soon, or speculate on what kind of design Edge Poker truly aimed for.
Fast Fold Ring Game and Challenges
This article explores how to design ring games rather than tournaments. The game that originally succeeded using Fast Fold seems to be Poker Stars’ “Zoom,” so let’s consider how to create a non-stakes version using a similar game design. Even in Nakaido’s videos, which offered quite harsh critiques and explanations of Edge Poker, he mentioned that if Fast Fold Ring Games became available, people might play them. I think this is a good starting point for our discussion.
Many might think, “Since there’s already a successful example, we just need to replicate PokerStars’ ‘Zoom’,” but I suspect this is incorrect. Playing mechanically and solely aiming to accumulate chips is feasible and requires focus precisely because it’s an “act of earning money” (though in reality, most players are probably losing). When the only thing you can win is essentially meaningless in-game points, playing for long stretches becomes surprisingly unbearable (though maybe stoic people are different…).
To let people experience the fun of playing poker in social games or free games, we probably need to add a different kind of game appeal. An obvious way would be to make comparison and competition with others more easily understandable. This format involves dividing play into fixed time slots (20-30 minutes, or even an hour) where players compete within that time to vie for rankings. Edge Poker’s Ranked Games likely emerged from applying this format to Sit & Go tournaments.
However, a critical challenge with this game design is that Fast Fold requires at least dozens to hundreds of participants (10-100 tables) to function effectively. Achieving this player count is difficult in a free-entry format. In tournaments like Sit & Go or MTTs, where mid-game entry is somewhat restricted, Fast Fold might become a disadvantage over time (failing to match players and limiting opportunities to observe and infer opponents’ tendencies).
Furthermore, the nature of the Sit & Go format seems to inherently amplify the impact of luck due to blind level increases. The goal of Fast Fold games seems to be playing a large number of games quickly and competing on how closely one can play to GTO. However, if the luck factor is too strong, it becomes difficult to discern the skill level of the play. I have considered a Fast Fold Ring Game proposal that introduces comparison and competition with others while skillfully avoiding the above issues. I will outline it below.
Fast Fold Ring Game Design Proposal
If competing for ranking in a game format similar to Ring Games, it would be best to compete based on how many chips players can win (or lose) within a set time limit. Since there’s no need to eliminate players, blind levels and antes can be omitted. If stacks fall below a certain amount or exceed a certain amount, the amount won can be recorded separately while resetting the stacks, allowing for a relatively fair matchup. The stack reset encourages aggressive play where players are more likely to commit their entire 100 big blind stack when they believe they have a strong hand. This might make players more willing to go all-in without hesitation when pot-committed. The game’s concept essentially becomes a contest of how well players can implement GTO strategy. Summarizing, the game rules would likely be as follows:
- Scheduled start (e.g., registration opens 10 minutes before 1:00 PM start; late entry allowed until about 10 minutes after start)
- Time: 30 minutes
- Fast Fold: Tables disband after one hand
- No player elimination regardless of losses or wins
- Stack: 100 big blinds
- Fixed blinds (no leveling up), no antes
- Stacks automatically reset to 100bb when falling below 30bb or rising above 300bb (gains/losses accumulate as player points)
- After time ends, rankings are determined by accumulated chip value; positions and chips won are announced.
Since my game is free, there are no specific rewards. However, if aiming for a social game feel, similar to MTTs, you could charge a fixed entry fee (in-game currency) and pay out rewards to the top 10% based on a power-law distribution.
Since this game aims for pure, short-duration play, limiting each player’s time to about 10 seconds with no time bank, and cutting all unnecessary effects and animations, might turn it into a game where you just rapidly tap buttons like playing an action game. It’s hard to know exactly what this kind of game will feel like without actually building and playing it, but I’m thinking of implementing it in my own game to test (though it’ll probably take about two months to implement…).
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