How to win more: 30 strategy tips

Hand management

• Shed high-point cards first — if a rival goes out, they cost you the most.
• Keep the energy you hold most of alive; steer away from your rivals' colour.
• Don't break your last card of an energy unless you must — it's your answer when that energy returns.
• Hold wilds until you're down to two or three cards.

Reading the table

• When a rival changes energy with a wild, they're usually short of the old one.
• A rival who draws twice in a row can't match — keep the energy there.
• Count action cards: each energy has two of each.
• Watch hand sizes and punish whoever is closest to going out.

Attack and defence

• Save a draw card to answer an incoming stack.
• Play SHIELD early when your hand is big.
• Use FREEZE and FLIP to skip a rival on one card.
• In Merciless, keep your hand under 15 — a +10 stack can end your round.

Opening turns

• Count your energies as soon as the deal lands: the one you hold most of is your 'home' energy — steer the table back to it.
• Play actions you can't hold forever (a lone FLIP or FREEZE) early, while they cost rivals most and your hand is big enough to recover.
• Don't open with a wild. With seven cards you almost always have a match; the wild is worth far more later.

Two-player strategy

• In a duel, FREEZE and FLIP both mean 'play again'. Two in a row is a three-card turn.
• Hand sizes are everything: if your rival holds fewer cards, attack with draw cards; if you hold fewer, race.
• Drawing costs you one card but a broken energy can cost you the round — in a duel, drawing is often right.
• Practise in Prism Duel, then try Eights Duel and the Endless Gauntlet.

Three- and four-player strategy

• Your +2 hurts the next player, not the leader. Save it until the player after you is the one close to going out.
• Direction is a weapon: FLIP to send the turn away from a rival on one card.
• Let two rivals fight: if the players either side of you are attacking each other, shed quietly.
• In Tag Team, feed your partner their energy and never attack them.

The endgame (three cards or fewer)

• Plan the order you'll play your last cards so that each one sets up the next — ideally finish on a wild, which can't be blocked by energy.
• Keep one action for protection: a SHIELD or a draw card to answer an attack on your last two cards.
• In Last Card Call modes, press LAST CARD every time — the draw-two penalty is the most avoidable loss in the game.
• If a rival is on one card and you can't stop them, dump your highest-scoring cards so their win scores less.

Prism Riot specials

• Chain plays to build combos — the Riot Meter charges faster and combos score bonuses.
• Burst when it removes your highest numbers of the active energy.
• Win without drawing for a 50-point bonus and the Clean Sweep badge.

Frequently asked questions

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