Is there anything to win?

No. There are no prizes, no points and nothing to pay. All twelve cards come up with the same likelihood, and no rarity is shown anywhere.

Where do the cards I find go?

Into the card album. It is shared with paka, the capsule toy, and holds twelve cards in total. What you have collected is kept in this browser only.

Can the same card come up twice in a row?

Yes. Nothing steers the draw away from what you have already seen, so runs of the same card do happen. The album marks it as one you already had, and the count does not go up.

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Revealing

gari

Rub the silver away and a card shows up underneath.

How to play

Rub with your finger to take the silver off. At about seventy percent the rest clears itself and the card appears. Cards you find stay in this browser.

Notes on the feel

Scratching is the point, so there is nothing to win or lose. What is left is simply: which card. Two details carry the whole feel — the dust flying the way your finger is going, and the grain in the silver. Take either away and it stops being scratching.

Open the card album

What is this, really?

On the back of a prepaid card there is a silver band. Take a fingernail or the edge of a coin to it and a number appears from underneath. That is scratch printing: the characters are printed first, and an opaque layer that comes away under friction is laid over the top. While the layer is intact nobody can read what is beneath it, and the person who removes it is the first person who can. The point is not secrecy so much as evidence — it shows at a glance whether anyone has been there before you.

The same band turns up on ticket machines, phone top-up cards and school handouts on every continent, and it is almost always silver. This toy takes only the sensation of removing it. What appears underneath is not a number but one of twelve picture cards, and there is nothing to win or lose. Scratching is the whole purpose, so the design makes sure that whatever turns up, you have not come off worse.

How it is done where it comes from

On a real card the edge of a coin lifts the layer better than a nail does. Concentrate the force on one point, though, and you take the printing off with it — the proper way is to lay the edge over and work with the flat of it. Move back and forth from one side in a consistent direction and the dust gathers on the same side, which makes the cleared area easy to judge by eye.

Here the dust flies in whatever direction your finger is traveling. Long strokes in one direction keep that sense of progress alive better than scrubbing back and forth. At around seventy percent cleared the remainder wipes itself away, so there is no need to be diligent right to the last corner. Whatever card appears goes into the card album.

Questions people ask

Is there anything to win?: No. There are no prizes, no points and nothing to pay. All twelve cards come up with the same likelihood, and no rarity is shown anywhere.
Where do the cards I find go?: Into the card album. It is shared with paka, the capsule toy, and holds twelve cards in total. What you have collected is kept in this browser only.
Can the same card come up twice in a row?: Yes. Nothing steers the draw away from what you have already seen, so runs of the same card do happen. The album marks it as one you already had, and the count does not go up.