How to play Higher or Lower
Higher or Lower is the card game everyone knows: a card is turned face up, and you call whether the next one will be higher or lower. Every right call multiplies your run and you can cash out after any of them. One wrong call and the bet is lost. There are two modes: Single Deck, where every card you see is gone, and Infinite Run, where every card comes from a full deck.
The aim
Cards rank from 2 (lowest) through 10, J, Q and K up to the Ace (highest). Suits don't count.
Pick a mode and a bet, then deal. Call Higher or Lower: a right call multiplies your run, and you call again on the new card. Cash out after any right call to take your bet times the multiplier.
An equal card is a push, whichever way you called: nothing is won or lost, your streak and multiplier stay as they are, and you call again on the new card. On a 2 or an Ace neither call can lose, so neither can pay: the next card is turned for you.
The two modes
- Single Deck: one 52-card deck, shuffled once by the server and never reshuffled. Every card you see is gone, so the odds and the multipliers change as you play. When the deck runs out it's complete, and your run is cashed out for you.
- Infinite Run: every card is drawn from a full 52-card deck, so there's nothing to count and the same card can come twice in a row. The run goes on until you cash out or call wrong.
How calls are priced
Each call is priced on the cards that can actually come: the less likely it is, the more it pays. A right call multiplies your run by 98% of the fair price for that call, counting a push as your stake back, rounded down to the cent. Each button shows what your run would be worth after a right call.
The first call in Single Deck, for example:
- On a 3: Higher 1.06× · Lower 11.74×
- On a 5: Higher 1.30× · Lower 3.91×
- On an 8: Higher or Lower 1.95×
- On a Jack: Higher 3.91× · Lower 1.30×
- On a King: Higher 11.74× · Lower 1.06×
Limits
A call that couldn't pay at least 1.01× isn't offered (its button says Too safe to pay), and nor is one that no card left could win.
A run can reach at most 10,000×. A call that would take it past that isn't offered, and if no call is left the run is cashed out for you. A run is also cashed out after 1,000 calls. A forced end is never a loss.
Using the controls
In the lobby, choose Single Deck or Infinite Run and your bet, then tap Play. Bets start at 1 coin: − and + step through the usual amounts, ½ and 2× halve or double, or you can type any amount up to everything you have (at most 1,000,000,000). Between runs, Deal (or Play again) starts the next one.
The strip above the table shows the mode, your streak and, in Single Deck, how many cards are left. The Cards row shows every card turned. On a keyboard, the Up arrow or H calls higher, the Down arrow or L calls lower, and C cashes out.
Leaving mid-run cashes it out at its current value. Before your first right call, the bet comes back.
Tips
- Cash out often. Each call returns at most 98% over time, and letting a win ride stacks that: about 96% over two calls and 94% over three.
- In Single Deck, check the Cards row before calling near the middle (7, 8, 9). If most of the high cards are gone, lower gets likelier and pays less to match.
- An equal card is a push, not a loss: your run carries on unchanged.
- Keeping track of the cards makes each call a little puzzle, but no way of calling or cashing out beats the 98%.
Glossary
- Run
- Your calls from the deal until you cash out or call wrong. Its multiplier grows with every right call.
- Streak
- How many right calls in a row the run has made.
- Push
- The next card is equal to the one showing. Nothing is won or lost.
- Passed card
- On a 2 or an Ace no call can pay, so the next card is turned for you, with nothing won or lost.
- Cash out
- Ending the run and taking your bet times its multiplier.