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PUBG: Final Circle Turns the Battle Royale Into a Tabletop Card Game
Dropping into a battleground, scavenging for equipment and desperately trying to become the last survivor standing are about to work rather differently when everyone is sitting around the same table. CardMonster has announced PUBG: Final Circle, an officially licensed tabletop card game based on Krafton‘s PUBG IP that translates the familiar battle royale structure into competitive matches for two to five players.
Rather than recreating gunfights through miniatures or sprawling maps, PUBG: Final Circle centres its combat around trick-taking, combining a familiar card game mechanic with looting, character abilities and an increasingly desperate fight to survive until everyone else has been eliminated.
Trick-Taking Combat Determines Who Gets the Upper Hand
Every player begins with a character possessing a unique ability, while each round introduces a new battleground and opportunities to draw cards representing weapons and other useful items.
Combat then follows trick-taking rules. Players must match the colour of the first card played whenever possible, but simply throwing down the highest number is not always the best move. Higher-numbered cards have a better chance of winning the trick, while lower and harder-to-win cards can inflict more damage if successful.
Anyone unable to match the lead colour can potentially disrupt the encounter with a counter-colour card instead. Matching the number of an earlier card also triggers an Ambush, immediately dealing damage before the wider combat encounter has been resolved.
That creates a push-and-pull where players are constantly weighing the likelihood of winning against how much damage they can actually inflict.
Loot and Character Abilities Can Keep Survivors Alive
Winning the trick is only the beginning. Once combat concludes, the victor chooses another survivor to attack, although the target can respond using equipment scavenged earlier or their character’s individual ability.
Battlegrounds changing between rounds should introduce another layer of adaptation, while the familiar battle royale attrition remains intact. Survivors are gradually eliminated until only one remains to claim the inevitable chicken dinner.
It is another unusual extension of the PUBG name beyond its established shooter format, following Krafton’s willingness to experiment with different interpretations of the battle royale IP.
Heading to Kickstarter
PUBG: Final Circle has already had its first public outing, with CardMonster bringing a playable version to SPIEL Essen in Germany from October 22–25.
The game’s Kickstarter pre-launch page is now live, allowing interested players to register for a notification when the crowdfunding campaign formally begins. CardMonster has not yet announced the campaign launch date, final pricing or an expected release window.
For now, the core proposition is straightforward: PUBG‘s shrinking-circle tension has traded keyboards and controllers for a deck of cards, but the objective has not changed.
Everyone around the table is still standing between you and that chicken dinner.
