Rope-a-Deck

Monty Malone has the microphone, the mustard suit and a coffee that went cold an hour ago. You pick the fighter — Dolly Dukes and her blue gloves, Bruno "the Fridge" Brannigan, Rico "the Razor" Reyes, Nana Knuckles, Zeke "the Preacher" Okafor or the masked El Tornado, each with a knack of their own — and Monty books the fights. Club, city, national, world: choose your opponents, beat two contenders on each circuit for a title shot, and win the belt to move up. Every one of them fights out of a deck of cards.

Rope-a-Deck is a boxing brawler built on dungeon-solitaire bones. Four cards come into the fight row and you play three; the fourth waits for the next deal. His punches have to be answered — punch back and eat the difference, block with a guard that gives a little every time it stops one, or shove him into the corner and deal with him later. First aid patches you up, sucker punches load a haymaker, cash goes in the purse, and the towel on the ropes buys one fresh deal a round. Clear the deck and he hits the canvas. Three knockdowns wins a bout; title fights take four, and the world title five.

Between bouts, Monty's pro shop sells gloves, roadwork, a cut man and moves that go into every deck you fight. Each champion bends one rule — slow hands, heavy hands, low blows you can't block, cards dealt face down — and past the world title there are only defences, and they get meaner. Three losses and the career is over; the belts go in the trophy case. Take a punch without getting hit and the crowd's hype multiplies every dollar, so the money rewards style as much as survival. Blood lands on the canvas and stays until the mop comes out between rounds; one tap turns it into sweat.