The official name of the card game is Tetra Master. Many people all over the world play Tetra Master. The only way to find out who plays is by challenging them. Tetra Master players never back down from a challenge. To challenge people, walk up to them and press the Square button. If you challenge a person who isn't a player, he or she will probably just talk to you.

You need to know how to play the card game to finish FINAL FANTASY IX, since the player must compete and become a finalist in the Treno Card Tournament event. You can find cards in hidden treasure chests throughout the game, and you receive them after defeating monsters. Not all monsters will yield their own card after a battle; some monsters drop the card of another monster after a battle.

CARD BASICS

Describing Tetra Master is actually more complicated than playing it! When the card game begins, you must select five cards to play. You can't play the game unless you have at least five cards. You should choose cards based on the number of arrows they have, and by the statistics shown on the card. Both features of cards are explained later.

After selecting five cards, a 4x4 grid appears. Anywhere from 0 to 6 tiles on the game table can be blocked off, preventing you and your opponent from placing a card there. A coin toss determines whether you or your opponent goes first.

CARD STATISTICS

Each card has a combination of four letters and numbers on it. These numbers and letters display the strength of the card, and determine which card wins in a card battle.

When two cards battle, the just-placed card attacks using the attack number (the first stat on the card) and the attack type (the second stat on the card). The just-played card's attack number is compared to the corresponding defense number on the enemy card. The card with the highest number usually wins, although there is a small chance that a weaker card can still beat a stronger card.

You can raise the statistics on cards by playing with certain cards over and over and winning numerous Tetra Master games with them.

COMBO ATTACKS

When a card is captured in a battle, that card will then capture any cards at which its arrows point to. This is called a "Combo," the art of capturing multiple cards at once. Mastering combos is key to winning the card game. A card with many arrows, while being very versatile, is also more vulnerable to counter combo-attacks.

CARD INVENTORY

You can view your catalog of cards at any time by selecting the Card option from the Main Menu. You can never carry more than 100 cards. You should always discard weaker cards in the hopes of finding stronger or "rare" cards. A weaker card is one that has few arrows and low stats.

If you end up with more than 100 cards after a game of cards, you must throw away cards of your choice until you have 100. If you want to collect all 100 cards, you can only carry one of each card.

RARE CARDS

There are some very rare cards you can only obtain by searching certain areas of the game. If you pass up these opportunities, then you may not be able to collect all 100 cards.

You can also find rare cards in other ways. Certain treasure chests found in the world while riding a chocobo contain rare cards. The jump rope and Hippaul mini-games reward cards as prizes. However, if you already have 100 cards in your inventory, these new cards are automatically discarded. Note that when this occurs, you will NOT get a chance to choose which card you want to discard like you do in the card game.

There are also rare cards to obtain for various weapons, towns, airships, for most of the Eidolon, and for several of the Boss monsters and the rare items.

COLLECTOR'S RANK

As you collect cards, you gain prestige as a Tetra Master player. This is measured by your Collector's Rank, a number between 0-1700 that is viewable in the Card menu.

To get the maximum number of collector's points, you must collect or capture one of every card type, and each card must have a unique arrow arrangement. You must also play with each card enough times until they all level up to attack type A.

CARD LISTING

The following section summarizes all of the cards in Tetra Master. For convenience, we've listed them by the rows in which they appear on the card sub-screen.