Test strategies before you playtest them. The computer plays full seasons with the XP plan and lineup style you pick, then scores each roster against all three October opponents. Use it to see how often a strategy wins, where the XP goes, and which cards never get used.
Press Run to simulate seasons.
Pocketober is a solo baseball card game you play in your hand. Over eight months, from Spring Training to September, you build a 27-player roster by clearing scenarios and spending XP to develop players. In October you take that roster into a two-phase World Series. Your score is the total stars on your roster, and winning the World Series is the banner on top.
The deck has 9 batters, 9 pitchers and 9 two-way players. Every card has four levels. Levels 1 and 2 are on the front and levels 3 and 4 are on the back. The level you're at is the one upright, facing you.
| Level | Name | Stars | Stats | Two-way stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prospect | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Role Player | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | Veteran | 6 | 11 | 9 |
| 4 | All-Star | 9 | 16 | 13 |
Each level shows four stats: Skill, Speed, Clutch and Defense, plus a key (B1 to B4 or P1 to P4) that picks a scenario when the card is the key card.
The identity icons never change: handedness, region (USA, Latin America, Asia), division (East, Central, West) and acquisition (Draft, Trade, Free Agent). Batters also have a lineup position (Top, Middle, Bottom) and pitchers have a trait (Power, Movement, Control). Two-way players have neither, and use their batting hand when batting and their throwing hand when pitching.
Each month card lists four batting and four pitching scenarios. Each scenario names the opponent (a pitcher trait or a batter position), their hand, the threshold to beat, and the XP for a full clear. The balanced values are in the table at the bottom of this page and on the cards in the Play tab.
A month is six hands. The last three cards can't make a hand. They're stranded, and each is worth 1 XP of carry-over that you can spend on those three cards or bank.
| Slot | Role | Adds to your total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leadoff | Speed |
| 2 | Primary | Skill, plus handedness and trait matchups |
| 3 | Cleanup | Clutch |
| 4 | Defender | Nothing. It isn't in the lineup, but its Defense can save a miss. |
Matching the scenario. Only slot 2 has to match: batters or two-way players for batting scenarios, pitchers or two-way players for pitching. A mismatched card in slot 2 adds a flat +1 instead of its Skill. Any card can lead off, bat cleanup or defend.
| Result | You need | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Full clear | The threshold or more | Full XP |
| Partial clear | 75% of the threshold, rounded up | Half XP, rounded up |
| Failure | Less than the partial target | No XP, and your defender takes the hit |
If your lineup misses the partial target, the gap is the partial target minus your total, and your slot 4 defender steps in:
Defense never turns a miss into a full clear, and only your defender can be hurt. If you skipped and have no defender, nothing can save the scenario, and your slot 2 card takes the hit.
Leveling a card costs the total of its current stats: 4 XP from level 1, then 7 and 11 for specialists, or 6 and 9 for two-way players. You can only develop cards in the hand you're playing, or the three stranded cards at the end of a month. XP you don't spend stays in the bank.
After September, choose your World Series opponent. Each one is a difficulty level. October has no hands, no key card and no XP.
There are no partial clears in October. Missing either threshold ends the season.
Add up the stars on every card at the end of the season. Injured cards count 0. Winning the World Series is the banner; the stars are your score.
Thresholds match the printed month cards. Full-clear XP is rebalanced and replaces the printed XP.