Game rules
Everything you need to play, plus the few subtleties that make the difference.
A turn of play
- Draw. You flip the top card of the deck. It adds to the pot, multiplies it, or it explodes.
- Bank. The pot goes to your score for good. The round ends and you move on to the shop.
- Bust. On a bomb, the pot is lost and you lose a life. You have 3; at zero, the game is over.
The streak bonus
Every extra card drawn in a round raises the value of banking by 22% — and the effect compounds. Banking after six cards is therefore worth nearly double the same pot banked after one. That is what makes waiting pay off, and it is the only trade-off that truly matters.
The rule people learn too late
Banking removes permanently from the deck the cards drawn during the round. Since a banked round never contains a bomb, it is always good cards that disappear: the deck mechanically becomes more dangerous every time you bank. Busting on a bomb, on the other hand, puts everything back. The starting deck holds 26 cards including 5 bombs.
Every card
| Card | Effect |
|---|---|
| Penny | +1 to the pot |
| Coin | +2 to the pot |
| Shilling | +3 to the pot |
| Nugget | +5 to the pot |
| Ingot | +8 to the pot |
| Hoard | +13 to the pot |
| Doubler | Doubles the pot |
| Tripler | Triples the pot |
| Bomb | The round blows up |
| Wire cutters | Removes a bomb from the deck |
| Sonar | Reveals the next 3 cards |
| Insurance | On a bomb, you keep half |
| All-in | +18 to the pot, but +1 bomb |
| Magnet | +2 per card already drawn |
Three tips to improve
- Watch the risk gauge, not your gut: it shows the real probability.
- Wire cutters are often worth more than a big payout: removing a bomb improves every round that follows, whereas a Hoard improves only one.
- Late in a game, when the deck is thick with bombs, bank early: the streak bonus no longer offsets a 40% risk.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Push Your Luck free?
- Entirely. No account, no ads, no in-app purchases. The game runs straight in your browser.
- How does the daily game work?
- Every day at midnight (Paris time) a new deck is dealt, identical for every player. Only one attempt is ranked, which keeps scores comparable.
- Can the leaderboard be cheated?
- The score is not sent by the browser: the server replays the player’s sequence of actions from the daily seed and recomputes the result itself. A made-up sequence is rejected.
- Is it a game of luck or skill?
- Both, but the information is complete: the exact composition of the remaining deck is always on screen, so the odds of the next draw are known. Over time, how you manage the deck matters more than luck.
- Does it work on mobile?
- Yes. The interface is built for one hand in portrait, and the game can be installed as an app from your browser.