Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! (2022) [+]
Aug 18 2025
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! Is a horse racing game using solitaire mechanics to power up your horse. On iOS it's part of Apple Arcade.
You play a rookie jockey breaking into the sport. Horses have various characteristics: speed and stamina are the primary; Age because eventually a horse gets too old; up to three skills which are more like special powers such as gain stamina if you are drafting another horse or find extra luck cards; peak number which is the stage when solitaire scores extra points (but if the next stage is not the finish line your horse gets more tired); whip number which is how many times you can whip your horse in the final stretch; horse experience level and going up a level increases speed and stamina.
A race has a start, 2 to 3 (perhaps more) stages, and a final stretch. The start is a mini-solitaire game where you try to reveal the back cards and find the "3". If you do then your horse has a better start. Most back cards are "2" which is an average start. There is a "1" which would be a slow start. Running out of time would also be a slow start.
Then you have a horse race animation as you ride amongst the other horses (and everyone is riding cute chonky horses). Then either the next stage or the final stretch. A stage is a regular solitaire game: cards are put face up on the table; choose a card to eliminate then you can continue with numerically adjacent cards (Ace connects with Two and King); if you run out of options flip a card from the draw pile. You're trying to clear the table before time runs out and the faster you do it the more energy you get. Sometimes there are special cards like skill XP for your horse (otherwise the horse never gets more skills).
The Peak Stage (depends on each horse) you get more energy and a whole lot if you clear the table. Also you get more energy the happier the horse is. Tired horses get unhappier, getting hit by other horses also makes your horse unhappy, and not clearing the table makes your horse unhappy.
Which reminds I forgot that before each stage you are shown a lane view with all the horses positioned and upcoming special cards you can run over. Middle is harder solitaire games but more energy; next to that is comfortable range ("2" at start) where the game is easier and your horse conserves energy; then there is the easy range where you can regain energy just from racing. You tap where you want to go and your horse will try to get to that position but other horses are moving around too and if you run into a horse with more energy (if they are on fire they have more energy) your horse gets pushed around.
In the final stretch you have a sideways aerial view as you and the other horses run in a straight line. You can switch lanes to avoid horses. Slow down to avoid a crash. Use your whip to go faster. Mostly I stay in my lane and whip as I've never had another horse in front of me (and if you have more energy you push other horses aside so maybe that was it).
In between races you have dialogs with the horse owner, trainer, and rival jockeys — there are no dialog decisions or any choices. You can buy powerups from Chirp the Japanese anime girl. You can change horses and more horses become available as you win races.
It's a fun little game. Also available on the Nintendo Switch and it's the type of game that fits on that console.
You play a rookie jockey breaking into the sport. Horses have various characteristics: speed and stamina are the primary; Age because eventually a horse gets too old; up to three skills which are more like special powers such as gain stamina if you are drafting another horse or find extra luck cards; peak number which is the stage when solitaire scores extra points (but if the next stage is not the finish line your horse gets more tired); whip number which is how many times you can whip your horse in the final stretch; horse experience level and going up a level increases speed and stamina.
A race has a start, 2 to 3 (perhaps more) stages, and a final stretch. The start is a mini-solitaire game where you try to reveal the back cards and find the "3". If you do then your horse has a better start. Most back cards are "2" which is an average start. There is a "1" which would be a slow start. Running out of time would also be a slow start.
Then you have a horse race animation as you ride amongst the other horses (and everyone is riding cute chonky horses). Then either the next stage or the final stretch. A stage is a regular solitaire game: cards are put face up on the table; choose a card to eliminate then you can continue with numerically adjacent cards (Ace connects with Two and King); if you run out of options flip a card from the draw pile. You're trying to clear the table before time runs out and the faster you do it the more energy you get. Sometimes there are special cards like skill XP for your horse (otherwise the horse never gets more skills).
The Peak Stage (depends on each horse) you get more energy and a whole lot if you clear the table. Also you get more energy the happier the horse is. Tired horses get unhappier, getting hit by other horses also makes your horse unhappy, and not clearing the table makes your horse unhappy.
Which reminds I forgot that before each stage you are shown a lane view with all the horses positioned and upcoming special cards you can run over. Middle is harder solitaire games but more energy; next to that is comfortable range ("2" at start) where the game is easier and your horse conserves energy; then there is the easy range where you can regain energy just from racing. You tap where you want to go and your horse will try to get to that position but other horses are moving around too and if you run into a horse with more energy (if they are on fire they have more energy) your horse gets pushed around.
In the final stretch you have a sideways aerial view as you and the other horses run in a straight line. You can switch lanes to avoid horses. Slow down to avoid a crash. Use your whip to go faster. Mostly I stay in my lane and whip as I've never had another horse in front of me (and if you have more energy you push other horses aside so maybe that was it).
In between races you have dialogs with the horse owner, trainer, and rival jockeys — there are no dialog decisions or any choices. You can buy powerups from Chirp the Japanese anime girl. You can change horses and more horses become available as you win races.
It's a fun little game. Also available on the Nintendo Switch and it's the type of game that fits on that console.