Palia’s black market card game is causing player arguments

polygon.com:

Lately, there’s been a strangely hostile underbelly in super cozy life sim Palia — and I’m not talking about the hidden cartel gambling pit under the inn. Developer Singularity 6 recently added a cute and simple card game for players to enjoy, called Hot Pot. What should have been another fun diversion in the Stardew Valley-style game has instead revealed a split in the player base.

Palia takes place in the cozy Kilima Village, where players can hang out with the townsfolk, farm, cook, or head out and explore the nearby bustling Bahari Bay. At night, an underground market opens up under the town store. The shopkeep, a cheerful cat-man smuggler, runs the night market from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Here, players can find fancy new toilets, rugs, and paintings for sale, or fish with friends. The main attraction, though, is playing the Hot Pot card game. Playing awards one coin, winning grants two, and after the games wrap up players can queue to spend their coins at a prize wheel. One spin of the wheel costs two coins, and players can win high-end cooking ingredients, adorable plushies, or cool pirate decor.

Many players like to enjoy the underground market as a chill social stop. After hunting in Bahari or talking with all the villagers in Kilima, it can be nice to unwind with a little Hot Pot. The minigame isn’t particularly demanding or competitive; you go around a table of four, trading tiles, until one player has collected three sets of three matching tiles.

A certain faction of players prefers to play “fast” games, though, going around the table as quickly as possible. When one player is about to win, they call out the card they need, and someone else at the table trades it in. This style of play is designed to produce as many coins as possible. If people are sharing tiles, there are no prolonged end-game standoffs, and everyone earns more coins. And when one fast table sets up, and starts filling the chat near the tables with callouts, it can lead to a fight.

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