Extend the route. Hold the endpoint.
A competitive routing card game · 3–5 players · ~20 min
Packet Pressure is a competitive card game of contested route-building.
Routes are shared infrastructure — any player can extend any open route at any time.
Whoever holds the endpoint node when a route closes scores its packet (PKT) amount.
Every card you play is a bid for the endpoint — or a chance for someone else to steal it.
Relay
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN CH01 CH02 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⇒ │ │ PKT 200 │ │──────────────────│ │ REL-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
extends the route
Amplifier
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN CH02 CH03 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⊕ AMP ×2 │ │ PKT 300 │ │──────────────────│ │ AMP-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
multiplies packet score
Filter
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN CH01 CH02 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⊘ FLT-CH01 │ │ PKT 200 │ │──────────────────│ │ FLT-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
shields the route from noise
Terminal
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN ANY END OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⊣ - TERM - │ │ PKT 500 │ │──────────────────│ │ TERM-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
closes any route
Noise
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN -- CH01 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⚠ ≋≋ CH01 │ │ PKT 0 │ │──────────────────│ │ NOISE-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
destroys routes
A route is a chain of cards where each card's output channel matches the next card's input. Each node placed becomes the new endpoint, displacing the previous holder. A route closes when it hits the hop limit or a terminal is played on it; closed routes score at round end.
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN CH01 CH02 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⇒ │ │ PKT 200 │ │──────────────────│ │ REL-0001 │ └──────────────────┘→
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN CH02 CH03 OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⊕ AMP ×2 │ │ PKT 300 │ │──────────────────│ │ AMP-0001 │ └──────────────────┘→
┌──────────────────┐ │ IN ANY END OUT │ │──────────────────│ │ ⊣ - TERM - │ │ PKT 500 │ │──────────────────│ │ TERM-0001 │ └──────────────────┘
# requires Python 3.10+ git clone https://github.com/josterga/packet-pressure cd packet-pressure pip install -r requirements.txt python -m packet_pressure.run_experiment --interactive # you vs AI opponents python -m packet_pressure.run_experiment --solo # you control all players