Tableturf Battle

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Tableturf Battle is an in-universe collectible card game inspired by Turf War battles, but turn-based and designed for two players. Both players use the cards in their custom decks to add ink patterns to a grid-like board, competing to have the most ink on the board at the end of the game.

Tableturf Battle is popular in the Splatlands and can be played in Splatsville's Tableturf Battle Dojo.

History

Tableturf Battle was announced on 10 August 2022 during the Splatoon 3 Direct. It was released with the launch of Splatoon 3.

Cards

Main article: List of Tableturf Battle cards in Splatoon 3

There are currently 162 cards to collect. The cards are based on weapons, characters, and other Splatoon concepts such as Tower Control.

Splattershot Jr. card

Attributes

The face of every card has:

• a violet, yellow, or multi-colored name at the top,
• an illustration in the center,
• an 8-by-8 square grid containing an ink pattern in the lower-right corner,
• a number inside a violet, yellow, or multi-colored diamond in the lower-left corner, and
• a Special Attack cost, indicated by the number of Special Space squares that are shown at the bottom.

The ink pattern depicted in the grid is added to the board when the card is played. There are two varieties of ink, one of which appears in the grid no more than once per card. These less-common ink spaces are called Special Spaces.

The number in the lower-left corner corresponds to the number of ink spaces in the pattern.

There are three levels of card rarity: Common, Rare, and Fresh.

Each card has a sequence number that is not shown on the card but can be used for sorting. For example, the .52 Gal card is No. 7.

Each card has an upgrade level that affects the card's appearance. The level is indicated using one, two, or three stars.

Acquiring cards

Every player receives a starter deck from Staff at the Tableturf Battle Dojo.

Players can earn packs of cards by increasing their Tableturf Battle rank or catalog level. The Shell-Out Machine also has a chance to dispense packs and some can be found by exploring Alterna as well. A pack contains five random cards. Players cannot own more than one copy of a card; duplicates are converted to card bits. Players can spend card bits to acquire new cards or upgrade the appearance of existing cards.

Upgrading cards

Upgrading a card from ★ to ★★ changes its background image.

Upgrading a card from ★★ to ★★★ adds a holographic foil layer.

Decks

A deck contains 15 cards.

A player can save up to 16 decks, assigning a name and a card sleeve design to each one.

Starter deck

The starter deck contains the following cards:

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Sleeves

New sleeves can be unlocked by reaching certain Tableturf ranks or by defeating a (non-Jellyfish) rival 30 times on Level 3.

Crusty Sean's sleeve design is available as a Wandercrust Tour reward.

• 

  Default

• 

  Big Man

• 

  Callie

• 

  Cuttlefish

• 

  Crusty Sean

• 

  Frye

• 

  Gnarly Eddy

• 

  Harmony

• 

  Jel La Fleur

• 

  Judd

• 

  Li'l Judd

• 

  Marie

• 

  Mr. Coco

• 

  Murch

• 

  Sheldon

• 

  Shiver

• 

  Staff

• 

  Rank 20

• 

  Rank 40

• 

  Rank 49

Rules

A game lasts 12 turns. Each turn, working simultaneously, both players choose a card from a hand of four cards and decide where to place that card's ink pattern on the board. Players may also pass, discarding one card from their hand and gaining a Special Point.

Ink placement

A card's ink pattern must be placed orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to spaces that already contain the player's ink. On a normal turn, it cannot overlap existing ink.

If both players try to place their ink patterns in the same spot, one of two things happens:

• If the two cards have different numbers, then the card with the larger ink pattern is placed first, and the card with the smaller ink pattern is placed second. The smaller pattern covers up the larger one. However, normal ink spaces do not cover Special Spaces.
• If the two cards have the same number, then both cards add their ink patterns to the board at the same time. Spaces where the patterns overlap become neutral walls and cannot be inked again.

Special Spaces and Special Attacks

If one of a player's Special Spaces on the board becomes surrounded by the ink of either color and/or walls, that player earns a Special Point.

A player can spend Special Points to play a card as a Special Attack, allowing the card's ink pattern to replace existing ink (including the player's own ink, but not Special Spaces or walls). When a card is played as a Special Attack, its ink pattern must be placed orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to one of the player's own Special Spaces on the board.

End of game

The player with the most ink spaces on the board at the end of the game wins.

Rank and rewards

Players earn Tableturf Points at the end of each game. 40 points are awarded for a loss or draw, while 100, 115, or 130 points are awarded for a win against a Splatsville rival, depending on the rival's level.

At certain point thresholds, the player's Tableturf Rank increases, allowing access to new opponents and unlocking new Tableturf Battle stages (for use when testing out decks in the editor), as well as Splashtag and Emote options.

Tableturf Battle Rank Rewards

Points Needed		Rank	Reward
Total	Diff.
0	N/A	1	N/A
100	100	2	Rival: Cool Jelly
250	150	3	Pack of cards
400	150	4	Rival: Aggro Jelly
550	150	5	Stage: Thunder Point
700	150	6	Title: Fun - Tableturf Battler
850	150	7	Rival: Sheldon
1000	150	8	Stage: X Marks the Garden
1150	150	9	Pack of cards
1300	150	10	Banner
1500	200	11	Rival: Gnarly Eddy
1750	250	12	Locker sticker
2050	300	13	Rival: Jel La Fleur
2400	350	14	Stage: Square Squared
2810	410	15	Rival: Mr. Coco
3270	460	16	Pack of cards
3790	520	17	Rival: Harmony
4370	580	18	Stage: Lakefront Property
5000	630	19	Rival: Judd
5690	690	20	Card sleeve
6440	750	21	Rival: Li'l Judd
7250	810	22	Stage: Double Gemini
8120	870	23	Pack of cards
9060	940	24	Rival: Murch
10060	1000	25	Banner (TableTurf Tiles)
11130	1070	26	Rival: Shiver
12260	1130	27	Stage: River Drift
13460	1200	28	Locker decoration
14730	1270	29	Rival: Frye
16070	1340	30	Emote (Card Shark), and badge
17480	1410	31	Rival: Big Man
18960	1480	32	Locker sticker
20510	1550	33	Pack of cards
22140	1630	34	Rival: Staff
23840	1700	35	Stage: Box Seats
25620	1780	36	Locker sticker
27480	1860	37	Locker decoration
29420	1940	38	Rival: Cuttlefish
31440	2020	39	Locker sticker
33540	2100	40	Card sleeve and badge
35720	2180	41	???
???	???	42	???
???	???	43	???
???	???	44	???
???	???	45	???
???	???	46	???
???	???	47	???
???	???	48	???
???	???	49	???
???	???	50	Badge

Opponents

Players can battle their way to the top by challenging the 'Splatsville locals', a group of computer controlled Tableturf opponents. The 'Splatsville locals' are comprised of "Baby Jelly", "Cool Jelly", "Aggro Jelly", "Sheldon", "Gnarly Eddy", "Jel La Fleur", "Mr. Coco", "Harmony", "Judd", "Li’l Judd", "Murch", "Shiver", "Frye",...

Each of the 'Splatsville locals' have 3 difficulty rankings (Rank 1, Rank 2, and Rank 3). When a new 'Splatsville local' is unlocked, only Rank 1 is available for the player to challenge. When the player has beaten a 'Splatsville local' three times at a particular Rank, the next sequential Rank is unlocked.

A free update to Splatoon 3 will allow online play against other human players. Currently other players can be played against, but they will take the form of a computer opponent using that player's deck.

Stages

There are eight stages:

Icon	Name	Spaces
	Box Seats	100
	Double Gemini	249
	Lakefront Property	240
	Main Street	234
	River Drift	245
	Square Squared	225
	Thunder Point	240
	X Marks the Garden	245

Quotes

“	Remember the discovery of the Tableturf Battle minigame in our Splatoon 3 Direct? SRL here - we wanted to make sure this competitive card game didn't get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. Collect cards, build out your deck, and see who can ink the most 2D table turf to win! Of course, Tableturf Battle is deeper than that, and we've discovered that an official manual exists! Nothing beats field research, but you can get a tentacle up by reading through the manual carefully before starting a battle. Did you even KNOW there are Special Attacks?	”
— @SplatoonNA on Twitter

Trivia

• Some cards have similar postures to weapon illustrations and promotional materials.

Gallery

• 

  Card List screen

• 

  Results screen

• 

  Tableturf Battle machines on the upper floor of the Battle Lobby.

• File:S3 Tableturf Battle Illustrations 1.png

  Card illustrations

• File:S3 Tableturf Battle Illustrations 2.png

  Card illustrations

• 

  An unusual arrangement of neutral spaces, seen at left, caused by two Heavy Splatling cards being played in the exact same space

Rules

• 

  Tableturf Battle: The Freshest Card Game

• 

  A One-on-One Turf War...with Cards!

• 

  Ink It All with Cards

• 

  The Rules of Inking

• 

  The Where and How of Inking

• 

  Special Points for You

• 

  Special Attacks Turn the Tide

• 

  Build Your Collection

• 

  Deck Out Your Cards