Palia’s black market card game is causing player arguments

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.

Image: Singularity 6 via Polygon

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.

Over the past few days, I’ve had multiple sessions of Hot Pot be interrupted by neighboring tables breaking out into arguments. The dialogue usually boils down to “Hey, you’re cheating!” and “No, we’re working together.” Of course, having a public argument is unproductive at the best of times; having one in an online game where everyone is subjected to the back-and-forth due to proximity chat rarely goes well. Everyone in Palia is polite on the surface, during daylight. But at night, fast table debates can break out, and next thing you know the chat is filled with accusations and unsavory insults.

This argument is part of the tension of Palia; it’s an online sandbox that’s meant to sustain a community, but it’s also a very chill and low-key experience that’s often best enjoyed solo. Most of the time, this works, and the player base is very well behaved. After Hot Pot games, players will line up to spend their coins and spin the wheel, and it’s considered a faux pas to run up and join a game at a table with four players already there. But the fast table debate has broken down the usual etiquette and civility, and I’m curious to see how — or if — Singularity 6 tackles these clashing priorities between players.