Pokiir

Pokiir is a popular card game in the Kingdom of the Isles in Betrayal at Krondor. In the game's novelization, Krondor: The Betrayal, it is spelled pokir.

Betrayal at Krondor

Pokiir is played with a thicker deck than Lin-Lan or pashawa. Gamblers are quick to point out that it is "latest thing played by the Keshian dog soldiers." Devon describes a straight game as "mercy's rules, full deck, nothing wild," with violence offered if someone cheats.

In the party's second encounters with Devon, he has just dealt himself a disappointing hand of solitaire pokiir when the party returns, telling them to come in so he has someone to cheat at the game.

• If the party has heard Isaac's account of the pokiir game he played with Devon, in which he claimes to have lost heavily, Devon recalls Isaac as having played so well he could have been a mind-reader.
• The party leader can then recall having played some pokiir with the soldiers at Shamata garrison and ask Devon what his game is like. They can then play against him, which triggers a standard Gambling dialog, or refuse, which prompts the story of Devon's disastrous loss at lin-lan.

Gambling

Aside from the single encounter with Devon, gamblers at the following Inns and Taverns play pokiir:

• Wolf's Teeth in Wolfram
• Anchorhead Tavern in Silden
• Rapid Rooks Inn between Silden and Sloop

Krondor: The Betrayal

Krondor: The Betrayal

Witnessing several games of chance in progress at an unnamed inn in Loriel, Seigneur Locklear itches to try his hand at pashawa or pokir, but concludes that it is unwise to gamble funds he cannot afford to lose.^[1]

Trivia

• Pokiir is a reference to the real-world family of poker games.
• Its name is usually, though not exclusively, italicized in the game's dialog.
• Gamblers show the party a Blue Lady card when explaining the game.

References