Three of Clubs

Manga
OVA
Netflix
Netflix S1
Netflix S3

Three of Clubs (クラブの3, Kurabu no San) is a game that takes place at a festival, and it is the first game introduced in the manga series.

As a Clubs challenge, the game requires players to balance each other's strengths and weaknesses and work as a team.

Overview[]

Set-Up[]

Location:
Festival
Player Limit:
None
Time Limit:
Until all lanterns go out

Rules[]

Each player draws a paper fortune.
Each fortune has a luck rating which determines the difficulty of the question. Each question has a numeric answer. For every point by which a player's answer differs from the correct answer, one flaming arrow is fired at the venue.
It is GAME CLEAR when every player has drawn a paper fortune.
It is GAME OVER if any player has not drawn a paper fortune by the time all the lanterns have gone out, or if all players are killed during the game.

Details[]

There is one fortune that does not contain a question, which is the "Excellent Luck" fortune drawn by Karube. Instead, it includes a short message with the keywords "Lucky direction: South". The second fortune is drawn by Chota, and when the penalty is triggered, the arrows are fired from the train station. The third fortune is drawn by Shibuki, and the arrows are fired from the mountains. The fourth fortune is drawn by Arisu, and the arrows are fired from the hospital. Each of these fortunes also has a small note in the corner of the paper: "Fear the West", "Fear the East", and "Fear the North" respectively. Although these details appear arbitrary, these directional hints are essential for solving the game.

Solution[]

Taking all the previous details into account, Arisu realizes that the directional messages on the fortunes indicate the origin of the arrows. "South" is the favorable direction. South of the festival grounds, there is a well that leads to a concealed room connected to the sewage system, allowing the players to reach the city.

Strategy[]

The questions are deliberately obscure. When answering, Shibuki and Karube realize that since the challenge of the game stems from the penalty, the correct answers are likely to be higher than one would initially assume. For this reason, doubt must be considered when determining the answer.

Game Result[]

Arisu	GAME CLEAR All players drew a fortune	Chota	GAME CLEAR All players drew a fortune
Karube	GAME CLEAR All players drew a fortune	Shibuki	GAME CLEAR All players drew a fortune

Trivia[]

The name of the game has never been stated in the manga. However, readers mistake the word "omikuji" (おみくじ) for the game name and often translate it as "Good Fortune, Bad Fortune".
- おみくじ (omikuji) are fortune slips drawn at shrines and temples. They indicate different degrees of luck, from Great Blessing (大吉, Daikichi) down to Great Evil (大凶, Daikyo). Because of this, some English descriptions loosely summarize omikuji as "good fortune or bad fortune", although this is not a literal translation.
  - The literal translation of おみくじ is simply "fortune slip" or "sacred lot".
Season 3 features a new game of the same name, "Sacred Fortunes", where multiple flaming arrows fall from the sky when participants answer incorrectly. It is the same game as the manga version of Three of Clubs (which was completely remade in Season 1), but the only participant who remains the same in both versions is Arisu, and the number of fortune slips is increased from four to ten. At the end, the participants do not dig up the well; they find it and access the tunnel through a hole in the ground instead.
In the series, Three of Clubs is the first game played. Likewise, in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, the Three of Clubs is the first card soldier to appear. This is another reference to Wonderland within the series.

Games featured in the manga
Clubs [♣]
Spades [♠]
Diamonds [♦]
Hearts [♥]
Others [⚂]	Unknown Cards · Unknown Venues