Card Club
From Final Fantasy Wiki
The Card Club is a school-based club containing skilled Triple Triad players in Final Fantasy VIII. Made up of students and faculty members of Balamb Garden, the identities of the club are not publicly known, and the player must scour the Garden to find them. The Club members will only acknowledge their membership once the previous member has been defeated. Though there is no reward in particular for beating the Card Club their members hold many rare cards.
[edit] Members and Membership
While it is unclear how actual membership into the club is handled a challenger must challenge each member by order of card value (ie Jack, Club, Diamond, Spade, Heart, King). Joker, as is fitting to his card value, can be challenged anytime by the challenger and is considered apart from the Card Club's 'partiarchy'.
The members of the Card Club are as follows:
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Jack | The first to mention the CC Group to Squall. He is also the first member to challenge Squall once he had considerable skill in Triple Triad. He is found in the main lobby. |
| Knight Club | Only interested in playing Triple Triad with Squall, and says nothing else except "Draw..." to challenge him. He is found outside of the dormitories along the circular walkway. |
| Princess Diamond | Is actually a post held by two people; a pair of female Garden students that hold many of Triple Triad's high level cards. They are found with Jack in the main lobby, walking up to and standing in front of the directory. |
| Prince Spade | Gave Squall his first deck of Triple Triad cards. He is found on the second floor in the hall leading to the elevator. |
| Queen Heart | This member is Xu. She holds many high level cards, which includes the Carbuncle card. Her location varies depending on where in the storyline the player looks for her. |
| Master King | Revealed to be Quistis Trepe. She holds many high level cards, including the Gilgamesh card. She only challenges Squall in his dorm room when he rests after he defeats Queen Heart. |
| Magician Joker | Holds the Leviathan card. He updates the battle meter and acts as a shopkeeper in Balamb Garden's training center and the Ragnarok spaceship. He appears randomly on a platform overlooking the water in the training center. |
Dr. Kadowaki also mentions she once served as Master King, but was defeated by an unspecified student (presumably Quistis) several years prior. She does not hold any rare cards.
[edit] Story
While not publicly known as Card Club members, the individual members of the group interact with Squall at various times. Such as Prince Spade who gives Squall his first deck of cards or Xu (Queen Heart) who assists in the organization of Squall's final field exam. The most notorious involvement of a Card Club member in the game would be Quistis (Master King) who was involved with Squall from the beginning but never lets on that she was a member of the club.
The first time the Card Club is mentioned is by Jack in casual conversation but only after Squall gained some skill in the game with 15-20 games. After going through the members, when in search of the Master King, Dr. Kadowaki would reveal that she herself was once a member of the club.
When the Time Compression is initiated by Sorceress Ultimecia the Card Club members survive by boarding the spaceship Ragnarok. Here the group members, including Quistis, will wander the airship's halls waiting to challenge Squall with rules from around the world. Of particular note, Diamond will use any rare cards Squall had missed during the game, albeit she uses them one at a time. Joker will also sell items and provide weapon remodeling.
[edit] Trivia
- In Japan each school has a variety of clubs ranging from the practical (sports, class-room oriented) to the mundane (anime fangroups) and traditional (tea ceremonies, origami) all created and run by the student body. As Final Fantasy VIII was designed with a school theme this is reflected in Balamb Garden with the Trepies, the Garden Festival Commitee, the Library Commitee, the Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee and the Card Club.
- It is unknown where the Queen of Cards fits into all this, if she does at all.
