Card-Jitsu

*For a list of cards, click here. For a list of power cards, click here. For a guide for the game, see tactics guide. For the real life replica, see Club Penguin Trading Cards. For the other games in the series, see Card-Jitsu (disambiguation).*
**Card-Jitsu** was a card game played in the Dojo, member igloos (through Card-Jitsu Mats) and formerly, the Ninja Hideout. To get there, players needed to go to the Dojo Courtyard, which was accessible via the map or the Mine Shack and enter through the doors.

On a player's first visit, they had to talk with Sensei, the owner of the Dojo. He would tell the player about the game and give the Starter Deck as well.

According to the Belts Legend, belts were earned faster if players used the "Earn Your Belts" mode instead of playing on a mat. The belts ranked from white belt to black belt (excluding the rank of ninja).

Since May 28, 2009, players could see their deck at the Dojo and Dojo Courtyard. They needed to click on the icon with 3 cards at the bottom right corner of the screen.

## Stamps

### Easy

 Elemental Win stamp | Win a match with three different elements.

### Medium

 One Element stamp | Win a match with three cards of the same element.

### Extreme

 Full Dojo stamp | Score 9 cards before you win.

## Playing online

Once players received the cards from the Starter Deck, they had to go to a mat, or talk to Sensei and select "Earn Your Belts" (as mentioned before, this mode was recommended as you got new belts quicker). If they used a mat, they would have to wait for another player to come and play with them, which might take a while. If no one came to your mat, you could switch to a busier server, or a match could also be found in under 10 seconds by speaking to Sensei on the "Earn Your Belts" mode.

The objective of the game was to beat opponents by collecting sets of winning Card-Jitsu cards. Only certain cards would beat others, via the form of *Rock, Paper, Scissors*.

Once players had an opponent, they would be taken to the arena, and would bow to each other. Both players had 20 seconds to choose a card. If they failed to choose a card, one would automatically be selected when the timer reached zero. Once both players have chosen a card, they were revealed. The winner kept the card to help make a set.

Remember that:

* Fire beats Snow
* Snow beats Water
* Water beats Fire

However, in the event of similar types of cards being played, the card with the highest number would win. If the numbers also matched, a draw would happen.

### Winning

 File:Card Jitsu Alternate Win.png
There were three ways to win a match. First, players could have the same type of card (such as Snow, Water or Fire), but three in different colors, such as Red, Blue, Green, etc. Alternatively, you could have one of each card, in different colors. Also, if you played a power card with a "No Snow", "No Fire" or "No Water" until the next round and the opponent player had only that element, no card could be placed, thus automatically making you the winner. You could also see how to play by mousing over the question mark "?" during a match.

### Actions

When players won a round, your penguin might perform an action. They are as follows:

* **Snow** – The player's penguin hits the opponent with a snowball.
* **Water** – The player's penguin hits the opponent with a water balloon.
* **Fire** – The player's penguin squirts hot sauce at the other penguin's feet.
* **Power Cards** – Every Power Card had its own animation. (*See List of Card-Jitsu Power Cards*)

### Cards

*For a list of cards and its special effects see Card-Jitsu Cards.*
## Rewards

After playing a certain number of games, players were rewarded with a belt. When they reached black, they had to fight Sensei to earn their mask and become a ninja.

White Ninja Belt icon.pngThe White Ninja BeltYellow Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Yellow Ninja BeltOrange Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Orange Ninja BeltGreen Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Green Ninja BeltBlue Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Blue Ninja BeltRed Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Red Ninja BeltPurple Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Purple Ninja BeltBrown Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Brown Ninja BeltBlack Ninja Belt icon.pngThe Black Ninja BeltNinja Mask icon.pngThe Ninja Mask
## Tips

Main article: Card-Jitsu/Tactics Guide
* Use logic to try to beat your opponents. For example, if a player had one Fire-type and one Snow-type card, they would probably use a water-type card so you should use a snow type card. But if the penguin who was fighting with you was a high belt penguin, they know if they chose water and you choose snow you would win. So they chose Fire-type card to defeat your snow. This way it was better to choose a water-type card.
* When fighting Sensei, you could use Fire and Water back and forth to win easier. It would not always work but it would eventually. And if you did not have a water/fire card you could use the same element you did last time, but you should not use snow.
* Most players of Card-Jitsu developed "special techniques" to help them win almost every game. These tactics could vary from their starter card, to the last card, or which cards to play at a difficult situation.
* Predicting your opponent's next move would help you greatly when playing Card-Jitsu. If they also predicted your move, this was known as a "double-bluff", and could sometimes backfire onto you.
* Typically you had a 1 and a half chance in winning a round. These chances increased under certain circumstances.
* If you were a person with a high belt (brown, black etc.) and the person you were playing was or almost was the same belt as you, and you for example had two snow but no fire or water. It would be safe to pick a high snow because the other person would think you would try to trick them, so they thought it would be safe to pick water.
* Most players tried to win by getting a snow, fire, and water. You could try to win by getting a three-of-a-kind.
* A common method was to use 2 cards of a certain element. For example, if they had 2 fire cards, they expected you to use water. You would have to use fire. If you were the one tricking, double-fool them by using water.
* Pick high numbered cards so if you had the same element as the opponent, you could win, but you could pick a low numbered card when someone picked one of the three Starter Pack power cards.
* One technique was the backwards technique. This technique worked when you were fighting high-belts and low. It worked by picking your highest card at the time. For example, a snow card. Then you picked the card that would lose to that (water). If they were the same color, move onto the next one (fire). If it was the same color you had to keep the cycle (snow, water, fire). This sometimes worked better for the belts in the middle (green, blue, red) better than high belts.

### Card-Jitsu Fire

Main article: Card-Jitsu Fire
Card-Jitsu Fire was released on November 23, 2009. In Card-Jitsu Fire, you had to move through the tiles according to the number which was shown on the dice-like circle in the middle of the Volcano. Only ninjas that had the Amulet could play the game. Card-Jitsu Fire was a multiplayer game, with 2–4 players at once. Instead of earning belts, you would get a Fire Suit by unlocking item by item, starting with shoes up to the head. When you got all of the items, you had to beat Sensei to earn a Fire Gem on your Amulet, and become a Fire Ninja.

### Card-Jitsu Water

Main article: Card-Jitsu Water
Card-Jitsu Water was released on November 24, 2010. In Card-Jitsu Water, you had to move from the end of the Waterfall by throwing the correct element that would beat the other element to get to the next platform. It was located in one of the secret doors, like Card-Jitsu Fire, so only penguins with the Amulet could get to the room. It was a multiplayer game, with 2–4 players at once. Instead of earning belts, you would get a Water Suit by unlocking item by item, starting with shoes up to the head. When you got all of the items, you had to beat Sensei to earn a Water Gem on your Amulet, and become a Water Ninja.

### Card-Jitsu Snow

Main article: Card-Jitsu Snow
Card-Jitsu Snow was the most recent game in the series. It was released on May 23, 2013 as confirmed by Spike Hike and Polo Field on Twitter. It was the first Card-Jitsu game to be beta tested. Beta Testing began on February 28, 2013 and ended on April 11, 2013. Unlike the other games in the series, you had to team up with other ninjas to battle Snow Minions in order to win. There were three rounds, and you had to win all three rounds to complete a match or to enter the bonus round if you met the requirements (every ninja with full health; complete the three sessions in the time limit; no ninjas down). After you earned the Snow Gem, you could battle Tusk alongside Sensei and two other ninjas, and become a Snow Ninja. If you won, you could earn even more snow-themed items beyond the Snow Suit.

## Trivia

* According to a comment made by Rsnail, the Club Penguin Team was working on Card-Jitsu as early as Beta Testing.
* Card-Jitsu was Rsnail's last big project before leaving *Club Penguin*.
* In issue 160 of the Club Penguin Times, if you clicked the letters N, I, and N in the word Lightning, the letter J in Dojo, and the letter A in Damaged (this spells NINJA), a stone tablet would appear saying: "fire, water, snow the triangle of power your journey's first step".
* According to Rsnail, Card-Jitsu was born from his desire to make a rock-paper-scissors game. Originally, this was going to be a pirate sword fighting game that would take place on The Migrator, but this was scrapped. After a meeting with employees of WizKids Games, Rsnail got the idea to make Card-Jitsu.
* According to Polo Field, the game would have been called "Card-Jutsu" but was named "Card-Jitsu" as he thought "ninjutsu" was spelled as "ninjitsu". This mistake was pointed out to him by a player.
* In a 2015 interview, Spike Hike stated that a new game that is "basically a 3D reboot of Card-Jitsu" was in the works, and a "lot of work" was put into it, but had to be "put on hold for a lot of reasons". No further information about this project was revealed until years later in 2020, in which Spike Hike shared a video on Twitter showcasing footage of the game, in what appears to be a power card animation.
* Mike Elliott, a card game designer best known for his work on *Magic: The Gathering*, was one of the designers of Card-Jitsu.

## Glitches

* The game would load for a long time and show your name and nothing else.
* Your penguin's color could appear Dark Black.
* While battling Sensei, his color could eventually appear orange instead of gray.

## Gallery

Q.PNGA card while loadingSgigloo.PNGA Rank 11 rare cardRockhoppersship.PNGRare Rank 12 cardClocktower.PNGA Rank 6 card that was given in the Water Booster DeckDojosketch.PNGA common power cardFf.PNGThe second rarest Starter Deck power cardMecards.PNGAn example of a player with exactly 100 cardsJetpackcards.png4 rare cards (the Rank 7 was not that rare, if you were lucky you would get it in the Fire Booster Deck) with the Jet-pack themeCloudwavecard.pngA quite common rank 12 card (given to players in the Fire Booster Deck)Whitepufflecard.pngA puffle deck power cardABOMINABLE SNOW PUFFLE card image.pngA puffle deck card with the "Abominable Snowpuffle" sketch seen in PSA Mission 5: Secret of the FurS.PNG4 blue water cards scored in a row, attempting to earn the Full Dojo stampMe1.PNGA page of cardsFile.jpgAn example of a real life card3 year CJ.pngAn example of a power card (3rd Anniversary Party)Aunt-arctic CJ.pngAn example of a power card (Aunt Arctic)4powers.jpgA sketch of Card-JitsuFirefighter1.jpgAnother sketch of Card-JitsuSensei haiku.pngThe menu screen with placeholder text
### Stamp Book photographs

Stampbook Polaroid Card-Jitsu 1.pngStampbook Polaroid Card-Jitsu 2.pngStampbook Polaroid Card-Jitsu 3.png

## SWF

* Card-Jitsu Belts
* Card-Jitsu Instructions
* Card-Jitsu Menu

## External links

* Video on how to become a ninja

1. ↑ Card-Jitsu™ - New Game in The Dojo!
2. ↑ Rsnail mentions working on a game for the Dojo in 2005
3. ↑ Ninjas and Penguins
4. ↑ How Club Penguin Changed My Life
5. ↑ A Rare Interview With Manager Of Club Penguin Spike Hike
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/SpikeHikeCP/status/1271233661791121408
7. ↑ Hiking and Questions