a nerve game for one
THE SEAT
Nine cards. One is a Joker. Beat the number across the table and the chair is yours.
the chair
empty
your stack
0
the room — lines real players left at this table
The number is a claim, not a fact. The read tells you which:
steady says exactly what they banked · showman overclaims (bank under the number) · frozen undersells (the real bar is higher) · itchy can't stop flipping (push past and they flip again) · teacher talks while holding something good (longer explanation, higher bar).
The regulars are not my inventions. Each one is a real player, and the line you read is theirs.
A line you leave lives only in your own session. It is not in the room the next player sits down to.