Summary
Alice in Borderlandthrusts unsuspecting civilians into a series of challenging games and tasks that must be cleared successfully in order to survive. The unknown forces and sources acting upon the Borderlandsassign each game with a specific cardthat denotes its difficulty and type, ranging from brutal physical acts to brain-melting psychological games.
Arisu, Usagi, and the others had to work together to clear each game in succession, extending their visas and reaching increasingly difficult games as time went on. The later face cards provided some ofthe most challenging encounters inAlice in Borderland, testing every facet of their person and pushing the limits of what is humanly possible.
8Ten Of Hearts
Hunt The Murderous Witch
Incredibly stressful and nigh impossible to strategize for, theTen of Heartsputs all the players on the beach into a two-hour limited witch-hunt. Players must find and physically burn the murderer of Momoka Inoue within the time limit, given no clues or direction other than their deductive abilities.
The other rule is that any player can be burnt with zero consequences on the outcome of the game, meaning that several players are murdered as a way of mass testing to solve the game. It took some cunning detective skills and teamwork to get through, but in such a short time, it is hard to imagine it being cleared again.
7Seven Of Hearts
Only One Can Make It Out Alive
It starts out slowly, but quickly becomes clear that one player and one player only can survive theSeven of Hearts, while the others must either sacrifice themselves or attempt to take back position as the wolf. The arena is expansive and overgrown, making it difficult to track players down and move undetected through the jungle foliage.
The difficulty comes from the circumstances in the show. The trio of friends are thrust into the game along with Saori, with Chota and Karube quickly realising that they have to hide and prevent Arisu from finding them so that he can win, making it one of thenoblest and saddest scenesin the entire show.
6Queen Of Spades
The Predator Becomes The Prey
Endurance, speed, and determination all come into play when taking on theQueen of Spades. It is effectively a team-based game of tag, where, upon being tagged, the player is disabled for the round, and upon entering the next, they join the opposing side.
Playing out over 16 rounds makes this game incredibly tiring and involves constant aggression and running around the dangerous and winding paths of the arena. There is a lot of strategy and a lot of teamwork at play, requiring coordination to track down slippery targets and quick thinking when evading multiple oncoming enemy players.
5Jack Of Hearts
Deceive Or Be Deceived
No combat, no physicality required, just plain and simple manipulation and deception. TheJack of Heartsis a game built forsmart and cunning players. In each round, a different card type is disabled at the rear of the player’s necks, concealed from them but visible to others.
The game revolves around making friends and building trust, all the while attempting to reveal the identity of the Jack of Hearts. Plenty of bridges are burnt, and it is a game of who’s who and who can be trusted, requiring long, drawn-out thought processes and a lot of out-of-the-box thinking.
4King Of Clubs
Attention And Agility
A daunting game right from the get-go,the designers of theKing of Clubsgameworked long and hard to build a diverse challenge of physicality and psychological warfare. Each team is given 10000 points to begin with, which can be distributed among each player, and they must venture out into the arena, battling opponents, finding items, and defending their teammates, all in the pursuit of points.
There are virtually endless approaches to this game, and each one has its own strengths and specific counter-strategies that can be employed against it. It comes down to the question of who is smarter, faster, and more eager to win, and who is willing to do anything it takes to take down the King himself.
3Queen Of Hearts
A Calm Game Of Croquet With A Splash Of Psychological Torture
TheQueen of Heartswas pure mental torment for Arisu. Mira, a former member of the beach, is the final barrier they must overcome before being freed from the hell of the Borderlands, and she does not disappoint. The premise could not be more simple: complete three sets of croquet, win or lose, to beat the game.
The immense difficulty comes into play when factoring in Mira’s cunning use of hallucinogens in the tea, putting Arisu into a trance, seeing scenes that were never there and increasing the urge to kill Mira, which would effectively render the games unclearable. It is all about mental fortitude and how much the power of love can trump that of evil.
2King Of Diamonds
Think Of The Possibilities
What a mind-bending ride indeed. TheKing of Diamonds,located in the Supreme Court, is as high and intellectual as the games can get. Even the explanation is hard to grapple with, involving a selection of numbers from 1-100 that is then averaged and multiplied by 0.8, and the closest selection is the winner, while the others lose a point.
This game is less about complex logic than about deductive reading, with the looming threat of a vase of acid slowly filling above each player’s head. The tensions rise quickly, and with each successive round, the rules become more complex and the decisions become harder and harder to make.
1King Of Spades
No One Is Safe From The Massacre
The king of all kingsmarches through the Borderlandswith no set arena, no set players, and no set rules other than to kill. Players across the entire area have to keep a watchful eye and ear for rapid gunshots and defeating screams, as the king rampages through groups of players in seconds with his skillful hand-to-hand combat and arsenal of unstoppable weapons.
If the mark of a good player is how many games they have cleared, and this guy alone takes out half of the main players, then the King of Spades is surely the most devastating and destructive of all the games. He is relentless and unforgiving as he tears through countless players and has possibly the highest death count of any game in the series.
