The Cards

There are two families of cards. Shop cards arrive during Shopping. You pay soft currency to accept them. They improve stores, staff, or systems. Action cards drop only during Fighting. They change how you land hits, slow mobs, or clear crowds. They are rarer and riskier to carry. Inventory limits and smart drops keep your deck healthy. You choose what to equip before you turn the slider up.

Acquisition and timing Shop cards appear while the mall is calm and earning. Expect them after you stabilize traffic or complete small incidents. Action cards appear when you hold the floor under pressure. Elites and named waves have the best chance to drop them. Clearing a major incident can surface a choice so you take the card that fits your build.

Equipping Cards socket into heroes and into mall systems. A hero can hold a small set of action cards that change attacks, defense, or control. A store can hold a small set of shop cards that affect spend rate, capacity, or damage resistance. You adjust your loadout during calm and keep it fixed while the slider is up.

Effects and Examples Shop cards might add a food court promo that increases spend for a short time, train staff to speed checkout, or harden glass to resist vandal hits. Action cards might give a taser arc that chains to nearby punks, a crowd slow in a cone, or a brief shield when you knock out a target. Effects are readable and stack in clear ways.

Risk and Loss If a hero is taken out while carrying a card there is a chance the card breaks. Broken cards leave salvage. Salvage collects toward rebuilding a replacement. This keeps risk real without wiping progress.

Rarity and Cues Action cards are rarer. Drops get a slot machine reveal with lights and sound. Higher value cards use brighter frames and a distinct pickup chime so you notice them in the chaos.

Inventory Health A soft cap per card type prevents hoarding at low levels. The drop system leans toward types you have less of so your kit fills out before it repeats. When a duplicate appears it converts into salvage or a small currency refund instead of clogging slots.

Preparation and Build Craft Before you raise the slider you set your kit. The game shows what each card does and why it matters. The mall phase is the right time to try new builds. The fight phase is where combinations prove themselves. Good kits make calm periods more profitable and make riots recoverable.