This indie dev's next game will mail checks to the winners

Passage developer Jason Rohrer's next PC release combines occult-themed multiplayer and the chance to bet real-world money, Kotaku reports.

Cordial Minuet was first teased online on its cryptic website, which you can check out here. The game requires two players, both with a six-by-six grid on-screen made up of numbered tiles. These numbers are randomized but will always add up to 111, according to Rohrer.

The goal of the game is to have the highest number. One board is tilted at a 90 degree angle from their opponent. Visually, what was originaly just a column on one board will in fact be a row in the other player's board. Both players are asked to select two columns, one for themselves and one for their opponent. Once the players confirm their selection, the user will look for where their pick intersects with the pick made for them.

According to Rohrer, this is a game of strategy and risk.

By design, players cannot play with their friends; Instead, opponents are assigned randomly and anonymously, and real money is at stake. To buy in to a game requires $2, going up to a maximum of $999 million, while the maximum bet per hand is a whopping $10 million. Winnings are later mailed to the player via check which will cost the user $1.50 to cash out. Rohrer will keep 10 percent of the earnings from the game, which itself is free outside of the $2 buy-in.

"Recent federal internet gambling laws apply to any 'game subject to chance'. This squashes the historical 'predominance' test, throwing games like backgammon and poker under the same bus as roulette," Rohrer says. "I needed to go further to stay away from this new federal law — my game could not be subject to chance at all. When you sit down at a round of Cordial Minuet, the game's outcome is decided 100 per cent by the choices that the two players make, and zero per cent by a random number generator, unlike poker and backgammon."

According to Rohrer, the use of real-world money is "the beating heart of my game." The developer points to a recent fascination with Texas Hold 'Em as his primary influence. "This game did something to me that no other game has done," he said of the poker game. "The drama and emotional anguish is magnified tremendously when there's something real at stake. I like games that can reach into real life in a palpable way."

Cordial Minuet is scheduled to hit Windows PC at the end of this year.