Football Card Showdown Live: Our Review, How and Where to Play

Football Card Showdown is a live casino entertainment game about predicting which of two cards will have a higher rank. It was released by Playtech in 2023 and it’s set against a football-themed backdrop complete with football commentary.

The Football Card Showdown game boasts an RTP of 96.27% with a minimum bet of $1 and a $1,000 maximum wager. The game is available on both desktop and mobile.

This unique casino game is simple in both style and execution. It’s very similar to a Dragon Tiger table with a few minor differences. The focus seems to largely be on the football concept, even though that concept is only skin-deep. The Football Card Showdown review below will explain how it all fits together.

United States

Excitement
Design & Sound
Streaming Quality
Interactivity
Win Potential
Rated :
3.7/5

Play Football Card Showdown Here

bet365

4.6/5

William Hill

4.1/5

Football Card Showdown Review

Game Specifications
Game name	Football Card Showdown Live
Game provider	Playtech
Game type	Specialty Games
Streaming from	Romania
RTP	96.27%
Bet range	€1 - €1,000
Max win	10:1
Side bets	Yes
Supported platforms
Supported OS
Languages	Bulgarian Chinese Danish English Finnish French +16 All supported languages Bulgarian Chinese Danish English Finnish French German Greek Indian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swedish Thai Turkish Vietnamese

Playtech has been relentlessly releasing speciality casino products throughout 2022, and it seems it’s kicking off 2023 to a similar tune. Football Card Showdown is difficult to categorize, with simple and lightning-fast gameplay and a football theme.

It’s quite obvious that the game most closely resembles Evolution’s Football Studio. That particular title has seen a surge of interest in the months leading up to Playtech’s release(perhaps spurred on by the 2022 World Cup.) However, Evolution’s game focuses on things other than the cards themselves. It’s all about the live football feed and the presenters’ discussion.

Playtech Football Card Showdown, on the other hand, is all about a lightning-fast game consisting of only two cards per round. To be frank, the gameplay couldn’t be any simpler if it tried. Only a few seconds pass between each round, which leaves little time for any sort of discussion on the dealer’s end. There is no live score feed, either, so the whole football theme feels very shallow.

Not that Football Card Showdown doesn’t have its strengths though. We’ll discuss those throughout this review, starting with the basics of how the game works in the first place.

Simple gameplay similar to Dragon Tiger

Presented by professional dealers in a football-themed studio

Three main betting options

Eight side betting options in total

96.27% RTP for Home/Away bets, with an increased house edge for Draw/Side bets

Lightning-fast gameplay with mere seconds between rounds

How to Play Football Card Showdown

The rules of Football Card Showdown mostly remind us of Dragon Tiger or a simplified version of baccarat. Basically, the dealer draws two cards, and your job is to predict which one will be higher. We’ll walk you through the whole process step by step.

First of all, you have a very short betting period to place your wagers. It’s just over 6 seconds, so be quick!

You have three main betting options, which harken back to the game of football:

Home
Away
Draw

So, for instance, if you place a bet on Home, you win if the card on the left is higher. Conversely, if you bet Away, you win if the card on the right is higher. It’s as simple as that. Both options pay 1:1, so no side has an inherent advantage over the other (unlike in actual football.)

As you may have guessed, Draw wins if both cards are of the same value. Draw pays 10:1 but it’s the riskiest main bet. If you bet on Home or Away and the result is a Draw, you only lose 50% of your stake. The remaining half is returned to you.

Football Card Showdown uses a standard deck of 52 cards. Ace always counts as the smallest card, with Kings being the highest/strongest.

Side Bets

Additionally, there are 8 side bets in Football Card Showdown. All of them work quite similarly, though. You’ll see what we mean.

Essentially, both Home and Away come with 4 side bets – Big, Small, Odd, and Even. A single side bet only looks at one of the two sides. For instance, if you bet on a Home Odd, your bet wins if the Home card is an odd number. The Away card is irrelevant in this case.

Let’s explain how each wager works more clearly:

Big wins if the relevant card is 8 or higher
Small wins if the relevant card is a 6 or lower
Odd wins if the relevant card is an Ace, 3, 5, 9, Jack, or King
Even wins if the relevant card is a 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or Queen

Note that all side bets always lose if the resulting card is a 7. This rule is there to ensure a house advantage exists.

Football Card Showdown Strategy Tips

1
Home and Away are the only two bets with a solid RTP rate. The rest should probably be avoided, sadly.
2
Your choice between Home/Away does not really matter. Either side has an equal chance of winning and an identical payout.
3
Beware the Gambler’s Fallacy – there is no real way to predict which card will be higher and it’s completely down to luck.

Payouts

Payouts in Football Card Showdown are pretty easy to remember. Every bet pays even money, except for the draw which pays 10:1. Here’s the complete paytable for the game to illustrate.

Bet	Payout
Football Card Showdown Paytable
Home	1:1
Away	1:1
Draw	10:1
All Side Bets	1:1

Payouts in Football Card Showdown are pretty easy to remember. Every bet pays even money, except for the draw which pays 10:1. Here’s the complete paytable for the game to illustrate.

Football Card Showdown RTP varies depending on the bet you’re making.

Home and Away bets have an RTP of 96.27%
Draw offers a significantly reduced payout rate at just 82.17%
All side betting options have a 92.31% RTP

New to Football Card Showdown?

Remember that LiveCasinos.com isn’t here just for live casino game reviews. We also handle guides and strategies, helping you get the best start possible. This game is most similar to Dragon Tiger, so you can use Dragon Tiger strategies to help you. Start with this Live Dragon Tiger strategy guide, and then check out our Dragon Tiger tips and tricks.

Make sure to choose the game that suits your taste and budget. For more extensive guides on live Dragon Tiger basics, read this article.

Special Features

There aren’t many features in Football Card Showdown worth mentioning besides the side bets. Of course, the standard Playtech interface is great. It gives you access to various settings and options, a help screen, and a live chat window.

For better or worse, the football theme is almost entirely a visual one. Unlike its main competitor, Football Card Showdown is content to decorate the studio with football ornaments and call it a day. That seems like wasted potential to us, but it is what it is.

Languages

Only one Football Card Showdown table is currently operating and it's presented entirely in English.
However, the text of the user interface can be changed to other languages, including English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish. English. French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Suomi, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Our Verdict

Truthfully, the entirety of this game comes off as somewhat directionless. It’s clear to us that Playtech wanted to compete with Evolution and its Football Studio. However, Evolution turned their game into a sort of hub for fans of football to gather and discuss their favorite topic. Coupled with a live feed of football news, it’s clear that the experience comes first and the gameplay second.

On the other hand, the Football Card Showdown live casino game offers nothing but gameplay. It’s incredibly simplistic, which was kind of the point. However, the result looks more like a slimmed-down version of Dragon Tiger. And Dragon Tiger is not a game that needs to be slimmed down.

On a more positive note, the execution is solid enough. If you want a really fast game about predicting which of two cards is higher like in Casino War, you can play Football Card Showdown for real money. For most players, though, the experience will be quite shallow.

Very Good