Queen of Cards

The Queen of Cards (カードクィーン, KādoKwīn) is a non-playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. A master of the card game Triple Triad, the Card Queen controls regional gaming rules.

The Queen
The Queen grew up in the Dollet Dukedom, where her father worked as a painter of new Triple Triad cards. Having been raised around the Triple Triad, the Queen easily became an expert player. By the start of the game, she is one of the leading card players in the world. Although first found idling near the train station in Balamb, the Queen is constantly on the move, traveling from town to town in search of challenging opponents. Her card skills are so respected that any new rule she adopts soon spreads among the populace where she is playing. When the Queen sees that the player knows a new rule, she will ask the player if they would like that rule spread to the current region.

The Card Quest
Although the Queen carries no rare cards herself during the Quest, her father, the card painter, does. If the player is willing to lose certain coveted cards to the Queen, her father will be inspired to create a new one-of-a-kind card. For which cards to forfeit, refer to the following list:


 * Losing Mini Mog creates Kiros
 * Losing Sacred creates Irvine
 * Losing Alexander creates Doomtrain
 * Losing Doomtrain creates Phoenix
 * Losing Chicobo creates Chubby Chocobo

When they player loses one of these cards to the Queen, she will give a cryptic clue as to where she can be found next before taking off. Once the new card has been created, the player must locate the Queen in order to win back their forfeited card. The new cards created by the card painter, however, are distributed to the public, and must be won from the following people:
 * The Kiros card is in Deling City, held by the man in black.
 * The Irvine card is in Fisherman's Horizon, held by the mayor's wife, Flo.
 * The Doomtrain card is in Timber, held by the pub owner.
 * The Phoenix card is in Esthar, held by the President's Aide.
 * The Chubby Chocobo card is in Balamb Garden, held by the cadet outside the library.

Locations
Whenever the player win or lost a rare card to the Queen of Cards, she will travel to a new region. Paying 30,000 gil to her prompts her to spread a new rule to the current region. These regions are:
 * Balamb Town - outside the train station
 * Dollet - Dollet Pub
 * Galbadia - Galbadia Hotel
 * Fisherman's Horizon - the Save Point above the Sun Panels
 * Trabia - Shumi Village Inn
 * Winhill - Winhill Hotel
 * Esthar - Esthar Presidential Palace and Lunar Gate

Time Compression
By Disc 4, the Card Quest has ended, regardless as to whether the player participated. At this point, the Queen has taken up permanent residence on the Estharian continent, just outside the southern border of the city barrier. There, the player can challenge her to win any rare cards they may have missed over the course of the game.

Trivia
An actress wearing a garb similar to the Queen of Cards is seen during Laguna's acting career dream sequence. Here, the actress plays the role of a Sorceress, and Laguna her Knight.