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The Card Club, also known as CC Group, is a school-based club of skilled Triple Triad players in Final Fantasy VIII.

Made up of Balamb Garden's students and staff members, the club members' identities are not publicly known, and the player must scour the Garden to find them. The members will only acknowledge their membership once the previous member down on the rank has been defeated. The group members interact with Squall at various times, never letting on they are a member of the club. The reward for beating the Card Club is access to its members' rare cards.

In the Steam/Remastered versions, defeating every Card Club member in Triple Triad earns the player the achievement Cards Club Master.

Starting the quest[]

The player can start the quest after defeating BGH251F2 in Fishermans Horizon as long as they have talked to Jack in the Balamb Garden lobby and won enough games after; Squall must win at least 15 Triple Triad games in Balamb Garden (games played in the Cafeteria, Library, and 2F Classroom do not count—presumably because there are no CC members around to observe Squall's success at the game). Talking to Jack and winning enough games within Balamb Garden can be done before the events at FH, though the quest will not start until after winning against the boss there. The player can start the quest when playing as Irvine during his sidequest in FH.

The player must win against all club members before fighting the boss at the apex of the Lunatic Pandora, or they can no longer complete the quest.

Members[]

While it is unclear how membership into the club is handled, a challenger must challenge each member by order of card value (Jack, Club, Diamond, Spade, Heart, King). Joker, as is fitting to his card value, can be challenged any time, and is considered separate from the Card Club's hierarchy.

The members of the Card Club:

Title Description Image
Jack Jack is the first to mention the CC Group to Squall. He is the first member to challenge Squall once he has considerable skill in Triple Triad. He is found in the Balamb Garden main lobby, but the player needs to wait for him to walk onto screen from the south. CC Jack location from FFVIII Remastered
Knight Club A SeeD only interested in playing Triple Triad who says nothing except "Draw..." to challenge the player. He is randomly found walking outside of the dormitories along the circular walkway. CC Club location from FFVIII Remastered
Princess Diamond A pair of female students found with Jack in the main lobby, walking up to and standing in front of the directory. The player needs to wait for them to walk into position at the info board. CC Diamond location from FFVIII Remastered
Prince Spade This is the guy who gave Squall his first deck of Triple Triad cards. He is found on the second floor outside the elevator. He possesses several high level cards. CC Spade location from FFVIII Remastered
Queen Heart This member is Xu. She holds many high level cards, which includes the Carbuncle card. She can be challenged on the bridge. CC Heart location from FFVIII Remastered
Master King Revealed to be Quistis. She holds many high level cards, including the Gilgamesh card. She challenges Squall randomly in his dorm room when he rests after he speaks to Dr. Kadowaki (after defeating Queen Heart). Once Squall wins the game Quistis can be challenged on the bridge. Unlike all other members, the player does not get an option to back out, and is forced into a card game when she challenges Squall. CC King Quistis location from FFVIII Remastered
Magician Joker Holds the Leviathan card. He updates the Battle Meter (if the player has it) and acts as a shopkeeper in Balamb Garden's training center and the Ragnarok spaceship. He appears randomly on a platform overlooking the water in the training center. CC Joker location from FFVIII Remastered

Dr. Kadowaki also mentions she once served as Master King, but was defeated by an unspecified student (presumably Quistis) four years prior. She does not hold any rare cards.

Card Club members in the endgame[]

Card Club inside Ragnarok Xu from FFVIII Remastered

Xu welcomes Squall onboard.

During the endgame, the Card Club members are found on-board the Ragnarok if the player completed the CC sidequest before the point of no return (See here to locate the Ragnarok). Each member resides in a different section of the spaceship's halls, waiting to challenge Squall with rules from around the world. Joker will also sell items and provide weapon remodeling, even if the player did not complete the quest.

Each of the club's members provide dialogue for their take on the current situation, and can use any LV8-10 rare cards the player doesn't currently have in their inventory, regardless of whether they were missed, lost, or modified into items. It is also possible to modify the rare cards into items and then win them back from the group. The cards available in the Queen of Cards sidequest are not played by most of the Card Club members; the player can find the Queen of Cards on the escape pod crash-site south of Tears' Point to win them off her.

CC Diamond during time compression from FFVIII Remastered

CC Diamond.

When challenging a CC member, the game shuffles the location of each rare card, indicated by it taking longer than normal for a card game against them to start. In order for a CC member to play a certain rare card, it needs to have been shuffled to them and selected. Despite this, the left girl of the CC Diamond duo is able to play with any rare card, including the cards normally obtained from the Queen of Cards.

CC Member Ruleset Card Lv Location
CC Joker Centra 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Elevator room
CC Jack Balamb 3, 4, 6 Lower level of Ragnarok, room up from hangar
CC Club Dollet 3, 5, 6 Hangar upper level
CC Diamond Trabia 3, 4, 5, 7 Hangar
CC Spade Esthar 3, 4, 6, 7 Storage room
CC Heart Fishermans Horizon 3, 5, 6, 7 Boarding ramp
CC King Lunar 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Airlock[note 1]
  1. Quistis must be in the party

The Queen of Cards' region and trade rule cannot be changed during the endgame, staying as whatever she used last. Before approaching the end, it may be useful to make sure her trade rule is not "Direct". If the Queen's location at the point of no return was Deling City, the trade rule for all CC members will be "One", as no CC member uses Galbadia's ruleset.

  • If the player wants to play the left Diamond girl for rare cards, the Queen of Cards can be sent to the Trabia region before the point of no return with the "All" rule, allowing Diamond to play with that (though she will still only use one rare card at a time).
  • If the player wants to play CC Heart for boss cards, the Queen could be sent to FH with "All".
  • CC King plays all card levels, and so if the player is missing cards from various levels, the player can send the Queen to the Lunar region with "All" before the point of no return.
  • If any region is currently using "Direct" as a trade rule, the player can send the Queen there with a different personal trade rule, allowing the CC member who plays with that region's rules to use that instead.

Behind the scenes[]

In Japan, each school has a variety of clubs ranging from the practical (sports, class-room oriented) to the mundane (anime fan groups) and traditional (tea ceremonies, origami), created and ran by the student body. As Final Fantasy VIII was designed with a school theme, this is reflected in Balamb Garden with the Trepies, the Garden Festival committee, the library committee, the Balamb Garden disciplinary committee and the Card Club.

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