Play
Back of the Card
How to play Back of the Card, the baseball stat game in Card Cabinet, and what its points buy.
On this page
Back of the Card is a game about the numbers on the back of baseball cards. Today’s game is free at cardcabinet.app/play and needs no account. In Card Cabinet, choose Play on Home or in the header. On a phone, it’s also under More.
How to play
You hold a card, and the game names a stat from the season on its back, such as home runs, hits or ERA. Your number shows. A challenger comes in with its number hidden: choose Keep mine if you think your number is better, or Take theirs if you think theirs is. For ERA and WHIP, the lower number is better.
A right answer is an out, and the better card stays in your hand. Three outs make an inning, and each inning the two numbers get closer together. One miss ends the run, but each run has one mulligan that takes a miss back.
Between innings, a bonus question about the card in your hand doubles the inning’s points. You can skip it.
Most stages deal cards the game draws, each labeled with its season. Your Cabinet deals your own cards, with the season on their backs: a 2024 card shows 2023.
Points
- Each out is worth 10 points times the inning: 10 in the first, 90 in the ninth.
- A right bonus answer doubles that inning’s points.
- 27 outs, a complete game, adds 500.
- Finishing today’s game adds 50 points, plus 10 for each day of your streak (today included), up to 150 in all.
Points are only earned by playing. They can’t be bought, and they have no cash value.
Today’s game and stages
Today’s game is the same for everyone and changes at midnight Eastern time. You get one try. It’s hitters most days and pitchers on Sunday.
With an account, you also keep your points and a streak, and more stages open as you play:
| Stage | Cards | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Modern | 2015 to now | Right away |
| Junk Wax | 1986 to 1994 | 4 innings in one Modern run |
| Your Cabinet | Your own cards | 4 innings in one Junk Wax run, with 20 players in your collection the game can match |
| Pitchers’ Duel | Aces from every era | 5 innings in one Junk Wax run |
| Vintage | 1955 to 1979 | 5 innings in one Pitchers’ Duel run |
| Hall of Fame | Hall of Famers only | 6 innings in one Vintage run |
If you played today’s game before signing in, make an account (or sign in) on the same device and today’s points come with you.
Packs and items
Points buy packs of items that change how Card Cabinet looks for you: card frames, binder pages, Showcase backdrops, a badge by your name and the game’s scoreboard. A pack costs 500 points and holds three items, each rolled on odds shown before you open it. A duplicate pays back half its worth in points.
Put items on in the game’s Locker. Your career level goes up with every point you earn, and each level has a fixed reward, shown in advance.
Card finishes
A finish gives one card in your collection a display sheen wherever it shows: Refractor, Crest Refractor, Gold or Red. Choose Your cards in the game, pick a card and a finish, and pay with points or a token from a pack.
A finish is only a look. The card’s parallel, prices, set progress and exports don’t change, and a shared binder labels it as a display finish. You can take a finish off at any time.
Where the stats come from
Player stats come from the Lahman Baseball Database (SABR), used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. They cover American and National League seasons from 1901 on and are updated once a year.
Updated 2026-10-05.