Pile Down
Pile Down
Made for GMTK Game Jam 2026
Pile Down is a fast-paced memory solitaire game about completing descending stacks before time runs out.
Memorize the hidden values, choose the right card, and survive increasingly difficult rounds filled with special rules. Build a powerful collection of bonuses along the way, finish the main challenge, and unlock Endless Mode to chase an even higher score.
How to play
- Drag a card from your hand onto the stack waiting for that value.
- Each stack accepts exactly one value below its current card.
- Placed cards are revealed briefly, then hidden again: remember them.
- A wrong move or an expired timer costs one life.
- Complete every stack to clear the round.
Controls
- Mouse / touch: drag cards, select buttons and adjust audio.
- Space: start the game or restart after a game over.
- Escape: return to the main menu; on desktop, press it again to quit.
- M: mute or restore music and sound effects.
- T: show or hide the total run time.
Special rules and Bonuses
Special rules temporarily disrupt a round. Bonuses are permanent upgrades for the current run and can reach level III.
cheat sheet (spoilers)
Special rules
- Shell Game: stacks swap places after a play.
- Merry-Go-Stack: stacks move continuously in a pattern (ish).
- Free-Range Cards: hand cards wander around the screen.
- Pile Up: build stacks upward from 0 instead of down to 0.
- Lights Out: only the area around the pointer remains visible.
- Peek-a-Card: hidden hand cards reveal themselves on hover.
- Stack Attack: some stacks slowly regenerate.
- Roman Holiday: values are displayed as Roman numerals.
- Musical Stacks: active stacks rotate after each correct play.
- Sticky Fingers: a released card stays attached until placed.
- Hot Potatoes: dragging too long sends the card back.
- Blind Delivery: a card flips face down when hovered or touched.
- Mirror Match: the game view is mirrored on one or both axes.
- Sudden Death: only one mistake is allowed.
- Grace Period: the timer stays hidden until the final moments.
- Colorblind: tile colors are replaced with grey.
Bonuses
- Open Book: keeps one or more stacks face up.
- Quick Peek: briefly reveals stacks before each hand.
- Last Reminder: keeps the last played stack visible.
- Lesson Learned: reveals the stacks after a mistake.
- Pile Mover: lets you reposition stacks.
- Wild Card: adds a chance to draw a joker, that can be used to replace any card.
- Redraw: adds an option to replace the current hand once per round.
- Lucky Hand: increases the chance of having only playable cards.
- Bring a Friend: drags nearby cards along and may place them too.
- Double Down: automatically continues a sequence on the same stack if hand card allow it.
- Deja Vu: automatically sends duplicate in hand cards to matching stacks.
- Time Bank: carries some unused time into the next hand.
- Warm-Up: grants extra time at the start of each round.
- Spare Life: adds an extra mistake allowance.
- Safety Net: ignores the first mistake of a round.
- Clean Slate: completing a stack restore a life once per round.
- Rule Breaker: allow to remove one or more active special rules.
- Adaptation: reduces the intensity of special rules.
Credits
Visual assets, game design and audio: created by me
Fonts used:
- Tiny5
- VCR OSD Mono
Source code: GitHub
Generative AI disclosure
Generative AI tools were used exclusively to assist with programming and code development. No generative AI was used to create the game's visual assets, audio, fonts, or game design.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Post Jam Release20 days ago






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