Your first Free Play hand
Free Play is the zero-risk way to try Stacked. No USDC (a digital dollar that holds a stable value), no on-chain activity — just poker with play-money chips.
Before you start
You need one thing: a connected wallet. Popular wallets work — Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, Rainbow, WalletConnect — or the embedded wallet Stacked creates for you. See Connect a wallet if you haven't done that yet.
You don't need USDC. Free Play has no real money involved.
Steps
- Open the lobby. You'll see a list of active tables, with each tagged either Free Play or real-money. Look for a Free Play table at stakes you're comfortable with.
- Click sit. A prompt asks how many chips you want to start with. Pick any amount — Free Play chips have no real value.
- Play. Tables seat you instantly by default, Free Play included. The next hand deals you in. If the Host has turned off Auto-Accept, you'll see a pending status until they approve you.
What's the same as real-money
The poker engine is identical: same shuffler, same rules, same UI, same action timer. Anything you learn in Free Play transfers directly to a real-money table.
What's different
- No deposit. No USDC moves, no transaction to sign, no gas to pay.
- No on-chain activity. Free Play tables don't deploy a contract or trigger settlements. Chips are tracked off-chain and forgotten when you leave.
- No earnings. Play-money tables don't earn anything for anyone — there's no real money in play.
- No persistence. Each session starts fresh — there's no Free Play balance to track between visits.
When you're ready for real-money
If you want to try a real-money table after Free Play, you'll need USDC on Base, an Ethereum-based network with very low fees. See Get USDC on Base and then Your first real-money hand.
What's next
- Your first real-money hand →
- At the table → — what to expect during a hand.
- Free Play vs real-money →
- Host your own table → — Free Play or real-money; real-money Hosts earn 25% of the platform fee.