PROMINENCE POKER was a project for an online free-to-play videogame, and years later you can still find it on PlayStation and Steam. I visited their studios several times in Oregon, and the team was so much fun to work with. They have an X account: @ProminencePoker
The game
What PROMINENCE POKER is
A free-to-play Texas Hold’em game from Pipeworks Studios, released in 2016. The single-player side is a story. The rest is online, against other people. It is still on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam.
- 2016
- Released
- Pipeworks
- Studio
- Free
- To play
- 9
- Seats a table
The release
Steam Early Access opened in May 2016. Xbox One followed on August 16. PlayStation 4 on August 23, announced with 505 Games. The full Steam release was December 12. The studio is in Eugene, Oregon.
At the table
Texas Hold’em only. You can send a tell, a look or a gesture, and you can try to read the one coming back. Chips buy the clothes and the table. They do not buy a better hand. The buy-in stays the buy-in.
Where it plays
Up to nine people online. The on-screen languages are English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. The voice is English. On Steam it is verified for Steam Deck, and the PlayStation 4 version also runs on PS5.
The rooms
You build the avatar yourself — face, clothes, tattoos — and the rooms are half the game. A casino floor. A back room. A laundromat that is not only doing laundry.
The city
The story is set in Prominence, a town built for gambling. You play through four factions and their bosses, and you finish with The Mayor, the figure who runs the place.
The tables
Online there are ring games, tournaments, and heads-up. A table seats up to nine. There are daily challenges, a ranked ladder, and private games if you want your own table.