Poker on cell phones is like solitaire on PCs — it’s practically a staple. There is a reason for this, of course: It’s one of those games you can play for five minutes or a few hours, and have a good time. Hudson and developer SpiderMonk want to shake up the card-game genre, and do so with guns blazing in 6 Shooter Showdown Poker.

As you can imagine from the game’s title, it takes place in the wild, wild West. There are all sorts of unsavory cowpokes looking to get rich at the flip of a card, and you’re one of them. Things start out relatively normally, as you hit the first casino to either play five-card draw or Texas Hold’em poker. They’re both a good complement to the other, and I was perfectly happy playing one for a while before switching over.
Once you stack some chips there, you can move to a seedier saloon atmosphere. Here, cheating is possible. If you’re dealer, you can choose what card to give yourself, and anyone can pull a card out of their sleeve after the final bets. This aspect is toned down enough that it doesn’t wreck all strategy, and I didn’t use it too often.
Complementing the cheating, you can accuse someone of playing unfairly. When this happens, you go into a rock/scissors/paper style confrontation with them. Rifles beat six-shooters, but are bested by the quicker derringer; six-shooters use their power to beat the derringer, and so on. You have a few hearts, and getting shot removes one. If they all disappear, you die and it’s game over. Luckily, both you and your opponent have a “surrender” option; while costing you some money, you at least get to go on living.
The graphics and control are exactly where they should be in 6 Shooter. Characters look good and ornery, and the cards are easy to read. Gameplay is set so you never need more than one hand to handle every option. It’s also a pretty lengthy game, with four stages of casinos/saloons, so you won’t be it any time soon. Everyone should have poker on their cell phones, so why not have poker with a twist? 6 Shooter Showdown Poker is innovative and clever, and will keep you occupied ’till the cows come home.