The Grind/Questions and answers
Questions and answers
The questions that actually get asked, answered short. Anything not here goes to support@hard2play.com and a person reads it.
- Is The Grind free?
- Partly, and permanently so. The prologue and the training table cost nothing and stay free forever. Everything above the first real table unlocks with one purchase of EUR 5.99 or the regional equivalent. There is no second thing to buy.
- Does The Grind need an internet connection?
- No. The whole game - all fourteen tables, both endings, every lecture - runs with no connection at all. Your progress lives in a save file on your device. Google Play Games can sync achievements if you let it, and that is the only thing that ever wants a network.
- Are there ads in The Grind?
- None. Not between hands, not for a reward, not on any screen. There is no advertising network in the app and no analytics or tracking SDK either.
- Is this real-money gambling?
- No. The chips are virtual, no real money is wagered, and no real money can be won or cashed out. The game is filed on Google Play under Card rather than Casino, and it declares simulated gambling in its IARC rating questionnaire.
- Is the deck rigged? Do the odds bend to make the story work?
- No. The deck is shuffled with a plain Fisher-Yates pass and dealt straight, the same for you and for the machine, and nothing in the game adjusts probability to your bankroll, your mood or the plot. There is a longer answer with the specifics on the how-the-cards-are-dealt page.
- Do I need to know how to play poker already?
- No. Eight of the twenty-eight lectures start from the rules - what a street is, who acts when, how hands rank, what position buys you - and deal you a hand while they explain it. Any term the coach uses can be tapped for a one-breath definition without leaving the beat you were on.
- Is it multiplayer?
- No. It is single-player against twenty-two written characters who recur, remember how the last table went, and talk to each other between hands. There is no lobby, no chat, no turn timer and nobody to wait for.
- What languages does it support?
- Ten: English, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Chinese. That is the full game, not just the menus.
- Does it work on a tablet?
- Yes. Phone and tablet, portrait, one hand. The layout is built for portrait and is never asked to rotate.
- When does The Grind come out?
- It is out. The Grind was released on Google Play on 3 September 2026 and can be installed now. Android first; an iOS version is intended but not dated.
- What data does the game collect?
- By itself, nothing at all. The one exception is Google Play Games, which Android may sign you into on its own; you can decline it inside the game and nothing is published to your account. The privacy policy sets out exactly what goes where, and there is a separate page on deleting all of it.
- Can I get a press or review code?
- Yes. The press kit has the facts, the store texts in ten languages, screenshots from a real device, and a form that puts a code request in front of a person.