Digital Extremes closed its yearly cancer charity event on October 31 with a live tournament of Portau, the card game coming to Warframe with the Tau update in December.
The finale stream on the official Warframe Twitch channel wrapped up the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Quest, a month-long drive in which donations unlock free in-game rewards for every player. At the end there raised $381,668, enough to unlock every reward tier.
Members of the Digital Extremes team and special guests played the card game and all dressed up for Halloween.
How Portau works
Portau is Warframe's first original card game. In the game, people can play it at the casino tables of Fornax, a lawless ring city in the new Tau Sytem. Instead of hearts or spades, the cards use the suits Blooms, Cores, Moons and Suns.
Pablo Alonso the Design Director for Warframe wanted simple rules, hard choices and luck that can help or hurt and it is also possible to play it with a regular deck of playing cards.
The tournament rules Digital Extremes published before the stream show how it works. Each card value from Ace to King has its own spot in a row. Players take turns placing cards, and a card earns the most points when it lands exactly in the middle between two cards already on the table. Jokers can go into any open spot, but a player holding the matching card can steal them.
Digital Extremes said these are pre-release rules tuned for the tournament, and they could still change before launch. The full tournament rules include an example board for anyone who wants to try a round at home.
Playable in Tau this December
Portau becomes playable in the game itself with Warframe: Tau, which will be released in December 2026 for free on all platforms.
Physical decks for the table
Players who want their own set can pre-order the Portau Card Box Set from the official Warframe store for $44.99. It comes with two standard-sized decks with Warframe-themed suits, a collector's box and a bag charm. A matching Portau playmat costs $49.99. Digital Extremes says the collection is only up for pre-order for a limited time, and both items are expected to ship in mid-January 2027.
