Queen of Cards Side Quest - FF8 Guide
The Queen of Cards side quest begins in Balamb Town during Disc 1 and is a reoccuring side quest that you can participate in at different parts throughout the entire game. Aside from this side quest, the Queen of Cards plays another extremely important role in this game with manipulating a region's Trade Rules. More on that on the Triple Triad Changing Rules Guide.
For this side quest, you have to lose a rare card to the Queen of Cards and she will give that rare card to her father who will in turn make a different rare card. Then you can win the new rare card from a specific NPC somewhere in the world (the Queen tells you where but I am more specific).
If you're worried about losing the rare card to the queen don't worry, you can win it back from her son who is in Dollet, he's the kid involved in the Dollet Artist's Quest. There is one big catch that I have yet to mention for this quest... If the Queen of Cards isn't in Dollet or heading to Dollet she won't give the card to her father.
She begins in Balamb Town so the first time you lose a rare card to her you're going to want to make sure she moves to Dollet (as seen in the screenshots below). After she is in Dollet it's recommended you move her back and forth between Balamb and Dollet for the majority of this quest. If you're confused exactly by how this quest works don't worry, I go into more detail below.
For those of you out there who prefer a step by step breakdown of things, I have provided one for you below. Every step of the Queen of Cards Side Quest is listed below, if you find any part of the succicnt breakdown confusing use the rest of the page to explain things.
Step by step of how to do the Queen of Cards Side Quest
(Disc 1) 1. Lose the MiniMog Card to the Queen of Cards in Balamb Town
(Disc 1) 2. Reset the game if she tells you she is going anywhere except Dollet
(Disc 1) 3. Find her in Dollet and Save your game & ask her about her father
(Disc 1) (Collect the Kiros Card in Deling City)
(Disc 1) 4. Lose the Sacred Card to the Queen of Cards in Dollet
(Disc 1) 5. Reset the game if she tells you she is going anywhere except Balamb
(Disc 2) (Collect the Irvine Card in Fisherman's Horizon)
(Disc 2) 6. Save then lose the Chicobo Card to the Queen of Cards in Balamb
(Disc 2) 7. Reset the game if she tells you she is going anywhere except Dollet
(Disc 2) (Collect the Chubby Chocobo Card in Balamb Garden)
(Disc 3) 8. Go to Dollet and save your game then challenge the Queen to cards
(Disc 3) 9. Lose the Alexander Card to her and reset the game if she says she is going anywhere except Balamb
(Disc 3) (Collect the Doomtrain Card in Timber)
(Disc 3) 11. Go to Balamb and save your game then challenge the Queen to cards
(Disc 3) 12. Lose the Doomtrain Card to the Queen of Cards and reset if she says she is going anywhere except Dollet
(Disc 3) 13. Go to Dollet and ask the Queen about her artist father (not typically required)
(Disc 3) (Collect the Phoenix Card in Esthar)
(Disc 3) Visit the Dollet Artist's House and win all previous Rare Cards lost to the Queen
Below you will find a list of all the cards you need to lose to the Queen of Cards and which card she creates as a result. Keep in mind that as stated before, the Queen of Cards will only give the rare card you lose to her to her father if she is in Dollet or headed to Dollet. For this reason many people give up on this side quest, since moving her to Dollet can be extremely frustrating.
Card to lose and Card Created
Chicobo Card for Chubby Chocobo Card
Alexander Card for Doomtrain Card
Doomtrain Card for Phoenix Card
How to win back your Rare Cards
After losing a Rare Card to the Queen of Cards you're actually able to win that card back by visiting the kid inside the Dollet Artist's House (pictured above). When you play him in cards he has a chance of playing any Rare Card that you lost to the Queen of Cards.
You can play this kid at any time in Dollet until the end of Disc 3, at which point you lose access to basically every single town in the game, Dollet included.