The story begins on a gambling ship in the dark night... The male protagonist, Kaiji Ito, is muddleheaded and has accomplished nothing. He is burdened with millions of debts because he was kind enough to guarantee for someone. In order to repay the debt, Kaiji was instigated to board a ferry called "Ship of Hope" in order to participate in a mysterious gambling game. If he wins, he can write off the debt. After boarding the pirate ship, Kaiji found that most of the participants were failed young people like himself. Then the organizer set the rules of the gambling game: participants must use poker cards marked with "rock, scissors, cloth" as props to seize the star logo on the opponent. At the end of the gambling game, those who have not used up the poker cards or have less than three stars will be disqualified. The huge amount of money that can be borrowed from the organizer at the beginning of the competition has also become an important factor for them to make a profit or escape...