Written January 21, 2025 in 15 minutes as part of the Gentle Games Habit
Game for up to 4, using a deck of cards.
Setup
Remove the Jacks, shuffle them and distribute to each player. Keep it hidden.
Shuffle the rest of the deck and distribute into 8 piles, 6 cards each.
Player’s Turns
On your turn, you may do one:
- Explore a pile
- Play a card
Explore a Pile
On your turn, choose a pile to explore. Look at the cards and take two.
Play a Card
Number cards stay in play in front of you. At the end of the game they are scored for points.
Aces, Queens and Kings stay in play in front of you, but they are not worth points. Instead, they trigger a special ability:
- Ace - When played, take a Queen or King into hand from in front of another player.
- Queen - Take a red card into hand from in front of each player. Discard a card for each card you took.
- King - Take a black card into hand from in front of each player. Discard a card for each card you took.
When discarding for the King and Queen, you have to discard even if it means discarding the cards you picked up.
Game End
The game ends when there are a number of empty piles equal to the number of players.
Scoring
All the number cards you have in play are worth their rank in points. Reveal your Jack. Those matching your Jack’s suit are worth double.