A Compilation of Game Rules for

[]

http://www.fecundity.com/pmagnus/decktet/
 Edited by Matthieu Weber, 2009–2010.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share

Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.
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Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

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Lists by category
Auction: Varg Bid (81).
Betting: Terrapin (71).
Bidding: Chicane (22). Gongor Whist (40). Varg Bid (81).
Card shedding: Caravan (14).
Combat: Dueling Runes (24). Fifth Challenge (35).
Light weight: Chancellors (19). Circle Search (18). Fifth Challenge (35). Moving
Day (53). Quäsenbö (57). Thricewise (75).
Pattern recognition: Thricewise (75).
Press your luck: Gongor Whist (40). Terrapin (71). Turtle Butt (77). Turtle
Soup (79).
Racing: Frogger (38).
Resource management: Chancellors (19). Dueling Runes (24). Election Day (29).
Magnate (49).
Set collection: Bharg (9). Bharg Deluxe (10). Emu Ranchers (32). Head
Solitaire (42). Old Janx Spririt (56).
Solitaire: Adaman (7). Dueling Runes (24). Gongor Whist (40). Head Solitaire (42).
Ivory Tower (43). Jacynth (45). Quincunx (59). Solo Hex (68). Window (83).
Tableaux building: Biscuit (12). Dueling Runes (24). Election Day (29).
Jacynth (45). Magnate (49). Quincunx (59). Thricewise (75).
Territory control: Jacynth (45). Magnate (49).
Trick taking: Ace Trump (5). Centrifuge (16). Chicane (22). Gongor Whist (40).
Ransom Trump (62). Revelation (64).
Work in progress: Caravan (14). Chancellors (19). Dueling Runes (24). Election
Day (29). Frogger (38).

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Lists by number of players
Solitaire / 1 Player Games: Adaman (7). Dueling Runes (24). Gongor Whist (40).
Head Solitaire (42). Ivory Tower (43). Jacynth (45). Quincunx (59). Solo
Hex (68). Quincunx (59). Window (83).
2 Player Games: Ace Trump (5). Bharg (9). Bharg Deluxe (10). Biscuit (12).
Caravan (14). Centrifuge (16). Chancellors (19). Circle Search (18). Dueling
Runes (24). Emu Ranchers (32). Fifth Challenge (35). Jacynth (45).
Magnate (49). Moving Day (53). Old Janx Spririt (56). Quäsenbö (57).
Quincunx (59). Ransom Trump (62). Revelation (64). Suitcases (69).
Terrapin (71). Thricewise (75). Turtle Butt (77). Turtle Soup (79). Varg
Bid (81).
3 Player Games: Ace Trump (5). Bharg Deluxe (10). Biscuit (12). Centrifuge (16).
Chancellors (19). Chicane (22). Dueling Runes (24). Election Day (29). Fifth
Challenge (35). Frogger (38). Jacynth (45). Quäsenbö (57). Quincunx (59).
Ransom Trump (62). Revelation (64). Terrapin (71). Thricewise (75). Turtle
Butt (77). Turtle Soup (79). Varg Bid (81).
4 Player Games: Ace Trump (5). Bharg Deluxe (10). Biscuit (12). Centrifuge (16).
Chancellors (19). Chicane (22). Dueling Runes (24). Election Day (29). Fifth
Challenge (35). Frogger (38). Quäsenbö (57). Quincunx (59). Ransom
Trump (62). Revelation (64). Terrapin (71). Thricewise (75). Turtle Butt (77).
Turtle Soup (79). Varg Bid (81).
5 Player Games: Ace Trump (5). Bharg Deluxe (10). Centrifuge (16). Election
Day (29). Frogger (38). Quäsenbö (57). Terrapin (71). Thricewise (75).
Turtle Butt (77). Turtle Soup (79). Varg Bid (81).
6 Player Games: Ace Trump (5). Bharg Deluxe (10). Centrifuge (16). Quäsenbö (57).
Terrapin (71). Turtle Butt (77). Turtle Soup (79).
7 Player Games: Terrapin (71). Turtle Soup (79).
8 Player Games: Turtle Soup (79).

4
Ace Trump
a trick-taking Decktet game for 2 to 6 players (best with 3 or 4) by P.D.
Magnus
This was one of the first two games created for the Decktet. I now consider Chicane
to be the better trick-taking game.
Object of the game: To take as many tricks as possible.

Ace Trump
Setup
The deck is dealt out evenly to the players: With three players, each is dealt 12 cards.
With four players, each is dealt 9 cards. With five players, each player is dealt 7 cards
and the final card is set aside. With six players, each is dealt 6 cards.
Two players games are usually played with only part of the deck. Each player is dealt
9 cards and the remainder are set aside. The game could be played with the entire deck,
but it would be awkward and not really worth the trouble.
There is no bidding. The player to the dealer’s left may lead any card.

Gameplay
Clockwise around the table, each player plays a card that matches a suit with the card
that was led; if a player has no cards of the suit led, he may play any card from his hand.
In order to follow suit, a card need only match one suit.

Example: If the Diplomat (8 of Moons and Suns) was led, then each subsequent
player must play a card with a Moon or Sun on it if they can. They are not
especially required to play a card with both a moon and sun, even if they have
one.
If no trump was played, then the highest card that follows suit wins the trick. If any
trumps are played, then the highest trump wins the trick. An Ace is below 2; a Crown is
above 9.
The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
Trump: There is no trump suit until an Ace is played. The suit of that Ace is then
trump for that trick and until another Ace is played.
Note that an Ace that decides trump does not automatically win the trick. If it follows
suit, then it will definitely lose the trick to a higher trump.
Ties: In a game with three or more players, it is possible that two cards will be played
that both follow suit and that are of the same rank. If two cards in a trick would tie
for highest rank (and no trump was played) then look at the suits on the card that was
led: One of the two symbols is higher up, closer to the card rank (number) than the
other. The card that follows that suit is considered higher than the other for purposes of
resolving the trick.
Scoring: Each trick is worth 1 point. Points accumulate across multiple hands and you
can play until someone reaches an agreed upon score, until an agreed upon time has been
reaches, or for an agreed upon number of total hands.

5
 The extended deck
If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game, deal every player the same number of cards,
and set the remainder aside without looking at it.
The Excuse: The Excuse may be played in any trick, even if the player who has it
could play a card that would follow suit. However, the Excuse card never wins a trick.
Pawns: Pawns are a rank between 9s and Crowns. Ties between Pawns that both follow
suit are resolved by order of play: The earlier one beats the later one.
Ace Trump

Variants
This is the original rule for trumps.
Sticky Aces: Only the first Ace determines the trump suit. Subsequent Aces are simply
the low card of their suit. This makes it a big advantage to go first, because it gives you
the option of leading an Ace; that is guaranteed to lose the first trick, but determines the
trump suit for the remainder of the hand.

6
Bharg
a set-making game for 2 players by P.D. Magnus
Object of the game: To bind all the cards in your hand.
Setup: Each player is dealt a hand of seven cards. The dealer then deals one card face
up to start a discard pile. If the face up card is an ace, then that card starts the Ace Pile
and the dealer continues to deal cards face up until there is a non-ace to start the discard
pile.
As the game progresses, there will be two discard piles: one for aces, the other for
number cards and crowns. The discard pile for aces is called the Ace Pile.
Game play: On your turn, you may take the top card of the numbers-and-crowns

Bharg
discard pile or the top card of the deck. Then you discard a card.
A set is a group of three or more cards that have one of each suit between them
without duplication. A set must have one and only one instance of each suit.
A card is bound if it is part of a set or has a suit symbol matching the top card of the
Ace Pile. A bound card may be part of a set and also match the top card of the Ace Pile.
If all seven of your cards are bound after you have discarded, then you win the round.
Note that you cannot win until you have discarded. If you discard an ace, this may change
which cards in your hand are bound and which are not.
Scoring: When you win, you score the value of any unbound cards in your opponent’s
hand: Aces are worth one, crowns are worth ten, and numbered cards are worth their
rank.
With multiple rounds, play continues until one player reaches a target score. 50 is
good.
Strategy: Three cards of the same rank (the three 6s, for example) will always form a
set. Sets will be larger than three cards if they include aces or crowns, which only provide
one suit each.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: The Excuse is a blank. It always counts as bound, but it does not help
to bind other cards.
Pawns: Pawns contribute all three of their suits to a set and can be bound by an
Ace that matches any of those three suits. A player who goes out gets 10 points for an
unbound Pawn in their opponent’s hand.

Variants
More players: The game could be played with three players in this way: Hand size is
six cards, rather than seven. When the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle all but the top
discard together with all but the top card of the Ace Pile. Use this as a new draw pile.

9
 Bharg Deluxe
a set-making Decktet game for 2 or more players by P.D. Magnus
A double Decktet (two Decktets shuffled together) improves the game considerably,
and is nearly required with more than two players. For six players, a triple Decktet may
be used.
Overview: You bind sets or straights by playing the cards face up in front of you on
your turn. The aim is to score points by binding as many cards as possible and having as
Bharg Deluxe

few cards as possible left over when the hand ends.

There are two discard piles: The Ace Pile (the discard pile for aces) and the Discard
Cue (the discard pile for number cards and crowns). The top card of the Ace Pile
determines which straights may be bound. The Discard Cue is used as a draw pile, and
players may draw as many cards as they want from the top of the stack. Cards in the
Discard Cue should be set at a slight offset, so that players can see its entire contents.

Setup
Each player is dealt a hand of ten cards. The dealer then deals one card face up. If the
face up card is an ace, then that card starts the Ace Pile and the dealer continues to turn
cards until there is a non-ace to start the Discard Cue.
Play begins on the dealer’s left.

Game play
On your turn, you draw, bind sets (if possible), and discard.
Draw: You may take the top card of the deck or any number of cards from the top of
the Discard Cue. You may not draw from both on a single turn.
If you draw from the Discard Cue, you may take as few as one card as many as all
the cards in the stack. However, you cannot take a card from the Discard Cue without
taking every card on top of it.
Bind: If you have sets, complete straights, or partial straights in your hand, you may
bind them by placing the cards on the table in front of you. You may bind any number
of cards, but you are not required to bind cards on your turn.
A set is a group of three or more cards that have one of each suit between them
without duplication. A set must have one and only one instance of each suit.
A complete straight is three or more cards in rank order that share a suit symbol. In
order to bind a straight, the suit of straight must match the top card of the Ace Pile. If
another Ace is discarded later, a straight that was already bound remains bound. If the
Ace pile has no cards in it, you may not yet bind any straights.
For the purpose of straight order, Aces are before 2s; Crowns are after 9s.
A partial straight is one or two cards that can combine with cards already on the
table to form a complete straight. Cards that are bound in sets may be used for this
purpose, as can straights already bound. You may even use cards that were previously
bound by other players. When you bind a partial straight, the partial straight goes in
front of you; the cards you are using for the combination remain in front of the player
who bound them.

10
 All cards in a partial straight must match the suit of the top card of the Ace Pile.
You may not use just part of a bound straight to make a partial straight.

Example: There is a bound 4-5-6. You may play a 3 or 7 of the same suit as a
partial straight. You may not play another 6 using the 4-5, however; they cannot
be used apart from the entire sequence 4-5-6.

Discard: If you have any cards remaining, you must discard one. Aces are discarded in
the Ace Pile. Any other card is added to the Discard Cue.

Bharg Deluxe
End of the hand
When a player has run out of cards, either by binding their last card or by discarding
their last card, the hand is over.
If a player runs out of cards on their first turn, before every player has gotten a turn,
remaining players may bind any set or straights in their hand. After the first turn, you’re
stuck with whatever is in your hand.
Scoring: You earn points for bound cards, and lose points for any unbound cards
remaining in your hand at the end. Aces and Crowns are worth 1 point each; number
cards are worth 2 points each regardless of rank. It is possible to have a negative score
for the hand, if you have fewer bound points than unbound points.
With multiple rounds, play continues until one player reaches a target score. 50 is
good for a short game; 100 for a longer game.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add the Pawns. The Excuse does not have a
use in Bharg Deluxe.
Pawns: Pawns contribute all three of their suits to a set. If Pawns are in play, they are
between 9s and Crowns for the purpose of straights; 8-9-Crown is not a straight without
the intervening Pawn. Pawns are worth 3 points each at the end of the hand.

11
 Biscuit
a tableau building game for 2 to 4 players by David L. Van Slyke
(It might work with five, but we haven’t tried it.)
Object of the game: Score points by placing cards to make straights and pairs and
by being the first player to play the last card in their hand.
Setup: Deal each player six cards. Deal one card face down in the middle of the table
and another card face up crossways on top of it. The remaining cards form the draw pile.
The player to the left of the dealer takes the first turn.
Biscuit

Game play
The first player places a card to the left or right of the initial card. Subsequent players
may place cards on the left or right side of this main line. Later in the game, there may
be cross lines that allow cards to be played up or down.
On your turn, choose one card from your hand and place it to extend one of the lines
of cards. The card you play must match at least one suit with the card adjacent to it in
line.
If you do not have a card that can be legally played, then you must draw a card. You
may play it immediately if possible. Then it is the next players’ turn.
If there are no cards left in the draw pile when a player is supposed to draw, the
player does not draw and play continues.
Straights: If the card you played forms a continuous run of cards in rank order, then
you score the length of the run. Aces are before 2s, Crowns are after 9s, and straights do
not wrap around.

Example: If the initial card is a 5 and you play a 6 next to it, then you score two
points. If the next player plays a 7 next to the 6, then they score three points.

It does not matter if the straight goes left-to-right, right-to-left, or (on cross lines)
up-down, but all the cards must be in the same line.
Elevensies: If the card you play and the card at the opposite end of the line add to 11,
then every opponent must draw a card. (In a four-player game without partners, only
your opponent with the fewest cards in hand must draw.)
Biscuits: If the card you played in the main left-to-right line and matches the card at
the other end of the main line, it’s called a hot biscuit and is worth 2 points.
If the card you played is on an up-to-down cross line and matches the card at the
other end of that cross line, it’s called a hot cross biscuit and is worth 4 points.
If the card you played matches the end of another line, then it’s a biscuit worth 1
point.
It is possible to score multiple biscuits in a single turn.

Example: You play a Crown at the top of a cross line that already has a Crown
at the bottom of it; there is also a Crown at one end of the main line. This
scores 5 (=4 for the hot cross biscuit + 1 for the biscuit).

12
Cross lines: If you play a card in the main line that is the same rank as the initial face
up card, then you open a cross line. Subsequent cards may be played up or down from
the cross card. The main line may still be continued to the left or right of the cross card.
Note that the initial face up card is not a cross card. Cards played in cross lines (up
or down from cross cards) cannot start cross lines.

Going out
If you play the last card in your hand, then you score 5 points, plus a bonus for the cards
remaining in your opponents’ hands: 1 for each Ace or Crown, 2 for each number card.
If the draw pile is exhausted and no player is able to make any further plays, then
the game is stale. The hand ends. There is no penalty for cards left in your hand if this

Biscuit
happens.
We use a cribbage board to keep score and so play to 121 points.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, Pawns, or Courts. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: may be played in any line, regardless of suit. Any card may be played
next to it. Playing the Excuse card does not score any points, and it may not be included
in a straight.
Pawns: For the purpose of elevensies, Pawns may count either 1 or 10. This means
that a Pawn can make elevensies with an Ace at the other end of the line, with a Crown,
or with another Pawn. For the purpose of straights, Pawns are between 9s and Crowns.
When a player goes out, they score a bonus of 3 for each Pawn remaining in opponents’
hand.
Courts: If you play with both Pawns and Courts, then Pawns do not use the rules
for Pawns above. Instead, a Pawn and a Court together make elevensies; neither makes
elevensies with any other rank. For straights, the order of cards is 9-Pawn-Court-Crown.

Variants
Partner Biscuit: A four-player game may be played with partners, who combine their
score. Use the rules for standard Biscuit with the following differences: An elevensies play
makes both your two opponents draw, but not your partner. When a player goes out,
any cards remaining in their partner’s hand are a penalty rather than a bonus.

13
 Caravan
a Decktet game for two players by P.D. Magnus
You and your opponent lead rival caravans across the vast eastern desert, carrying
goods between Jacynth and the Valley. Between the sand and the bandits, you just want
to be done with it.
The goal of the game is to score points, which you can do by collecting cards during
the hand and by being the first player to lay down your last cards.
Each hand is played as a series of trade seasons, and the score is tallied up at the end
of each hand.
Caravan

Setup
Separate the Aces and Crowns from the basic deck, shuffle them separately, and deal four
to each player. Then deal two of them face up at the edge of the play area. This will
leave two cards; set them aside without looking at them. (If the two face up cards have
the same suit, set aside the second one and flip over one of the two remaining cards.)
Shuffle the remainder of the basic deck and deal eleven cards to each player. This will
leave two cards; set them aside without looking at them. (The point of having cards left
over is to introduce some uncertainty. You won’t know just by looking at your hand what
cards your opponent must have.)
The two Aces or Crowns flipped up indicate which trade goods will be profitable or
costly during the hand. If the card is an Ace, then players will lose points for collecting
cards of that suit. If the card is a Crown, then players will gain points for collecting cards
of that suit. If both cards are Aces, then there is no possible upside to collecting cards;
only penalties. If both are Crowns, then there is no possible loss.
Randomly decide who will begin the first trade season of the first hand. In subsequent
hands, the player with the lower cumulative score plays first.

Game play
At the beginning of each trade season, a player plays a collection of cards from their hand
called a ‘caravan.’ The opposing player must then play a higher combination of cards or
pass. (The higher combination may either be a higher caravan or a different configuration
of cards called a ‘bandit’.) If the opposing player does not pass, then the original player
must play a higher combination of cards or pass. And so on, with each player laying down
cards that beat the previous cards until one of them passes – once one player passes, the
trade season ends.
Caravans: A caravan is a collection of sequential number cards. Each card in the
sequence must share a suit symbol with each adjacent card.
Aces and Crowns may be used in place of any number-ranked card to make a caravan,
but their suit does not change.
Wild cards can only substitute for a number rank; they can’t be rank 1 or 10.
A caravan may consist of just one number card, and a caravan must include at least
one number card; it can’t be made entirely out of Aces and Crowns.
A caravan can be beaten by another caravan of the same length with a higher numbered
card.

14
 Example: Morgan begins the season by playing a 3–4–5. His opponent may play
a 4–5–6 caravan, 5–6–7, etc. – but not a 2–3–4 (too low) nor a 4–5–6–7 (different
length).

Bandits: A bandit is either a single Ace, a single Crown, or an Ace and a Crown
together. Any bandit beats any caravan, regardless of the caravan’s length or rank;
bandits themselves are ordered in this way:
A single Ace is the lowest bandit.
A single Crown beats a single Ace.
An Ace and Crown of different suits beat a single Crown.
An Ace and the Crown of the same suit beat everything else.

Caravan
Example: His opponent answers Morgan’s 3–4–5 caravan with a Crown bandit.
Morgan must either play an Ace-Crown bandit or pass.

Ending the season: When one of the players passes, the trade season ends.
If the last cards to be played were a caravan, then the player who played the caravan
collects all of the cards from the season. Collected cards count for scoring at the end of
the hand. They do not become part of the player’s hand.
If the last card or cards to be played were a bandit, then the opponent of the player
who played the bandit collects all of the cards from the season. Again, the collected cards
count for scoring and do not become part of the player’s hand.
If both players have cards remaining in their hands, a new season begins. The player
who made the last play in the previous season (the one who did not pass) plays first in
the new season.

Scoring
When you play the last cards from your hand, your opponent may finish the season by
making one play if they have cards to do so. You then score five points, plus two points
per card remaining in your opponent’s hand. Those remaining cards are set aside; they
don’t count as having been collected by either player.
Both players then score points for cards they collected. For each Crown that was
turned up at the beginning of the hand, players score one point for each card they collected
during the hand that shares a suit with the Crown. For each Ace that was turned up,
players lose one point for each card they collected during the hand that shares a suit with
the Ace. A card that shares suits with both up cards may be worth two points (if both up
cards are Crowns), negative two (if both are Aces), or zero (if the up cards are a Crown
and an Ace).
Add each player’s score to their score from previous hands. We find that five hands
makes for a comfortable game, but you may increase or decrease this depending on how
long you want the game to be.

15
 Circle Search
a Decktet memory game for two children, by David L. Van Slyke
Extra material: two tokens

Setup
Separate the aces and place them face up in the middle of the table. Shuffle the rest of
Circle Search

the deck (either basic or extended) and deal out eight cards face-down in a square (a 3 by
3 grid with the middle card missing). Place two tokens on opposite corners of the square,
one for each player.

Game play
On your turn, declare “I am searching for” and name the suit from one of the unclaimed
aces. Then move your token one card clockwise and turn over the card your token lands
on, revealing it for everyone to see. If that card has the suit you were searching for, claim
the ace of that suit unless it was a Crown, which causes you to put back in the middle of
the table the claimed ace of the Crown’s suit if you have currently claimed it. The excuse
does nothing when one of the face-down cards.
The younger player goes first, unless the game was just played and someone one, in
which case the previous game’s loser goes first. Players take turns until all six aces are
claimed. The player who claims the most aces wins. If both players claim three aces the
game is a draw.

The Extended Deck

(The Extended Deck is normally used.)

Variants
To play with more than two players make the path of face-down cards larger (always a
rectangle with four times as many cards as players) and keep starting positions equally
spaced apart. To make the excuse meaningful, the first player to reveal it keeps it as a
“tie-breaker” and replaces it with a new face-down card that is first revealed to all players.
For children who enjoy counting more than balance, use the remaining cards as a “draw
pile” that determines movement around the circle by card rank.
Note: Feel free to add a plot to the game, such as exploring a haunted house or a beach
(in which, respectively, the Crowns could be ghosts or crabs that surprise you so you drop
a treasure when running away).

18
Chancellors
Designed by P.D. Magnus Players 2-4 Length ? Extra Material 6 dice, Scorepad
a resource management game for 2 to 4 players by P.D. Magnus
The Lord High Chancellor has retired, but the King has not yet named a successor.
As one of the King’s Chancellors, you are hoping to move up to the first seat. To do this,
you need to impress His Majesty and outdo the other Chancellors. Fail and you’ll be a
back bencher for the rest of your career. Of course, things could be worse than being a
mere Chancellor. If things go too badly, the King might decide to fire all the old advisors.

Chancellors
The game is played as a series of rounds. A player wins a round by solving lots of
problems or by looking the least guilty when problems escalate to the point of catastrophe.
When some player has won two rounds, that player wins the game and is named Lord
High Chancellor.
Components: In addition to a Decktet, you’ll need six dice to represent problems:
ordinary, cubical dice which generate numbers from one to six.

Setup
Arrange the dice into three pairs. Each pair represents a problem that is facing the
kingdom. At the beginning of the game, roll each pair of dice to determine just how bad
things are. Higher numbers are more serious problems. Put the dice as rolled out on the
table where everyone can see them.
Remove the Sailor (4 of Waves and Leaves), Soldier (5 Wyrms and Knots), and
Diplomat (8 Moons and Suns) from the deck. These represent three royal services: the
Navy, Army, and Diplomatic corps respectively. Put them in the center of the table to
indicate that they are up for grabs. Once the game is underway, these cards will be in
front of the player who has control over them.
Shuffle the remainder of the deck and deal each player three cards. The player with
the most seniority takes the first turn.

Game play
On your turn, you may play cards (first) to gain influence over royal services and (second)
to solve problems.
Control royal services: You secure influence over a service by playing a card with a
suit that matches one of the suits on that service’s card. For example, to control the
Navy, which is represented by the Sailor 4 of Waves and Leaves, you need to play a card
with a Wave or a Leaf on it.
Each card can only be used to control one service; if you play a card with two suits,
declare which service you are trying to control.
When you play a card to control a service, other players have the option of trying to
stop your bid for control. To stop you, an opponent must play a card which has a suit
that matches the service and which has a rank lower than the card you played. Note that
their card needs to match the service, but does not necessarily need to match the card
you played.
If your bid for control is successful (that is, if nobody plays a card to block it) take
the card representing the service and put it on the table in front of you.
19
 Cards used to take or block control of services are discarded.
You may make further attempts to control services, as long as there are services you
don’t control and you have cards to play.

Example: Maris plays the Ace of Waves to control the Navy; since Ace is the
lowest rank, his attempt cannot be blocked. Then he plays the 6 of Moons and
Waves in attempt to control the Diplomatic corps; an Ace or any number card
up to rank 5 with either Moons or Suns could block his attempt.

Solve problems: Once you have control of one or more of the royal services, you may
use your influence to solve problems. You play cards from your hand to solve problems,
Chancellors

but the catch is that you can only play cards that share a suit with a service that you
control.
Example: Tarrant controls only the Army, which is represented by the Soldier,
the suits of which are Wyrms and Knots. He could play the 7 of Suns and Knots
from his hand (because it shares Knots the Soldier but not the 7 of Moons and
Leaves).

To solve an entire problem, play cards that add up to at least as much as the sum of
two dice. Aces count for one; number cards count for their rank; Crowns count for the
value showing on one of the dice in the problem. (Two Crowns will solve any problem,
because they can always match the values of the two dice.)
If you cannot or do not want to solve the whole problem, you may solve part of it.
Play a card or cards that add up to as much or more than the value of one of the dice.
Scoring: When you solve an entire problem, you score points equal to the sum of the
two dice. At the end of the turn, reroll both dice in the problem.
When you solve part of a problem, you score points equal to half the total of both dice,
rounded up. At the and of the turn, reroll the die that your card matched.
Note that it scores you as many points to solve part of a problem by matching the
lower die as it does to do so by matching the higher die. The catch is that matching
the lower die also means you reroll the lower die. This is likely to leave a better scoring
opportunity for the next player (your opponent) than if you match the higher die and
reroll it.
Example: One of the problems has dice showing 3 and 5. Morgan controls the
Army (Soldier, Wyrms and Knots) and the Navy (Sailor, Waves and Leaves). He
plays the Crown of Leaves (which matches the Sailor) and the 4 of Wyrms and
Knots (which matches the Soldier). The Crown counts for the value of one of
the dice, 5. His play adds up to 5+4=9, which is more than enough to solve the
problem; 8 would have been enough. Morgan scores 8 points and rolls both dice.

Example: One of the problems has dice showing 2 and 5. Morgan plays a 2 to
solve part of the problem. He scores 4 points (half of 7, rounded up) and rolls
the die showing 2.

You may play as many cards as you want during your turn, provided you have things
to do with them. You may only solve each problem once; the dice are not rerolled until
you end your turn.
You may not attempt to control services after you have begun solving problems.

20
 You may not play superfluous cards to solve a problem; for example, you may not
play a 6 and a 3 when the 6 alone would be enough.
Any services you control stay under your control when your turn ends.
Problems escalate: Once you are done playing cards, roll dice for any problems that
you solved.
Problems get worse if you did not solve them. Take the lower of the two dice in each
unsolved problem and turn it so as to increase the value by one; if the dice have the same
value, increment either one.
If a problem is already 6-6 (six on both dice) when it escalates, then the round ends
immediately.

Chancellors
Note that solving part of a problem is sufficient to keep it from escalating.
Draw cards: After your turn, every player draws one card, both you and your opponents.
If the deck is exhausted, reshuffle the discard pile.
Then it is the next player’s turn, clockwise around the table.

Endings, happy and otherwise

If a player has a cumulative score of 50 or more points, then the round ends immediately
and they win it.
If a problem escalates when it was already 6-6, the kingdom is in serious trouble.
The King decides that the players make terrible counselors and threatens to sack all of
them. All players lose three points for each card remaining in their hand, and the round
ends immediately. If someone still has a positive score, then the player with the highest
positive score after the penalty wins the round. If the penalty reduces everyone to zero or
worse, then everybody loses the round.
If no one has won a two rounds yet, the game continues in a new round with the royal
services all uncontrolled and scores set back to zero. The player who won the previous
round plays last in the next round; play begins on their left.
The first player to win two rounds (not necessarily in a row) wins the game. The King
names them Lord High Chancellor, and all the other players labour on as Chancellors
simpliciter.

The extended deck

To vary the game, you may add some or all of the extended deck cards. I think that the
game plays well with or without them.
The Excuse may be played to control any single service; the attempt to control cannot
be blocked. It may not be played to solve problems. If you have the Excuse in your
hand when the round ends because a problem escalates past 6-6, then you win the round
regardless of points. Whatever the catastrophe was, you had the perfect excuse!
Pawns and Courts are additional card ranks, and they may be used to control services
or solve problems just like other cards. The order of ranks becomes #9, Pawn, Court,
Crown. For solving problems, Pawns and Courts work the same as Crowns; they are
worth the value of one of the dice in the problem.

21
 Dueling Runes
a game of spell casting and dueling by Jorge Arroyo
Extra Material: Some markers, a die for each player

Introduction
Dueling Runes

This game depicts a battle between 2 (or more) wizards that cast spells at each other by
using magical runes with different symbols. Each suit in the decktet represents a rune.
Cards can have from 1 to 3 runes that wizards can use in their spells.
Two types of runes: First, there are the Energy Runes: Suns, Waves and Leaves.
These runes are used to power up different type of spells, but by themselves don’t produce
any effect.
Then there are the Activation Runes: Moons, Wyrms, Knots. They draw power from
earlier energy runes to produce a variety of magical effects.
Basically, the type of activation rune determines how the energy is used, specifically:
• Moon Runes direct energy at the caster. These spells are usually about protec-
tion/healing
• Wyrm Runes violently direct the energy at a target. These spells usually damage
the target in some way.
• Knot Runes weave the energy to create more elaborate spells that can be directed
to anyone.
Spell Sequences: Each turn, players choose a card secretly and then reveal it at the
same time. Each player then plays the card face up in front of them. If there are cards
already on the table in front of them, the new card is placed over the old one but displaced
a bit to the right, so the suits from older cards can be seen. This is the spell sequence.
The Runes from the cards a player has on the table can be used as energy for one
spell that can be activated by an Activation Rune played on the current turn. So spells
cannot be activated using activation runes from earlier turns, while energy remains and
can be used for later turns. Multiple spells can be activated in a turn as long as they
use different runes, so each energy rune can only power one spell up each turn and each
activation rune can only activate one spell per turn.
There is a limit of 4 cards on the spell sequence, so older cards get discarded as new
ones are played.

Setup:
Shuffle the decktet (including pawns but leave the Excuse out). Place the excuse around
the middle of the deck and then deal each player 5 cards. Leave the decktet within easy
reach for all the players.
Each player gets a 12 sided die (or 12 generic markers) and places it in front of them
showing the largest numbered side. The die represents the wizard’s health points. (If
players of different skill are playing together, consider lowering the starting health points
for the more experienced player).
A variety of markers can be used to represent spell effects that remain for more than
one turn. Color Beads, die, etc (or just pen and paper).
24
Game play
Each turn all the players secretly choose a card (unless a player is “confused” see below).
When everyone is ready they all reveal it simultaneously and place it on their spell
sequence to the right of their last placed card, so that suits from all earlier cards can be
seen.
After that, spell effects are resolved in this order: Moon Runes, Wyrm Runes, Knot
Runes. If more than one player is casting a spell of the same type, the player that played
the highest numbered card resolves their spell first. If two players activate a spell in the

Dueling Runes
same phase with the same number on the card, they are considered simultaneous (so if
both spells kill their targets, both players die and the game ends in a draw).
Spells are activated by specifying an Activation Rune from the card just played and
stating what other energy runes from the whole spell sequence will be used to power
it (including ones available on the card just played). If the last card played has two
activation Runes or more, then more than one spell can be cast in this turn but each one
must use different energy runes, as each one can only be used for one spell each turn.
Here are the spell effects for the Basic Game:
Caster (Moons) Enemy(Wyrms) Spell (Knots)
Sun Resist Cold Fire Ball Haste
Waves Resist Heat Ice Bolt Invisibility
Leaves Heal Drain Amnesia
Nothing Shield Hit Confusion
Any activation rune + one other activation rune used as energy = Counter Spell
Any activation rune + the other two activation runes used as energy = Magic Mirror
Resist Cold The caster is immune to cold attacks for as many turns as activated Sun
Runes. Player is protected starting next turn.
Resist Heat The caster is immune to heat attacks for as many turns as activated Waves
Runes. Player is protected this turn.
Heal The caster immediately recovers as many health points as leaves activated.
Shield The caster is protected from: Hit, Confusion and Drain spells this turn

Fire Ball The target loses as many hit points as suns activated (unless protected from
Heat)
Ice Bolt The target loses as many hit points as waves activated (unless protected from
Cold)
Drain The target loses as many hit points as leaves activated and the caster recovers the
same number of points (unless a Shield is in effect).
Hit The target loses one hit point (unless a Shield is in effect).

Haste The target gets to play two cards each turn for as many turns (starting next turn)
as suns activated. The first card will be solved by the all the players under a haste
spell first, and then the second one will be solved with everyone else. So players
under this spell get an extra mini-turn to cast spells or play energy runes before
the regular turn is solved.

25
 Invisibility The target cannot get targeted by anyone else for as many turns as waves
activated. Player is invisible starting next turn but might be protected on the same
turn the spell is cast if targeted with a knots spell of a lower/equal value than the
card used for this spell.
Amnesia The caster turns face down as many cards from the target’s spell sequence as
leaves activated. Caster can choose which cards. The face down cards remain in the
sequence but cannot be used by the wizard. They leave play normally when enough
turns have passed. Note that if due to timing rules the target of the Amnesia spell
has his last played card turned face down before he was able to activate a spell
Dueling Runes

with that card, that spell is lost (This can happen if it’s a knot card with a lower
value than the card used for the Amnesia spell).
Confusion The target has to randomly place his card next turn.

Counter Spell The target of this spell will not be affected by spells cast on them (either
by their opponent or themselves) this turn. This works for all Moons and Knots
spells plus the drain spell (the other damaging spells do their damage by physical
means). This spell is solved on the actual phase for the rune used to activate it,
and follows the usual timing rules, so if activated with a knots rune, it can’t stop
the drain spell, and if casted with a wyrm rune, will stop it only if it was played
with a higher or equal numbered card.
Magic Mirror Any effect cast on the target is reversed and is instead applied to the caster
with the original target being considered the new "caster". This spell is solved on
the actual phase for the rune used to activate it and follows the usual timing rules,
so if activated with a knots rune, it can’t reflect a drain spell and if casted with a
wyrm rune, will stop it only if it was played with a higher or equal numbered card.
The reflected spell works normally and can be stopped by the usual spells (Fire
Ball is still stopped by Resist Heat, etc. . . )
After all the activated effects have taken place, players draw cards so they have a
total of 5 cards again. Any player that has more than three cards on their spell sequence,
must remove the oldest cards so that only three cards remain there. Then a new turn is
started.
Whenever a player draws the Excuse, the remaining cards are shuffled together with
the discard pile to make a new draw deck. Then the Excuse is placed around the middle
of the deck.
paragraphThe End: When only one living wizard remains, the game ends and that
player wins the game.

Variants
Solitaire: The game can be played solo by playing the opponent’s cards randomly from
the deck. This may not make for a very challenging opponent, so players should start with
fewer health points. Winning with only one health point can be challenging. Opponent
spells should be decided fairly by the player when activated (so if the opponent has a
choice between shooting a fire ball or an ice bolt and you are protected against heat, they
won’t choose a fire ball).
Also, if you confuse the random player, draw a card normally but if you don’t like it,
you can redraw once. The second card must be used.
My guidelines for the random player are:
26
 Moons Suns Knots
1-6 heal then protection attack only if can’t only if can’t heal: invisibility
hp (depending on use moons or knots if possible, then haste. Else
player’s spell defectively use wyrms if possible and if
sequence) not, amnesia/confusion.
7-12 if not wyrms/knots attack if possible only if no wyrms: first
hp then heal only if with most damaging agressive then defensive
necessary, else spell
protection or shield

Dueling Runes
Multiplayer: I think multiplayer games won’t be a problem. The main difference is
that there are more potential targets for offensive spells. Players should announce the
targets as the spells are activated (in the correct order). The game gains a diplomatic
aspect lacking in the 2-player version.
Note that if two or more players have to decide on a target simultaneously (because
they used the same number on their played card) you can use some colored tokens to
decide secretly and then show them at the same time.
Advanced Game: The advanced game has more spells that can be casted with combi-
nations of energy spells. For example, a lighting bolt spell using sun and moons as energy
and wyrm as activation. This variant is not yet done and ideas are welcomed.
Here’s a posible table of advanced spells:
Caster (Moons) Enemy(Wyrms) Spell (Knots)
Sun + Waves Summon Troll Lightning Bolt Electric Touch
Summon Fire
Sun + Leaves Fear Remove Enchantment
Elemental
Summon Ice
Waves + Leaves Poison Magic Mirror
Elemental
Sun+Waves+Leaves Protection Charm Dispel Magic

Summon Troll Brings a monster that sides with the caster. It has as many health points
as Waves used and does as many damage points to a target of the owner’s choice
as suns were used to cast it. Hits can be deflected by the shield spell
Summon Fire Elemental Brings a monster that sides with the caster. It has as many
health points as leaves used and does as many damange points to a target of the
owner’s choice as suns were used to cast it. Its attacks can be deflected by the
resist heat spell.
Summon Ice Elemental Same as Fire Elemental but using waves instead of Fire
Protection The Caster is shielded (like with the shield spell) for as many turns as the
number of suns, waves and leaves used for the spell.

Lightning Bolt Does as much damage to the target as the total number of suns used for
the spell. Can only be countered with Counter Spell or Dispel Magic.
Fear For as many turns as leaves in the spell, the target cannot use a wyrm rune (too
afraid to attack). If cast on a monster, the monster cannot attack.
Poison For as many turns as Waves in the spell, the target loses 1 point of damage per
leaves in the spell
27
 Charm For as many turns as Leaves in the spell, the caster plays a card (and draws one
more at the end) instead of the target choosing a card. If cast on a monster, its
owner changes to the caster.

Electric Touch For as many turns as waves on the spell, any physical attack on the target
produces one point of damage to the attacker (applies to Hit and monster attacks).
It doesn’t prevent the damage to the target.
Remove Enchantment Any spells that are in effect on the target are removed. This
Dueling Runes

includes Protection, Resist heat or cold, invisibility, etc If casted on a monster, it

disappears.
Magic Mirror Any spells that have been casted that turn on the target are applied instead
to the caster. Reverse the effects of the affected spells and apply them to the new
target. Example, Player A casts FireBall, and does 2 damage to player B. Then
Player B casts Magic Mirror and recovers their 2 points while damaging player A
with 2 points.
Dispel Magic Like Remove Enchantment but applies to everyone. All the monsters are
removed from play too.

28
 Emu ranchers
alternate title: Pets or meat?
a Decktet game of bird ranching for 2 players by P.D. Magnus
It’s a hardscrabble life for emu ranchers like yourself, raising exotic birds for foreign
markets. With the high cost for every bird you hatch, it probably won’t be worth it in
the end. You can’t tell at the beginning of the year which of the six bird varieties will do
best, and beware the birds with exceptional plumage! If they thrive, they can be worth
Emu ranchers

big money; but if they go wrong, they can bankrupt your ranch.
Summary of the game: Each bird on your ranch is represented by a stack of cards.
Cards in a single bird stack must all share a suit and must be in rank order. At the end
of the hand, the value of a bird is determined by the total of the number cards in the
stack. If the total is too low, then you can end up losing money on a bird. An Ace or
Crown makes the stack worth more: more profit if you can cover expenses, but more loss
if you can’t. The object, naturally enough, is to raise profitable birds.

Setup
Deal six cards to each player. The remaining cards form the draw pile. There is no
discard pile at the beginning.
Play alternates until the last card is drawn from the draw pile.

Game play
On your turn, you may do one of the following: hatch a new bird, by starting a new stack;
grow a bird, by adding a card to an existing stack; or discard a card. After that, you
draw one card.
Hatch a new bird: You may start a new bird stack by selecting a card from your hand
and playing it face up in front of you.
Grow a bird: You may grow a bird by adding a card from your hand to the top of
a stack already in front of you. All of the cards in the stack must share a single suit,
although of course number cards will each have another suit as well. Stacks must be in
either increasing or decreasing order, although you may skip ranks.
Example: The stack for a blue bird might be comprised of the Ace, 2, and 4 of
Waves. You may only play a Wave of rank 5 or more on that bird.
For the purpose of stack order, Aces are below 1s and Crowns are above 9s. If you
hatch a bird with a number card, you do not need to declare which suit the stack will
follow or which direction it will go; this will eventually be determined by cards you play
when growing the bird.
Example: You hatch a bird with the 7 of Suns and Knots. You may either make
it an orange bird (by growing it with a Sun card) or a yellow bird (by growing it
with a Knot). The first time you grow it, you may grow up (by playing a card
rank 8 or more) or grow down (by playing 6 or less). If you grow the bird with
the 6 of Suns and Wyrms, then you are committed to an orange bird growing
down.
32
 When you add cards to a stack, you should set them at a bit of an offset so that both
you and your opponent can see what cards are in the stack.
Discard: If you don’t want to play any of the cards in your hand, you may select and
discard one card. Put it on the top of the discard pile, starting the pile if necessary.
Draw: If you discarded, take the top card of the draw pile. Otherwise, you may take
either the top card of the draw pile or the top card of the discard pile (if any).
After you draw, your turn is over. If there are still cards in the draw pile, it is now
your opponent’s turn.

Emu ranchers
Year end
When the last card is drawn from the draw pile, the year ends.
After the year is over, you may play cards from your hands onto birds that you already
have in play. However, you may not hatch new birds or draw cards after the year has
ended. Since there is no further player interaction after the year end, you may lay down
remaining cards without waiting for other players. Then discard any cards that you are
not able to play.

Scoring
Total up the number cards in the bird stack. If the total is less than 18, then the you lose
money on the bird. If the total is 18 or more, then you may make a profit.
Losing money: You lose points equal to the difference between the bird’s total and
the upkeep cost of 18. If the number cards total to 15, for example, you lose 3 points.
Furthermore, you lose 5 points if there is an Ace or Crown in the stack; 10 if there are
both an Ace and a Crown.
Example: At the end of the year, the stack for your orange bird is the Crown, 9,
and 8 of Suns. You lose 6 points (18-9-8=1 for the number cards plus 5 for the
Crown).

Possible profit: If the total of the number cards is 18 or more, you still need to pay
upkeep for the bird: Discard number cards from the stack that total at least 18. You do
not ’get change’ for cards if you discard more than 18. If there are any cards remaining,
you earn some profit.
For profit, you score the total of any remaining number cards. Furthermore, you gain
5 points if there is an Ace or Crown in the stack; 10 if there are both an Ace and a Crown.

Example: At the end of the year, the stack for your blue bird is the Ace, 2, 3, 5,
6, 8, and Crown of Waves. You discard the 5, 6, and 8 to pay upkeep; although
this totals to 19, there is no way to discard exactly 18 with this combination of
cards. This leaves the Ace, 2, 3, and Crown. You score 15 points (2+3=5 for the
number cards plus 10 for the Ace/Crown combo).

Your score for the year is equal to the total value of your birds.
Shuffle the cards and deal a new year. The player who went first should go second in
the next year. Since there is some disadvantage to going first, it’s best to tally the score
across an even number of years. We usually play four years at a sitting and call it a game.

33
 The extended deck
If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: If you have the Excuse in your hand at the end of the year, you may
discard one of your birds that would lose money rather than scoring it. If you have no
losing birds, then the Excuse has no effect.
Pawns: A Pawn is a limited wild card. It may be played as any number rank, but only
to grow a bird that matches one of the Pawn’s suits. A Pawn may not be played as an
Emu ranchers

Ace or Crown, nor may it be played to hatch a bird.

34
Fifth Challenge
a light adventure game by Jorge Arroyo
Extra material: a 6 sided die
Introduction: Young ones coming of age in the wild elven tribes of the west part of
the country have to pass a coming of age ritual when they reach adulthood. After years
of training in the war and magic arts, when they reach the age of 200 years, they are sent

Fifth Challenge
into the dangerous savage lands of the north-west to complete five challenges. Those who
complete the toughest challenges will be the most successful that year and will earn the
recognition of their tribe and a chance to learn from the greatest masters.
Fifth Challenge is a light card adventure game where players have to complete five
challenges of varying difficulty. As challenges are completed, players earn experience
that will help complete tougher challenges later on. When a player completes the fifth
challenge, points are tallied and the player that got the most points, completing the most
diffcult challenges, wins.
Basic Concepts: Each player controls an elven youngster. The player’s hand represents
the resources the youngster has at any given moment but also their health. If at any
point the player loses all their cards, the elven youngster is considered to be dead and the
player loses the game.
Each suit represents a different aspect of a challenge. Moons represent a spiritual
challenge while Suns represent a great physical one. Waves imply dangerous weather and
Leaves a challenge in the layout of the land. Wyrms represent combat of a physical kind
while Knots represent combat of a magical kind.
The suits available in a player’s hand can help them complete challenges (by using
them to increase their chances of success) but using them this way will mean health is
lost. Also, as challenges are completed, players gain those suits in the challenge card as a
permanent bonus, making future challenges of those types a bit easier.

Setup
Take the aces out of the deck and shuffle them. Deal one ace to each player. The aces are
placed in front of each player, face up and up-right. This is the player’s basic power, the
type of challenge they handle best at the start of the game. The rest of the aces are out
of the game.
Shuffle the rest of the Decktet (including pawns and the Excuse) and deal each player
a hand of five cards.

Game Play
On their turn, a player may take one or some of the following actions (depending on some
restrictions) in any order. Then at the end of their turn it they’ve got less than 5 cards,
they take one card from the draw pile.
Play passes then to the next player and the game continues until either only one
player is alive or one player completes their fifth challenge.
These are the possible actions:

35
 Playing a Card: Players may play one card during their turn either as a challenge or
to modify an existing challenge:
• Playing a Card as a Challenge:
A player may play a card as a challenge for themselves or for an opponent. The
challenge is as hard as the number on the card. Crowns have a value of 10 and
pawns can’t be played as challenges.
If playing a challenge for an opponent, the value of the challenge card may not
exceed the sum of the values from completed challenges in front of them. So, for
Fifth Challenge

example, you can play a 5 challenge on a player that has completed two 3 challenges,
but not if they only completed a 4 challenge. Note that this limit only applies to
challenges played on other players, not on yourself.
A challenge card is considered uncompleted when played, so it’s placed sideways
after the last completed (upright) card in front of the player.
Each player may only have one uncompleted challenge in front of them, so a second
one can’t be played until the current one is completed.
• Playing a card to Modify a Challenge
Players may want to spend time trying to devise ways to make their current
uncompleted challenge easier or harder. This may represent looking for an easier
fight, or a harder path, etc.. and can be used to pass a challenge that is too hard
or to increase the score of an easier challenge.
In order to do this, a player may play a card to substitute an uncompleted challenge
card. The card must share at least one suit and its value must be smaller or bigger
by exactly one. This process can be repeated on later turns. The substituted card
is placed on the discard pile.

Attempt to Complete a Challenge

To complete a challenge the player will first add the individual suits from upright cards in
front of them that match the ones on the challenge card (including the initial ace). Then
the 6 sided die is rolled and the result added to that number.
For example, if a player previously completed a suns-moons challenge, and now wants
to attempt a moons-wyrms challenge, they’ll add 1 to the die roll thanks to the moons
suit from their completed challenges.
If the total number equals or exceeds the number on the challenge card, the challenge
is automatically completed. The player turns the card upright and will be able to use the
suits on it for future challenges.
If the total number is less than the number on the challenge card, then in order to
succeed, the player will have to exert some extra effort. The player may discard cards
from their hand with suits matching at least one suit from the challenge card to reach
the necessary total. So for example if the total rolled was 4 for a 6 challenge, the player
will have to discard 2 suits which can be from the same card or two different ones.
If the player doesn’t have the necessary number of matching suits, they can use 3 any
other suits as a substitute for 1 matching suit. For example, the player needs one sun or
moons, but doesn’t have any. They can discard 2 cards with any four suits to make up
for the difference.
In any case, discarding the suits to complete the challenge is optional. If players can’t
or don’t want to do it, they will just take some damage and fail the challenge. In this case

36
they discard a number of cards equal to the difference between the challenge number and
the total number rolled. They can reduce the damage by spending suits before discarding
cards if they want to.
If at the end of the attempt the player has no cards in their hand, then their character
dies and they lose the game automatically. Note that even if the player completed their
fifth challenge when they died, they still lose the game.

Discarding and Replacing Cards

Fifth Challenge
This is a special action that can only be taken if the player chooses not to take any other
action for the turn. In this case, the player may discard as many cards from their hand
as they want and immediatly replace them with cards from the draw pile. In this case
the player is allowed to discard all their cards without danger.

The extended Deck

Pawns are special because they can’t be used as challenges. They can only played from a
player’s hand to help complete a challenge.
When the excuse is drawn from the deck, the discard pile is shuffled into the remaining
draw deck to make a new draw deck.

Scoring and Winning

As soon as a player completes their fifth challenge the game ends. Each player adds the
values of their completed challenges (any uncompleted ones don’t count) and the player
with the biggest score wins. Note that the crown scores 11 points even though its playing
value is 10 (this is because the fact that it only has one suit makes completing it extra
hard).
In case of a tie, the player with more completed challenges wins, and if still tied, the
one with more completed challenges matching the suit from their ace card wins. If still
tied, then they share the win.
If at any point there’s only one player remaining, the game ends and they win.

37
Magnate
a Decktet game of civic development for 2 players Cristyn Magnus
The Grand Duke, who has no heirs, has decreed that his throne will go whoever does
the most to lift up and develop the duchy. You are a successful but common merchant,
aiming to buy a noble title by impressing the Grand Duke. His health is failing, so you
need to hurry.
Components: In addition to an extended Decktet, the game requires resource tokens
and several dice.
Tokens: Resource tokens represent goods of various kinds that can be used to secure

Magnate
deeds or develop property. In the game, there are six kinds of resource: one for each of the
six Decktet suits. You can play with six different kinds of token, or you can use one kind
of token with token placement indicating what kind of resource each token represents.
You’ll need about 12 of each kind, if you are using different kinds of token; about 50, if
you are using one kind.
We use plastic stacking counters that come in the six Decktet colours. Before we got
those, we used poker chips. If you want, you can print out resource tokens.
Dice: Two ten-sided dice (d10s) and one six-sided die (d6) are required.

Setup
Separate the Pawns and Crowns
from the deck.
Set the four Pawns and the Excuse in
the middle of the table. Each represents
a district of the duchy.
Shuffle the Crowns and deal three to
each player. These represent your per-
sonal resources. Each player starts with
three resource tokens, one matching each
of their Crowns.
The starting configuration depends on
whether you are using six different kinds of tokens or just one kind. With six different
kinds (as pictured on the right) keep your three Crowns in front of you. With one kind
(below) line up your Crowns in the middle, to the right of the Pawns.
Deal three cards to each player. The first player takes a turn, and play alternates.

Game play
Each turn, do the following in order: (a) roll for and collect resources, (b) play a card, (c)
draw a card. Along the way, you may trade resources and/or develop properties to which
you have a deed.
a. Roll the dice: Roll both ten-sided dice. If either die is a 1, immediately resolve
taxation. Then, both players collect resources based on the higher of the two dice.

49
Magnate

Taxation: Roll the six-sided die to determine which resource is taxed: 1 Moons, 2
Suns, 3 Waves, 4 Leaves, 5 Wyrms, 6 Knots. (These are the suits in the usual order of
priority.) Any player who has more than one of that resource must immediately discard
all but one. Note that resources already spent to develop properties are not effected.
Resolve taxation before collecting resources.

Collect resources: Look at the greater of the two die rolls; if the dice are doubles,
you still just collect resources once.
• If a 10 is rolled, each player collects one resource matching each of their Crown
cards; three resources in all.
• If a number between 2 and 9 is rolled (as the higher die) you collect resources for
each property of that rank that you have in play. If the property is fully developed,
you collect a resource matching each of its suits. If you own a deed to the property
but it is not fully developed, you collect one resource token matching one of its
suits; your choice. Your opponent collects resources similarly. A player who has no
properties matching the number rolled collects no resources.
• If a 1 is rolled (a pair of 1s) then players collect one matching resource for each
Ace property they have in play.
b. Play a card: Either completely develop a new property, buy a deed for a new
property, or sell a card. You must do one one of these each turn, and you cannot do more
than one.

* Completely develop a property: In order to play and complete a property

on the same turn, you must discard a number of resource tokens equal to the rank of the
card. All the resource tokens must match one of the card’s suits, and at least one of each
suit must be included. For example, the Mill (4 of Waves and Leaves) could be developed
with 1 blue resource and 3 brown resources, 2 blue and 2 brown, or 3 blue and 1 brown.
When you develop a property, you must put it in one of the four districts of the
duchy. When it is your first property in the district, the property card must share at
least one suit symbol with the Pawn that represents that district. If you already have
a property in that district, then the new property must share at least one suit symbol
with the immediately previous property. You may play any card as your first property in
the district represented by the Excuse; subsequent cards must still match the previous
property.
50
 Once you have placed a property, you may not move it to a different district. If there
is no district in which you could place a property, then you may not develop it at this
time.
Developing an Ace costs 1 resource that matches the suit of the Ace.
Note that you may not develop a new property in a district if you have the deed to
a partially-developed property in that district; you must complete development on that
property before you can develop a new one there.

* Purchase a deed: If you cannot afford to completely develop a property this

turn, you may purchase the deed for it and develop it over time. The property will not
count toward victory if it is not completed before the end of the game. In order to buy a

Magnate
deed, you must spend two resources; one matching each suit on the card.
A deed must be placed in a district, with the same restrictions as developed properties;
the deeded property must share at least one suit symbol with the Pawn (if it is your first
property in that district) or the previous property (otherwise). Once you have a deed to
a property, you may not put another deed in that district or develop another property
there until the deeded property is fully developed.
You may spend resources to partially develop a property on the same turn you
purchase the deed. You may not purchase a deed for an Ace or a rank 2 card, because it
is the same cost to fully develop the property.
Buying a deed can be a good idea for high rank cards. The property may provide some
income while you are developing it, and resources spent on it will be safe from taxation.
However, buying a deed ultimately adds two to the resource cost of the property.
Develop properties: At any time after collecting resources, you may spend resources
that match one of the card’s suits to develop a deed. If the resources are not enough
to complete development, put them on the card. When the total spent in development
equals the rank of the card, then the property is fully developed. Example: A deed for
the Mill (4 of Waves and Leaves) costs 1 blue resource and 1 brown resource; developing
the property will require a total of 4 resources that each may be either blue or brown.

* Sell a card: You may discard a card from your hand and collect two resources
tokens, one matching each suit on the card. If you discard an Ace, then you collect two
tokens matching that Ace.
Note that you must play exactly one card on your turn. As such, you may not sell a
card in the same turn that you develop a property outright or buy a deed. Conversely, if
you do not have the space or resources to buy any of your cards as properties or deeds,
then you must sell one of them.

Trade: At any time during your turn, after resolving die rolls but before drawing
a card, you may trade resources with the bank. 3 of any one colour of resource may be
traded for 1 of any other colour. You may make multiple trades if you have the resources
and desire to do so.
c. Draw a card: Draw one card; this ends your turn.
The first time the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile and draw from that.
The second time the draw pile is exhausted, each player gets one final turn. After that,
the Grand Duke dies and the game ends.

51
 Victory
When the game ends, discard the cards remaing in your hand (you should have two left).
Discard any deeded properties which you did not finish developing and any resources
spent to partially develop them.
In each district, each player totals up the ranks of their developed properties. (Aces
count as 1.) The player with the higher total for that district scores 1 victory point. If
the totals in a district are the same, neither player scores for that district. The player
with the higher total becomes Grand Duke and wins the game.
If there is a tie in victory points: Each player totals the ranks of their developed
properties in all districts. The player with the higher total wins.
If there is a tie in total properties: The player holding the greatest number of remaining
Magnate

resources wins.
If this is still a tie, then the game is a draw. Both players get to be the next Grand
Duke, on alternate days.

52
Moving Day
a game for 2 players, using the Decktet by P.D. Magnus
You and your roommate have lived together for years, so your collections of geek
totems have become hopelessly intermingled. There are shelves full of rare anime, cabinets
full of prized board games, and so on. But now neither of you can say which is whose.
Today you are both moving out and heading your separate ways, and all of your friends
are here to help you pack. You want to take as much as possible, but you can’t let your
roommate see you packing the contested collections. With some manipulation and a little

Moving Day
luck, though, your friends will pack them for you. It’s only a short time before the moving
vans arrive!
This game was created for the August 2008 Game Design Showdown at the Board
Game Designers Forum.
Components: You need a Decktet, two (ordinary, six-sided) dice, and four collection
tokens. The collection tokens are marked 1 through 4; they represent the anime collection,
the comic books, the action figures, and the board games (respectively).

Setup
Remove the Aces from the Decktet. Shuffle them together and deal them out one next
to another in a line between you and your opponent. Leave a gap large enough for the
collection tokens between the third and fourth Ace; all the collections start there. For
example:

This forms the game board. Each Ace represents a moving box. The three boxes
nearest to you are yours, the three boxes on the other side of the gap belong to your
opponent.
Shuffle the remainder of the deck. Deal three cards each to yourself and your opponent,
and put the rest in the middle of the table as a draw pile.

Game play
The player who has lived in the most different places during their life takes the first turn.
If there is a tie, roshambo for it.
On your turn, (1) wheedle the packers, (2) take you chances, and (3) draw a card.
Wheedle the packers. Play one card from your hand next to one of the boxes on
the board. You may only place a card next to a box that matches one of its suits. For
example: If you play the 8 of Wyrms and Knots, you may play it next to the Ace of
Wyrms or the Ace of Knots.
53
 If there is already a card next to the box, then the new card completely covers the
old one. Covered cards have no further effect on play.
You may play cards next to your own boxes or next to your opponent’s boxes, as
allowed by matching suits. Sometimes good cards will only match your opponent’s boxes
or bad cards will only match yours, but that’s life. Getting geeks to help you move can
be like herding cats.
Take your chances. Roll both dice. Die results of 1-4 make the packers to move one
of the collections. If both dice give the same result, just move the indicated collection
once. 5s and 6s have no effect; if both dice are 5 or 6, then nothing moves this turn.
Moving Day

1. Each player totals the ranks of odd-numbered cards next to their boxes. If you
have no odd-numbered cards, then your total is zero. (Ranks 3, 5, 7, and 9 count;
Crowns do not.) Move the anime token one box closer to the player with the higher
total.
2. Each player totals the ranks of even-numbered cards next to their boxes. (Ranks 2,
4, 6, and 8 count; Crowns do not.) Move the comic books token one box closer to
the player with the higher total.
3. Each player totals the ranks of any personality cards next to their boxes. (Person-
alities are the cards done up like face cards, with two close ups of a single figure.
Crown personalities count as 10.) Move the action figures token one box closer to
the player with the higher total.
4. Each player totals the ranks of all cards next to their boxes. Crowns count for 10.
Move the board games token one box closer to the player with the higher total.
Tokens move to a box nearest the gap the first time they move. After that, they skip
over the gap and will always be in one of the boxes.
If both players have the same total, then the token does not move.
If a collection is already in the box closest to a player when the result that would
move it closer to them, leave it where it is.
Draw a card. If there are any cards left in the draw pile, draw one. If not, gesture as
if you were drawing a card. Your turn is over either way.
Play alternates until the end of the turn in which the very last card is played.

Victory
You score points for each collection in one of your boxes when the game ends. The anime,
comic books, and action figures are worth one point each. The board games are worth
two points.
For scoring purposes, it does not matter which of your boxes has a collection in it.
All that matters is that it’s yours.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: The Excuse can be played on any box and counts for zero.

54
Pawns: When you need to know the rank of a Pawn, the player who owns the box with
the Pawn on it rolls both dice. The Pawn’s rank is counted as the sum of both dice. Roll
every time the Pawn’s rank is relevant to a collection moving.

Variants
Pyramids: This game was originally designed to use four-sided dice. It may add more
geek cred to play that way. If you roll doubles using d4s, then nothing happens. If you
roll two different numbers, then move both collections.

Moving Day

55
 Old Janx Spirit
a Decktet rummy game for two people by David L. Van Slyke
“Oh won’t you play one more game of that Old Janx Spirit,
Oh won’t you play one more game of that Old Janx Spirit,
For my luck will show, my melds will go, my victory you’ll know, and I will
crow,
Old Janx Spirit

So don’t you play me one more game of that sinful Old Janx Spirit”

Setup
Shuffle a basic (not extended) Decktet and deal ten cards to each player. The remaining
cards, face-down, become the draw pile. Game play
Definition: A meld is a set of cards fulfilling one of the following conditions:
• contains exactly one instance of each of the six suits (a suit-meld)
• a set of three or more cards of the same rank (a kind-meld)
• a set of three or more cards of consecutive ranks that all share a single suit (a
run-meld)
Note that Aces and Crowns are not considered consecutive: the counting does not
“wrap around”.

Play
Each turn draw one card and discard one card. On the first turn the draw must happen
from the draw pile. On subsequent turns the draw can happen from the top of either the
draw pile or the discard pile.
Take turns until, after discarding, all ten cards in your hand are part of melds. Lay
down the melds face-down to flaunt your victory. The player who does this scores one
point; play again.
Note: There are many different types of winning hands. Here are a few examples:
1. Two three-card suit-melds in which each card has two suits, and a kind-meld of
four aces.
2. A four-card suit-meld consisting of two Threes and two aces, and a run-meld of six
cards all having Knots
3. A single ten-card run-meld in which all cards have Waves
Note: This game has more luck in the initial deal than traditional Gin Rummy, which
is why “knocking” is not allowed and scoring is based only on who can “go out” first.

The Extended Deck

If the extended Decktet is used then the Excuse counts as any single suit or rank and the
Pawns have three suits but no rank.

56
Quasenbo
a Decktet game for 2 or more players by Jens Alfke and Ricci Adams
Quäsenbö was a popular game at the court of the badger Charlemagne. Its name
means ’too many.’ The theme is thought to reflect political issues of royal succession in
the many small kingdoms of the Empire; although some feminist historians believe it
instead derives from the quäsenbö pan, a cast-iron skillet capable of turning out vast
numbers of spätzle at a time.
Object of the game: To end your turn with no cards in your hand.

Quasenbo
Setup
Shuffle the Decktet. Deal each player seven cards, and turn up the top card of the deck
to start the play pile.

Game play
On your turn, you must play a card that has either a suit or a rank in common with the
top card of the play pile. Put the card on top of the play pile, but slightly offset, so the
previous two cards can still be seen.
If you cannot play any card, you must draw cards from the deck, one by one, until
you draw one you can play. (If the deck runs out, take all but the top two cards of the
play pile, shuffle them, and use them as the new deck.)
If the card you played has a suit in common with the previous two cards of the play
pile (that is, if it causes the same suit to appear three times in a row), you have committed
a quäsenbö, and must draw a card as a penalty. In the spirit of the game, you and/or the
other player(s) should call out ’Quäsenbö!’ when this happens. Repeated ranks do not
cause a quäsenbö, however.
It may happen that in playing your final card, you commit a quäsenbö and have to
draw another one. This means you have not won the game, since you did not end your
turn with zero cards!

Tactics
Aces and Crowns, having a single suit, are valuable because they form a bottleneck that
limits what cards can be played next. Moreover, if you play an Ace by following suit,
then the next player will commit a quäsenbö unless she can play a different Ace. And
similarly for a Crown.
The quäsenbö rule makes it hard to get rid of multiple cards of the same suit, which
balances out the way that multi-suited cards make it easier to play a matching card.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: The Excuse can be played at any time. When you play it, you get to
decree which (single) suit it has. The next player must follow the decreed suit.
57
 Pawns: Pawns can be used according to the usual rules. Because Pawns have more
suits than other ranks, it is possible to follow rank by playing a Pawn on a Pawn but still
commit a quäsenbö for following suit too many times.

Hardcore variants
Double Quäsenbö: Increase the penalty to two cards if a suit repeats four times in a
row (and three cards for five times, etc.)
For historical verisimilitude: Throw spätzle at a player who commits a
quäsenbö. A player committing a double quäsenbö (if you play with that variant)
Quasenbo

should be dragged from the room and thrown headfirst into the moat.

58
Quincunx
a tableaux-filling Decktet game for 2 to 4 players, plus a solitaire variant
Chris DeLeo
The game is played on a five by five grid (the spread). On your turn, you add one
card to the spread, score points depending on the connections between the played card
and nearby cards, and possibly draw cards depending on those connections. You are
penalized for any cards left in your hand at the end of the game.
Object of the game: To score points by placing cards.

Quincunx
Setup
Shuffle the deck, deal cards face up into the spread, then deal a hand of cards to each
player.
With two players, deal 5 face up cards:
one card in each corner of the spread and
one in the center. (See fig. A) Then deal
each player a 10 card hand.
With three players, deal 4 face up
cards: one card in each corner of the
spread. (See fig. B) Then deal each player
a 7 card hand.
With four players, deal 5 face up cards:
one card in each corner of the spread and
one in the center. (See fig. A) Then deal
each player a 6 card hand.
Play begins with the player on the dealer’s left and continues clockwise.

Game play
On your turn, take one card from your hand and place it into an openning in the spread.
Each card you place in the spread may score points in several different ways. Total points
any for basic scoring, pairs, sequences, and power plays. If the balance is negative, then
you lose points for the turn.

Scoring the play

Basic scoring: Consider this card (the one you played) with respect to each horizontally
or vertically adjacent card. If this card is at the edge of the spread or is next to an empty
space, it does not score on that side.
Add the rank of the two cards together; Aces are 1, Crowns are 10, and other cards
are as numbered.
• If the sum is 9 or less, one of the cards is an Ace, and the other card has a suit
matching the Ace: Add points equal to the sum of the two cards.
• If the sum is 9 or less, without a matching Ace: Lose points equal to the sum of
the two cards.

59
 • If the sum is exactly 10, score zero points.
• If the sum is exactly 11: Draw a card.
• If the sum is between 12 and 19: Add points equal to ten less than the sum; e.g. a
sum of 14 scores 4 points.
• If the sum is exactly 20: Draw a card.
Note that card draws are cumulative.
Example: Boris plays a Crown adjacent to an Ace, another Ace, and another
Crown on three different sides. His Crown plus each Ace add to 11, and his
Crown plus the other Crown add to 20. So he draws three cards.
Quincunx

Pair bonus: If this card is the same rank as an adjacent card, add 5 points.
If this card matches more than one adjacent card, score for each pair.
Straight bonus: If this card completes a continuous line of three or more cards that
are in rank order, add 20 points. Straights may be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.
Aces count as before 2, Crowns count as after 9, and straights may not wrap around.
If you make more than one straight, score for each.
Three of a Kind bonus: If this card completes a continuous line of three or more
cards of the same rank, add 30 points. Threes of a Kind may be horizontal, vertical, or
diagonal.
If you make more than one three of a kind, score for each. Cards that contribute to
three of a kind may not be scored as pairs.
Although it is possible to score several bonuses, they must be in different lines. Playing
in the middle of four card straight does not score the straight bonus twice; it doesn’t
count as two overlapping three card straight. Playing so that your card completes two
straights in two different directions does score twice (for 40 points).
Power Play: If this card is an Ace or Crown and you play it adjacent to an Ace or
Crown of the same suit, then you score a power play. Add the total value of all other
cards of showing suit in the spread. This may be as little as zero (if there are no other
cards of that suit in the spread) or as many as 44 (if all the other cards of that suit are in
the spread.)
Since the Ace and Crown sum to 11, you will draw a card as part of basic scoring
when you make a power play.

End of the Round

The round ends when all 25 places in the spread have been filled. If you drew cards as
the result of play during the round or if you are playing a four-player game, then you
will have at least one card left over at the end. You lose points for each card left in your
hand: Subtract the rank of each number cards, subtract 10 for each Crown, and subtract
15 for each Ace.
A new round then begins, with the new dealer being the player on the old dealer’s
left. Since there is a definite advantage to going first and a disadvantage to going last, a
game consists of one round with each player as dealer.

60
The extended deck
If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: The Excuse counts as a blank. It scores zero points when played in a
spread, accrues no basic scoring when cards are played next to it, and exacts no penalty
if still in hand at the end of the round.
Pawns: For the purpose of basic scoring, Pawns are counted as being rank 1. However,
they also work like Aces; if a card and a Pawn sum to 9 or less, the points are added if
the card and the Pawn share a suit but subtracted only if they do not. For the purpose of
straights, Pawns are between 9s and Crowns. A Pawn in your hand at the end of the

Quincunx
game costs 10 points.

Variants
Flush bonus: In this variant, there is a bonus for completing a configuration of four or
more cards that share a suit. A flush may be in a straight line (including diagonals) or in
a two-by-two box. This scores 10 points. It is possible to score for multiple flushes with a
single play.
Note that cards in a flush will also have other suits that they do not share, but there
must be one single suit that they all do have.
Muggins: Players must explicitly announce what their play is worth after a card play.
If a player fails to claim points to which they are entitled, other players who notice the
extra points may steal them. Play with muggins only after everyone is familiar with the
rules, if ever.

Solitaire
As a solitaire, Quincunx is played against the tableaux in an attempt to earn as many
points as possible.
The solitaire game is played on a 4x4 grid. Starting cards are dealt in each of the
four corners. Deal yourself an 8 card hand. Scoring is as per the usual rules, except that
Straights and Threes of Kind may not be scored on diagonals.
If you run out of cards before completing the spread, you lose. This means that you
will need to arrange basic scoring for 11 or 20 several times. Don’t do it too many times,
though, because cards in your hand at the end still count as a penalty.

61
 Ransom Trump
a trick-taking game for 2 to 4 players, using the Decktet by P.D. Magnus
Object of the game: To take as many tricks as possible.

Setup
Ransom Trump

With two or three players, each player is dealt 10 cards and the remainder are set aside.
With four players, each is dealt 9 cards.

Buying the trump:

Each player picks one card from their hand and plays it face down in front of them as
ransom. Once everyone has played a ransom card, flip them over. The highest-ranked
ransom card determines the trump suit for the hand. (Aces are ranked below 2s; Crowns
are above 9s.)
If there are two or more cards tied for the highest card, then ignore those and look at
the highest cards among the remaining cards. If there is a tie here, too, then ignore those
and look again. If there are no remaining cards, then there is no trump for the hand.
If the winning ransom is a Crown, then its suit is trump. If the winning ransom is a
number card (that is, if it has two suit symbols) then the player who played it decides
which of the two suits will be trump.
Once trump has been determined, the ransom cards are set aside. They do not count
as a trick, and the player who played the winning ransom gets no points just for having
done so.
The player who won the ransom leads the first trick.

Example: In a four-player game, Alice plays the Huntress (Crown of Moons),

Bob plays the Calamity (Crown of Wyrms), Charlie plays the Pact (9 of Moons
and Suns), and Doris plays the Lunatic (6 of Moons and Waves). The highest
rank card played is Crown, but since Alice and Bob both played Crowns those
cards are ignored. The highest remaining card is the Pact. Charlie may pick
either Suns or Moons as trump. Since Alice played the Crown of Moons, Charlie
know that Alice would like Moons to be trump. So he picks Suns instead.

Game play:
Clockwise around the table, each player plays a card that matches a suit with the card
that was led. If you have no cards of the suit led, you may play any card from your hand.
In order to follow suit, a card need only match one suit.

Example: If the Diplomat (8 of Moons and Suns) was led, then each subsequent
player must play a card with a Moon or Sun on it if they can. They are not
especially required to play a card with both a Moon and Sun, even if they have
one.
If no trump was played, then the highest card that follows suit wins the trick. If any
trumps are played, then the highest trump wins the trick.
The winner of the trick leads the next trick.
62
Ties: In a game with three or more players, it is possible that two cards will be played
that both follow suit and that are of the same rank. If two cards in a trick would tie
for highest rank (and no trump was played) then look at the suits on the card that was
led: One of the two symbols is higher up, closer to the card rank (number) than the
other. The card that follows that suit is considered higher than the other for purposes of
resolving the trick.

Scoring:

Ransom Trump
Each trick is worth 1 point.
When playing repeated hands, points are added up.

63
 Revelation
A trick-taking game for 2 to 4 players, from ten years old, by José Carlos de
Diego Guerrero, translated from Revelación by Jorge Arroyo
Goal of the Game: To be the player with the smallest score, trying not to take pawns
and crowns. Play a card from your hand on one of the branches of the Tree of Life,
following the Decktet suits. If once placed, all the cards from that branch add up to more
than 12 points, then you’ll have to take a number of those cards, from end towards the
beginning, until they add up to at least 13 points. You’ve got to try to take the least
number of cards, but if you’ve got to take many, at least try to have the most cards
Revelation

possible from that suit, that way you can be immune to its power. There are 8 poisoned
cards (4 pawns and 4 crowns) that spoil the branches and lower your score. Try not to
take them.

Setup
Place the 6 aces on the table in a straight line to the side of the table. They’ll be used to
mark which player has the most number of cards of a given suit.

Place the Excuse, face down, in the middle of the table. From this card, the two main
branches of the Tree of Life will grow.
Choose a player to deal the cards and
start the first hand. In following hands
the deal will go to the next player on their
left.
When starting each hand, the dealer
shuffles the deck and deals 4 cards, one by
one, to every player. If there are only two
players, deal only 3 cards to each one.

Gameplay
The player to the left of the dealer starts the game and then turns pass clockwise to each
player.
Tree of Life: During their turn, players must play one of their cards to a legal spot on
the Tree of Life
A legal spot is: A free spot near the long side of any card on the Tree so that once
placed only connects to one card. The card placed must also share at least once suit with
the one it’s connecting to.

64
 Revelation
Example 1: The Excuse is the heart of the Tree of Life and it’s special. The
picture shows how it’s legal to place cards on its left or right (its long sides) but
not on top of it (one of its short sides).

Example 2: The Journey, even though it’s placed near the long side of a card
and on a free spot, was not legally placed because it doesn’t share a suit with the
card it connects to. The Desert is not valid either because it connects to more
than one card. The other cards are ok because they fulfill the three conditions
stated above.

Suffocation If a player is unable to place a card on their turn (no legal spots available)
then they must show their hand to the other players. Then the player must discard a
card on top of the Excuse and take a card from the deck. The cards remaining over the
Excuse will be added to the next trick.
Tricks In this game the numeric value of the kings and pawns is 1. If a player plays
a card that causes the addition of the ranks of all the cards on its branch to exceed 12
points, then a trick is triggered and the player must take cards, starting from the last one
on that branch towards the Excuse until the cards taken add up to at least 13 points.

65
 Afterwards, any card that became isolated, must also be taken. All the cards taken are
placed on a pile in front of the player for scoring purposes at the end of the hand.
Revelation

Example 3: When The Betrayal is placed, this causes that branch to add up to
13 (2 + 3 + 8). The player must take cards starting with the 8, towards the
Excuse. In this case they take the 8, the 3 and the 2, as they add up to 13 points.
After that, the player must take the Crown because it became isolated.

The Excuse: The Way the Excuse is placed determines who takes the cards on top
after a trick is triggered. If the Excuse is front side up, the player that took the trick
must deal the cards on top of the excuse to all other players. If the Excuse is face down,
then the player triggering the trick must take all the cards.
Those players who got cards during a trick must check, for every different suit on the
cards taken, how many cards they have of that suit. They announce those numbers and
every player checks who’s got the most cards of each of those suits. The player who has
the most of a given suit takes the Ace of that suit.
After the trick ends, the Excuse is turned around, so if it was face up, it becomes face
down and viceversa.

Scoring
A hand ends when all the cards have been played.
At that point players examine all the cards they took. Each suit on a card scores 1
point, but if a player has an Ace, the matching suits will score 0 points. After that, each
crown scores 1 point and each pawn 2 points. These last points are unaffected by the
aces the player might have.
Example 4: In this case, the Knots don’t score because the player has the
corresponding Ace. The total score is 15 points (0 from the Ace, 2 from the 2,
2 from the 3, 1 from the 8, 1 from the 2, 5 from the first pawn and 4 from the
second pawn).
66
 Each player takes a note of their score for the hand and a new hand is started.

End of the Game

Revelation
After playing one hand per player in the game, the total score is calculated and the payer
with the lowest score wins the game.

Tips
Each time a trick is triggered, the Excuse changes its status. This makes every card in
your hand important. Sometimes higher cards will be more important than lower ones
but not always because some times you want to take the trick to get one of the majorities
or so your opponents have to take cards. It’s vital to adapt your play to the Excuse’s
status.
Plan ahead for the last four turns. Note that when the deck runs out you won’t be
able to take cards so you’ll be forced to play the last 4 cards you have in your hand.
Those cards can sometimes cause you to gain too many points. It can be good to save
lower cards for those last turns so you’re not forced to take any tricks, but the Excuse
may force you to change your plans.
Try not to take pawns and crowns. They always give you points. Try to use the
Excuse to give those cards to your opponents.

67
Terrapin
a family of betting games by P.D. Magnus; score points, avoid Turtle Butt
Extra Material: coins/chips
Terrapin is a family of betting games. All Terrapin games use the same basic rules for
ranking possible hands. Western and Temptation Terrapin play well with up to 7 players;
Provincial and Liar’s play better with 4.
To play, you’ll need to provide chips or a substitute - glass beads, pretzels, pennies,
nickels, electrum pieces, or some other countable token. Don’t bet serious money, and
don’t come crying to me if you lose your last glass bead playing Terrapin.

Terrapin
Scoring
A hand of cards is ’Turtle Butt’ when it includes at least one instance of each of the six
Decktet suits. Since the numbered cards have two suits each, it is possible to get Turtle
Butt with as few as three cards. Turtle Butt is worth no points and nullifies any value
that would otherwise have been in the cards. If you have a Turtle Butt and reveal your
cards, you cannot possibly win the pot.
If you do not have Turtle Butt, then you score the total of any points for pairs, sets,
or straights in your hand.
Each pair is worth five points. Additional Aces or Crowns are worth five points each.
Note that three of a number rank (such as three 7s) will be Turtle Butt and so make the
whole hand worthless.
You also score for the longest straight in your hand: a series of cards in rank order,
with Aces being below 2 and Crowns above 9. A straight is worth two points for each
card after the first; that is, the length of the straight minus one, times two.

Example: A four card straight Ace-2-3-4 is worth 6 (= (4 ≠ 1) ◊ 2).

Note that you may only score for the longest straight in your hand. Additional
straights, even if they are of the same length, do no provide additional points.

Western Terrapin
Each player antes one chip into the pot. The dealer gives two cards face down to each
player. There is then a betting round, starting with the player on the dealer’s left.
Betting rounds work in the usual way: The first player bets or folds. After someone
has bet, subsequent players either match the bet, raise, or fold. Bet and raise limits
should be agreed upon by the group. (We play with a raise limit of 5 or 10 chips. You
could play a no-limit tournament, if that’s your thing.) The player who bet or raised
most recently is called the ’last aggressive player.’
After the betting round, three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. If
these three cards on their own make Turtle Butt, they are set aside and another three
cards are dealt. Another betting round ensues, beginning with the last aggressive player.
Starting with the last aggressive player, each player has the choice to either take a
card or stand. If a players takes a card, it is dealt face down. Continuing around the
table, players who took a card may take a second, and so on. This continues until either
every player has decided to stand or the deck is exhausted.

71
 There is a final betting round, beginning with the last aggressive player. If at any
time during the hand all but one player has folded, then the remaining player wins and
takes the pot.
If more than one player remains after the last betting
round, there is a showdown. Remaining players reveal their
hands, beginning with the last aggressive player. Your hand
is formed by all of your cards along with the three shared
cards. If your hand has all six Decktet suits in it, it cannot
win. If it has five or fewer different suits, calculate the score
as per the Turtle Butt game rules. The highest scoring hand
wins. (If someone has already shown cards that can beat
your hand, you may opt to not show your cards when it
Terrapin

comes around to you during the showdown.)

Note that a hand with Turtle Butt cannot win a show-
down. If every player in the showdown has Turtle Butt,
then the pot remains in play, players reante, and a new
hand begins.
If multiple players in the showdown have the same high-
est score, they divide the pot as evenly as possible. Any remainder stays in the pot for
the next hand.

Provincial Terrapin
Everybody antes one chip. Each player is dealt three cards face down. Two cards are
dealt face up to the middle of the table. After looking at his hand and the shared cards,
the dealer decides on a stake. The stake must be at least one chip and should be limited
by common agreement. (A stake limit of three makes for a relatively conservative game.
Five allows for runaway pots.) The dealer announces the stake.
Each player then secretly puts either zero, one, or two chips in their hand. These
chips are used to indicate the play they intend to make. They hold out their clenched fist
to indicate that they are ready, and players then simultaneously reveal their chips. Zero
chips in your hand, an empty fist, means that you fold. One chip, you pay to play. Two
chips, you call.
Folding (zero chips) Set down your hand. You are out for the round. If everyone
folds, then the hand ends without a winner; the pot remains in play, players reante, and
a new hand begins.
Paying to play (one chip) Every player who paid to play must put a number of chips
in the pot equal to the stake. Beginning on the dealer’s left and proceeding clockwise
around the table, players who paid to play must either discard or draw one card. (You
must do one or the other if you’ve signalled one chip, but you may not do both.)
If you discard, choose one card from your hand and put it face up on the table. Start
a discard pile if there is not one already; otherwise, put the card on the top of the discard
pile.
If you draw, you may either take the top card of the discard pile (if there is one) or
the top card from the deck.
Calling (two chips) Every player who calls must pay twice the stake to the pot.
If any player calls, then there is a showdown. Note that players who signal one chip
(pay to play) must draw or discard before the showdown. The showdown begins with the
72
player who called. If multiple players called, it starts with the one closest to the dealer’s
left.
In the showdown, your hand is your private cards plus the two shared cards. The
highest scoring Turtle-Butt-free hand takes the pot.
If nobody called, repeat the process. And again as long as people are just paying to
play. The hand continues until either someone calls, only one player remains, or everyone
folds.
Here are some assorted points about strategy in Provincial:
• You may not simply pass or abort your action. If you pay to play, you must either
discard or draw. If you call, then you may not draw or discard before the showdown.
• After the dealer declares the stake, it is fixed for that hand. The only way to fatten

Terrapin
the pot is to lure other players into playing longer. As you do, you’ll have to be
adding or shedding cards from your hand.
• If the stake is low, then there are pressures to make the hand go on. Players with
weak hands can afford to draw several times as they build up their hands. Players
with strong hands may want to let things go a while so as to build up the pot.
• If the stake is high, then there are pressures to either fold or call quickly.
• Sometimes you should discard something that is actually good for your hand. For
example, suppose your hand is 3,4,5,9,9 with five of the six suits. This is 12 points
as it stands (9 for the pair, 3 for the straight). You pay to play, so as to fatten
the pot, but another player calls. Before the showdown, you must either draw or
discard. If you draw, you might get the sixth suit; that would give you Turtle
Butt and kill your hand. So you should discard the 3 or the 5. You’ll still have a
respectable 11 points at the showdown (one less, since the straight is shorter).

Temptation Terrapin
Each player antes three chips into the pot. The dealer gives two cards face down to each
player and deals three cards face up in the middle of the table. If these three cards on
their own make Turtle Butt, they are set aside and another three cards are dealt. Players
may look at their face down cards.
Starting on the dealer’s left and going clockwise around the table, each player has the
opportunity to take another face down card. To do so, they must pay one additional chip
into the pot.
After the dealer has decided whether or not to take a card: Starting on the dealer’s
left and going clockwise around the table, each player has the choice of taking another
face down card. This time it requires paying two chips to the pot.
This repeats, with the next card costing three chips and so on - each additional
card costing one more chip than the previous one. It ends either when no players want
additional cards or the deck runs out of cards.
A showdown ensures. Your hand is all your private cards plus the three shared cards.
The highest scoring Turtle-Butt-free hand takes the pot.
If everyone has Turtle Butt, then no one wins the pot. All chips remain in the pot for
the next hand. Players ante again, the player on the dealer’s left becomes the dealer, and
a new hand is dealt.

73
 Liar’s Terrapin
Each player antes a number of chips equal to half the number of players, rounded up.
There is only one hand of cards, and only one player can see it at a time. You need
to bluff the next player into either taking the hand or challenging you when the hand
really has points in it. If you’re challenged when the hand goes Turtle Butt, you’re out.
The first player draws a hand of three cards, looks at them, and then may draw
additional cards. Further cards are drawn one at a time, and the player may look at each
one before deciding to draw another. When done drawing, the first player announces a
score of one or more. The next player must either challenge the announcement or accept
it.
If the next player challenges, then the first player shows the entire hand. If the cards
Terrapin

score as many points as the player announced and are not Turtle Butt, then the second
player (the challenger) is out of the game. If the cards are Turtle Butt or score fewer
points than were claimed, the first player (the one challenged) is out of the game. After a
challenge, the deck is shuffled and the next player a new hand. The next player will be
the challenger (if the challenge went well for them) or the next player after that (if it did
not).
If the second player accepts, then the first player gives the hand to the second player.
After looking at the hand, they may discard any number of cards. After discarding, they
may draw cards. When done drawing, they must announce a score greater than the score
claimed for the hand by the previous player.
The next player then either challenges or accepts this announcement. Every time a
player goes out, each remaining player takes one chip from the pot. Play continues until
only one player remains. The final player takes all the chips remaining at the end.

74
Thricewise
a fast paced game of careful timing for 2-5 players by P.D. Magnus
Summary of the game: Every turn, you add one card to the grid. You score a point
each time your card makes three in a row. Threesomes must be in rank order, all be of
the same rank, or share a suit symbol.

Setup

Thricewise
Deal four cards face up to form a 2x2 grid. Deal three cards to each player.

Game play
At the beginning of each turn, every player selects one card from their hand and places it
face down in front of them. Once everyone has made a selection, cards are revealed.
Provided all the cards are of different ranks, players may place their cards in decreasing
order of rank. A player with a Crown would go first, then a player with a nine, and so on;
a player with an Ace places last.
If two or more players play cards of the same rank, their cards are deferred. Leave
deferred cards face up on the table; they may be played in a later turn. If your card this
turn is deferred and you have deferred cards left over from previous turns, keep them all
in order in front of you. Any players whose cards are not deferred play normally, highest
rank first.
When you play a card, you may place it adjacent to any card in the grid (orthogonally
or diagonally). You may not play a card on top of another card.
Scoring: If you play a card that makes three in a row (either orthogonally or diagonally)
then you score points. The three cards may be a flush (three cards that share a suit
symbol), a set (three cards of the same rank), or a straight (three cards in rank order).
You may score for multiple times if your card makes threesomes in different directions or
of different kinds.
Each threesome is worth the rank of the lowest number card of the three. Aces and
Crowns are not number cards, so a threesome is worth as few as 2 or as many as 9 points.
Since three Crowns or three Aces have no number card, these sets are worth no points.
The edges of the grid: If the grid of cards is already six cards wide, then cards may
not be played to make it any wider. Similarly, if the grid is six cards tall, then cards may
not be played to make it taller. Until the grid reaches six cards in a direction, cards me
be played to extend it on either side. As a result, the starting cards may ultimately be
anywhere in the grid: in the center, on a side, or in a corner.
Deferred cards: If you have deferred cards on the table when you are able to play, play
them before playing your new card. If you have multiple deferred cards, they must be
played in the order that they were deferred: earliest cards first.
Drawing cards: After everyone has played their card (or set it aside because it was
deferred) each player draws a card. After the deck is depleted or if there are not enough
cards left for everyone to get one, then nobody draws.

75
 Game end: Ordinarily, the game continues until the cards fill a 6x6 grid and ends
immediately when the 36th card is played. If players have deferred cards in the final turns
or if the card do not deal out evenly, then the game ends after the turn in which players
play the last cards from their hands.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: When you play the Excuse, place it last in the round. You may declare
Thricewise

a single suit when you place the card, and it is treated as having that suit symbol for
scoring. In subsequent turns, it is treated as having no suit symbol.
Pawns and Courts: I am honestly not sure what these cards would do in the game.
Any suggestions are welcome.

76
Turtlebutt
a push-your-luck Decktet game for 2 to 6 players by P.D. Magnus, David L.
Van Slyke and Cristyn Magnus
Development of this game forked, leading to the betting game Terrapin and the
brinksmanship game Turtle Soup. Both incorporate the idea of avoiding Turtle Butt, but
they score hands in different ways.
‘Turtle Butt’ is when a hand of cards includes at least one instance of each of the six
Decktet suits. Since the numbered cards have two suits each, it is possible to get Turtle
Butt with as few as three cards. It is also possible (although unlikely) to take twenty-six

Turtlebutt
cards without getting Turtle Butt. How lucky are you feeling?

The basic game

A hand begins with the dealer shuffling the deck and dealing out three cards in the center
of the table.
If the three cards show all six suits, then the dealer should set them aside and deal
three new shared cards. This will happen, for example, if the three cards are all of the
same numbered rank.
Once the shared cards are dealt, the player to the dealer’s left is given the choice of
taking a card or stopping. If the player chooses to take a card, then it is dealt face up in
front of them. If the player’s card and the shared card together show all six suits, the
player has Turtle Butt, is forced to stop, and will not score any points for the hand.
The dealer then continues around the table clockwise, offering the same choice to
every player. Once the dealer has either taken a card or chosen to stop, the process
repeats. Any players who have not stopped have the choice of taking another card or
stopping.
Players who have stopped in a hand (either by choice or by getting Turtle Butt) may
not rejoin the hand later and take further cards. If the deck is exhausted before every
player stops, then remaining players are treated as if they had chosen to stop.
Players who got Turtle Butt score no points for the hand.
Players who chose to stop score points for pairs, larger sets, and straights. The shared
cards and the player’s personal cards are considered together for scoring.
Number cards: Each pair of number cards is worth the rank of the card. For example: A
pair of 3s is worth 3 points.
Aces and Crowns: Matching Aces or Crowns are worth points depending on the number
of matching cards.
• Pair: 1 point
• Three of a kind: 5 points
• Four of a kind: 10 points
• Five of a kind: 20 points
For example: If a player has both a pair of Aces and a pair of Crowns, then they
count for 2 points (1 point each).

77
 Longest Run: A player with two or more cards in rank order scores points for a run: 1
point for each card in the longest straight that can be made from the cards.
Aces are treated as being before 2s. Crowns are treated as being after 9s. Runs do
not ’wrap around.’
The cards for a run do not need to have been dealt in sequence. They may be
rearranged for scoring.
A player can only score points for one run in any given hand, even if they have
more than one run of the same longest length.
For example: The shared cards are a 7, a 3, and a Crown. You opt to take a card and
get a 6. You take another card and get another 6. You take a third card: another Crown.
Turtlebutt

If you stop now, you would score 9 points. (6 for the pair of 6s. 2 for the run 6-7. 1 for
the pair of Crowns.)
Once the hand has been scored, the player to the dealer’s left becomes the new dealer
and a new hand begins. Points are added up from hand to hand. You may play to a
predetermined target number of points or for a predetermined number of hands.
In the course of play, the usual jargon for card games can be used. When you ask the
dealer for a card, you can say: ‘Hit me.’ When you choose to stop: ‘I’ll stay.’ But when a
player collects all six suits, you really should announce ‘Turtle Butt!’

The rococo game

This is a variant that adds more player interaction. Only the player with the highest
scoring hand can get points for that round. The points for winning the hand are determined
by the outcome of a special scoring round, instead of by the card combinations in the
player’s hand.
After every player has stopped or gotten Turtle Butt, the player with the highest
scoring hand enters a scoring round. The player may take one point for winning the hand
or press their luck by taking another card. If the extra card gives them Turtle Butt, then
the hand is over and they get no points. If it does not, then they may take two points for
winning the hand or press their luck again. The scoring round continues until either they
get Turtle Butt or decide not to take further cards. If they decide to stop, then they score
one point plus one bonus point for each extra card they took during the scoring round.

The extended deck

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse. Just shuffle it in at the
beginning of the game.
The Excuse: The Excuse has no rank and does not contribute to scoring in any way.
It has no suit and does not contribute to Turtle Butt.
Pawns: Pawns would make the game much riskier; each Pawn has three suits, meaning
that just one card can take you from a safe hand with three suits to Turtle Butt. This
skews the odds so much that it is best just to leave the Pawns out.

78
Turtle Soup
a Decktet game of fraught cuisine for 2 to 8 players by P.D. Magnus
It’s soup night at Absurdity House. A big stock pot is simmering on the stove. As
guests arrive and add ingredients, the soup becomes richer and more delicious. If you
take a bowl now, you won’t get to taste what comes next. But if you wait too long, some
jackass will drop a turtle butt in the broth and turn it into swill.
In addition to the Decktet, you’ll need chips or tokens in two denominations. In the
rules, these are called ’large’ and ’small’ chips, but you can use two sizes, two colours, or

Turtle Soup
two entirely different kinds of tokens. Set these in the middle of the table as a bank.

Game play
The game is played over a series of hands, called nights.
At the beginning of each night, shuffle the deck and put it face down on the table.
One player can take charge of flipping cards. Since all cards are shared, it doesn’t matter
who does the flipping.
Start the pot boiling: Flip a card face up and then flip another. Continue until there
are cards showing four or more of the six Decktet suits.
When cards are flipped over, add chips to the pot: For an Ace or Crown, add one
large chip. For a number card, add a number of small chips equal to the rank of the card.
These chips come from the bank.
Take a bowl? Active players simultaneously indicate whether they intend to take a
bowl now or wait for more ingredients.
We do this by giving a black stone and a white stone to each player. You put a stone
in your closed fist and hold it out. A white stone means you are waiting, a black stone
means you are taking your bowl now.
If a player takes a bowl, they get their share of the pot. Divide the number of small
chips in the pot by the number of active players and round down. Similarly, divide the
number of large chips in the pot by the number of active players and round down. The
player taking a bowl gets that many small and large chips.

Example: There are 13 small chips and 2 large chips in the pot, with three active
players. Any players who decide to take their bowl now will get 4 of the small
chips and none of the large chips.

After players take their bowl of soup, they are no longer active players for that soup
night. If there are any active players remaining, flip another card and add to the pot as
before.
Too many cooks: If the additional card makes it so that the face up cards include at
least one instance of each of the six Decktet suits, then the soup has gone Turtle Butt.
The soup night is over. Return any chips in the pot to the bank. Players who didn’t take
a bowl get nothing for that night.
If the soup has not gone Turtle Butt, remaining active players indicate whether they
want to take a bowl or wait. If any active players remain, flip another card. And so on
until either everyone has taken a bowl or the soup has gone Turtle Butt.

79
 Playing chicken with soup: The game should be played for at least five soup nights.
Obviously, you can make the game longer by playing more nights. In the end, each small
chip collected is worth 1 point and each large chip is worth 5. The player with the most
points wins.
Since a player’s share of small and large chips from the pot are calculated separately
and both are rounded down, it is important not to make change from the pot. Once you
have chips from a bowl you’ve taken, however, it is fine to make change with the bank as
necessary.
Turtle Soup

80
Varg Bid
a Decktet auction game for 2-5 players by Felbrigg Herriot
Most people suppose that the game is named for the tenacious, seven-fanged Varg
which inhabits the swamps of Lower Scebany. However, there is a man from Holdenvale
with the unlikely name of Sebastian Varg-Bid III who claims that his illustrious grandfather
invented the game.
Varg Bid is an auction game in which your hand of cards provides both the commodities
being auctioned and the currency for bidding on them. The aim is to win high ranked
cards at auction; the cards you spend to win them are discarded.
The rules are written assuming that you will use some kind of token to indicate who

Varg Bid
started the auction. Any kind of marker will do for this. Alternately, you can keep track
of it in your head.

Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal each player ten cards. (With four players and the basic deck,
each player will get only nine cards. With five players, each player will get only seven;
this will leave one card.)
Give the auction token to the player on the dealer’s left.
Crowns are treated as rank 10 for both bidding and auction value. Aces are treating
as rank 1 for the purpose of bidding, but have an auction value of 11.

Game play
The player with the auction token selects one card from his hand and puts it face up
in the middle of the table. (With five players, the left over card is auctioned first; the
dealer is the first to bid on it. After that initial auction, the player with the auction token
selects a card to auction and play proceeds normally.)
Starting on his left and going clockwise, players choose to bid or pass. You may only
bid one card at a time. After every player has had a chance to play a first bid card,
players may play second bid cards or (if they passed the first time around) enter the
bidding. Bidding ends when everyone around the table has passed.
When you make your first bid in an auction, you may select any card from your hand.
Place it face up in front of you and announce your bid. You are allowed to bid less than
someone else’s bid, if you like, but a lower bid will not win.
You may increase your bid by adding a card, but you may only add a card that shares
at least one suit symbol with the first card that you bid in the auction. You may not
increase your bid if you currently have the highest bid in the auction.
You may bid even if you passed earlier in the auction.
When bidding is complete, add together the ranks of multiple bid cards. (Aces count
1, number cards count their rank, and Crowns count 10.) The player with the highest
total bid takes the auctioned card and puts it face down in their scoring pile.
If no one plays a bid card in an auction, then the auctioned card is discarded. If
multiple players have the same total bid, then the player who reached that total first wins
the auction.
After an auction, all bid cards are discarded. The auction token moves clockwise one
player. The player with the token starts a new auction.
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 Once you have played all of your cards, you sit out the remainder of the hand. This
means that a player with two cards left over after everyone else has played all of theirs
can put one up for auction and use the other to place a winning bid for it.
At the end of the hand, Aces in your score pile are worth 11 points each and all other
cards are worth their rank. The total score for each player is recorded, and the player on
the dealer’s left becomes the new dealer. A game consists of a number of hands equal to
the number of players, so that each player deals once.
The current value of your score pile and the number of cards left in your hand are
public information.

The extended deck

Varg Bid

If you want to spice up the game, you can add in the Excuse, the Pawns, or both. Just
shuffle them in at the beginning of the game.
The Excuse: If the Excuse is won at auction, it is worth nothing. If it is played as a
bid card, then the auction is called off. The card up for auction is discarded, and any
cards that have been bid for it go back into players’ hands. Note that the Excuse can
only be bid as a first bid, because it never shares suits with a different first bid.
Pawns: Here is a totally untested idea: A Pawn is worth 10 if won in an auction. If you
play a Pawn as a bid card, it doubles the value of all the bid cards that you have played
so far in the round. If you play further bid cards after the Pawn, they count normally.

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