Gamehelppalace

Overview

• 2-4 players
• Standard deck of 52 cards.
• Objective: get rid of all your cards.
• The last player becomes the loser, everyone else wins!
• Very quick, fun game with elements of luck and skill.
• World-wide there are many variants, this game on BGA is just one of those.

Setup

Standard

Card distribution

# players	# cards
	face-down	face-up	in hand
4	3	3	3
3	4	4	4
2	6	6	6

• Each player is dealt cards face-down in front of them according to the number of players.
• Face-down cards are secret from all players.
• Face-up cards are placed on top of each of the face-down cards.
• Each player is also dealt the same number of cards for their playing hand.
• The remaining cards make the draw deck.

Exchange of cards

• Players may exchange cards from their hand with the face-up cards in front of them on the table as they see fit.
• When everyone is finished play proceeds.

Variant

• There is also a 'short game' option with:
  • Fixed 3-cards per player.
  • Random 16 card deck
    • Leftover cards are unused.

Game play

Playing cards

• BGA randomly picks a player with the lowest card in their hand and must start with that card.
  • 3 and above, not a 2.
• Cards are played into a stack.
• The next player must play a card at-least as high as the last card played.
• While there are cards in the draw deck, players refill their hand.
  • Up to 3 cards in a 4 player game, see table above.

Rank order (Ace high)

Playing multiple cards

• A single play is not limited to just a single card.
• If a player has multiple exact rank value cards they may play any or all of those cards.
• This can be done from your hand or the face-up table cards, but not both at the same time.
  • For example ​♣​♥ , or ​♣​♥​♠​♦ .

Empty hands

• When there are no more cards in the draw deck, a player's hand can become empty.
• At this point the player moves onto playing face-up cards from the table.
• Once the face-up cards have all been played, a player must play a single face-down card.
  • Only at the point of playing a face-down card will you know if it is a legal play or not.
  • If it is an illegal play the player takes back this card and picks up the stack into their hand.

Picking up the stack

• If a player cannot (or does not want to) play a card, they must pick up the whole stack of played cards!
• Play resumes with the next player.
• If at any point a player has to pick up cards, they forfeit playing any cards for their turn.
• In future turns the player must play all these cards in their hand before playing any table cards.

Winning

• A player wins the round when they have played:
  • all the cards in their hand and
  • all their table cards.
• Play continues with the remaining players.
• The last player remaining loses!

Special action cards and plays

Card	Special action
Any	May be played on any card.
Any	The next card played must be less than or equal to 9.
Any	'Burns' the stack of cards and removes them from the game. This player is also granted an additional turn.
4th card of the same value e.g. ​♣ on top of ​♥​♠​♦	The player who plays the 4th consecutive card of the same value 'burns' the stack of cards and removes them from the game. This player is also granted an additional turn.

Example

The deck is already empty

Player	In hand	On table	Stack top card	Action
A	​♥​♣ ​♠​♣	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	​♦	Plays ​♥​♣ .
B	-	​♦​♣​♦ 🟔🟔🟔	​♥	Plays ​♦ from the table.
C	​♠​♥​♣ ​♥​♣​♦​♠	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	​♦	Plays ​♠​♥​♣ . This burns all the cards in the stack and grants an additional turn.
	​♥​♣​♦​♠	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	-	Plays ​♥​♣​♦​♠ . This burns all the cards in the stack and grants another additional turn.
	-	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	-	Plays ​♣​♦​♠ . This burns the stack and grants yet another additional turn.
	-	- ​♣🟔🟔	-	Plays a face-down card, ​♣ .
D	​♣​♥	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	​♣	Cannot play and picks up the stack. Luckily it's just the ​♣ .
A	​♠​♣	​♣​♦​♠ 🟔🟔🟔	-	Luckily again has an empty stack and plays ​♠​♣ .