8-28
8-28 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
- 15 red gems (each worth 2 victory points)
- 55 blue gems (each worth 1 victory point)
- 51 playing cards
What's the Game About?
You win precious gems, if the numbers on your cards get closest to a total of 8 without exceeding this total. And you obtain the same amount of gems, if you manage to do this with the total of 28 on your cards. If you even succeed in doing BOTH, you'll make a direct hit and rake in all gems.
Set-up of the Game
- Separate the blue and the red gems and put them as a supply next to the playing area.
- Shuffle all the cards and form a pile.
Course of the Game
At the beginning of a round, each player takes one card, looks at it in secret and puts it face down in front of him.
The oldest player will be the (first) card-giver and gets the remaining card pile.
The card-giver carries out two actions:
- Action A: Put a blue gem from the supply into the middle of the table. (If there is no blue gem available any more, take a red one.)
- Action B: Offer each individual, one player at a time in clockwise order – and finally yourself – another face-down card from the pile. Each player can accept or decline the card he has been offered. If he accepts it, he puts it face up next to his other card(s) and (in his head) adds its value to his other cards.
The "1/11" card can be counted as 1 or 11.
If a player has cards face up in front of him that add up to a total value of 28 or more in any case, he no longer takes part in the current round in any case. He shoves his cards together into a pile.
After carrying out actions A and B, you pass the card pile to your left neighbor. This player now becomes the new card-giver; he carries out actions A and B.
This continues until no player (including the current card-giver) takes a new card any more. With this, the round ends and the gems are distributed.
Distributing the Gems
All players reveal the face-down cards in front of them.
Divide the gems in the middle of the table into two halves of equal value. Now, two distributions take place:
- The first half of the gems goes to the player who reaches the total number of 8 on his cards (or gets as close as possible) without exceeding it.
- After that, the second half of the gems goes to the player who reaches the total number of 28 on his cards (or gets as close as possible) without exceeding it.
Example 1: Sarah and Peter both have a total of 8. They share the gems of the first half. Fran (28) obtains the second half of the gems. Tim (25) goes away empty-handed.
Example 2: This time, nobody has reached the 8 exactly. With her 6, Fran wins the first half of the gems. Peter (4) gets nothing. Nobody has reached 28 by exact count either. Sarah (26) is closer to 28 than Tim (23), who goes away empty-handed. Sarah obtains the second half of the gems.
If several players profit from the same distribution, they share the respective gems equally.
Whenever gems cannot be divided equally, players put the remainder aside and do not use it before the next round. The same applies to gems that are still lying in the middle of the table because they have not been distributed.
Example 3: Separate the seven gems into two halves of three gems each, with one gem left over. Sarah and Peter share the first half; again, one gem is left. Fran gets all three gems of the second half. The two left-over gems remain for the next round.
You may participate in only one of the two distributions (exception: "Direct Hit"; see text box). In case your card values would enable you to participate in both distributions, you have to choose only one of them; you make this choice before the first half of the gems is distributed.
If several players have this choice, they choose in turn – beginning with the last card-giver of the round – which distribution they want to use their own number total for.
Example 4: Tim can add up his cards to 6, 16 or 26. He has to decide which of the three totals he wants to use. Only if he chooses the 6 does he play for the first distribution; otherwise, for the second.
Direct Hit: 8 AND 28!
If your cards can form (exactly) a total of 8 as well as (exactly) a total of 28, you have made a DIRECT HIT! You immediately receive all gems from the middle of the table. In this special case, no second distribution takes place. If several players have made a direct hit, they share the gems.
(Illustration: 1+1+6=8 and 11+11+6=28.)
Preparing the Next Round
- Put the left-over gems from the previous round into the middle of the table.
- Shuffle all cards.
- The player to the left of the last card-giver becomes the first card-giver of the new round (and he starts with action A).
End of the Game
After you put the first red gem into the middle of the table, you still complete the current round. If you run out of the red gems as well, you also complete this final round, but without placing any more gems (that means that action A is omitted until the end of the game).
In the end, each player counts his gems and adds up his points. The gems are worth:
- 1 point for each blue gem;
- 2 points for each red gem.
The player with the most points wins. The winner deserves our highest rating!