Angels and Devils
Angels and Devils Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
In this game, your goal is to reduce the other players' life points to zero while protecting your own life points.
The game proceeds by all players revealing one card each from their hands in turn. The player who plays the strongest card wins the 'trick' and takes all the cards on the field. The number of 'Devil Cards' you end up with from the tricks you win will decrease your life points. However, if you can successfully acquire 'Angel Cards' under certain conditions, you can recover the point. In the limited number of cards in your hand, rack your brains on how to avoid acquiring 'Devil Cards.'
Genre
Must-follow trick-taking game.
Players: 3-4. Length: 20-60 min. Ages: 10+.
Components
- 48 cards
- Suit: 5 types — feather, spear, arrow, fire, flower. Feather 1-9, spear 1-9, arrow 1-10, fire 1-10, flower 1-10.
- Background: 2 colors.
- Angel Card (white): 1-9 of feather, odds of arrow, fire and flower.
- Devil Card (black): 1-9 of spear, evens of arrow, fire and flower.
- 4 wooden tokens
- 1 game mat
- 4 black chips
- 1 instruction sheet
Preparation
- Each player chooses a wooden token of their favorite color and places it on the life point space on the game mat. Place the token at 30 for a 4-player game and at 20 for a 3-player game.
- The person who "recently had a wish come true" or the one who "gets the most support after each person shares a wish" becomes the initial dealer (the person who deals the cards).
- Prepare the cards to be used according to the number of players:
- 4-player game: Use all 48 cards.
- 3-player game: Use 36 cards without a star (✡) symbol under the card illustration.
Game Progression
Repeat the following steps as rounds until someone's life points reach zero.
Each round consists of:
- Distribution of Cards
- Selection of Discards
- Trump Voting Phase
- Trick Phase (Trick Taking) — repeat the trick 10 times (see Trick below)
- Life Point Calculation
- Preparation for Next Round or Determination of Win/Loss
Distributing Cards
The dealer shuffles the Angel Cards (white) and Devil Cards (black) separately and deals six of each, face down, to each player (each player's hand consists of 6 Angel Cards + 6 Devil Cards = 12 cards in total).
Selecting Discards
Players check their hands and choose any 2 cards to discard, placing them face down. Discards will not be used during that round.
Trump Suit Voting Phase
By voting, a suit is determined, and all cards of that suit are deemed as 'trump' cards. Trump cards, regardless of the order played or their number, are stronger than cards of other suits.
- One by one, in a clockwise direction, each player chooses a suit that they do not want to be the trump, and places a black chip in the trump space on the game mat.
- 4-player game: Start from the player to the left of the dealer. Each player does this once.
- 3-player game: Start from the dealer. The dealer does this twice, both at the beginning and the end, while other players do this once each.
- The suit of the cards that was not chosen (where no black chip was placed) until the end will be the trump suit for that round.
Trick Phase
Repeat steps 1-5 below as one "trick" until there are no cards left in hand. (Perform 10 tricks per round.) The dealer becomes the initial lead player.
- The lead player leads by placing one card of their choice face up on the table.
- Starting with the player to the left of the lead player and going clockwise, each player places one card face up on the table.
- Once everyone has played one card, determine the winner of these cards. The player who played the strongest card wins these cards.
- (From the 2nd round onwards) If life point recovery (explained later) occurs, move the wooden tokens on the game mat accordingly.
- The winner becomes the next lead player.
Lead Rule [Devil Break]
At the start of the Trick Phase, Devil Cards (black) cannot be led. As tricks progress, a Devil Card (black) can be led only after one has been played or when a player has only Devil Cards (black) in their hand.
Card Playing Rule [Must Follow]
- If a player has a card of the same suit (feather, spear, arrow, fire, or flower) as the lead player's card in their hand, they must play one of those cards. Only if they don't have the same suit can they play a card of a different suit.
- [Must Follow] applies to all 5 suits (feather, spear, arrow, fire, and flower). If the suit is the same, a player can play either an Angel Card (white) or a Devil Card (black) regardless. For example, if the lead player plays an Angel Card (white) with a fire suit, the other players can play either an Angel Card (white) with a fire suit or a Devil Card (black) with a fire suit.
Determining the Strongest Card
- If a trump suit card was played: The player who played the highest-numbered trump suit card wins.
- If no trump suit card was played: The player who played the highest-numbered card of the same suit as the lead player's card wins.
The winner places the won cards in a single pile in front of them. (Won cards do not become part of the hand. Be careful not to mix them.)
Life Point Calculation
Adjust the life points on the game mat using wooden tokens based on the number and type of cards each player has won.
Life Point Decrease
(Common for all rounds, settled together at the end of each round.)
Decrease your life points by the number of Devil Cards (black) you have won in tricks.
Life Point Recovery
(From the 2nd round onwards, only for players with decreased life points, performed during the Trick Phase.)
From the 2nd round onwards, players with decreased life points can recover them. If a player wins a trick where all players played Angel Cards (white), they immediately recover 1 life point after winning the cards (the life point limit is 30 points for 4-player games and 20 points for 3-player games; you do not recover beyond the limit).
Preparation for the Next Round or Victory Determination
If any player's life points reach 0, the game ends. The player with the highest life points at that point wins.
If everyone still has life points remaining, prepare for the next round.
- Pass the dealer role to the player on the left.
- Remove the black chips from the game mat.
- Return to "1. Card Distribution" and start another round.
Game Mat
- Trump Suit Space (切り札 / Trump): one circle for each of the five suits. Black chips are placed here during the Trump Suit Voting Phase, in a way that the picture is hidden.
- Life Point Space (ライフポイント / Life Point): life points are numbered 0 to 30. Each player's wooden token marks their current life points.
Tokens
- 4 wooden tokens, one per player, placed on the life point space. Each token is placed at 30 for a 4-player game and at 20 for a 3-player game.
- Black chips: Place each black chip in the trump space as described in the Trump Suit Voting Phase.