Archie Bunker's Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Directions
  • Starting the Game
  • Playing the Game

Directions

1. The pack of 42 cards is made up of four different kinds, called "Suits": 10 with Edith, Archie's wife's picture — 10 with Gloria, the daughter — 10 with Mike (Meathead), his son-in-law — 10 with Archie himself, and 2 DING BAT cards.
2. The Suit cards are numbered from 1 to 10; 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest.
3. "Boss" cards have a special privilege which allows them to win over any other "Suit".
4. The "Suit" with Archie's picture and the two DING BAT cards are always "Bosses".
5. The Zero "0" DING BAT card is the lowest Boss and the "11" DING BAT card is the highest Boss card.

Starting the Game

1. Each player is given a DING BAT Tally. The ARROW on it should be set at "0" at the beginning of the game.
2. Players cut the cards for dealer of the first round. High cut deals first, others follow in turn to the left.
3. The cards are shuffled and SEVEN (7) are dealt face down, one at a time, to each player, and the remaining cards are put aside.
4. Each player picks up his cards, arranges them in Suits, putting all the same pictures together. He then guesses how many Tricks he thinks his hand will take.
5. A Trick consists of a card led by one player and the cards played in that turn by each of the other players.
6. Each player secretly turns the dial on his Tally until the number he expects to take shows in the opening above "TRICKS". After he has done this, he puts his Tally face down on the table. When the last player places his Tally face down, they all turn them face up and each TELLS how many Tricks he expects to take.

THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to score points by taking EXACTLY as many Tricks as each player has dialed on his Tally: NO MORE, NO LESS!

Playing the Game

1. The dealer plays first, unless one or more players have dialed a number higher than his. Then the player nearest to the left of the dealer with the highest number plays first.
2. He leads, by playing a card of any suit from his hand face up on the table. (This includes the Boss suit and DING BAT cards.) All others follow in turn, PLAYING A CARD OF THE SAME SUIT if they can. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are examples of the different kinds of Tricks.
3. The highest card played of the suit led, wins the Trick (Fig. 1) unless it is Trumped with an Archie Card (Figs. 2 and 3) or DING BAT card (Fig. 4).

Fig. 1. The person who played the "9 GLORIA" card takes (and keeps) this trick. Lead card: 4 Gloria. Other cards played: 7 Gloria, 9 Gloria (winning card), 6 Gloria.

Fig. 2. The person who played the "2 ARCHIE" card takes (and keeps) this trick. Lead card: 4 Gloria. Winning card: 2 Archie (Boss). Other cards played: 10 Gloria, and 6 Edith (a discard).

Fig. 3. The person who played the "5 ARCHIE" card takes (and keeps) this trick. Lead card: 4 Gloria. Other cards played: 2 Archie (Boss), 10 Gloria, and 5 Archie (Boss) (winning card).

4. A Boss or either DING BAT card can be played on a lead of another Suit, ONLY if the player has NO CARDS of the Suit led in his hand. Players may, however, play a card of any other Suit instead of a Boss (a discard) if it is to their advantage. (Fig. 2.)

Fig. 4. The person who played the "0 DING BAT" card takes this trick. He may keep it or give it to any opponent who must keep it. See Rule 8. Lead card: 4 Gloria. Winning card: 0 Ding Bat (Boss). Other cards played: 10 Gloria, and 6 Gloria.

5. If more than one Boss card is played on a trick, the highest Boss wins (Fig. 3). Any Archie card is higher than the "0" DING BAT card (Fig. 5) and the "11" DING BAT card is higher than any Archie card (Fig. 6).

Fig. 5. The person who played the "8 ARCHIE" card takes this trick. He may keep it or give to any opponent who must keep it. See Rule 8. Lead card: 6 Archie (Boss). Other cards played: 7 Edith (a discard), 8 Archie (Boss) (winning card), and 0 Ding Bat (Boss).

Fig. 6. The person who played the "11 DING BAT" card takes this trick. He may keep it or give it to any opponent who must keep it. See Rule 8. Lead card: 0 Ding Bat (Boss). Other cards played: 2 Archie (Boss), 11 Ding Bat (Boss) (winning card), and 10 Mike (a discard).

6. When a DING BAT card is led, players must play a Boss card, the other DING BAT card, or discard if they have neither Boss nor a Ding Bat card in their hand. (Fig. 6).

7. When a player wins a trick, he places it in front of him, face down keeping each trick separate so that all can see how many tricks he has. That player then leads a card of his choice from his hand to start the next trick.

8. DING BAT: The "0" and the "11" DING BAT cards are used in an extraordinary way. When a Player wins a trick which contains a DING BAT* card, HE MAY KEEP THAT TRICK if he needs it or . . . GIVE IT AWAY TO ANY OPPONENT hoping to spoil that opponent's chances to score. (Figs. 4, 5, and 6). THIS MUST BE DONE IMMEDIATELY, before the Player leads a card from his hand for the next trick.

*Note: The trick may contain either or both DING BAT cards.

9. After a round of 7 cards has been played, each player counts the tricks he has taken. When the number taken matches exactly with the number of "Tricks" dialed on his Tally, he scores 10 points and advances the Arrow on the Tally 10 points.

10. When a player has taken more or fewer tricks than he has dialed, he does not score. For example, if a player dialed 3 and took 4 or more tricks, or only 1 or 2, he does not move the arrow in that round.

11. After each round, the player to the left of the last dealer shuffles the pack and deals. The game continues until one player scores 100 points, WINNING THE GAME.

Note: If more than one player scores 100 points at the end of a round (a tie), the game continues until one player wins with a higher score.