Band of Tricks
Band of Tricks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Trick cards (58mm × 89mm): 40
- Score cards: 5
- Summary cards: 5
- Cubes: 23
- Instructions (this paper): 1
Trick card composition
Each suit's trick cards are numbered as follows:
- Metal: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 (7 cards)
- Rock: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (9 cards)
- Soul: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 (11 cards)
- Pop: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (13 cards)
The mark on the card is called a suit. The number on the card indicates the strength of the card. The relationship of each suit is as follows:
- Rock beats Soul.
- Soul beats Pops.
- Pops beats Rock.
The printed diagram also pairs Rock, Soul and Pops against Metal, with Metal shown on the LOSE side of each arrow. The sheet does not explain this diagram in words; see the Trick-taking rules sections below for how Metal is actually resolved.
Score card and summary
The score card has an OVER RUN line (-1 × cube), a SUCCESS line (1 × cube), and six rows numbered 1 to 6, with deduction values -1 to -6 printed at the right of each row. The three columns are marked (from left) Rock, Soul and Pops. Each score card has a Zero Success side.
The printed instruction sheet explains the score card's markers as follows:
- Indicates how many times will win.
- Indicates which suit will win.
- Indicates the score deduction.
- Success Area: Indicates that you won as expected.
- Overrun Area: Indicates that you have won more than you expected.
- Zero Success: Indicates that you have never won.
Preparation
- Give the player 1 scoring card, 1 summary and 3 cubes. Place the rest of the cubes in a position that is convenient for each player.
- Shuffle trick cards well and distribute them evenly to each player. This is called a hand. *Return the cards that were not dealt to the box.
- The person who recently listened to some song becomes the start player. It is OK even if you decide with rock-paper-scissors.
Game flow
- Bidding.
- Perform trick-taking.
- Score calculation.
The flow of 1 to 3 is called a deal, and the deal is made as many times as the number of players. Make a note of the score for each deal. The player who has the highest score will be the winner. If there is a tie, make another deal.
About trick-taking and bidding
Trick-taking is a mini game that compares the strength of cards. One mini-game is called a trick.
Bidding is to predict how many times a hand will win a trick.
Bidding rules
Place a cube on the score card to bid. Clockwise from the start player, show how many of your hand wins for each suit.
If you expect 1 win in Rock, 3 wins in Soul, 0 wins in Pops, it will be arranged as in (a) (If you expect 0 wins like Pops, the cube will be placed in the success area from the beginning).
If you expect to win a trick on Metal, you can reflect the number of Metal wins on any suit you like, Rock, Soul, or Pops.
If you expect 1 win of Rock, 3 wins of Soul, 0 win of Pops, 1 win of Metal, and 1 win of Metal is reflected in Pops, the layout will be as shown in (b).
Also, if you expect that you will never win a trick in any suit, you will show 0 wins by putting the Zero Success side up as in (c) (we will not use the cube so let's return it).
Trick-taking rules 1: Trick flow
Clockwise from the start player, select one card and turn it face up. When all of them are together, compare their strengths and decide the winner of the trick. The player who wins the trick becomes the starting player for the next trick. Keep the used cards face down to the winning player. Repeat this until the player's hand is exhausted. The trick-taking is over when the player's hand is exhausted.
Trick-taking rules 2: Must follow
Must follow is a constraint on trick-taking. If you have a card in the same suit as the start player's card, you must play that suit. If the suit isn't in your hand, you're not bound by any restrictions and you can play any suit.
However, as an exception, Metal cards are not bound by the must follow constraint. Metal cards can be played regardless of which suit the parent is playing. (Printed as "the parent"; it means the start player's suit.)
Also, if you put out a Metal card at the beginning of a trick, the next Rock, Soul, or Pops card will be subject to must follow.
Example (printed): Pops is a must follow target, but Player C played Metal, which is not bound by constraints. (Player A leads Pops 3, Player B plays Pops 4, Player C plays Metal 10, Player D plays Pops 13.)
Example (printed): Player A has played Metal. Player B's Pops are now subject to must follow. (Player A leads Metal 10, Player B plays Pops 4, Player C plays Pops 11, Player D plays Pops 13.)
Trick-taking rules 3: Winning or losing a trick
- If there is one suit: The one with the highest number wins.
Example (printed): Victory of player D who gave the largest number "13". (Player A plays 3, Player B plays 4, Player C plays 11, Player D plays 13, all Pops.)
- If there are two suits: The one who wins rock-paper-scissors wins. If there are multiple suits to win, the one with the higher number wins.
Example (printed): Player D wins the bigger "8" in the Soul over Pops. (Player A plays Pops 3, Player B plays Soul 5, Player C plays Pops 11, Player D plays Soul 8.)
- If there are three or more suits: The one with the higher number wins. If there is more than one of the same numbers, the latter wins.
Example (printed): Player D wins later among the highest number "13". (Player A plays Pops 3, Player B plays Soul 5, Player C plays Rock 13, Player D plays Metal 13. The sheet labels Player D's position in Japanese as well; the English label is used here.)
Score calculation
If you win the trick, put one cube on the score card. Place the cube in the row of the winning suit, close to success. If you win with Metal, it's considered that either Rock, Soul, or Pops suit has won. If you win a trick even though you declared Zero Success, place the cube on top of the card.
Starting from (a), if you win 1 on Rock and 3 on Soul, it will look like (d). Starting from (b), if you win 2 on Rock, 1 on Soul, and 1 on Pops, it will look like (e). If you start from the state of (c) and win one suit, it will be as shown in (f).
If the cube reaches the success area, the score is the number of cubes placed.
(d) Rock: 2 points, Soul: 4 points, Pops: 1 point → 7 points
If you reach the overrun area beyond the success area and if you do not reach the success area, they will be deducted.
When the overrun area is reached: The number of cubes placed in the overrun area will be deducted and the cubes placed so far will not be scored.
Failure to reach success area: The number of cubes required to reach success will be deducted (imposed by the cube placed at the end of the row).
(e) Rock: -1 point, Soul: -2 points, Pops: 2 points → -1 point
If you declare a zero success but still get a cube, the number of cubes placed will be deducted.
(f) → -1 point
If Zero Success is successful, you will get the following points depending on the number of players.
- 3 players → 6 points
- 4 players → 4 points
- 5 players → 3 points