Basta! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game material
• Set-up
• The Special cards

Game material

• 55 playing cards
• 20 chips

Set-up

• Each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards from the well-shuffled deck. The rest of the deck is placed face-down in the middle of the table as a draw pile. The chips are placed beside it.

• Turn order is, at first, clockwise (it may shift later). The youngest player starts.

• The active player must play a card onto a face-up stack in the middle of the table. Then, he draws a replacement card from the draw pile so that he has 5 cards in his hand again. If the draw pile is depleted, the face-up stack is shuffled and placed as a face-down draw pile again.

• The value of each played card is added to that of those previously played. The active player announces the new total after playing his card.

Example: The first player plays a nine and says: 9, the second plays a seven on it and says: 16; the third plays another nine: 25; the fourth plays a six: 31, etc.

The Special cards

Zero: no change to the point total and the next player now takes his turn.

Directional changes (point count = zero): the direction of play immediately shifts, e.g. the player who went just before the player who played the Directional change card now goes again and play continues in that direction.

Exchange (point count = zero): the active player trades all his cards with any other player. He must draw his replacement card from the draw pile before exchanging cards.

Double (point count = zero): this is not played on the face-up pile but, rather, placed face-up in front of another player. On this player's next turn, he must play two cards on the face-up pile, after which he puts the Double card on the pile, too. A player may only have one Double card in front of him at a time.

(As a variant, you can play that multiple Double cards may be played in front of a player. In that case, however, each one after the first only increases the number of cards to be played by one additional card.)

Basta!: the point count immediately goes to 50! This card may also be played if the count is already at 50 points exactly.

Minus 5: the point count is reduced by 5. In addition, however, the active player must draw and play the top card of the draw deck. (If this card causes the point count to go over 50 points, that's his tough luck!)

If he draws another Minus 5, the point count is reduced by 5 again and he draws and plays another card, etc.

If another Special card is drawn, it is played in accordance with the appropriate rules.

• 50 points and no more! If a player causes the point count to exceed 50 points by playing a card, he gets a penalty chip. By way of some small consolation, he gets to begin the next round, starting from zero again, of course.

• When any player gets his 4th chip, the game is over.

• The winner is the player with the fewest chips.