BOLD
BOLD Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
112 cards as follows:
- 81 Playing Cards
- 30 Point Cards
- 1 Scoring Reference Card
Object
Earn the most points by matching the most cards.
Set Up
- Remove the thirty Point Cards and the Scoring Reference Card from the deck.
- Create 4 piles with the Point Cards: 1's (16), 5's (5), 10's (5), 20's (4) and place them near the playing area. NOTE: on the back of the "1" cards are "30's." If your points get that high you can use the 1's as 30's by flipping them over.
- Shuffle the Playing Cards, then place them face down in a 5 x 4 grid as shown: five cards across and four rows down.
- Set the remaining Playing Cards face down and off to the side to form a Draw Pile.
The printed sheet carries a 5/23/2019 playtest annotation ("Remarked: per ES comment, For the Bold rules we need to update the SETUP section. Move the '1' up a line and change all 1-4 to A-D."). It is a note on the sheet, not part of the printed rules text, and it has not been applied here; the setup is transcribed as printed.
Let's Play
BOLD™ is essentially a matching game, and there are FOUR potential elements you can match on each card.
Matching Elements
- Shape: Square, Circle, Hexagon
- Size: Large, Medium, Small
- Color: Blue, Pink, Yellow
- Pattern: Stripe, Triangle, Zig Zag
The youngest player goes first, and then play continues clockwise.
Taking a Turn
On your turn, begin by selecting two cards from the grid and turn them over. If they have ANY matching elements (SHAPE, SIZE, COLOR or PATTERN) they are a match and you may leave them face up. You may end your turn and take the points (more on that later) or continue playing.
If there are NO matching elements, your turn is over. Turn all face-up cards back over, collect no points and then it's the next player's turn.
If you continue, turn over one new card. This card must have at least ONE matching element with the other TWO cards (all three cards must share the SAME element). NOTE: it's okay if there is more than one matching element, but all cards MUST have at least one.
Again, if there are NO matching elements, your turn is over. Turn all face-up cards back over, collect no points and then it's the next player's turn.
If there is a match, you may end your turn and take the points or continue playing. If you continue, the next card must match at least ONE element on the other THREE cards.
This continues until a player either turns over a card with NO matching elements or decides to end their turn and take the points earned.
If you choose to stop and take the points at any time, remove the face-up cards from the grid. Collect point cards based on the number of cards you matched (see scoring below). Then, replace the cards with cards from the Draw Pile, being careful to place them FACE DOWN in the empty spaces on the grid so no players see what they are.
If a player's turn ends because they fail to make a match, turn all FACE-UP cards back over to FACE DOWN.
NOTE: PAY ATTENTION AND REMEMBER WHERE CARDS ARE LOCATED ON THE GRID. IF THEY GET TURNED BACK TO FACE DOWN AT THE END OF ANOTHER PLAYER'S TURN, YOU MAY USE THEM ON YOUR TURN!
Example
Let's say the first card you turn over is PINK with a LARGE SQUARE and a STRIPE PATTERN. The second card is BLUE with a SMALL SQUARE and a STRIPE PATTERN.
These cards have TWO matching elements: Shape (square) and Pattern (stripes).
Now, the next card you turn over must match either a SQUARE or STRIPE PATTERN because the four possible matching elements have now been reduced to two. But you are bold so you choose to turn over another card. It is BLUE with a SMALL SQUARE and a ZIG ZAG PATTERN.
Success! The 3 face-up cards all have ONE matching element: SQUARE. Your turn is still alive. Remember, the same element MUST MATCH ON ALL FACE-UP CARDS. The new card is blue, but only ONE of the other cards is blue, so that's not a (color) match. Likewise the new card has a SMALL SQUARE, but only ONE of the other cards has a SMALL SQUARE so it's not a (size) match.
Now, if you are really bold and wish to continue, you may turn over a fourth card. The odds are much slimmer now, as you only have ONE element to work with for the rest of this turn: SQUARE. If the card you turn over does not have a SQUARE (any size) on it, your turn is over and you get no points. If the card you turn over has a SQUARE on it, you have made a fourth match.
The truly bold player may turn over another card and try for a FIFTH match, but if there is no SQUARE on the card their turn is over and they get NO points. Zip. Zilch. Nada. How far will you go...?
Scoring
The score for your turn is the number of face-up cards you matched multiplied by itself. So, if you have 2 face-up cards, 2x2 = 4 points, 3x3 = 9 points, 4x4 = 16 points, 5x5 = 25 and so on.
NOTE: USE THE SCORING REFERENCE CARD TO HELP YOU CALCULATE YOUR SCORE.
Winning
The game is over when the grid can no longer be refilled to 20 cards from the Draw Pile. Players then count up their points and the one with the most is the winner.
Using Point Cards
You can keep track of your score by using Point Cards. For example, on your turn you match 3 cards, so your score is 3x3 which is 9 points. You would take four "1" cards and one "5" card to equal 9. Then, on your next turn, you get two matches. Your score is 2x2 so that is 4 points. You can take four more "1" cards and add them to the Point Cards you already have, giving you a total of thirteen points (you now have eight "1" cards and one "5" card; you may exchange five of the "1" cards plus the "5" card in for one "10" card, giving you one "10" card and three "1" cards, making your Point Cards more manageable). Continue to use the Point Cards throughout the game and at the end each player will have an easy resource to add up their scores and see who has won.