Cauldron 15
Cauldron 15 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview & Goal
CAULDRON 15 is a must follow, trump card game based on trick-taking, with no bidding.
Each turn, the numbers on the cards are summed up in turn order, and the card you get for a trick depends on whether it is less, more, or exactly the amount of Cauldron (capacity of the Cauldron is depends on number of players).
The cards you get for each trick will also be your score through all three rounds. And. This total score must not exceed 15.
Keep an eye on the cauldron's capacity and try to get as close to 15 as possible.
The basic rules of trick-taking are explained in detail in the section below. If you know the basic rules of must follow with trump, skip to the back of this rule book.
Components
- 40 Material Cards (0-7 numbers for each of 5 colors)
- 5 Trump Cards (one for each color)
- 1 Cauldron card
- 1 rule book
Card Details
Material Card
- Card type: Ore, Plant, Organism, Liquid, and Soul (five colors, each with its own symbol).
- Numbers on the cards: There are numbers from 0 to 7.
- Name of the material: No particular meaning for playing game.
- Material description: No particular meaning for playing game.
Trump Card
- Card type: one for each of the five colors (card types).
- The back of the card is shown as a plain card back.
How to Play Trick-Taking
Trick-taking is a type of game that can be played with playing cards. Because of the simplicity of the basic game and the ease of adding extended rules, various games based on trick-taking have been released.
What are the basic rules of trick-taking?
Starting with the starting player, the players play their cards one at a time, and the player with the highest number wins the card they played. This is called "Taking a trick".
The starting player can play any card he or she wants, but the next player on the turn must play a card of the same color as the card played by the starting player. This rule is called "Must Follow".
Example: Player A is the starting player. He plays a yellow 3, so player B must play a yellow. Player C and Player D continue to play yellow, and Player C who plays the highest yellow number takes the trick.
Note that if you play a card of a different color even though you have a card of the same color in your hand, the game itself will collapse.
If the starting player does not have a card of that color in his or her hand, he or she may play a card of another color of his or her choice, but he or she will not be able to take the trick.
There is an additional rule that allows the player to play a card of a different color than the starting player and still take the trick. This is called "Trump".
The trump card is the color of the card that is predetermined at the beginning of the game. Even if the color of the starting player's card is not in your hand, you can still take a trick if you play the color of your trump card.
Example: Since player B does not have yellow, he would not normally be able to take the trick, but since his trump card is blue, player B will take the trick, even if the number is low.
The strength of the cards is based on the size of the numbers on each card, with the trump color taking precedence over the color played by the starting player. Of course, if the starting player plays the trump color from the beginning, he cannot win a trick even if he plays another color.
In trick-taking, the winner is basically determined by the number of tricks won in this way.
Setup
- Place the Cauldron card in the center of the table. If you are playing with 2-3 players, turn up the "12" side. If you are playing with 4-5 players, turn up the "15" side.
- Separate the Material Cards and Trump Cards from the deck.
- Shuffle the Material cards face-down, and deal cards according to the number of players. Keep the rest of the cards face down.
| Player number | Material Cards |
|---|---|
| 5 players | 5 cards each |
| 4 players | 6 cards each |
| 3 players | 7 cards each |
| 2 players | 8 cards each |
- Shuffle the trump cards face down and place them on top of each other where all players can see them. Open the top of the trump card. This is the color of the trump card for the first round.
- Decide the starting player and start the game.
How to Play
In Cauldron 15, the numbers on the cards in your hand are added up in order, and the total number of cards in your hand determines how many tricks you get. The player who takes the trick takes one of the cards in his or her hand and places it face up in front of him or her.
| Total Number (2-3 players) | Total Number (4-5 players) | Cards to earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 0-11 | 0-14 | The smallest number |
| B | 12 | 15 | Any card of your choice |
| C | 13~ | 16~ | The highest number |
Below is an example for 4-5 players. When playing with 2-3 players, count as 12 instead of 15.
A. When the total number of cards is less than 15 (0-14)
If the total number of cards is less than 15, the player with the highest number takes the trick, just as in regular trick-taking. If a trump card is played, the player who played the trump card takes the trick.
The player who took the trick takes the card with the lowest number and places it face up in front of him or her.
Example: Since the total number of cards played by all players was 10, the second player who played a 5 wins the card with the lowest number, the green 0.
B. When the total number of cards is exactly 15
If the total number of cards is exactly 15, the player can take the trick even if another player has a higher number or a trump card. Also, if the total number of cards reaches 15 before everyone has played a card, the trick can be taken before the end of everyone's turn.
The player who takes the trick chooses any card from the field and places it face up in front of him/her.
Example: The third player chooses a card from the three cards on the board, and the fourth player cannot play a card.
C. When the total number of cards exceeds 15 (16~)
If the total number of cards exceeds 15, the cauldron will overflow. If the total number of cards in the cauldron exceeds 15, the cauldron overflows and the turn ends.
The player who overflows the cauldron takes the card with the highest number and places it face up in front of him or her.
Example: Since the total number of cards is now over 15, the fourth player with the yellow 5 takes the highest number, the purple 6.
If there is more than one card with the same number, the player can choose any color he or she wants. The rest of the cards are discarded next to the deck. The next turn begins with the player who took the trick.
Playing with Two Players
When playing with two players, deal 8 cards to each player for each round.
Make a deck with the remaining cards and place it in the center of the table. At the start of the game, open a card from the deck, and the opened card becomes the starting player's card.
For two-player games only, the starting player does not change when a trick is taken. You always start with the card you draw from the deck. Instead, the turn order is alternated clockwise and counterclockwise each turn.
The rules for playing cards and taking tricks are the same as in the regular game. All cards are discarded only if the card opened from the starting player's deck takes a trick.
End of the Round and the Game
The round ends when any player runs out of cards after winning a trick. Any remaining cards from other players' hands are discarded.
Keep the cards you won by winning tricks in front of you. Shuffle the deck and the discarded cards again, and deal to each player number of cards according to the number of players.
Put the trump card from the previous round into the bottom of the deck, and open a new card.
In the next round, the player who took the last trick in the previous round becomes the starting player.
After the third round, the game is over. Take the tricks, count the sum of the numbers on the cards you got, and the player with the highest total within 15 is the winner. If there is more than one player with the highest score, the player with more tricks (more cards) wins. If there is still a tie, share the victory with each other.
If the number of tricks exceeds 15, no matter how many tricks you have won, you lose the game.
Set Bonus
At the end of the game, a player who collects all five colors of material cards by taking a trick, he or she may discard one of the cards already collected. This means, if the total value exceeds 15 in middle of a round, you can adjust your score by collecting cards of different colors. Earning the bonus is optional, so if you don't want to discard a card after collecting all the colors, you can leave it.
Note: Bonuses are counted for each set you collect; if you collect two sets of five colors, you can discard up to two cards.
Example: The total number of cards I got from the trick was 20, but since I had 5 sets of 5 colors, I discarded a "5" card to make the total number 15.
Important: Set bonuses are processed after the 3rd round, at the stage of counting the numbers on the cards.