Charms
Charms Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 64 cards
- 8 copies each of 4 suits - coin, key, clover, and rabbit foot
- 4 copies each of numbers 1 - 8
- 16 black bidding buttons
- 12 white trick win buttons
3 or 4 players, about 1 hour to play.
Preparation
- Place all of the buttons in the center of the play area.
- Shuffle all cards and deal 13 cards to each player.
- If anyone received fewer than 3 suit cards or fewer than 3 number cards, that player shows their hand, shuffles it with the remains of the deck and gets a new hand. Repeat if necessary.
- Flip the top card of the remaining deck until a suit card is revealed. This card is the trump suit for the hand.
- Everyone bids how many tricks they will win by taking black bidding buttons. Taking zero is allowed.
- The player to the left of the dealer is the first lead player.
Flow of the game
In the first trick, starting with the lead player, each player must play two cards face up next to each other in front of themself - one suit card and one number card. Lead player can play any suit, but all other players must follow suit: if they have in hand the same suit as the lead, they must play it. If they don't have the led suit in hand, they may play any suit. Number is always up to the player.
When all have played, the winner of the trick is determined: If at least one played the trump suit, the winner of the trick is the one who played the highest number together with the trump suit. If no one played the trump suit, the winner is the one who played the highest number together with the led suit.
In case of a tie, the player who played last of those who tied wins the trick.
The winner takes a white button and is the new lead player. (The white buttons may be placed on top of the black buttons to track the players' progress on their bids.)
Important: The cards stay where they are, affecting the next trick.
In tricks 2–12, players only play one card each, covering their previous card of the same type. Lead player can cover either of their cards. Other players must still follow suit, which means that if they do not already show the led suit, and they have a led suit card in hand, they must play it, covering their previous suit card. It also means that, if they already show the led suit, they are not allowed to cover it unless they cover it with another card of the led suit. The only exception to this is if they only have suit cards left in hand (and none of them show the led suit).
In tricks 2–12, the trick winner is determined in the same way as the first trick.
End of hand
When all players have run out of cards, the hand ends.
Players score points for how far from their bid they are (above or below). Points are bad.
- If you make your bid exactly, you score 0 points. Great job!
- If you take 1 more or 1 less than your bid, you score 1 point. Not terrible.
- If you take 2 more or less than your bid, you score 3 points. Not great.
- If your bid is off by 3 or more you score 5 points. Oh no!
Collect all cards, shuffle and re-deal, and reveal the next trump card to start a new hand.
End of game
Play 4 hands.
The player with the least points after 4 hands wins.