dnup Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Game Setup
Card Anatomy
Card Sets
Playing a Round
Your Turn
A — Play a Set of Cards by Placing It in Front of You
B — Add 1 Card to a Set in Front of an Opponent
C — Take the Set of Cards in Front of an Opponent
D — Rotate All the Cards in Your Hand
End of the Round
End of the Game
2-Player Game
Credits

Components

40 Cards
4 Player Aid cards

Game Setup

Remove cards from the deck based on the number of players:

5 players: No cards are removed (use all cards in the deck).
4 players: Remove all cards with the circled three-dot (die-face) symbol.
3 players: Remove all cards with the circled two-dot and circled three-dot symbols.
2 players: Use the 2-player rules below.

Give a Player Aid card to each player.

Card Anatomy

Each card has an active value at the top and, printed upside-down at the bottom, a reminder of the inactive value. A setup symbol on the card shows which player counts remove it from the deck.

Card Sets

A set consists of one or more cards of the same active value. The value of a set is equal to the active value. The size of a set is determined by the number of cards it contains.

Example: A set of four cards, all showing active value 3, has a value of 3 and a size of 4.

Playing a Round

Before each round, shuffle the deck, then deal out all cards to the players. Once the deal is complete, each player takes the cards in front of them without showing the other players.

You may rearrange the cards in your hand as you wish at any time during the game, but you may not rotate any cards in your hand; they must remain in the same orientation as when you picked them up.

The player with the card of value 1/5 featuring the star symbol begins the round. Players then take turns in clockwise order until the round ends.

Your Turn

On your turn, you must do these steps:

DISCARD any set in front of you (played during your previous turn). Discarded cards are placed facedown in a common pile off to the side of the play area.
Perform EXACTLY ONE of these four ACTIONS:
- A Play a set of cards; or
- B Add 1 card to a set in front of an opponent; or
- C Take the set of cards in front of an opponent; or
- D Rotate all the cards in your hand.

The game then proceeds to the player on your left.

Golden rule: When taking cards from the table, you must always rotate them 180 degrees as you add them to your hand (and rearrange them as you wish). The inactive value becomes the active value, and vice versa. That's a dnup!

A — Play a Set of Cards by Placing It in Front of You

Play a set of cards from your hand in front of you. However, if another player already has a set of the same size as the one you wish to play, your set must have a higher value. In this case, the other player must return all of the cards from their set to their hand (rotating each card as they do so).

Note: When you play a set, you don't have to play all cards in your hand matching that set's value.

Example: In a 3-player game, there is a 1-card set with value 7 and a 3-card set with value 6 already on the table.

You may only play a 1-card set if its value is greater than 7.
You may only play a 3-card set if its value is greater than 6.
You may play a set of any other size (2, 4, 5, etc.) regardless of value.

B — Add 1 Card to a Set in Front of an Opponent

You may play exactly 1 card from your hand and add it to a set placed in front of an opponent, following these rules:

The value of the card played must match the value of the set to which it is added.
If, by adding your card to a set, it now has the same size as another set on the table, the value of the set you are adding to must be greater than the value of the other set. The player with that lower-valued set must return it to their hand (rotating each card as they do so).

Example: You can't add a card of value 3 to the set already on the table because the resulting set would be of size 2 and would conflict with another set of size 2 that has a greater value (5).

Example: You can add a card of value 5 to the set already on the table because this new set of size 2 will have a greater value than the existing set (containing the two cards of value 3). These two 3's return to their owner's hand (who must rotate them, causing them to become cards of values 4 and 6).

C — Take the Set of Cards in Front of an Opponent

Take a set of cards placed in front of an opponent and add it to your hand (rotating each card as you do so).

Example: You take the set of 2's from the table, rotating the cards as you add them to your hand (causing them to become cards of values 5, 7, and 9).

D — Rotate All the Cards in Your Hand

This action simply involves rotating all the cards in your hand, swapping their active and inactive values.

End of the Round

The first player to play the last card(s) from their hand wins 2 points and takes no more turns this round. However, their cards remain in front of them for one set of turns before being discarded (when it would have been the player's next turn).

If a higher-value set beats them while they are still in play, those cards are simply discarded. The second player to play their last card(s) wins 1 point, and the round ends immediately.

End of the Game

The first player to get 4 or more points immediately wins the game.

2-Player Game

Setup: Remove all cards with the circled one-dot, circled two-dot, and circled three-dot symbols.

Each player places 2 Player Aid cards of the same color in front of them: Play Area 1 and Play Area 2.

Before each round, shuffle the cards and deal them all out between the players.

Each player takes two consecutive turns: one for Play Area 1, then another for Play Area 2. For each of these turns, discard any set in the related Play Area, then perform 1 action.

A player may have up to two sets in front of them: one in each Play Area. Since a set can conflict with any other set of the same size on the table, your sets could conflict with sets belonging either to you or your opponent.

Exception: The player with the card featuring the star symbol begins the round with only one turn, using their Play Area 2 (to their left).

When a player has played the last card(s) from their hand, they immediately win the round. The first player to win 2 rounds wins the game.

Credits

Edited by Scott Lewis and Gaming Rules. Thanks to all playtesters and supporters.