Doppelganger Tricks
Doppelgänger Tricks Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 40 playing cards, from 1 to 10 in 4 suits: Pink (circle), Green (bar), Yellow (triangle), and Navy (silhouette — the doppelgänger suit)
- 8 bidding cards (1 set per player): a card numbered 1/3/5/7/9/11 on one side, and a card numbered 2/4/6/8/10/12 on the other side, plus a "0" prediction card
- 2 bonus cards: one showing a single star, one showing an eye and three stars
Game Overview
Score points by correctly predicting the number of tricks you will win each round. Use your doppelgänger cards skillfully to make your predictions and thwart your opponents' predictions.
After a certain number of rounds, the player with the most points is the winner.
Game Setup
- Deal a set of prediction cards to each player. For 3 players, keep the remaining set in the game box.
- Leave the two bonus cards next to the playing area, within reach of the players.
- If playing with 3 players, remove all the number 10 cards from the deck. For 4 players, use all the cards.
- Shuffle the cards and deal them equally among the players. You can see your cards and arrange them freely, but do not show them to other players.
- The first player is the one who recently met someone very similar to them. If there is no one in this condition, decide randomly.
Game Flow
Bidding: each player must simultaneously predict the number of tricks they will win during this round, using the prediction cards. Record your bidding as in the example, indicating a number from 1 to 12. If you want to predict zero tricks, simply place the prediction card with the 0 facing up on top of the other card, covering it completely.
Players must make their prediction and cover the cards with their hands. When everyone is ready, reveal them simultaneously.
The bidding is open information - keep it close to yourself, but in a way that all other players can see it.
Tricks: the starting player chooses any card from their hand to play. In a clockwise direction, each of the other players must play a card of the same suit as the leading card, if possible (what we call following suit). If they have no cards of the starting suit, they can play any card. When each player has played a card, a trick is formed.
The strongest card in the trick will be the highest-ranking card whose suit matches the lead card. The player who played this card wins the trick. They must collect all the cards and place them face down in a pile in front of them. The piles should be separated for each trick won, so that it is easy to know, at any point in the game, how many tricks a particular player has won.
The winner must start the next trick, playing any card from their hand.
Doppelgänger Cards: cards of the Navy suit are the doppelgänger cards and are always considered to belong to one of the other three suits (Green, Yellow, or Pink).
When played by the first player, they must declare which of the other three suits this card belongs to. The other players must follow the chosen suit.
When played by any player other than the starting player, the doppelgänger card always follows the lead suit - it is treated as if it were a card of the lead suit.
A player might always play a doppelgänger card, but never must play it. You can play it even if you have cards of the lead suit, and you are not obliged to play it if you do not have cards of the lead suit.
In an example hand, considering a Green 4 as the leading card, a player with no Green cards could play any card from their hand, since they have no cards of the leading suit, and doppelgänger cards, which when played are considered to be of the leading suit, may or may not be played. A player who does hold a Green card can choose between following suit with their Green card or with one of their doppelgänger cards. They can't play a card of a different suit, since they have at least one card of the lead suit.
Annihilation: if two cards of the same suit and rank are played in the same trick, that is, if the doppelgänger card meets the card of the lead suit of the same value, both cease to exist and are discarded from the trick. Remember that the doppelgänger card is always considered to be of the lead suit, therefore there is no annihilation with cards of other suits than the lead one. See below some examples and situations - the first card on the left is always the lead card of the trick.
Example 1: a Navy 6 is considered to belong to the lead suit (Pink). Both 6s annihilate each other. The Pink 4 wins the trick.
Example 2: there's no annihilation since the Navy 8 is considered a Yellow 8. The Navy 8 wins the trick.
Example 3: a player leads with a doppelgänger card and declares its suit as Green. All other players follow suit. There's no annihilation since the Navy 3 and the Yellow 3 are not together in the same trick. The Green 9 wins the trick.
Example 4: a player leads with a doppelgänger card and declares Pink as its suit. All other players follow suit. Both 7s annihilate each other. The Pink 5 wins the trick.
Example 5: both 2s annihilate each other, but the lead suit is still Pink. Thus, the Pink 3 wins the trick.
Example 6: both 3s and 7s annihilate each other. In this scenario, no one wins the trick and the player that led this trick will lead again.
Example 7: the lead card (Yellow 10) is annihilated by a Navy 10. There's no card of the lead suit. In this scenario, the highest ranked card, regardless of suit, wins the trick. In case of a tie, the player who played first wins. The Pink 7 wins the trick.
Bonus Cards: there are two bonus cards that can be taken during the round. The moment a player has no doppelgänger cards in their hand after playing a card on the table (which may be their last doppelgänger card), they can declare this information to the other players and choose one of the bonus cards, if they have not already been taken yet.
Taking a bonus card is only possible during the player's turn, after they play a card on the table. If a player has no doppelgänger cards in their hand since the beginning of the round, they must wait to play their first card to make the declaration and take a bonus card.
Player is not required to declare that they have no more doppelgänger cards in their hand - taking a bonus card is optional.
The single-star bonus card: player scores one extra point at the end of the round, regardless of their bidding.
The eye-and-three-stars bonus card: player scores three extra points at the end of the round if their bidding is exactly right.
End of Round and Scoring
When all the cards have been played, the round ends and scoring takes place.
If the player correctly predicted the number of tricks they bid, they receive 3 points.
If the player missed their bid by one trick (more or less), they receive 1 point.
If the player missed their bid by two or more tricks, they don't receive any points.
Special scoring: if a player bid zero tricks, they receive 7 points if they correctly predict the number of tricks, but zero points if they are wrong, even by only one trick.
In addition to the bidding score, bonus cards are also scored.
Record the round's points using the most convenient method. After scoring, return the bonus cards to the center of the table, shuffle all the playing cards, distribute them among the players, and start a new round. The first player is the one to the left of the starting player from the previous round.
End of Game
When a number of rounds equal to the number of players have been played (three in a 3-players game, four in a 4-players game), the game ends. The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.