Doublehead Kids
Doublehead Kids Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Principle
The twist of the game is that at the beginning of a new round, players do not know their teammate.
Only when the Prince and Princess cards ("Team") are laid out bit by bit does the picture become clearer, and the players recognize in which team they are playing: Team Prince/Princess (players with Prince and Princess cards) or Team Without (players without Prince and Princess cards). Each round of the game is played differently and in different teams.
It is forbidden to show other players whether you are in the same team or not, in any way. It is allowed, though, to give other players a hint through tactical play.
"Whoever plays these cards is a team."
"Psssst - don't tell who you're playing with..."
Components
The game contains 48 family cards with 24 different unique illustrations, and double-sided coin cards which represent the Golden Coins (victory points).
- Card strength: shown in the corner of each card.
- Family crest: the suit symbol on each card. There are two groups of family crests:
- Royal family (Trump cards): the crown crest. Particularly valuable cards that you can use to "trump" and thus override other cards.
- Earl families: the club (cross), spade and heart crests.
- Name printed on certain cards: Team, Foxy and Karlchen.
- Silver coins to be captured: the cards carry silver coin values of 11, 10, 4, 3 and 2.
- Golden Coins: double-sided coin cards, used as victory points.
Royal Family at a Glance
- King Friedrich - Strongest Trump card.
- Prince/Princess - 2nd strongest Trump card - shows who is playing as a team.
- Queen Elisabeth - 3rd strongest Trump card.
- The court ladies Antoinette and Wilhelmine - royal family cards.
- The Knights - the King's Bodyguards.
- August the Strong - the King's Hunter.
- Bishop Marc-Antoine and Jester Kunz - royal family cards.
- Karlchen - in the expert game, special victory points in the last Duel.
- Foxy the fox - in the expert game, special victory points.
Tip 1: "Sort your cards best by family crest and strength in your hand. Cards with royal family coats are valuable trump cards."
Tip 2: "Foxy, King Friedrich and August the Strong offer the most Silver Coins. You should capture them."
Earl Families at a Glance
- The castles - strongest Earl cards.
- Earl Ernst August and Earl Georg - Earl cards.
- Soldiers - Earl cards.
"Attention: Castles and Earls bring in the most silver coins. You should capture them. Heart has fewer cards without an Earl card."
"Start best with the beginner's game."
Basic Game Rules
A. Goal. The game ends once a player has 5 or more Golden Coins. Duration approx. 30-45 minutes.
B. Shuffle and deal cards. Shuffle all cards and deal 12 to each player. We recommend that players sort their cards in hand by family crest and numerical order.
C. Possibly announce a wedding. If you have both Prince/Princess cards in your hand, you can either announce a wedding or play alone against the team of the other three players. If you play alone and succeed, you will receive double the number of Golden Coins at the end of the round.
If you want to announce a wedding, choose another player and say "I announce, I marry..." plus the name of the selected player. You and the selected player are now a team. The announcement must be made before the 1st Duel starts!
D. Start the Duel. The player on your left is the 1st player and can start the game by playing a card.
E. 12 Duels are played, collecting Silver Coins as loot. The active player chooses one card from their hand and plays it face-up in the center of the table. Play continues clockwise, with each other player choosing a card to play on their turn. After everyone plays a card, the Duel's winner is determined. The winner takes all 4 cards, placing them in front of them, forming a pile. This is their loot.
ATTENTION: The first card dealt in a Duel determines which family crest must be played during this trick (Duel). Thus, all subsequent players must play that type of crest, as long as they have such a card. The leading crest becomes the winning family crest of the Duel.
Example - Duel 1: George plays a Castle card. Janet plays a Soldier card. Stacy plays an Earl card. Jack also plays a Castle card. Who wins the duel? George wins, capturing 32 Silver Coins!
ALWAYS the following rules apply:
- If the winning family crest has not been changed by overtrumping (see below), the player with the strongest card wins.
- If two identical cards (family crest and strength) are played, the player who played the card first wins.
- The winner of a Duel starts the next one by playing a card.
"Tip: In the first few Duels you should be the first to play the Castles. Chances are the most players will be able to follow your leading crest. So, you can win the Duel almost for sure with such a card :-)"
NOTE: If a player is unable to play a suitable card with the required family crest, they have two options: 1. to trump or 2. to discard.
1. Trump:
- Lay a card with the family crest of the Royal family and trump the Duel. I.e. the winning family crest becomes now the King Crown crest.
- ATTENTION: However, subsequent players must still use the family crest of the leading card if able (obligation to follow the first card's crest type).
Example - Duel 2: George again plays a Castle card as the leading card. Janet plays a Soldier card. Stacy trumps. Jack plays an Earl card. Who wins the duel? Stacy wins, capturing 21 Silver Coins and becomes first player in the next Duel.
Example - Duel 3: Stacy now starts with a Castle card. Jack and George follow. Janet plays a Team card, which is a higher trump card. Who wins? Janet wins, revealing that she plays in Team Prince/Princess, capturing 22 Silver Coins, and becoming first player in the next Duel.
2. Discard:
- If you cannot or do not want to trump, you can discard any card of the Earl families. This way, you have no chance of winning the Duel.
- So, if the first card played was one of the royal family, you can only discard an Earl card when you're out of Trump cards!
"Tip: Throw your teammate a card with lots of silver coins in it!"
Example - Duel 4: Janet plays a Castle card. Stacy and Jack follow. George discards (thinks he plays with Jack). Who wins? Jack wins, capturing 28 Silver Coins.
This also applies if a card of the royal family was played first in a Duel.
Example - Duel 5: Jack plays a Prince/Princess card. George, Janet and Stacy follow. Who wins? Jack shows that he plays also in the Team Prince/Princess. George wins and captures 17 Silver Coins. Stacy discards, because he has no Trump left in her hand.
! Both Prince/Princess pair cards have been played. Now all players know their teammate.
Duels 6 to 12 will now be played accordingly.
F. Summing up your score and determining the winning team. Each player totals their Silver Coins from their loot. Players in the same team add their Silver Coins together. The team who has the most wins the round (more than 120 Silver Coins). Each player from the winning team receives 1 Golden Coin! In the rare event of a tie, the team Without wins.
A player that plays alone versus the other 3 players, due to not announcing a wedding, receives 2 Golden Coins in case.
Distribute double-sided cards with Golden Coins as victory points.
G. End of a round and game end. After the 12th Duel, the round ends:
- If a player has 5 or more Golden Coins, that player wins the game. If multiple players tie for the win, they share the victory. Alternatively, you can continue playing until one player has at least one more Golden Coin than the rest.
- If no player has 5 or more Golden Coins, shuffle all cards back together, forming a deck. The player who played the first card in the previous round now deals the cards. Play a new round, starting from step B.
Short Overview Rules (Basic Game)
- Each player is dealt 12 cards.
- Play 12 Duels. In each Duel, each player plays one card, in clockwise order.
- The first card played determines the Duel's leading family crest.
- The following players must play a card with that family crest if possible.
- If you are unable to play such a card, there are two scenarios:
- If the leading crest is from an Earl family (cross, spade, heart), you can trump it with a Royal family card (crown) or discard any other Earl family card.
- If the leading crest is from the Royal family, discard an Earl family card.
- The highest Royal card played wins. Otherwise the highest Earl card played from the leading family crest wins. Identical strongest cards: the first one played wins. Higher strength of the same family crest wins.
- The players with the Prince/Princess cards play together as a team against the other 2 players.
- After 12 Duels, everyone adds up their Silver Coins, with team members adding up their coins collectively.
- The team with the most Silver Coins wins. Each member receives 1 Golden Coin.
Advanced Game Rules
The Advanced game is identical to the Basic Game, apart from the following changes:
1. Game length. The game ends once a player has 10 or more Golden Coins, instead of 5 or more. Duration approx. 45-60 minutes.
2. New announcement types. You can use new announcement types, found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelkopf Use them to discover new scoring ways, increasing the play tension. "Why don't you try this?"
3. Two cards with an additional effect.
- The Fox "Foxy": The Fox card is an additional way to score Golden Coins. If you add a Fox card to your loot, played by an opponent, your team will gain 1 additional Golden Coin (per member). If you win a Fox card and you can't determine whether the player who played it is your opponent or your teammate, lay it open next to your loot.
- Karlchen (valid only in the last Duel): If you win the last Duel by playing the Karlchen card, score 1 additional Golden Coin (each team member). On the other hand, if you play a Karlchen card in the last Duel and an opponent wins the Duel, their team scores 1 additional Golden Coin! Multiple Karlchen cards played in the last Duel may result in multiple additional Golden Coins scored.
4. Scoring rules. Scoring Golden Coins (for each player in the team), if:
- Both teams = 120 Silver Coins: Team Without wins, gaining 1 Golden Coin.
- One team > 120 Silver Coins: wins, scoring 1 Golden Coin.
- One team > 150 Silver Coins: wins, scoring 2 Golden Coins.
- One team > 180 Silver Coins: wins, scoring 3 Golden Coins.
All teams additionally score:
- 1 Golden Coin for each Fox in their loot played by an opponent.
- 1 Golden Coin if a team member won the last Duel by playing a Karlchen card.
- 1 Golden Coin for each Karlchen card won in the last Duel that was played by an opponent.