Duck
Duck Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 69 duck cards (23 cards each in the colours yellow, blue, and red, numbered 0 to 8)
- 5 beach towel cards
- 5 lifebelt cards
Aim of the Game
In DUCK, the players try to play their hand cards wisely and snatch as many victory points as possible. The first one to get rid of all their hand cards can win a lot of points. However, if you are courageous and clever and duck in time, you can surprise your fellow players and scoop up a few more victory points at ease. The player with the most points at the end of 5 rounds is the winner.
Game Set-Up
Lay the lifebelt cards, ascending from 6 to 10, in the centre of the table — the 6 is visible at the top and the 10 is lying right at the bottom of the pile. Each player receives a beach towel card and places it before them. The eldest player begins. Shuffle all the duck cards, deal 7 hand cards face down to each player, and also lay 1 card face up before you. Place the remaining cards face down in the centre of the table to make a draw pile.
How to Play
The player on the left of the dealer begins the round, then play continues in clockwise direction.
When it's your turn, you have 2 options — either play cards and draw or duck.
A) Play Cards and Draw
You can play cards in one of the following two ways:
- Play any number of cards (1 or more) of the same number; the colour is irrelevant.
- Play an ascending or descending consecutive sequence of cards (at least 3) of the same colour.
When you play cards, show them to all your fellow players first. Then lay the cards face up on your discard pile, so that only the uppermost, last-played card is visible. Thus, during the course of the round, a personal discard pile is built up before each player. When you play the same numbers, you decide which colour should lie uppermost. When you play a sequence, you decide whether you want to lay the cards in ascending or descending order (e.g.: 2, 3, 4 or 4, 3, 2).
If, after playing your cards, you still hold cards in your hand, you must draw 1 card. You must draw from one of the following 3 places:
- Draw the uppermost card from the face down draw pile OR
- Draw the uppermost card from the discard pile of the player on your left OR
- Draw the uppermost card from the discard pile of the player on your right.
However, if you don't have any cards left in your hand after playing your cards, then the round ends immediately. In this case, take the uppermost lifebelt card, green side up, from the display and place it beneath your beach towel.
After that, your fellow players compare the sum of their cards. The player with the highest sum discards all their cards. All other players each place their highest hand card face down beneath their beach towel.
B) Duck
If the sum of your hand cards is 10 or less, you can duck (instead of playing cards). When you duck, you claim to be the only one of all the players to hold the lowest sum in their hand. When you duck, announce this out loud, place your hand cards face up before you, and thus end this round for everyone, ahead of time.
Next, all your fellow players place their hand cards face up before them and check: Has the ducking player got a sum of 10 or less? Have they really got the lowest sum of all the players?
Ducked right
- If the player indeed has a sum of 10 or less AND the lowest sum of all the players, then they take the uppermost lifebelt, green side up, from the display and place it beneath their beach towel.
- In addition, this player also places their highest remaining hand card face down beneath their beach towel.
- Your fellow player with the highest sum discards all their cards. All the other players each place their highest hand card face down beneath their beach towel.
Ducked wrong
- If the player has a sum of 11 or more OR if they have the same or a higher sum in their hand than a fellow player, then they must place the uppermost lifebelt with the red side face up beneath their beach towel.
- Furthermore, the player may not place any hand card beneath their beach towel!
- The fellow player with the highest sum discards their cards. All other players each place their highest hand card face down beneath their beach towel.
End of the Round
A round can end in two ways: either a player plays their last card OR a player ducks.
After the distribution of the lifebelt and further victory points, all the remaining cards are shuffled ready for the next round: the player to the left of the previous dealer is now the new dealer. The new dealer shuffles all the cards that are still in the game — cards that are lying beneath beach towels are not included, of course!
End of the Game
After 5 rounds, all the lifebelts have been distributed and the game ends. All the players count up the victory points beneath their beach towels. The player with the most victory points is the winner and the coolest "duck" on the beach!
Your victory points:
- The sum of the values of all your duck cards beneath the beach towel
- plus victory points of the green lifebelts
- minus penalty points of the red lifebelts