Final Binary Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preparation of the game
• The course of the game
• 1. Setup Phase
• 2. Trick-taking phase
  • Important: Special process in playing a suit card
  • Important: Special rules for the last player who turns over their 8th Binary card
  • Important: Ranks of card
  • Notes on the Trick-taking Phase
• 3. Scoring Phase
• 4. Preparation phase for the next round
• End of game
• The Winner of the Game
• Supplementary Information

Contents

• Cards for players' hands
  • 40 Normal cards (4 suits: blue, red, yellow, green. #1-10 of each suit.)
  • 40 Suit cards (10 cards of each suit.)
• Cards placed face up on the table
  • 40 Binary cards (5 sets of #0-7.)
  • 5 Setup binary cards (a set of #1-5)
    • The mark on the binary card will hereafter be referred to as the "binary mark".
  • 15 Rank display cards (5 sets of 3 cards: #4, 2, and 1.)
    • The side with the numbers 1, 2 and 4 is the front, and the side with the number 0 is the back.
  • 4 Trump display cards (1 card of each suit.)

Please prepare score chips or a pen and a sheet for recording points.

Preparation of the game

1. Use the following cards according to the number of players. Put the unused cards back in the box.

   • Trump Display Cards: Use all 4 cards regardless of the number of players.
   • Binary cards: #0-7. Use one set for each player.
   • Rank display cards: Prepare as many sets of #4, 2, and 1 as the number of players.

   3-player game

   • 12 Normal cards (4 suits: blue, red, yellow, green. #1-3 of each suit.)
   • 24 Suit cards (6 cards of each suit.)
   • 3 Setup binary cards: #3-5.

   4-player game

   • 24 Normal cards (4 suits: blue, red, yellow, green. #1-6 of each suit.)
   • 32 Suit cards (8 cards of each suit.)
   • 4 Setup binary cards: #2-5.

   5-player game (all contents are used)

   • 40 Normal cards (4 suits: blue, red, yellow, green. #1-10 of each suit.)
   • 40 Suit cards (10 cards of each suit.)
   • 5 Setup binary cards: #1-5.

2. Shuffle all the 4 Trump display cards together and place them face-down at the center of the table.

3. Give each player one set of Rank display cards (#4, 2, and 1). Arrange Rank display cards in a row in front of each player, from left to right, in the order 4, 2, 1. After arranging them, all the Rank display cards are turned face down.

★ In this game, you may lose points during the game. If you find it troublesome to record negative points, it may be easier to start the game with each player having 20 points.

Setup of rank display cards (each player): the Rank display cards 4, 2, 1 are arranged from left to right in that order; after arranging them, turn them all over, so that they show 0 0 0 face up.

The course of the game

• The game is played over three rounds.
  • In each round, the following phases are carried out in order.
    1. Setup Phase
    2. Trick-taking phase
    3. Scoring Phase
    4. Preparation phase for the next round
• After three rounds, the player with the highest points wins.

1. Setup Phase

• Flip over the top card of the trump display cards deck, and place it next to the deck.

• The starting player shuffles all the normal cards face down and deals them equally to each player. Similarly, shuffle all the suit cards face down, and deal them equally to each player. The cards dealt out become your hand.

• The starting player shuffles all the Binary cards face down, and then deals them equally to each player (8 cards per player).

• Each player checks the Binary cards they have been dealt, chooses two cards from the eight cards, and passes the two cards to the player on their left, face down.

  • ※You can choose the two, checking the normal cards and suit cards that have already been dealt.

• Once everyone has passed their two Binary cards to their left, each player should lay out all of their Binary cards face up in a row in front of them. (If there is not enough space, it is fine to have multiple rows. There are no particular rules for the order of the cards.)

• Shuffle the Setup binary cards face down, and deal one to each player. Turn the Setup binary card you have been dealt face up, and place it next to the row of eight Binary cards you have already lined up in front of you.

• Turn over your "Rank display cards" that correspond to the binary marks on the Setup binary card that was just dealt. Attention: The Setup binary card remains next to the row face up. It will not be turned over or discarded during the game.

Illustration caption (source): "Turn over the cards that correspond to the binary marks on the Setup binary card." The Setup binary card is shown beside the row of Binary cards, with its own binary marks.

2. Trick-taking phase

• The Trick-taking Phase is played until everyone plays all their hands.
  • 3 players: 12 tricks in total, 4 players: 14 tricks in total, 5 players: 16 tricks in total.
• The suit on the trump display card that was turned over in the Setup Phase 1 will be the trump suit for this Trick-taking Phase.
• In the first trick, the start player of the round becomes the leading player. In the second and subsequent tricks, the winner of the previous trick becomes the leading player. The leading player may play any card from their hand, including the trump suit.
• You must follow the lead suit. In other words, if you have one card of the lead suit in your hand, you must play it. If you cannot follow the lead suit, you may play any card from your hand, including a trump suit.

Important: Special process in playing a suit card

• The special thing about suit cards is that they don't have a rank on the card, but the following-suit obligation rule still applies in the same way as normal cards.
• If you decide to play a suit card, you must also perform the following steps immediately.
  • Step 1. Choose one of the Binary cards face up from the row of Binary cards in front of you.
    • ※In the descriptions from this section to the Scoring Phase, the term "binary card" includes the Setup binary card.
  • Step 2. Flip the "Rank display card(s)" that correspond to the binary mark on the Binary card you selected in Step 1 (if it's face up, flip it face down. If it's face down, flip it face up).
    • Attention: Please be careful about the orientation of the Binary card. The side with the number on the top left is the top.
  • Step 3. After confirming that the process in Step 2 has been carried out correctly, turn over the Binary card chosen in Step 1.

Example: if you choose the Binary card with #6, flip over the Rank display cards that correspond to the binary marks on the Binary card you chose (in this example, flip over the two Rank display cards: the left and in the center). Then, flip over the chosen Binary card with #6.

Important: Special rules for the last player who turns over their 8th Binary card

• Add up all the numbers on the Binary cards that face up in front of the other players, you cannot turn them over in such a way that the total is equal to the total number of tricks played in the Trick-taking Phase. (3 players: 12, 4 players: 14, 5 players: 16)
  • If you cannot follow the rule above, you will be exempt from the rules, but you will immediately lose 10 points.

Example for 4 players (total number of tricks: 14), as printed: players A, B and C have the face-up Binary cards 4, 6 and 3 respectively. Player D is the last of all the players to turn over their 8th Binary card. Player D's "4" Binary card cannot be turned over. If the "1" card is left face up, then "4" + "6" + "3" + "1" = 14, which is equal to the total number of tricks. Therefore, Player D must turn over the "1" Binary card and keep the "4" face up.

• The winner of the trick
  • Once each player has played one card, the suit and rank of each card is checked to determine the winner of the trick.
    • If there are cards of the trump suit among the cards played, the winner is the player who has the highest-rank card among them.
    • If there is no card of the trump suit among the cards played, the winner is the player who played the highest-ranking card of the lead suit.
      • In all of the above cases, if the same suit and rank are used, the one played later is considered to be of higher rank.
  • The winner of the trick puts all the cards face down to one side.
    • Please arrange each trick you have won so that other players can see how many tricks you have won.

Important: Ranks of card

★ From here on, the word "binary rank" will be used with the following definition:

• the total of the numbers currently visible on the rank display cards in front of a player.

• If you play a normal card, the final rank will be the "rank of the Normal card + the player's binary rank".

• If you play a suit card, after the process of flipping the Binary card (see 'Special process in playing a suit card - Step 1'), the "binary rank of the player who played the suit card" will be the final rank.

Example: in the left example, the binary rank is 2 + 1 = 3. If you play this normal card (rank 2, green), it is considered to be a green '5' (Card rank '2' + binary rank '3' = 5). If you play this suit card, it is considered to be a red '3' (binary rank is '3').

Notes on the Trick-taking Phase

• During the game, the number of binary cards face up in front of a player should always be "the number of suit cards in that player's hand + 1". Please be careful not to miss any steps.
• When the Trick-taking phase is over, there should be only one face-up Binary card in front of each player with all the other Binary cards face-down.

3. Scoring Phase

★ From here on, the word "difference" will be used with the following definition:

• the absolute value of the difference between "the number of tricks won by the player" and "the number written on the Binary card that the player has left face up".

• Each player gains or loses points according to the following rules.

Round	Difference 0	Difference 1	Difference 2 or more
1st round	1 point + the sum of the differences for all players	0	-1 point for each difference
2nd round	2 point + the sum of the differences for all players	0	-2 point for each difference
3rd round	3 point + the sum of the differences for all players	0	-3 point for each difference
4th round	4 point + the sum of the differences for all players	0	-4 point for each difference

Example: Scoring Phase on 2nd round.

• Player A wins 2 tricks, and the difference is 2.
• Player B wins 6 tricks, and the difference is 0.
• Player C wins 4 tricks, and the difference is 1.
• Player D wins 2 tricks, and the difference is 3.
• Sum of the differences of all players: 2 + 0 + 1 + 3 = 6.
• Player A: the difference is 2, so 2 x (-2) = -4.
• Player B: the difference is 0, so 2 + 6 = 8.
• Player C: the difference is 1, so 0.
• Player D: the difference is 3, so 3 x (-2) = -6.

4. Preparation phase for the next round

• In the 3rd round, there is no need to process this phase.

• Turn all of the following cards face down and separate them by type:

  • Normal cards
  • Suit cards
  • Binary cards
  • Setup binary cards

• Each player turns all of the Rank display cards in front of them face down.

• The player to the left of the starting player of this round will be the new starting player. Begin Phase 1 of the next round.

End of game

• The game ends when the 3rd round is over.

The Winner of the Game

• The player with the highest points wins.
• If the winner has not been determined, a 4th round will be held as an additional round.
  • The processing for each phase is the same as for rounds 1 to 3.
    • The trump card that is turned over during the Setup phase is the last card left in the deck.
    • For information on how to calculate the points for the 4th round, please refer to the section on Scoring Phase on this page.
• If the winner has not been determined after the additional round, they will all share the victory.

Supplementary Information

• When playing the game, please arrange the cards so that other players can always see which cards are face up and which are face down.
• The backs of the normal cards and the suit cards are different so that you can easily sort them by their backs during the Preparation Phase. There is no need to check the backs of other people's cards during the Trick-taking Phase. (You can see how many suit cards the other players have played by looking at the binary cards in front of them.)