Good Face Bad Face
Good Face Bad Face Rulebook
NOTICE: This is NOT an official rulebook. No official rules document for Good Face Bad Face (Big Potato Games) has been published online. This page is a compilation and retelling of the publisher's product text and three third-party reviews (What Board Game, TTPM, Front Row Reviews). It may be incomplete or differ in detail from the rules printed on the in-box reference card. Where sources disagree, see "Source discrepancies" at the end.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 30 cards (including a reference card)
- 1 silicone band
- 1 Mystery Envelope (open it only after you have played a few games)
Cards are yellow Good Faces and red Bad Faces.
Goal
Be the first player to have four Good Faces face up in front of you.
Setup
Use a number of Good Faces and Bad Faces that depends on the player count (the reference card shows this):
| Players | Good Faces | Bad Faces |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 9 | 5 (then remove 2 more cards; see discrepancies) |
| 3 | 10 | 5 |
| 4 | 14 | 6 |
| 5 | 18 | 7 |
Shuffle the cards used and deal them out equally to each player. Each player should have five cards in hand. Return unused cards to the box.
Playing the Game
Choose a first player. That player is the stack owner for the round.
- Build a stack. The stack owner chooses one to five cards from their hand and places them face down in a stack.
- Pass it on. The stack is passed to the next player (see discrepancies for direction). That player may either:
- take the top card of the stack, turn it face up and add it to their face-up row in front of them; or
- pass the stack, unseen, to the next player.
- Taking a Good Face. A Good Face is added to your row and brings you closer to the four needed to win. If you take a Good Face you may then choose to take another card from the stack (if any remain), or pass the remaining cards on.
- Taking a Bad Face. You must place it in front of you and your turn ends. Cards taken from the stack are always flipped for everyone to see.
- If you already have Bad Faces in your row, add this one to them.
- If it is your third Bad Face, you must pick up all your Bad Faces and add them to your hand. The other players now know much of your hand is Bad Faces.
- If you had Good Faces in your row when you took a Bad Face, those Good Faces are returned to your hand (reviews differ on the exact details; see discrepancies). The Bad Face stays in front of you.
- If you later add a Good Face while you have a Bad Face in your row, you can pick up one Bad Face and return it to your hand.
- Stack returns to its owner. If the stack comes back to the stack owner untouched, they must take at least the top card.
- Next round. After the stack has been resolved, the round ends and the next player becomes the stack owner and builds a stack from their hand.
The game ends as soon as a player has four Good Faces face up in front of them; that player wins.
Strategy notes (from reviews)
You always know some cards from your own hand and from what is face up in front of other players, and there are only so many cards in the game. Stack size and composition are part of the bluff: for example, a mix of Bad Faces over a Good Face to scare others off, or a stack of Good Faces hoping most players pass so that it returns to you.
Mystery Envelope
The box contains a Mystery Envelope with special cards that add variety and make the game more treacherous. The publisher and reviewers advise opening it only after you have learned the basic game and do not describe its contents. Its rules are not included here.
Source discrepancies
- Passing direction: What Board Game says the stack is passed to the player on the owner's right; TTPM says to the left. The publisher's text does not specify. Choose one direction and keep it for the whole game.
- What a Bad Face does to your Good Faces: What Board Game says all your face-up Good Faces are returned to your hand when you take a Bad Face. TTPM says a Bad Face "must be added to your line up, or negate ANY good faces if you have them". The publisher says it will "chase all the Good Faces you were collecting away" and "you'll lose it all".
- What a Good Face does to your Bad Faces: What Board Game says taking a Good Face lets you return one Bad Face to your hand. TTPM says Good Faces negate Bad Faces "only one at a time".
- Front Row Reviews describes the Bad Face outcome differently (the Bad Face stays with you only if you have no Good Faces; the stack is then passed on) and is the least detailed source.
- Two-player setup: What Board Game gives 9 Good and 5 Bad, "then remove another two from the game", yet also says each player ends with five cards. The exact number removed is unclear from the text; check the in-box reference card.
- Third Bad Face: Only What Board Game describes picking up all three Bad Faces into your hand.
- Mystery Envelope: the cards (described only as "special cards") and their rules are not specified in any available source.