IRK Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Color Symbols
• Gray Symbols
• Round Sequence
• Stake Rounds
• Center Rounds
• Playing Cards to the Center Area
• Game End and Scoring

Setup

1. Shuffle the 30 game cards together.
2. Deal 7 cards to each player to form their hand. You can look at these cards, but don't show them to other players.
3. From the remaining deck, randomly place cards face up in the center of the playing area. (See EXAMPLE below)
   • 2 or 3 players: Place 5 cards in the Center Area. Remove the remaining cards from the game, keeping them face down.
   • 4 players: Place the remaining 2 cards in the Center Area.

EXAMPLE: Starting cards in the Center Area — two sample layouts are shown on the sheet: a five-card layout for 2 or 3 players, and a two-card layout for 4 players. Each player receives 7 cards.

4. The player who is the most irritating takes the Game Box.

Color Symbols

Players create Clusters of the same-colored symbols in the Center Area to establish each color's scoring value.

• Color symbols: there are five colors: purple, blue, green, orange, and red.
• Starburst: a multicolored symbol that counts as a symbol of every color.
• Gray symbol: a neutral symbol with no color.

Gray Symbols

Neutral, gray symbols connect surrounding symbols (vertically and horizontally, but NOT diagonally) to create larger Clusters of same-colored symbols. They have no value and are ignored on cards in your Scoring Pile.

Round Sequence

Irk is played over 7 rounds. Each round is either a Stake round where players add cards to their score piles to increase their majority, or a Center round where players play cards to the Center Area. The round order is below:

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Play to	Stake	Center	Center	Stake	Center	Center	Stake

Stake Rounds

1. Select: Each player simultaneously selects a card from their hand and places it face down in front of them.
2. Reveal: After all players have selected, all players reveal their cards and add them to their Scoring Pile. Cards and symbols do not need to connect in your Scoring Pile.
3. Begin the next round.

Center Rounds

1. Select: Each player simultaneously selects a card from their hand and places it face down in front of them.
2. Reveal: Beginning with the player with the Game Box and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn revealing their selected card and playing it to the Center Area.
3. Next round: After all players have played, pass the Game Box clockwise and begin the next round.

Playing Cards to the Center Area

Cards in the center area must touch orthogonally or overlap at least one of the three sections of a card already in the Center Area.

Each card has 3 sections. An illegal diagonal play is shown on the sheet, where a card touches a card already in play only at a corner.

• A number may only be covered by another number. (The sheet shows a symbol that cannot cover a number.)
• A Starburst may only be covered by another Starburst.
• You may cover AT MOST one non-matching color symbol. (The sheet shows that a card whose sections would cover three different-colored symbols is not allowed.)

Game End and Scoring

After 7 rounds, each player has 3 cards in their Scoring Pile from Stake rounds and none in their hand. For each of the 5 color symbols, find the player with the most symbols of that color in their Scoring Pile. Those players receive points based on the value of the largest contiguous Cluster of that color in the Center Area.

Symbol values:

Symbol	Value
3 (number symbol)	3
2 (number symbol)	2
Black dot	1
Starburst	1 — Breaks ties
Gray symbol	0

For 3 and 4 player games, all players with the second most color symbols receive half points (rounded down).

If players are tied for the most symbols (including ties for 2nd place), the player with the most Starbursts of that color breaks the tie. If still tied, all tied players receive half points (rounded down).

The player with the most total points after 5 colors are scored is the winner! If tied, the tied player with the most total Starbursts is the winner. If still tied, all tied players win.

The Scoring Example on the sheet shows the Center Area values for five colors and a worked breakdown for four players. The diagram and player tables are not transcribed here.

Center Area values in the scoring example: red 8, orange 3, green 5, blue 7, purple 5.