Keezbord
Keezbord Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
One player is chosen as the starting player. That player is the dealer for a number of rounds (you stay dealer until the cards run out). The dealer deals 5 cards to each player in the first round and 4 cards per player in each following round. Play goes clockwise. The player to the left of the dealer may begin.
Card Distribution
There are 2 full packs of cards in the box; check carefully how many you need:
- With 2 players, play with 26 cards: diamonds and clubs, 13 cards each (2 up to and including the ace).
- With 4 players, play with 52 cards: one full pack of playing cards (without jokers).
- With 6 players, play with 78 cards: diamonds and clubs, 13 cards each (2 up to and including the ace), and spades and clubs, 26 cards each (2 times the 2 up to and including the ace).
The jokers are not used in the Keezenspel; you can set these cards aside.
Transcriber's note: The 6-player sentence is transcribed as printed. It names clubs in both groups, so clubs would total 39 cards (13 + 26) and the set would be 13 diamonds, 39 clubs and 26 spades. That is an unusual composition for two packs and may be a misprint (for example, hearts instead of clubs in the second group), but the manual does not say so, so the wording has not been changed. Check the printed manual before relying on this detail.
Gameplay
On your turn you may play (opgooien) one card into the space in the middle of the board. Depending on the card, you move your pawn. The meanings of the cards are on the back of this manual (see Card Meanings below). At the start of the game you need a placement card (an ace or a king) to be allowed to put a pawn on the board. This also applies later in the game.
Note: if you can play a card, you must play it. This is true even if it means that you knock your own pawn off the board. The only case in which no card can be played is when you have no pawns left in the game and no placement card.
Can you really not play a card? Then you hand in all your cards (place them on the pile in the middle) and wait for the next round. As soon as all players have run out of cards, the dealer deals the next round. In the rounds after the first round, each player receives 4 cards each time.
When the cards are used up and the round is over, the player to the left of the dealer collects all the cards from the table, shuffles them and starts dealing again with 5 cards. That player stays dealer for the following rounds and deals 4 cards each time. In this way the players take turns being dealer for a number of rounds each.
If you play with two players, you win the game when you have moved all your pawns safely into your home (thuishonk). If you play in teams, your team wins together when all pawns are safe.
Note: you must end up exactly on the number of positions you are moving; you may not move your pawn back and forth within the home stretch (honk).
Additional Rules
- When playing cards, it does not matter whether the card matches the number or figure of the last card played, as it does in the card game Pesten.
- "Hitting" (slaan) a pawn means that a player lands exactly on a space where a pawn already stands. The pawn that was already there must be put back on its starting position (you must then start again). The pawn that has just been played may then be placed on that space.
- Is a pawn on its starting position? Then it may not be passed or hit. Swapping by playing a jack (boer) is also not possible while your pawn is on its starting position.
- Pawns that are already in the home stretch (honk) may not be passed. So you must first move your front pawn all the way forward to get all your pawns into the home stretch.
- If you hold a king but have no pawns left that you can place, you cannot use this card. If you play in teams, you may use this card to help your teammate.
Card Meanings
- Ace (Aas, A): place a pawn from the starting space onto the board, or move a pawn one space forward.
- King (Heer, H): place a pawn from the starting space onto the board.
- Queen (Vrouw, V): move a pawn twelve spaces forward.
- Jack (Boer, B): swap one of your own pawns with a pawn of another player (a teammate or an opponent).
- Ten: 10 steps forward.
- Nine: 9 steps forward.
- Eight: 8 steps forward.
- Seven: one or two pawns must be moved seven spaces forward in total. For example, you may move one pawn four steps and another pawn three steps.
- Six: 6 steps forward.
- Five: 5 steps forward.
- Four: a pawn must be moved four spaces backward. You may not move the pawn backward into your own home stretch, but you may move it four steps backward along the track (so that with a later card you can move forward into your home stretch).
- Three: 3 steps forward.
- Two: 2 steps forward.
Playing in Teams
If you play this game with 4 or 6 players, you play in teams. You play together with one other player and try to win the game as a team. Teammates always sit diagonally opposite each other. With 4 players you therefore play two against two. You cannot play with an odd number of players!
The first aim is to play your own pawns into your home (thuishonk). During the game you naturally keep your teammate in mind. Once your own pawns are safe, you help your teammate. You receive cards each round just like your teammate; together you decide which card is most useful for the next move. When both teammates have played all their pawns into the home (thuishonk), your team wins the game!