King's Court (1983) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parameters
• Game Components
  • Suit Cards
  • Kingdom Cards
• Objective
• Hand Setup
  • Dealing Bonus
• Playing a Hand
  • Saying "On Guard"
  • Last Card Discussion
• Winning a Hand / Scoring
• Winning the Game
• Suit Scroll Card Rules
  • Court Jester
  • Drawbridge
  • Fair Maiden
  • Knight
  • Queen's Option
• Kingdom Card Rules
  • Dragon
  • Dungeon
  • Wizard
  • Protector
  • Royal Decree
  • Duke
  • King
  • Magic Potion
  • Magician
• Team Play
• Simplifications

Game Parameters

Players: 2 to 8. Ages: 10 to adult. Time: 60 to 120 min.

Game Components

King's Court consists of 108 cards of two types.

Suit Cards

White background with one of four suit colors: Burgundy, Blue, Gold, and Green. There are two types of suit cards: number cards and Scroll Cards.

Each suit has the following Scroll Cards:

• Court Jester: 1 per suit
• Drawbridge: 2 per suit
• Fair Maiden: 2 per suit
• Knight: 1 per suit

Each suit has the following number cards:

• Numbers 1, 2, and 3: 2 per suit
• Numbers 9 and 10: 1 per suit

For numbers 4 through 8, the cards have the following suit distribution:

• No. 4: 1 Green, 1 Gold, 2 Burgundy, 2 Blue
• No. 5: 2 Green, 2 Gold, 1 Burgundy, 1 Blue
• No. 6: 2 Green, 1 Gold, 2 Burgundy, 1 Blue
• No. 7: 1 Green, 2 Gold, 1 Burgundy, 2 Blue
• No. 8: 1 Green, 2 Gold, 2 Burgundy, 1 Blue

In addition there are two Queen's Option cards: one for the Green-Gold suit pair and one for the Blue-Burgundy suit pair.

This gives a total of 88 Suit Cards.

Kingdom Cards

Colored background with no suit affiliation. There are 4 types of Kingdom Cards.

Attack cards:

• Dragon: 4 cards
• Dungeon: 2 cards

Defensive Cards:

• Protector: 2 cards
• Royal Decree: 1 card
• Wizard: 1 card

Wild Cards:

• King: 4 cards
• Duke: 4 cards

Magic Cards:

• Magic Potion: 1 card
• Magician: 1 card

This gives a total of 20 Kingdom Cards.

Objective

For each hand, be the first player to play all of your cards. For the game, have the lowest score when any other player has a score over 500 points.

Hand Setup

After shuffling the deck, seven cards are dealt face down to each player. The remaining cards become a draw pile and a discard pile is started with the top card of the draw pile.

If a scroll card begins the discard pile, it is treated as though the dealer played the card. He must select a color for a Duke, may play a card for a King, must play an escort for a Fair Maiden, etc.

Dealing Bonus

The dealer attempts to cut the exact number of cards to deal, with allowance for starting the discard pile. Seven cards are dealt face down to each player. If he succeeds, he is awarded a 50 point bonus (25 points for 2 or 3 players) and may reduce his score by this amount or add this amount to the score of another player. The dealer's score may become negative, but he may not force another player to go over 500 points.

Example: For four players, the dealer attempts to cut exactly 28 or 29 cards.

Playing a Hand

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer. Each player in sequence attempts to play a card from his hand to the discard pile in one of 3 ways:

• Play the same suit as the top card of the discard pile
• Play the same kind of card (e.g. number 4, Knight, etc.) as the top card of the discard pile, from any suit
• Play a Kingdom Card (playable on any suit)

If a player cannot or chooses not to play a card from his hand, he draws a card from the top of the draw pile. If the card can be played, the player may play the card immediately. Otherwise, the player passes his turn.

If the draw pile is exhausted, the discard pile (except for the top card) is reshuffled to replenish the draw pile.

Saying "On Guard"

If a player's hand is reduced to one card at the end of his turn, he must say "On Guard." If the next player's turn begins and the player has not said "On Guard" he must draw two cards on his next turn and lose his turn, but only if another player catches his mistake. The player may say "On Guard" as soon as he remembers, or he may win the round without ever having said it, as long as no one catches him.

If a player goes out by playing more than one card, saying "On Guard" is not required.

Given the "On Guard" requirement, players should generally keep their hands visible and must comply with requests to show how many cards they have.

Last Card Discussion

When a player says "On Guard" the other players may discuss what suit the player has to prevent him from going out. They may not reveal what cards they do or do not have in their own hands.

Winning a Hand / Scoring

A hand ends when a player plays his last card. The other players then increase their game score by the amount of points they hold in their hand at the end of the round. Number Cards count at face value; each Scroll Card indicates its value.

If a hand ends with a draw card, the player affected by the card (usually the next player) must draw the specified number of cards before determining his score for the hand. He may not use Defensive Cards to fend off the attack since the round was over the moment the draw card was played.

Winning the Game

The game ends when any player has a score above 500 points. The player with the lowest score wins.

Scoring Bonus: If a player's score is exactly 500 points, his score is immediately reduced by half to 250 points. If he is then the current leader of the game, he automatically wins the game. Otherwise, the game continues as usual until a player exceeds 500 points.

Suit Scroll Card Rules

Suit scroll cards must be played on the same suit or the same kind of card from another suit.

Court Jester

Court Jester (1 per suit, 20 points): Skip the next player.

Drawbridge

Drawbridge (2 per suit, 20 points): The next player must draw 2 cards and lose his turn unless he is also able to play a Drawbridge (of any suit). If he plays another Drawbridge, play passes to the next player who must draw four cards and lose his turn or play another Drawbridge. This pattern continues until a player must draw the accumulated number of cards and lose his turn. Play then continues with the player following the one losing his turn.

Fair Maiden

Fair Maiden (2 per suit, 20 points): Must be played with another card, called a "proper escort." A "proper escort" is a card of the same suit, another Fair Maiden (of any suit), or any Kingdom Card. Multiple Fair Maiden cards can be played provided the last one has a "proper escort".

Knight

Knight (1 per suit, 20 points): Reverses the direction of play, or acts as a Court Jester (skip) in 2 player games.

Queen's Option

Queen's Option (2 cards, 30 points): These are hybrid suit cards. Each may be played on one of the two suits shown on the card. The player may also choose to reverse the direction of play or skip the next player. He finally names one of the two suits on the card for the next player to play.

Kingdom Card Rules

All Kingdom Cards may be played on any suit. All Wild cards allow the player to change the current suit being played regardless of whether the card allows them to play an additional card or not.

Dragon

Dragon (4 cards, 35 points): A Wild card that only allows the player to change the current suit being played. It also forces the next player to draw three cards and lose his turn. A Dragon may not be played to offset another Dragon.

Dungeon

Dungeon (2 cards, 35 points): The Dungeon card is played in front of the next player rather than on the discard pile. Over the next two turns, the player must draw one card and lose his turn each turn. After losing his second turn, the Dungeon card is played on the bottom of the discard pile.

• If a draw card is played on a player in a Dungeon, he must draw the specified number of cards in addition to drawing for being in the Dungeon and losing his turn.
• If the round ends with a player in the Dungeon, the Dungeon card counts towards their hand point total.
• If the round ends by a player playing a Dungeon card on the next player, the player must draw one card and count the Dungeon towards his point total.

Wizard

Wizard (1 card, 50 points): A Wild card that allows the player to play an additional card. The player may also reverse the direction of play or skip the next player. Finally, based on the direction of play and skip choice, the next player must draw five cards and lose his turn.

If the additional card played is a draw card, the player affected by the Wizard must draw the additional cards.

Note that in a two player game, a Wizard allows the player to play two additional cards - one for the Wizard and then one for his normal turn after the other player loses their turn.

Protector

Protector (2 cards, 35 points): May only be played in response to (in defense of) one or more draw cards. It voids the draw card(s) as if they had never been played. Play then resumes with the top of the discard pile being the card before the last draw card played.

A Protector may not be used in response to a draw card played as a player's last card.

Royal Decree

Royal Decree (1 card, 50 points): May only be played in response to (in defense of) one or more draw cards. It reverses the draw requirement back on to the player who played the last draw card. It is as if the person playing the Royal Decree had played the last draw card. Note that this has an implicit reversal of direction effect on the game.

A Royal Decree may not be used in response to a draw card played as a player's last card.

Duke

Duke (4 cards, 20 points): A Wild card that only allows the player to change the current suit being played.

King

King (4 cards, 25 points): A Wild card that allows the player to optionally play an additional card.

Magic Potion

Magic Potion (1 card, 0 points): May be played by a player as his last card to any card on the draw pile. Or, if present in a player's hand when another player goes out, all Scroll Card points are "dissolved" (ignored) when computing the player's hand score.

Magician

Magician (1 cards, 50 points): May stand in for any Scroll Card and may be played anytime that Scroll Card is ordinarily played. All actions, choices, and behaviors of the card it is standing in for should be followed.

If used as the Magic Potion to dissolve Scroll Card points at the end of a round, the Magician's points still count against the player.

Team Play

King's Court can be played with teams when an even number of players are participating. Play should alternate between teams. Each team scores its combined points when a round ends. Otherwise, the rules remain the same.

If a player can go out on his turn, he may ask his partner(s) if he should go out. The partner(s) can only respond "Yes" or "No". If the answer is "No", the player may choose what to do. If the answer is "Yes" he must immediately go out or else draw two cards and lose his turn.

Simplifications

For younger players or as a simpler form of King's Court, some or all of the Scroll cards can be treated as Duke cards. As his skill increases, the child can progressively learn the regular rules for Scroll cards and play with them in a normal fashion.