Matchmaster
Matchmaster Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Goal
The goal of the game is to predict how many tricks you can take with the cards you hold in your hand.
Players earn plus points for correct predictions and minus points for incorrect ones. The game is played over 13 rounds, with a different number of cards per round (between 7 and 1). The player with the most points at the end wins.
Components
- 52 cards
- 50 matches
- 1 rulebook
- Paper and pencil are also needed
The cards come in four colors: dark orange, light orange, dark blue and light blue. The cards of each color are numbered from 1 to 13 (13 is the highest card). Dark orange is the trump suit. All other colors have the same value.
Game Play
- Write down the names of all players. Give each player 7 matches. All players place these in front of them.
- Shuffle the cards face down.
- At the start of the game, the dealer is the player sitting closest to the fireplace (or something comparable). During the game, the dealer role passes clockwise.
- In the first round, deal 7 cards to each player.
- Now the players look at their hands and announce how many tricks they will take. To do this, they take one match per trick from their supply into their hand, face down. All players open their hands at the same time, so that everyone's predictions are revealed to all players. The player to the left of the dealer leads. After that, the player who won the trick leads the next card. The round ends when all cards have been played.
Be careful: it is important to keep your prediction secret until everyone reveals at the same time. The best approach is for all players to cover the matches in front of them with their other hand, so that no player knows what the others are predicting.
During the Game, the Following Applies
- You must follow suit as long as you can. If the card led is not a trump card, you must play a card of the same suit, but you do not need to beat the cards already on the table. If the card led is a trump card, every player must overtrump the card played before them.
- If a player cannot follow suit, they must play a trump card if they can. If another player has already trumped before them, they must overtrump that card if possible. A player who can neither follow suit nor trump may play any other card.
After the round ends, the players compare the tricks they won with their predictions.
Scoring
- A correct prediction is rewarded with 10 points plus 1 point for each trick.
- An incorrect prediction is penalized with one minus point for each trick predicted incorrectly.
All points are recorded on paper.
Examples
- 3 tricks predicted and won = 10 points for the correct prediction + 3 tricks taken = 13 points.
- 4 tricks predicted, but only 3 won = 1 minus point.
- 0 tricks predicted and no trick taken = 10 points for the correct prediction + 0 tricks taken = 10 points.
- 0 tricks predicted, but 2 taken = 2 minus points.
The Remaining Rounds
The following rounds are played with 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and then again ascending from 1 to 7 cards (13 rounds in total). The cards are reshuffled after each round. The role of dealer passes clockwise.
End of the Game
The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, there are several winners. Play again!