Ouroboros Trick
Ouroboros Trick Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. What is this game?
Ouroboros Trick is a type of card game known as a "trick-taking" game.
The "Ouroboros" is a snake that bites its own tail to form a circle and is known as a symbol of cycles and eternity. However, if the snake ends up consuming its own body completely, that cycle comes to an end.
2. What is trick taking?
- Players face up one card at a time from their hand in a clockwise order. This round of mini games is called a "trick."
- The player who plays the first card is called "lead player", and the suit (color) of the card played by the lead player is called the "lead suit".
- Once everyone has played one card, the strongest card is determined according to the rules. The player who played that card is the winner of the trick.
- The winner of the trick takes all the cards played and becomes the lead player for the next trick.
3. Objectives of the game
The goal is to survive until the end of the game. If a player runs out of cards and can no longer replenish them, they lose. The game ends when there is a loser, and all surviving players are the winners of the game.
4. Components
- Cards: 4 suits (4 colors) 1 to 15 each (60 cards in total)
- Box lid: used as a discard pile
Card composition by number of players:
| Players | Cards used | Hand |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1–9 (36 cards) | 12 cards × 3 players |
| 4 | 1–12 (48 cards) | 12 cards × 4 players |
| 5 | 1–15 (60 cards) | 12 cards × 5 players |
5. Preparing for the game
- Prepare cards according to the number of players, mix them well and deal 12 cards face down to each player.
- Place the lid of the box in the center as a discard pile.
- The player who recently won the paper-scissors game is the first lead player.
6. Rules of Tricks
Basic rules: Starting with the lead player, and going clockwise, each player places one card face up from their hand.
Must Follow: If you have a card of the same suit in your hand as the lead suit, you must always play from that suit's card. This is called "Must follow." If you don't have the same suit as the lead suit in your hand, you can play a card of any suit.
Trump card: Any suit different from the lead suit is a trump card which is always stronger than the lead suit.
Deciding the Trick Winner:
- If no trump card is shown: The player with the largest number is the winner of the trick.
- If trump cards are shown: The player with the highest number trump card is the winner of the trick.
- If there are more than one trump card with the largest number, the player who played them last will be the winner of the trick.
7. Trick Winner Handling
The player who wins the trick will do the following in order:
- Check the lowest value card of the cards that came out to the trick, regardless of suit.
- Place all the cards from the trick face down in front of you. This pile is called your "pool."
- Choose from your hand as many cards as the number of the smallest value, reveal them to everyone, and discard them face up into the discard pile (the box lid).
- Be the lead player in the next trick.
8. Example Tricks
In this example, four players play with A being the lead player.
Example 1: Winner of the trick: A (highest number) Smallest number in the trick: 7 → A places the 4 cards from the trick into their pool, then chooses 7 cards from their hand to discard. The next lead player is A.
Example 2: Winner of the trick: B (trump card) Smallest number in the trick: 1 → B places the 4 cards from the trick into their pool, then chooses 1 card from their hand to discard. The next lead player is B.
Example 3: Winner of the trick: C (played a trump of the same number later) Smallest number in the trick: 4 → C places the 4 cards from the trick into their pool, then chooses 4 cards from their hand to discard. The next lead player is C.
9. When you run out of cards
When the trick winner's process is complete, any player who has no cards left in hand takes all the cards from their pool to form a new hand.
If you have fewer cards in hand than the number you need to discard when winning a trick, follow these steps in order:
- Place the cards from the trick into your pool.
- Discard all the cards remaining in your hand.
- Take all the cards from your pool to form a new hand.
- Discard additional cards from your new hand to make up the required number.
Example 1: This is an example of a 5-player game. D has 1 card left in hand and an empty pool.
- In the trick, D plays their last card, leaving them with no cards in hand and no pool. However, at this point, D has not yet lost the game.
- D wins the trick. The smallest number in the trick was 4.
- D places the 5 cards from the trick into their pool. Since D has 0 cards in hand, they immediately take all the cards from their pool to form a new hand.
- D then chooses 4 cards from their hand to discard, leaving 1 card remaining.
- D becomes the lead player for the next trick, and the game continues.
10. End of Game
The game ends as soon as a player has no cards in hand and an empty pool after all trick processing is complete. That player is the loser of the game, and all other players are the winners.
If multiple players simultaneously meet the losing condition, all of them are considered losers. It is also possible for all players to lose.
11. Notes
You must not look at any card in the discard pile except for the top card. This is to keep the game moving quickly.
Each player may check the contents of their own pool at any time.