Paradox (2001) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Costly Tricks (2 Players)
  • Equipment
  • Preparations
  • Playing a Round
  • End of Game
• Buddy on Your Left (3 Players)
  • Equipment
  • Preparations
  • Playing a Round
  • Scores
  • End of Game
• The Third Man (4 Players)
  • Equipment
  • Preparations
  • What the Game Is About
  • Procedure of an Auction
  • Sequence of Auctions and End of Game

Contents

44 playing cards, 4 playing pieces, 1 score board, chips.

Costly Tricks (2 Players)

a trick-taking game in which you must pay for your tricks!

Equipment

Use the full 44-card deck (4 sets numbered 0 to 10), plus 6 chips and 1 playing piece.

Preparations

The 2 players don't sit face to face, but "around the corner," as if each had an invisible partner in front of him - which is in fact the case. This invisible partner is called the player's ghost. The cards are shuffled and dealt one by one to the 4 sides - the 2 players and their ghosts. Each player picks up his hand, arranges the cards by suit (color) and rank (10 high, 0 low), and lays them out neatly in front of him, then does the same for his ghost. The result should be 4 hands laid out face up on the table, as in a bridge diagram. (In other words, this is a game of complete information: nothing is hidden.) The playing piece is placed behind the hand that was dealt the red 0.

Playing a Round

• The first trick is initiated by the hand that was dealt the red 0. Play is clockwise and suit (color) must be followed. If you cannot follow suit, play a different color, which automatically becomes trump. If then a next player cannot follow the initial suit, nor trump, he must play still another color, which in turn becomes trump, substituting the former trump. (Trump colors are of course only valid for the trick in progress, as a color cannot become trump a second time.)

Example of a trick:

We are near the end of a round, when changes of trump are most likely to occur: each side has only 3 cards left.

• Player A: Red: 10, 5; Green: 4; Purple: -; Blue: -
• B's Ghost: Red: -; Green: -; Purple: -; Blue: 10, 7, 6
• Player B: Red: -; Green: 2; Purple: -; Blue: 8, 3
• A's Ghost: Red: -; Green: 3; Purple: 10, 1; Blue: -

Player A leads with red 5. Player B, who has no red, replies with blue 3, making blue trump. A's ghost, who has neither red or blue, plays purple. Now purple has substituted blue as trump. Finally B's ghost, who has neither red nor purple but only blue, which cannot become trump again, plays blue 6. The trick is won by A's ghost, scoring 24. (But considering the whole situation, were the 2 player's decision the best possible?)

• Each trick is won either by highest card in the initial suit or highest trump card.
• All the cards are worth their face value (10s are worth 10 points, 9s, 9 points, etc.) But each trick costs 20 points! Therefore try to make tricks worth more than 20 points and force your opponent to make tricks worth less.
• At the end of each trick, place at once the playing piece behind the hand that won it. (This helps the flow of the game, because the winner of a trick is often uncertain about which of his two hands won it, his ghost's hand or his own.)
• The hand that won the trick (to which the playing piece was moved), then leads to the next trick, and so on to the end of the round. Pile up won tricks face down separately, as in bridge.
• The round is over when all the cards have been played out. Total number of points that can be made in a round is 220 and total number that must be paid in a round (11 tricks) is also 220. (But you need only tally the score of the player who made fewer tricks. Example: He made 5 tricks, which cost him 5 x 20 = 100 points. Now count the points he made: if he made more that 100, he won, less than 100, he lost, and if exactly 100, the round is a draw.) Winner of the round receives 1 chip. No chip is given in case of draw.

End of Game

To win the game you must win 3 rounds - collect 3 chips. But here is another nice method which may be applied to any 2-player game: Each player starts out with 3 chips. After each round a chip passes from the loser to the winner and play continues until a player has all 6 chips. (Could take a long time, though!...)

Buddy on Your Left (3 Players)

Each player's score is his own plus that of his left hand neighbor!

Equipment

Use 3 colored sets numbered 1 to 10 (discard the 0's) and 19 chips.

Preparations

Each of the 3 players chooses a set and lays it out neatly face-up in front of him: cards 1 to 6 in front, cards 7 to 10 in back.

Playing a Round

• Player who plays the first card of a round (a slight disadvantage) is chosen by lot. In subsequent rounds, first card is always played by the winner of the preceding round.
• The numbers on the cards indicate their capturing power (higher captures lower) and numbers 1 to 6 also indicate their value in points (card 6 is worth 6 points, card 5, 5 points, etc.). Cards 7 to 10 have no value.
• Play in turn clockwise. Each card played must be either higher or lower than the lead-card of the sequence. (Exception - if you don't have a higher card than the lead-card, you may, if you wish, play an equal one - which in that case is considered the higher card.)
• Play is continuous (this is not a trick-taking game) and is not interrupted until a higher card than the lead-card is played - which may happen immediately if, for example, the next player plays at once a higher card - or else several lower cards may be played before a higher card than the lead-card is entered. The player who played it then sweeps (picks up) all the cards from the table. (Note: after a sweep, valueless cards should be piled face-down and valuable cards face-up, so that all may see current score.) Player left of the sweeper then enters the lead-card for the next sequence, etc.
• If a lead-card is the sole remaining highest card, its face value becomes 0, hence any card played after it will sweep it. Example: if you play your 10 as a lead-card when the other two 10s have already been played, the 10 becomes 0 and the next player will collect it, regardless, of which card he plays.
• A round ends when all cards have been played out - and since play is continuous, last card in a round is always played by the player right of the one who led the first card. If this last card doesn't sweep, remaining cards go to the player left of him (compensating somewhat for his initial disadvantage).

Scores

At the end of the round tally your score and add it to your left neighbor's score. Highest total wins. (Example: if a player's score at the end is 12, his left neighbor's is 40 and his right neighbor's is 11, the player who scored 12 wins the round - because his total is 52, his left neighbor's is 51 and his right neighbor's is 23.) Player with highest total receives 3 chips; next highest, 1 chip. If two had the same highest total, each receives 2 chips. If there is a 3-way tie, each 1 chip.

End of Game

To win the game, collect 7 chips.

The Third Man (4 Players)

an outrageous bidding game

Equipment

4 sets of 10 bidding cards numbered 0 to 9 (discard the 10s); 4 playing pieces, 1 score board and 9 chips.

Preparations

• Each players chooses a 10-card set and a corresponding playing piece.
• Open score board and place the four playing pieces on space 0 (START).

What the Game Is About

The game consists of a series of auctions, for each of which the house puts up a prize fund of 10 points. Highest bidder gets the 10 points, less the number he had bid (ex. if he bid 9, he earns 1). The second highest bidder loses the full amount he had bid (ex. if he bid 7 he loses 7). Whereas the third highest bidder receives from the house double the number he had bid (if he bid 5, he pockets 10!). Therefore in each auction your objective is to be third - and in any case not second.

Procedure of an Auction

• The first bidder for the first auction is chosen by lot. In subsequent auctions it is always the player who is actually in the lead (whose piece is ahead on the score board). If two players share the lead (their pieces occupy the same space on the board), the lead player is the one who had the better score in the previous auction.
• The lead player makes an open bid: plays a card face-up to the table.
• Then the other three make secret bids: each places a card face-down before him. When all have done so, all turn their cards face-up.
• Next, the players' pieces are moved up or down on the board, according to how the bidding went, each space representing 1 point. Highest bidder's piece goes up (usually only a little), second-highest goes down, third-highest goes up (usually a good deal) while fourth piece stays put.
• Ties. If two players make the same highest bid, they share the 10 points, which usually means a loss for both (ex. if both bid 9, each earns only 5 of the 10 points, therefore both pieces go down 4). The next player is then third-highest (not second-highest) and his piece goes up double the number bid. If two players make the same second-highest bid, both pieces go down the full amount. (In that case there is no third.) And if two players make the same third-highest bid, both pieces go up double the number bid. Finally, if three players make the same bid, the auction is annulled and must be repeated .
• After the pieces have moved, the auction is over and the next auction can begin. Important: after each auction, the bidding cards used must be displayed in front of the players, preferably in numerical order.

Sequence of Auctions and End of Game

Play continues auction after auction - either until a piece moves off the board at the top or at the bottom, meaning that someone won or lost more than 20 points - or until the next-to-last bidding card has been played. (The 10th card is not bid.) Player who is ahead at that point wins the series and receives 1 chip.

To win the game, collect 3 chips.