PEAS
PEAS Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Rulebook (this sheet): 1
- Player cards: 2 (front and back)
- Play cards: 24 - 4 colors, 6 cards each (numbered 1 to 6)
- Direction cards: "Bottom" (へた, heta, the stem end of the pod) and "Tip" (さき, saki, the far end of the pod), 1 each
- First-player pea card: 1
- Path cards "Pea": 4 cards of 1, 1 card of 2, 1 card of 3
- Path cards "Worm-kun": 3 cards of 2 (minus), 1 card of 3 (minus)
(The four play-card colors are blue, pink, purple and yellow. The "Pea" path cards show 1, 2 or 3 peas; the "Worm-kun" path cards show worms with a negative value of -2 or -3. In this translation the path cards are called "pod cards" where they form the row in the middle of the table.)
Overview of the Game
PEAS is a two-player trick-taking game. A total of 10 contests proceed simultaneously, and the winner is not known until all the cards in your hand have been placed. By playing cards that read your opponent's aim, try to win more peas. Be careful not to take the worms.
Setup
- Each player receives one player card and places it in front of them, front side up.
- The player who most recently got absorbed in something to the point of growing beans receives the first-player pea card.
- Shuffle the 10 pod cards (path cards) face down, then place them in a single line in the center of the table so that they lie between the two players. Place the direction cards at both ends of the line, then turn all the pod cards face up.
- Shuffle the play cards face down and deal 10 to each player. The dealt cards are your hand. The remaining cards are not used this round and are set aside to the side, face down.
Flow of the Game
The game is played over a maximum of 3 rounds. The first player to win 2 rounds wins the game. A round proceeds by the players competing for the pod cards laid out on the table.
Flow of a Round
Starting with the player who holds the first-player pea card, the players alternate taking turns. On your turn, play 1 card from your hand face up, choosing it freely. If the opponent has not yet played a card against that pod card, you may play anything (Figure 1).
If the opponent's card was played first, you must play a card of the same color as the one the opponent played, if you have one in your hand; choose 1 card of that color and play it (Figure 2). If you have no card of that color in your hand, you may play any card you like (Figure 3). Only one card from each player may be played to each pod card. Repeat this until all the cards in your hand have been played onto all the pod cards, then the contests are judged.
Figure 1: The opponent has no card yet, so any card may be played.
Figure 2: The opponent played red, so you must play a red card; only a red card can be played.
Figure 3: You do not have red, so any card may be played.
The pod card nearest the Bottom
On the "Bottom" side of the direction cards, the player who first played a card on the first pod card moves the "Bottom" direction card next to the card that player played. That card becomes the first "parent" card in judging the winner of the round (Figure 4).
Figure 4: The "Bottom" card is placed on the side where the first card was played.
Judging the Round
Judging is done one pod card at a time, in the direction from the "Bottom" toward the "Tip" of the direction cards, to decide who wins each pod card. If the card played by the non-parent player is a different color from the parent card, the parent wins. If it is the same color as the parent card, the one with the larger number wins, and that player takes the pod card. The parent for the next contest is the player whose card was played by the player who won immediately before (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Example of judging; the parent for each pod card is marked "parent" in the figure.
When the winner of every pod card has been decided, the round ends, and the player who meets the following conditions becomes the winner of the round:
- If one player lost every contest and the opponent holds all of the pod cards, the player holding all of them wins the round (the other player concedes: "I lost").
- Otherwise, add up the points of the pod cards each player has taken; the player with the higher total wins.
- Pea cards: plus points equal to the number shown.
- Worm-kun cards: minus points equal to the number shown.
- If the totals are tied, the player who holds the first-player pea card wins.
The player who won the round turns their player card over to the back side so it is easy to see that they have won once. Continue until one player has won 2 rounds. To alternate who plays first, pass the first-player pea card to the other player and begin the next round from step 3 of Setup.