Pickit: Dragons
Pickit: Dragons Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Box Contents
92 cards:
- 20 purple dragon cards (4 x 5 cards)
- 20 blue dragon cards (5 x 4 cards)
- 18 yellow dragon cards (6 x 3 cards)
- 16 red dragon cards (8 x 2 cards)
- 14 green dragon cards (14 x 1 card)
- 6 joker cards (2x white – universal, 1x purple, 1x blue, 1x yellow, 1x red)
8 mission cards
5 scorecards
5 player tokens for scorecards
1 starting player token
Overview cards
Game rules
Game Setup
First, separate the dragon cards from the mission cards (leave the mission cards aside for now). Use of the mission cards is optional and we recommend including them only after you have already played a few games.
Each player chooses a scorecard and a token in one of five colours.
Select a starting player. He/she gets the first player token (unless you agree otherwise, the youngest player starts).
Next, shuffle all of the dragon cards and deal 5 cards to each player. Create a draw deck from the remaining cards.
In case there are no cards left in the draw deck, create a new one by shuffling all the cards from the discard pile except the top one, which you leave revealed.
Then, each player chooses 2 cards from his/her hand that don't suit him/her and gives them to the player to their right.
Put 4 cards face up next to the draw deck – they will form an offer. Leave space next to the offer where a discard pile will be placed later in the game.
The printed "Game setup for 4 players" diagram is not reproduced here; it shows the positions of the scorecards, player cards, draw deck, offer, discard pile and starting player token for a four-player table.
Player's Turn
Players will take turns in clockwise order and each player will do the following three actions on their turn:
-
Take a card (mandatory action) The player chooses one of the cards from the offer, or the top card from the draw deck.
-
Play a dragon (optional action) Once per turn, a player can play one dragon in to his/her player area. The dragon is played from the hand and it has to be a complete dragon or dragon supplemented with a joker.
The ability of the just-played dragon is going to be available from the player's next turn (the dragon has a special ability active only when it doesn't contain a joker). Each color dragon gives a different ability. These abilities are explained later in the rule book as well as on the overview cards.
After laying down the dragon, the player immediately counts the points on his/her scoreboard (also for the dragons containing jokers).
Instead of playing a dragon, players can decide to exchange the joker in front them or in front of another player. More about jokers in the JOKER section later.
-
Refill the offer If a player has drawn a card from the offer, they replace it with a new card from the draw deck.
-
Adjust cards in hand to 5 cards (mandatory action) If a player has not played any dragon, he/she will have 6 cards in his/her hand and must discard one card to the discard pile so that he/she has exactly 5 cards in his/her hand.
If a player has less than 5 cards at the end of his turn because he/she has played a dragon, he/she will replenish the cards in his hand from the draw deck (not from the offer) so that he/she has exactly 5 cards.
End of the Game
The game ends when one of the players played the dragon and after counting the points he/she reaches or exceeds the set point limit. After playing that dragon, the active round is completed and then another final round is played, so that all the players have had the same number of turns.
At the end of the final round, the points are counted. The winner is the player with the highest number of points. In the event of a tie, the player with the higher number of complete dragons wins.
End game point limit
- 2 players: 30 points
- 3-4 players: 25 points
Scoring
Players only get points for complete dragons. Dragons may contain one or more jokers.
- Green Dragon: 1 point (8 points for a set of 4 green dragons)
- Blue Dragon: 7 points
- Red Dragon: 3 points
- Yellow Dragon: 5 points
- Purple Dragon: 9 points (11 points, if it is without jokers + 2 extra points for its special ability)
Special Abilities
The abilities of the dragons are activated when a complete dragon is played and it does not contain any joker.
The ability of the dragon is active and does not accumulate with the number of same colour dragons. (E.g. if a player has 3 red dragons, he/she can look at only one top card of the draw deck.)
Each type of dragon has several graphical versions, but their abilities are the same.
When the complete dragon is played, you will find its point values in the upper left and in the lower right corners. The special ability icon is located in the upper right and in the lower left corners.
Variations of the Game with Missions
Pickit Dragons contains 8 mission cards that can be played as follows:
- Secret: at the beginning of the game, each player is randomly given two mission cards, from which he/she selects one. This mission is only for that player and they can complete it during the game.
- Public: at the beginning of the game, one public mission (or more) is randomly drawn and each player who completes it, gets the points. (During the game, the mission is displayed on the table.)
- Combined: at the beginning of the game, the players draw their secret mission and at the same time, one public mission is placed face up on the table from the remaining cards.
Points for completed missions count towards the total score after the end of the game!
Overview of the mission cards can be found on the last page (see Description of the Mission Cards below).
Dragon Abilities
Green Dragon
The green dragon is usually cheerful and a bit crazy. Other dragons consider him a naughty child. And when several green dragons come together in a flock, it's usually a wild funny ride!
Special ability: During his/her turn, the player can "sacrifice" an already played green dragon (flip it face down) and take the top card from the discard pile. The flipped green dragon stays in front of the player and counts neither towards the scoring of the "flock" nor towards the missions. After using this ability, the player adjusts the number of points, -1 point, or -5 points if it was a flock.
Scoring: One Green Dragon is worth 1 point. But if a player has four green dragons at the end of the game, they become a flock worth 8 points. Each additional green dragon is worth 1 point unless it is part of a flock of 4 dragons.
Red Dragon
The red dragon knows exactly what others are up to. So usually, he is very suspicious. His gift of seer fits perfectly with his curious nature.
Special ability: The player can look at the top card of the draw deck at the beginning of his/her turn.
Scoring: The red dragon consists of two cards and the complete dragon is worth 3 points.
Yellow Dragon
The yellow dragon, or more precisely the yellow dragon lady likes to roam free and seek new friends with her jolly eyes. Sometimes she spots a tail, other time a wing and then she cannot decide, whom to go greet first.
Special ability: During the turn, a player may play one incomplete dragon instead of the Play a dragon action. An incomplete dragon must not contain a joker. Player can finalize this dragon the same way in the following turns. If the dragon is incomplete, its ability is not active and its points do not count either.
This ability will help the player get to the new cards faster, but he/she must remember to finalize incomplete dragons.
Scoring: The Yellow Dragon consists of three cards and the complete dragon is worth 5 points.
Blue Dragon
The blue water dragon loves fast swimming and jumping out of the water. However, every time he throws his long blue body above the surface, he unintentionally creates huge waves.
Special ability: At the beginning of the turn, a player may remove all the cards from the offer, put them onto the discard pile and place new cards into the offer. When removing the cards, follow their order 1 2 3 4 (as shown on the picture). So after removing the offer, card no.4 sits on top of the discard pile.
Scoring: The Blue Dragon consists of four cards and the complete dragon is worth 7 points.
Purple Dragon
The purple dragon is the most powerful of all dragons. When he raises his huge figure and spreads his wings, he creates an impression that he is even bigger, thus earning the admiration of the other dragons.
Special ability: By playing a complete purple dragon without a joker, the player gets one-time 2 extra bonus points in addition to 9 points. Playing multiple purple dragons does not accumulate this ability!
Scoring: The Purple Dragon consists of five cards and the complete dragon brings 9 points (plus a possible bonus of 2 points).
Joker
A player can use jokers to finalize his/her dragon. He/she can also exchange his/her own or even an opponent's played joker for the matching part of the dragon. (If this action creates a dragon without jokers, it activates its ability!) The exchange of the card for a joker takes place instead of the phase of Playing the dragon, which also means that the player cannot exchange a joker and then use it in the same turn.
The purple, blue, yellow, red joker can only be used to complement the colours of the respective dragons. White jokers with a rainbow background are universal and can be used with every dragon (except green – which cannot be replaced by a joker).
One played dragon can contain more jokers. A dragon that contains a joker is considered a complete dragon.
If a player plays a dragon that contains a joker, he gains points belonging to the dragon, but the dragon's ability is not activated!
Description of the Mission Cards
- 6 points will be awarded to the player who has at least one dragon of each species (colour).
- 4 points will be awarded to the player who did not use any jokers in his/her completed dragons during the game.
- 6 points will be awarded to the player who has at least three completed yellow dragons at the end of the game (they may contain jokers).
- 5 points will be awarded to the player who has the most completed dragons at the end of the game (parts of dragons and "sacrificed" green dragons do not count). To complete this mission, it's enough to share the first place with another player(s).
- 4 points will be awarded to the player who has no green dragons at the end of the game (sacrificed dragons do not count).
- 4 points will be awarded to the player who has completed at least one blue and one purple dragon (may contain jokers) at the end of the game.
- 5 points will be awarded to the player who has the most red dragons (they may contain jokers) at the end of the game. To complete this mission, it's enough to share the first place with another player(s).
- 5 points will be awarded to the player whose each completed dragon is accompanied by the green dragon at the end of the game. Only in this case is it possible to use a white joker instead of a green dragon!