Plotters, Inc. Rulebook

Table of Contents

Ages | Players | Time
Components
Preparations
Play
The (Two) Winner(s) of a Trick
The End of a Round
Scoring
New rounds

Ages | Players | Time

Ages 8+ | 4-6 Players | 30 min.

Components

84 cards in four suits numbered 1-21 in the colors blue, green, red and yellow

Preparations

Depending on the number of players, only the following cards are used:

Players	Color values	Used cards
6	1-21 in the colors blue, green, red, and yellow	All the cards
5	1-18 in the colors red and yellow, plus 1-17 in blue and green	70 cards
4	1-14 in the colors blue, green, red, and yellow	56 cards

Play

The players should elect a start player by voting for who looks like they have the most to hide. This player begins by playing a card of his choice to the middle of the table. This card will be the opening lead in the trump suit. Every other color in this trick will be a non-trump suit. Each of the other players play a card to the middle of the table in clockwise order. A trick is formed when all players have each played a card. Players are not required to follow suit with the trump card, but a trick cannot have cards in more than 3 colors, ie: if there are already cards on the table in 3 different colors when your turn comes, then you must play a card in one of these colors. If a player only has cards in the fourth color, he cannot play and the trick, as well as the round, immediately ends (see below).

The (Two) Winner(s) of a Trick

The player who played the highest trump card (the largest numbered card of the led suit) must take his pick from the cards played in the current trick (half the cards rounded up):

In a 4-player game he takes 2 cards; in a 5- or 6-player game he takes 3 cards.

The player who played the lowest non-trump card receives the remaining cards from the trick (which he must take): In a 4- or 5-player game he receives 2 cards; in a 6-player game he receives 3 cards.

[Example]

Player A played a red 10 (led color) Player B played a yellow 6 (non-led color) Player C played a red 14 (highest led color) Player D played a blue 2 (non-led color) Player E played a yellow 16 (non-led color)

Player E couldn't have played a green card since 3 colors had already been played.
Player C has played the highest trump (red 14), and gets first choice (3 cards)
Player D has the lowest non-trump color. He receives the remaining two cards and opens the next trick by playing any card.

If more than one player has played a non-led card of the same lowest value the player who played the first of the lowest cards will be the one who wins the second part of the trick.

The two winners of a trick place the cards in open stacks sorted by colors, so that all players can see which colors a player is collecting, but not necessarily how many cards there are in the stacks.

The next trick is opened by the player who played the lowest non-trump card (ie: the winner of the 2nd part). He may play any card from his hand, and that suit will be the new trump for this trick.

Special case: If only cards from one suit are played in a trick (they have the same color) the player who played the highest trump will choose his cards as usual, but the second half of the trick will be discarded (there is no other winner). In this case only will the the player who played the highest trump open the next trick.

As soon as a player has collected cards in all 4 colors, he must decide which two colors he will count towards his score and which two colors he will disregard. He simply turns the two disregarded stacks over and places them in a single pile with the backside up. The two chosen colors remain revealed and from now on only cards collected in these two colors count toward his score. Any cards "collected" in the two wrong colors are placed in the players personal "discard"-pile.

The End of a Round

A round ends after the 14th trick. However, it can end earlier if a player cannot play a card because he only has card left in a color which cannot be played because the trick already contains 3 colors. In this case the round is ended immediately and the current trick and any remaining cards in the players' hands are discarded without counting towards the score; they are worthless.

Scoring

Each player counts the number of cards in his two largest open stacks and multiplies the two numbers with each other. The sum is then divided by the number of remaining cards (ignore any remainder in the result) and the score is noted on a piece of paper.

If a player has cards in one single color only, he has scored 0 (zero) points!
If a player has cards in exactly two colors, the sum is not divided by 0 (zero).

[Example]

A: 5 cards × 6 cards ÷ 3 cards = 10 B: 7 cards × 8 cards ÷ 4 cards = 14 C: 5 cards × 4 cards ÷ 3 cards = 6 E: 3 cards × 5 cards = 15 D: 7 cards × 1 cards ÷ 1 cards = 7

Player A has 3 open stacks containing 5 green, 6 red and 3 yellow cards. He receives points from the two largest stacks: 5×6 = 30 which are then divided by the last stack 30: 3 which gives him 10 points.
Player B has 3 open stacks containing 5 red, 4 blue and 3 yellow cards. That gives 5×4 = 20 which is divided by 3 to 6,6 which is then rounded down to 6 point.
Player C has two open stacks with 7 blue and 8 green cards, and 4 discarded cards. 7×8 = 56÷4 = 14 points.
Player D has 3 open stacks with 7 yellow, 1 red and 1 blue card. 7×1 = 7 divided by 1 = 7 points.
Player E has 3 green and 5 blue cards. 3×5 = 15 points.

New rounds

When all players have recorded their scores, a new round begins. The new dealer is the player to the left of the previous dealer. Thegame ends after a number of rounds equal to the number of players. The player with the highest combined total of points wins the game!