Póker a Voces
Póker a Voces Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 91 Basic cards divided into 7 suits
- 35 Special cards (7 Emperor Penguins, 7 Capybaras, 7 Raccoons, 7 Doves, and 7 Baboons)
- 6 Player aid cards in Spanish
- 6 Player aid cards in English
- 6 Sets of coins (1 of value 5, 1 of value 2, 4 of value 1, and 4 of value 0)
- 6 Sets of hand tokens (1, 2, and 3)
- 3 Emperor Penguin tokens
- 1 Scorepad for tracking points
Game Setup
Prepare the game deck by selecting one more suit than the number of players.
Example: If there are 3 players, use 4 suits.
Quick note: A suit is a set of 13 cards with the same symbol, numbered from 1 to 10, plus the three face cards J, Q, and K.
Choose a special card, add as many copies of it to the deck as there are suits, and shuffle the deck. If it's your first time, we recommend starting with the Raccoon.
Deal 5 cards to each player, which remain face down and unseen. Place the remaining cards in a central deck.
Deal to each player:
- One set of hand tokens in their favorite color, arranged left to right showing numbers 1, 2, and 3.
- One player aid card.
- One set of 10 coins, each organized into three piles:
- Pile 1: coins with values 0, 0, and 1
- Pile 2: coins with values 0, 1, and 1
- Pile 3: coins with values 0, 1, and 2.
- Set the value 5 coin aside, next to your three piles.
General Concepts
Hand tokens
These tokens are used to place your 3 hands of 5 cards in each round. At the start of the round, make sure they're showing numbers 1, 2, and 3.
Hand rankings
The winning hand will be determined using poker hand rankings. From highest to lowest:
- Five of a Kind: Five cards of the same value.
- Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.
- Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same value plus one unrelated card.
- Full House: Three of a kind plus a pair.
- Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
- Straight: Five consecutive cards.
- Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same value plus two unrelated cards.
- Two Pair: Two pairs of the same value plus one unrelated card.
- Pair: Two cards of the same value plus three unrelated cards.
- High Card: No combination among the cards.
The Ace is the highest card, followed by K, Q, J, and the numbered cards in descending order.
Tie? The hand with the highest combined card wins. If the highest combined card is the same, look at the next highest combined card and so on (for Full House, check the triple first). Still tied? The highest non-combined card is checked, and so on, until a single winner is determined.
Note on straights: The highest straight ends in Ace (10/J/Q/K/A). Straights cannot wrap around from Ace to 2.
Objective of the Game
Score more points than your rivals by the end of 3 rounds. If there's a tie, the victory is shared!
The Round
Each round consists of three phases:
- Trading phase
- Betting phase
- Reveal phase
Trading phase
Your goal during this phase is to get 3 hands of 5 cards with the best combinations possible. The trading phase begins with a countdown. After that, all players look at their cards and start trading simultaneously.
Trading rules (out loud!):
Players offer a number of cards, and if another player agrees to trade that number, the trade happens. All trades are done simultaneously, with no turn order. Anyone can offer trades.
The only rule is that players must exchange the same number of cards, so they always have 5 in hand after a trade. Players cannot show or say what cards they're trading.
Example: Marina offers two cards, shouting, "Two! Two! Who wants two cards?" Gema agrees, and the exchange goes ahead.
Trades happen in no particular order and as many times as you want. Once you're happy with your first hand of 5 cards, place it face down under hand token 1 and draw 5 new cards.
Repeat the process until you have 5 cards under each hand token, in order: first under token 1, then 2, then 3.
You are not required to make any trades to place a hand.
Note: You can still trade cards with others even if they've placed a previous hand.
Example: If a player has only placed down one hand when the trading phase ends, their current hand goes under hand token 2.
If you're missing any hands, draw 5 cards and place them face down (without looking at them) under the remaining hand tokens, so that each player has 5 cards assigned to each hand token at the end of the phase.
Remember your hands! You won't be able to check them again. Try to memorize what you placed where.
The second player to place down their third hand shouts STOP! and the trading phase ends. At that moment, all players still holding cards place them on the table, assigning them to the corresponding hand token (first, second, or third token, as appropriate).
Betting phase
This phase is divided into three steps, one for each pile of three coins in your play area.
In turn order, starting with the player to the left of the one who first placed all three hands and in a clockwise direction, each player makes a bet by choosing one of the piles of three coins and assigning one coin to each hand. Repeat this twice.
Example: Gema picks her pile with coins 0, 0, and 1 and assigns one to each hand.
5-Value Coin: You may assign this coin to any hand at any time during the betting phase.
Starting with the player to the left of the player who first placed their three hands down, and proceeding clockwise, each player decides whether to fold or stay in for that hand.
Whether they fold or not, their coins assigned to that hand are placed in the center of the table.
Players who fold flip their hand token, revealing the 2-value coin.
Example: Marina decides to fold on the first hand. She places all coins from that hand in the center and flips her hand token.
Reveal phase
This phase happens three times, once for each hand. Start with the third hand, then the second, and finish with the first.
Once all players have decided, those who haven't folded reveal their hands. The player with the highest-ranking hand wins and takes all the coins from the center. This player keeps these coins in their play area.
If no one wins the hand, all coins from that hand are lost.
Remember that, until they're revealed, you cannot check the cards in your hands.
After this, return all cards from that hand to the center as a discard pile, and proceed in the same way with the next hand. However, this time, start with the player to the left of the previous hand's winner. If no player has won the previous hand, the same player as in the previous hand goes first.
End of Round
Count the coins you've collected and add +2 for each hand you folded. Record each player's total on the scorepad.
Example: Gema has 8 in coins in her play area and folded her second hand, so she adds 2. She writes 10 points on the scorepad.
For the next round, set up again as at the beginning (except for dealing the hand tokens, which are simply reset to show 1, 2, and 3).
Between rounds, you may choose to add a different special card to the deck.
End of Game
After 3 rounds, add up all the points. Whoever has the most wins! If there's a tie... the victory is shared!
Special Cards
These cards make everything... a little more interesting! We recommend adding them gradually. Use only one type per round. You can switch types each round.
Whenever you play with special cards, add to the deck a number of cards of the same type equal to the number of players plus one.
For advanced players, we recommend not using more than two types of special cards per round.
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Raccoon: Wild card that can represent any card... BUT if there are two or more raccoons in the same hand (even if they belong to different players), all those players are eliminated from that hand.
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Dove: Wild card that can represent any card... BUT only if another player reveals a dove in that hand. If you have two by yourself... you're eliminated from that hand.
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Capybara: Not good for anything, the poor soul. But, if an odd number of capybaras is revealed... the worst hand becomes the best! If the number of capybaras is even, normal rankings apply. Recommended for games with few players.
Example: Gema has A, K, 5, 3, and 2, and Marina has J, 9, 7, 6, and a Capybara. Since there is a Capybara, Marina wins by having the lowest high card.
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Baboon: Swap time! If a baboon is revealed in a hand, draw 3 random cards from the deck. Each player with a baboon chooses one of those cards to replace it. Multiple players can pick the same card. If the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and draw from it.
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Emperor Penguin: Doesn't combine or hold value, but if you win a hand with it, score +10 bonus points. Take an Emperor Penguin token as a reminder!