Pompiers!
Pompiers! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
60 cards in four colors (Red, Blue, Yellow, Black). Each color has 15 cards and is numbered from 1-15.
25 Counter chips (5 each for 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9, 5/10)
19 Mission tiles (5 for Dark green, 14 for Light green)
Game Set-up
Prepare counter chips
Deal five counter chips (one of each: 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9, 5/10) for each player. All counter chips are placed with the unachieved side face up and they are placed side by side.
Prepare enough space for a card above and below each of the counter chips. These spaces will represent the rooms of the house and are called room spaces.
Prepare cards
All cards are used for 5 players.
The wizard cards (13-15) for each color are not used for 4 players. Return those cards in the box.
Prepare basic mission
Place the 5 dark green mission tiles in the center of the table. These mission tiles have numbers on them. From left to right, place the 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9, 5/10 tiles.
Place the remaining mission tiles (light green) face down and shuffle them. Choose 1 tile from them and flip it over to show it face up. Place that tile under the dark green mission tile that shows 3/8. During the game, each player tries to achieve these basic missions.
Make a pile with the remaining light green mission tiles face down.
Round Start
1. Determine the dealer
For the first round, choose the first dealer randomly. From the second round on, the player who took the last trick of the previous round becomes the dealer.
2. Prepare Emergency mission
The dealer reveals light green mission tiles. The number of tiles that is revealed by the dealer is equal to the number of the current round. Make sure you don't let these light green mission tiles mix with the basic mission tile that is revealed in the preparation phase.
The revealed light green mission tiles become the emergency missions. Players try to achieve these missions during the round.
Reveal 1 mission tile for the first round, 2 for the second round, 3 for the third round, 4 for the fourth round. In the fifth round, in addition to the remaining three tiles all remaining mission tiles that haven't been acquired by players are revealed.
3. Deal cards and determine trump color
The dealer collects all available cards and shuffles them. Deal 10 of them to each player. These ten cards are the player's hands.
There will be 8 left over cards in a 4-player game and 10 left over cards in a 5-player game. Shuffle the remaining cards and make a pile, face down. The pile is placed in the center of the table. Reveal 1 card from the pile. The color of the revealed card determines the trump color.
Important: If there is a player who hasn't taken any tricks in the previous round, that player draws 3 cards from the remaining pile and looks at the cards. The player chooses one of those cards and reveals it. The color of the card becomes the trump color. Shuffle the remaining cards into the pile.
Note: If there are multiple players who haven't taken any trick in the previous round, reveal a card from the pile as usual.
Trick-taking
Players must play a card when Trick-taking. At the beginning of the round, the dealer plays the first card. After which, each player plays a card face up in turn. After all players have played a card, you can determine who wins and loses.
If a player has a card that corresponds with the color of the dealer's color, the player must play the same color.
If a player does not have a card that corresponds with the color of the dealer's card, the player may play a card of any color.
Determine winner
If the trump color has been played, the player who played the trump color card with the largest number takes the trick.
If the trump color has not been played, the player who played the card with the largest number that corresponds with the dealer's color takes the trick.
The player who took the trick acquires all played cards and places them in their room space for that trick.
If the players' hands are not empty, the player who took the trick leads to the next trick.
If the players' hands are empty, the round is over.
Acquiring cards
The player who took the trick makes the cards into a stack and confirms the number of the current round.
The stack is placed face up in the player's room space corresponding to the round in which it was taken.
Example: Carlo wins the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth tricks. As a result, these are how the cards are placed in the room spaces: the third-turn room space holds the cards from the third trick, the fourth-turn room space holds the cards from the fourth trick, the sixth-turn room space holds the cards from the sixth trick, and the eighth-turn room space holds the cards from the eighth trick. The other room spaces (first, second, fifth, seventh, ninth, tenth turn) remain empty.
End of round
After finishing the tenth trick, the round is over. The players check to see if they have achieved the basic missions and the emergency missions. The player who took the last trick becomes the dealer in the next round.
Achieving the basic mission
Each player looks to see if they have achieved the basic mission. In the order from 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9 and 5/10, players check the dark green mission tiles one by one.
If a player achieved a mission, the player flips the corresponding counter chip over to the achieved side. If the player has already achieved the mission, keep the chip as it is. Once the counter chip is flipped to the achieved side it can't be reversed to the unachieved side during the game.
If multiple players met the achievement condition, the player who has the most unachieved chips may flip the corresponding counter chip over to the achieved side. If the number of unachieved counter chips are equal, no player may flip their counter chip.
Exception: The 2/7 mission tile is the only tile that allows all players to flip their counter chips over to the achieved side regardless of the number of unachieved counter chips.
Achievement of emergency mission
Each player checks to see if they have achieved the emergency mission. The player who achieved the mission acquires the corresponding emergency mission tile. The acquired tile is placed close to the player face down. If multiple players met the achievement condition, the mission ends unachieved. Leave the unachieved emergency mission tile aside to avoid it mixing with the other tiles.
The End of the Game
The game ends as soon as the fifth round is over.
Calculating victory points
- Obtain 5 points per counter chip that shows the achieved side.
- Obtain the score shown on acquired emergency mission tiles.
Total the scores above and the player with the highest score is the winner.
If there is a tie, the player who has achieved more basic missions is the winner. If there's still a tie, the player who has more emergency mission tiles is the winner. If there's still a tie, then the players share the victory.
Variant Rule
You may adopt the following rule once you have gotten used to the game.
The dealer gives 11 cards to each player instead of 10. From their hands, each player places 1 card face down in the center of the table. Shuffle the cards and reveal one. This determines the trump color. If there is a single player who couldn't take any tricks in the previous round, the player draws three of those cards and looks at them, choosing one to determine the trump color.
Mission Tiles
last tricks 1/6: The player who took the last trick of the round achieves this mission. The player flips their 1/6 counter over to the achieved side.
no tricks 2/7: This mission is achieved when the player ends the round without taking any tricks. The player flips their 2/7 counter over to the achieved side. Unlike the other dark green tiles, when multiple players achieve this mission, all players may flip their counter chips over to achieved side regardless of the number of unachieved counter chips.
basic mission slot 3/8: The player achieves this mission by meeting the condition of the light green mission tile that is placed below this mission tile. The player flips their 3/8 counter over to the achieved side.
vertical tricks 4/9: The player achieves this mission by making the most vertical pairs in the current round. A vertical pair can be made by taking the following tricks.
- Wins the first and sixth tricks.
- Wins the second and seventh tricks.
- Wins the third and eighth tricks.
- Wins the fourth and ninth tricks.
- Wins the fifth and tenth tricks.
The player flips the 4/9 counter chip over to the achieved side.
in a row 5/10: The player who took the most consecutive tricks achieves this mission. The player must take at least two tricks in a row. The player flips their 5/10 counter over to the achieved side.
exactly 1 trick (4 points), exactly 2 tricks (3 points), exactly 3 tricks (2 points): The player achieves these missions by finishing the round while taking exactly 1, 2, or 3 trick(s). The player obtains 4/3/2 points, respectively.
9th tricks (2 points), 3rd tricks (3 points), 7th tricks (3 points): The player achieves these missions by taking the third, seventh, or ninth trick and obtains 3/3/2 points, respectively.
R tricks (3 points): The player achieves this mission by taking the "R"th trick. "R" is equal to the number of the current round. For example, the first round corresponds with the first trick and the second round corresponds with the second trick. The player who achieves this mission obtains 3 points.
R+5 tricks (2 points): The player achieves this mission by taking the "R+5"th trick. "R" is equal to the number of the current round. For example, the first round corresponds with the sixth trick and the second round corresponds with the seventh trick. The player who achieves this mission obtains 2 points.
most red cards, most blue cards, most yellow cards (3 points each): The player who collected the largest number of red/blue/yellow cards in their room spaces achieves this mission. The player who achieves this mission obtains 3 points.
no red cards, no yellow cards, no black cards (4 points each): The player must take at least 1 trick without collecting any red/yellow/black cards. While meeting the previous condition, the player who took the most tricks achieves this mission. The player who achieves this mission obtains 4 points.
3 Player Rules
Use cards of 1 to 9 for each color.
Do not use the R and R+5 rounds of the Emergency mission.
Play 4 rounds instead of 5.
3 Emergency mission tiles will be revealed in each round.
In the final round, the remaining tiles and the tiles that no one has ever won will be revealed again.
It's better to use the "11 cards" variant rule.