Quibbles
Quibbles Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 132 Quibbles cards: 20 x value 1, 20 x value 2, 20 x value 3, 22 x value 4, 24 x value 5, 26 x value 6
- For 1-5 players, ages 8+, about 20 minutes
Setup
(See the box illustration for a visual reference.)
- Shuffle the cards thoroughly. Draw 6 cards and lay them out face up as an open display in the center of the table.
- Deal each player a hand of 6 cards.
- Form a face-down draw pile with the remaining cards and place it at the center of the table. Make room for a discard pile.
- Each player creates space in front of them for a collection of 6 cards.
Gameplay
Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, choose to SPLIT, COMBINE or DRAW, then optionally STASH, and finally REFILL:
SPLIT
Play 1 card from your hand and put it in the discard pile. Now take sets of 2 or more cards from the open display with the same total value as the card you played. Each card in the open display can only be part of 1 set. You are not required to take all possible sets.
Note: There is no hand limit.
Example: Amélie discards a 1 + 2 set from her hand and takes two 3s from the open display.
COMBINE
Play 2 to 6 cards from your hand with a total value of 6 or less. Put them in the discard pile. Take 1 or more single cards from the open display. Each card you take must have a value that matches the total value of the cards you played. You are not required to take all matching cards.
Example: Milú discards a 6 from her hand and takes a 3 + 3 set and a 1 + 1 + 4 set from the open display.
DRAW
Add 1 card from your hand face up to the open display, then draw 2 cards from the draw pile, and add them to your hand.
STASH (Optional)
Take all cards of 1 value from your hand. These must be at least as many cards as the value of the card. Add 1 of them to your collection and put the rest in the discard pile.
So, to add a 5 to your collection, you need at least 5 of them. But for a 2 you only need 2. Regardless, always discard all cards of the selected value.
Example: Nathan takes all 4s from his hand. He has 5, which is (more than) enough. He puts one 4 in his collection and discards the rest.
You can have a maximum of 6 cards in your collection. If you wish to add another card, first put 1 card from your collection in the discard pile.
REFILL
Finally, refill the open display to 6 face-up cards from the draw pile. If there are already 6 or more cards on display, you do not need to refill it. If there are 10 cards, discard all of them and form a new open display with 6 cards from the draw pile.
Note: if the draw pile is empty, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new draw pile.
If your hand is empty, all players must discard their hand cards and draw 6 new ones from the draw pile.
Now it's the next player's turn.
End of the Game
You win immediately when you have a collection with a total value of at least 21 (for instance, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6).
Simplified Variant
For younger players or a quicker game, adjust the rules as follows:
- Remove all 6-cards.
- You win if you have at least 1 card of every value in your collection (so 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5).
Solo Variant
You can also play Quibbles alone. In this variant, play as you would with 2 or more players but with the following adjustment:
Before you REFILL: Take the leftmost card from the open display and add it to your penalty pile. Discard any other cards in the open display with the same value. If the open display is empty, don't add a card to your penalty pile. Then, refill the open display.
The game ends as usual, and you always win. However, your final score is determined by the sum of the values of the cards in your penalty pile. The lower the score, the better your performance. Use this table to evaluate your performance:
- 50+: Questionable
- 40-49: Quite OK
- 30-39: Quirky performance
- 20-29: Quality effort
- 10-19: Quick-witted success
- <10: Quintessential victory
Credits
Designer: Michiel de Wit Artist: Roland MacDonald Graphic Design: Andrew Syrbu
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