ラーテル (Ratel)
ラーテル (Ratel) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Raatel is a card game where cute looking but ferocious animals appear in front of you. Fighting them is out of the question and persuading them is impossible. The goal is to make the animals fight each other while you escape!
Components
Cards: 60 in total
- Cards: +1, +2, +3, +4, +5 (6 cards each)
- Cards: -1, -2, -3, -4, -5 (6 cards each)
Setup
- Shuffle all the cards.
- Deal 10 cards face down to each player as their hand. The remaining cards are not used.
- The most aggressive player becomes the starting player (SP). Alternatively, decide the SP by playing rock-paper-scissors.
Gameplay
Step 1
Players take turns clockwise starting from the SP. On a turn, a player can either play cards (1.A) or pass (1.B).
1.A - Play cards: The SP plays one or more cards of the same number face up on the table. Subsequent players must play the same number of cards with higher numbers than the previous play.
1.B - Pass: If a player cannot or chooses not to play cards, they must pass. Even if you pass once, when your turn comes again, you can choose to Play (1.A) or Pass (1.B).
Step 2
If all other players pass consecutively after a player plays cards, that player wins the "trick" and can adjust their hand.
2.A - If value of last card(s) is "+": Player adds cards from the played cards (excluding the ones they just played) to their hand equal to the number on the last card they played. If there is not enough cards, add as many as he can.
2.B - If value of last card(s) is "-": Player discard cards from their hand face up equal to the number on the last card they played. If he doesn't have enough cards in your hand, discard as many as he can.
Examples
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If the cards played are -5, -4, -2, +2, +3 and the player who played +3 wins the round, he adds 3 cards from the cards played (excluding +3) to his hand.
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If the cards played are -4 (2 cards), -2 (2 cards), +5 (2 cards) and the player who played +5 wins the round, he adds 5 cards from the cards played (excluding +5) to their hand. If there are fewer than 5 cards, they add all available cards.
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If the cards played are -4 (3 cards), -3 (3 cards), -1 (3 cards) and the player who played -1 wins the round, he discards a card face up of his choice from his hand.
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If the cards played are -5 (4 cards) and all the players pass except the player who played -5. The player wins the round, he discards 5 cards face up of his choice from his hand. As he only has 3 cards, he discards all of them face up.
Step 3
Whoever runs out of cards after the resolution of step 2 wins the round.
Step 4
Discard all field cards, and the person who played the last card (or, if they have already won, the person to their left) becomes the SP and returns to step 1.
End of the Game
The round ends when there is only one person left in the game. The last person left will take 1 damage (receive 1 chip (or another item).
The last person standing becomes the SP and starts the new round.
The player who receives 2 damages after repeating rounds, loses. Everyone else wins.
If you want to play for a short amount of time, it's a good idea to make the person who receives 1 damage the loser.
Variations
The game is designed to be fast-paced and fun, with a strong element of luck.
The setup and flow of the game remain the same as the regular rules.
The game ends when one player runs out of cards. The remaining players count their cards as penalty points.
The game continues with the player who ran out of cards becoming the new SP. The game ends when a player accumulates a certain number of penalty points (e.g., 15), and the player with the fewest penalty points wins.