Rattlesnake (2026) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
• Buying a Card
  • Action Cards
  • Event Cards
• Attacking & Defending
  • Valid combos
  • Winning combos
• Card Abilities
• Rules Cards
  • Player Decks
  • Saloon
• Example Turn
• Quick Reference

Components

• 34 Player action cards in 2 decks (4 ones, 4 twos, 3 threes, 3 fours, 3 fives)
• 8 Hit cards (4 per player)
• 15 Saloon action cards
• 6 Saloon event cards
• 4 Rules cards
• 1 Pistol

Setup

1. Set up each player area: a) Take, shuffle, and place one deck of player action cards (purple or orange) face down in front of you, leaving space for a face up discard pile next to it. b) Take 4 Hit cards matching your deck and place them in front of you.

2. Create the saloon to one side of the table: a) Find and place the High Noon event card face down where the saloon deck will be placed (see the setup image). b) Shuffle the saloon action cards and deal 5 face up to the saloon. c) Divide the remaining saloon action cards into 2 face down piles of 4 cards each, returning the 2 leftover action cards to the box unseen. d) Shuffle 2 events face down into each pile, returning the 1 leftover event card to the box unseen. e) Put the 2 piles, one on top of the other, with High Noon at the bottom to create the full saloon deck.

   Each game, 2 saloon actions and 1 event won't be used.

3. Choose the first player: Each player reveals the top card of their deck. The player with the higher number takes the pistol. If there is a tie, keep revealing cards until you have a winner. Discard all cards revealed.

You are now ready to play!

(Setup diagram: each player has a deck, a discard pile and 4 Hit cards in front of them; the pistol sits between the players; the saloon is a column of 5 face-up action cards beside the saloon deck, with the graveyard next to the saloon deck.)

How to Play

Take turns as the active player, starting with whoever has the pistol.

Each turn follows these steps:

1. Both players draw from their player deck up to the hand size of 5 cards.
2. The active player may perform either, both, or neither of the following, in any order. If performing both, you must complete one before performing the other. a) Buy 1 action card AND/OR b) Attack your opponent
3. After performing all chosen actions, pass the pistol to the other player and start a new turn.

Keep taking turns until one player has no Hits in front of them. Their opponent immediately wins!

If you ever need to draw or play from an empty player deck, shuffle your discard to create a new deck.

Buying a Card

If you choose to buy an action card on your turn, discard any 2 cards (action or Hits) from your hand to take any action card from the saloon. Put the bought card in your hand, then refill the empty saloon slot with the top card from the saloon deck.

If you add an event to the saloon, its text immediately comes into effect and will modify the rules for the rest of the game. It cannot be bought and will never be replaced. Event cards in the saloon permanently reduce the number of action cards available to buy.

Action Cards

• Quickdraw (2): Draw 1 and attack again. OR Discard your hand and draw 6.
• Switch Up (4): Swap this card for any graveyard card. OR Draw 2.
• Double Tap (5): If you have just successfully attacked, inflict an additional hit.

Event Cards

• Locked & Loaded: Draw 1 card more each turn.
• Knives Out: Failed attacks inflict a hit on the attacker.
• High Noon: Successful attacks inflict an additional hit.

Attacking & Defending

If you choose to attack on your turn, you take the role of 'attacker' and the other player is the 'defender'. Follow these steps to resolve the attack:

1. The attacker selects cards from their hand and plays them face down, declaring how many cards they played. The attacker must always play at least 1 card.
2. The defender selects cards from their hand and plays them face down. The defender may choose to play no cards.
3. Reveal the cards played by both players, pushing forward the strongest combo each. If your attack/defense cards change because of a card ability (p11), push forward your new strongest combo. You may not play more cards to your attack/defense during this step. Once both players have finished resolving any abilities affecting card combos, move onto step 4.
4. Declare a winning combo using the criteria on p10. If the attacker wins, the defender takes 1 Hit from in front of them and places it in their discard. If the defender wins, they are considered to have dodged and no Hits are taken by either player.
5. Discard all played cards to their owner's discard, including any not in the combos.

During 1. and 2., you can play any number of cards (at least 1 for the attacker). They do not all need to be in one valid card combo. However, only your strongest card combo will count when deciding the winner. You may not count multiple combos.

Valid combos

• Set: two or more of the same number, e.g. three 2s (2 2 2)
• Run: ascending string of numbers of length two or more, e.g. 2 3 4
• Single card: e.g. a single 5

Hits may never be used in a combo, but they may be played as a bluff in the attack or defense.

Winning combos

When determining the winning combo in step 3, start with A below. If there is a draw for any criteria, proceed to the next one:

• A. Number of cards: Most cards in the chosen combo wins (e.g. a combo of three cards beats a combo of two).
• B. Type of combo: A set beats a run (e.g. 2 2 2 beats 1 2 3).
• C. Highest card: Highest single card value within the combo wins (e.g. 2 3 4 beats 1 2 3).
• D. If all previous criteria are tied, the defender wins.

Card Abilities

The text at the bottom of action cards describes their ability. See the rules cards for their full explanations. All card abilities refer to the person playing the card as 'you'.

Action cards may be used for their ability at any time, on any turn. To use a card's ability, it must come from your hand, not from your attack or defense.

Abilities are fully resolved in the order that they are played. The exception to this is Take Cover's ability, which cancels another ability before it can be resolved.

Once you have resolved a card's ability, place it in the graveyard. Cards used for their ability go to the graveyard and not to your discard.

Example card abilities: Focus (1) - change any one value in your attack/defense. Distract (4) - +/- 1 to any card in play. Take Cover (3) - cancel another action card's ability. Double Tap (5) - if you have just successfully attacked, inflict an additional hit.

Rules Cards

Player Decks

• 1 Reload: Discard all cards in your hand. Draw 3 cards from your deck.
• 2 Scout: Draw 2 cards from your deck. Return 1 of the drawn cards to the top of your deck.
• 3 Dodge 'N' Shoot: Immediately discard all cards in the attack and defense. Keep the current roles, but instead resolve the attack by each playing the top card of your decks face up as your attack/defense. The higher value wins. A drawn Hit cannot win. In the case of a tie, discard the played card and play the new top card. If the attacker wins, the defender takes a Hit as normal.

Saloon

• 2 Quickdraw: After resolving an attack as the attacker, draw 1 card and attack again. OR Discard all cards in your hand. Draw 6 cards from your deck.
• 4 Switch Up: Swap this card for any card in the graveyard. Put the graveyard card into your hand. OR Draw 2 cards from your deck.
• 1 Focus: Change the value of any one of your attack or defense action cards to any value from 1 to 5.
• 3 Take Cover: Cancel the ability of an action card as soon as it is played. You cannot cancel the ability of another Take Cover. The canceled card is still placed in the graveyard.
• 5 Double Tap: Play as the attacker after successfully attacking. The defender adds an additional Hit to their deck. You can play multiples of this card to deal additional Hits.

(The rules cards as printed in the manual list five saloon abilities; Distract (4), "+/- 1 to any card in play.", appears only on its action card and is not listed on a rules card in the manual.)

Example Turn

1. It's Alfie's turn. Both players draw up to their hand size of six cards because the event Locked & Loaded is in the saloon.
2. Alfie starts by buying Switch Up from the saloon by discarding his two 1s.
3. Alfie then decides to attack Jenna. He plays four cards face down, then Jenna plays three.
4. They both then reveal their cards. Alfie reveals a run of 3,4,5 and a second 3 - he bluffed with one! Jenna reveals a set of 2,2,2. They both have the same number of cards in the combo (three), so they go to the next tiebreaker. A set beats a run, so Jenna is set to win.
5. Alfie plays Distract from his hand to change Jenna's 2 to a 1 meaning she now only has a set of two. He then places the used Distract in the graveyard.
6. Alfie now has the most cards in the combo, and Jenna has no helpful cards to retaliate with, so she loses the attack and has to put a Hit in her discard. Alfie passes over the pistol, and a new turn begins.

Quick Reference

Player turns

1. Both players draw up to the hand size of 5.
2. Active player performs either, both, or neither of the following, in any order: a) Buy 1 action card AND/OR b) Attack your opponent.
3. Pass the pistol.

Attacking

1. Attacker selects cards.
2. Defender selects cards.
3. Reveal combos.
4. Declare a winning combo. If attacker wins, defender takes a Hit. If defender wins, nothing happens.
5. Discard all cards in combo.

Combo rankings

1. Number of cards in combo (1 2 3 > 4 4)
2. Type of combo: set beats run (2 2 2 > 1 2 3)
3. Highest card (2 3 4 > 1 2 3)
4. Defender wins

Card abilities: Use at any time. Place cards in the graveyard when used.