Regine
Regine Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Suit cards: Queens, Jesters, Pairs, and Game.
- 40 Game cards: 8 Jesters (red 1s), 4 Peasants (4s), 4 Assassins (5s), 4 Courtesans (6s), 4 Heralds (7s), 4 Knights (black 10s), 4 Princesses (black 10s), 8 Queens (red 10s).
- 28 reversible Betting chips (18 chips with 1 point on one side and 3 points on the other, and 10 chips with 5 points on one side and 10 points on the other). In the unlikely event that you run out of Betting chips, you can use any suitable substitute—pennies work nicely.
- 4 Double Down markers to double the wager.
The Goal of the Game
Be the first to reach 31 points.
Setup
The four Suit cards are placed in the center of the table, forming a rectangle in the order shown on the rulebook's setup diagram.
The Betting chips and Double Down markers are placed to one side where all players can reach them. This is the common supply and these chips do not belong to anyone until they are earned during the game.
The oldest player is the Dealer for the first round and shuffles the 40 Game cards, then deals 4 face down to each player (including herself), and places the deck of cards face down in the center of the table.
How to Play
Regine is played in rounds that continue until one or more players reach 31 points. Each round is made up of the following phases:
- Phase 1 - Building the Hand: The players play and exchange cards to try to get the best combination of cards possible.
- Phase 2 - Wagers: In turn order and without showing their cards, the players place their bets on the Suits they wish to, using the Betting chips and the Double Down markers.
- Phase 3 - Resolution: The players show their cards and the winner of each Suit collects the corresponding points worth of Betting chips.
Once the 3 phases have been completed, if none of the players have reached 31 points, then a new round is played with the Dealer being the player to the right of the Dealer in the previous round. If any player has reached 31 points, the game ends (see End of the Game).
In order to keep these rules short, all the examples have been placed in an online document. Whenever you see the example icon next to a rule, it means that there is an example for it online.
Phase 1 – Building the Hand
After the 4 cards have been dealt, and beginning with the Dealer, the players take turns exchanging and playing cards. During her turn, each player can carry out the following actions (A, B or C), ONE SINGLE TIME each in the order that she prefers:
A. Exchange any cards of her choice from her hand for fresh cards from the main deck OR declare that no more changes are allowed by saying "There are no changes."
- To exchange cards, the player places the cards from her hand in a face-down discard pile next to the main deck, then draws an equal number of cards from the top of the deck and adds them to her hand.
- If a player declares "There are no changes," then no player may exchange cards in this way during her turn for the rest of the phase (unless a Jester is played—see below). A player cannot declare "There are no changes" during the same turn that she exchanges cards herself.
B. Play a card from her hand on the table to add it to her combination. The card can be played face down or face up, but is always placed in front of the player. If the card is played face up, its effect must be applied (if it has any).
The effects are:
- Jester: Cards can once again be exchanged. Everyone can exchange cards from their hand during their turn until someone again announces "There are no changes" during her turn.
- Peasant: The player names an opponent who must choose 1 card from her hand, place it face up on the table, and apply its effect (if any).
- Assassin: The player eliminates 1 card that is on the table (regardless of whether it is face up or face down). The owner of the eliminated card draws 1 new card from the deck.
- Courtesan: The player chooses 1 card that is face down on the table (either her own or another player's) and turns it over. When this is done, the owner of the flipped card applies its effect (provided it has one), even if it is not that player's turn.
- Herald: The player looks at the top card of the deck without showing anyone else and decides whether she wishes to exchange it for the Herald card, in which case the Herald card must be discarded. If she exchanges it, the player must immediately play the new card face up and apply its effect. If the player chooses not to exchange the card, the card she looked at is moved to the bottom of the deck.
- Knight: The player names an opponent, who must discard 1 card from her hand at random and draw 1 new card from the deck.
- Princess: The player discards 1 card of her choice from her own hand and draws 1 new card from the deck.
- Queen: No special effect.
The actions to exchange cards and place a card on the table may be carried out in whatever order the player chooses to do so.
C. Pass. A player may also declare that she does not wish to take any action by saying, "I pass" and not exchanging or playing any cards (whether because she prefers not to or because it is impossible for her to carry out any actions). Passing does not stop the player from playing her next turn normally if she would like to, and it is also possible to pass and say "There are no changes" in the same turn.
Once the player has carried out their actions or passed, the turn moves on to the player on her left.
When all of the players "pass" consecutively (meaning that nobody chooses to do anything at all once around the table), this phase is over and everybody must put any cards still in their hands face down on the table. At this point, each player will have exactly 4 cards in front of her (face-up or face-down), and that will be the combination of cards she uses to face the following phases.
Phase 2 – Wagers
Once all of the players have their combination of cards on the table—without revealing any of the face-down cards—it is time for the Wagers Phase.
During this phase, the players will take turns placing bets on the 4 Suit cards. The Suits are resolved one by one, so everyone can state whether they will be betting on that Suit or not before moving on to the next Suit. A player can add a Betting chip to a Suit if she thinks her combination of cards is good enough to win that Suit—or she can "bluff" and try to make the others believe she has a good combination! If a player is the only one to bet on a Suit, she wins it automatically!
Before we explain how to place wagers, let's look at the 4 Suits and what a player needs to do to win them. The Suits are:
- Queens: Worth 1 point. It is won by the player who has the most Queens (red 10s). If there is a tie in Queens, the one who has the highest cards wins. The rest of the cards belonging to the tied players are compared in order to see who has the higher cards. If there is still a tie with completely equal hands, the winner is the tied player who is the Dealer or closest to the Dealer's left side.
- Jesters: Worth 1 point. It is won by the player who has the most Jesters (red 1s). If there is a tie, it is the same as the case above, but here whoever has the lowest cards wins.
- Pairs: Worth 1 point if won with a pair or 2 points if won with 3-of-a-kind or 2 pairs. Pairs are made up of cards of the same type, not of the same number. So a Knight does not make a pair with a Princess, and a Princess does not make a pair with a Queen. 2 pairs beats 3-of-a-kind and one pair. 3-of-a-kind beats a single pair. 4 of a kind is considered equal to 2 pairs. If there is a tie, the pair or 3-of-a-kind with the highest cards wins. Queens are considered to have a higher value than Knights and Princesses, even though they are all worth 10 points.
- Game: Worth 2 points if won with 31 or 1 point for a higher total. The player who wins this is the one whose cards add up to exactly 31 points. If no player has exactly 31 points, the player whose cards add up to the highest value between 32 and 40 points wins the Suit, but in this case the Suit is only worth 1 point. This Suit cannot be won if the cards do not add up to a minimum of 31 points. If there is a tie, it is resolved as it is for the Queens: The winner with the most Queens in her combination wins. If the tie persists, the one with the next highest card is the winner. If there is still a tie, then the player closest to the left side of the Dealer wins.
The Suits are always resolved in this order: Queens, Jesters, Pairs, and then Game. For each Suit, the players will take turns declaring their bets, starting with the Dealer and going counterclockwise. On her turn, each player must either place a bet or pass, and in the case of placing a bet, they can Double Down when the turn comes back to them. The players keep taking turns until all players pass in a row or can no longer place bets. Then they move on to the next Suit.
Players have three options:
- Pass: If the player does not think she can win the Suit (or if she wants to wait to see how the other players bet), she can simply pass. If another player places a bet on that Suit during her turn, any players who passed (in turn) can still add their own wagers on their next turn. However, if all players pass, the Dealer proclaims "We shall see" and the players move on to the next Suit without revealing the cards they have face down in front of them. The winner of that Suit will be revealed in the Resolution Phase.
- Mine: If the player believes that she will win the Suit (or if she wants to bluff and make the others believe she will), she can claim the Suit by taking a Betting chip from the supply and placing it on the side or corner of the Suit card closest to her. Each player can place only a single value 1 Betting chip on each Suit. The Betting chip is added to the value of the Suit shown on its card. After a player makes this claim, the rest of the players must decide in turn whether to challenge her claim by placing another Betting chip on their side of the card or pass. Only players who place a Betting chip can compete to win the Suit during the Resolution Phase. If only a single player claims a Suit (and all the others pass), that player automatically wins that Suit without showing her cards. She takes the Betting chip she wagered plus the maximum value of the Suit. Then the Suit card is turned over and left face down to show that it has already been resolved. A player who places a bet cannot take her Betting chip back unless someone else Doubles Down on it (see the next section).
- Double Down: Doubling Down means that, in the Resolution Phase, the winner of that Suit will get the value of the Suit card plus double the value of the Betting chips on that Suit. A player can Double Down on a Suit if she believes that she will win or force other players to remove their betting chips and win the Suit on her own.
After all of the players have had at least one chance to bet on a Suit, a player who placed a Betting chip on that Suit during a previous turn may Double Down (you cannot Double Down on a Suit that you have not bet on during the current Wagers Phase).
To indicate that she wishes to Double Down on a Suit, the player places a Double Down marker on the center of the Suit card.
After a player Doubles Down no new players can add bets to that Suit. Only players who already bet on it may take an action: Either say "all yours" and remove her Betting chip (returning it to the supply) or say "we shall see" and leave her chip there. The player who Doubled Down cannot choose to remove her Betting chip.
If all of the other players who bet on that Suit withdraw their Betting chips, the player who Doubled Down automatically wins that Suit as normal, earning her own Betting chip plus the maximum value of the Suit card, but her score is not doubled and she does not have to show her cards. The Suit card is turned over to show that it has already been resolved.
This wagering process is repeated for each Suit, in order, until all of them are completed. There is no limit to the number of Suits a player may bet on during this phase. Once the Game Suit is done, the game moves on to the Resolution Phase.
Phase 3 – Resolution
All of the players now reveal the cards they have on the table in front of them and the Suits are resolved one by one in the same order: Queens, Jesters, Pairs, and Game.
- The winner of each Suit gets the points indicated on the Suit card along with all of the wagered Betting chips there or double the wagered Betting chips if someone Doubled Down on the Suit.
- If there are no Betting chips on a Suit, the cards of each and every player are compared to find out who wins. The winner is awarded the number of points indicated on the Suit card.
- If there are any Betting chips on the Suit, only the cards held by the players who placed those bets during the Wagers Phase are compared. If a player who doesn't have a bet on the Suit has a better combination of cards than those who did—too bad! Her cards are not taken into account when determining which player wins the Suit.
During the Pairs and Game Suits, if no player has any pairs or no one has 31 points or more, then no points are awarded for those Suits.
Players take chips from the supply as needed to record any points they win from the Suit cards. Players can turn over their chips or exchange them with the common reserve to always have one-point chips available for betting.
If another round begins at the end of the Resolution Phase, all of the cards are once again shuffled and the player to the left of the current Dealer becomes the new Dealer.
Note: the rulebook gives two different directions for the next Dealer. The How to Play section says the Dealer is "the player to the right of the Dealer in the previous round," while the Resolution Phase says "the player to the left of the current Dealer becomes the new Dealer." Both are transcribed as printed.
End of the Game
The game comes to a close at the end of any round in which a player reaches 31 points. That player is the winner!
In the case that more than one player reaches 31 points in the same round, the one with more points wins. If they are tied in points, the one closest to the Dealer in the last round is the winner.