RoboKraft
RoboKraft Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
RoboKraft is a must-follow trick taking game for 3-4 players, in which the relative ranking of the suits changes with each trick. There is no dedicated trump suit. Instead, depending on which suit is led, the value of that suit will go up or down in comparison to the rest. After all cards are played into a trick, the player who played the highest card of the highest value suit played will take the cards played and separate them into the different suits face up on the table. The player who played the lowest card of the lowest value suit played will take a Power Cell cube of the color which won the trick. At the end of the game, players will multiply the Utility Ratings on cards they have won in each suit by the matching discs they have acquired. Any cards and discs that do not have a match are negative points.
Contents
- 52 Robot cards (1-11 and two 0s in 4 suits)
- 16 Power Cell cubes (4 each in 4 suits)
- 4 Value discs (1 each in 4 suits)
- 1 Value card
- 1 Reference card
Setup
- Place the Value card in the center of the play area.
- Randomly assign the Value discs to the right side of the Value card.
- Sort the Power Cell cubes by color and place them on the left side of the Value card, next to their corresponding companies. If playing with 3 players, return one of each color to the box.
- Shuffle the Robot Cards and deal each player 12 cards. The remaining cards are not used in this hand and can be set aside.
- Place the Reference card within reach.
The last player to have issued a command is the first lead player.
Robot Cards
Each Robot card has a color and symbol representing its manufacturer (1), a rank in the corners (0-11) (2), as well as a Utility Rating indicated by colored-in wedges in the center of the card (0, 1, 2, or 3) (3).
Cards with ranks 5 and 6 have a Utility Rating of 3. Cards with ranks 3, 4, 7, and 8 have a Utility Rating of 2. Cards with ranks 1, 2, 9, 10, and 11 have a Utility Rating of 1. Cards with rank 0 have a Utility Rating of 0.
The Utility Rating is important when calculating your score at the end of a round.
Company Value
Companies are randomly assigned value at the beginning of the game. In each trick, the suit that is led will either raise or lower the value of that company in relation to the other companies.
If a card of rank 0-5 is played, that company's Value disc will move up one position, swapping places with the disc above it. If it is already at the top, it will move to the bottom and all other companies will shift up.
If a card of rank 6-11 is played, that company's Value disc will move down one position, swapping places with the disc below it. If it is already at the bottom, it will move to the top and all other companies will shift down.
Example:
(Value card diagram: before the play, the Value discs read, from top to bottom, blue, red, orange, green. After the play, they read red, blue, orange, green.)
Alison plays a blue 6. She moves the blue Value disc down one position, swapping with red. Bob plays a blue 10. Carol has no blue cards and plays an orange 11. Dave also has no blue cards and plays a red 7. Dave wins the trick, as red is now the highest value. He collects the cards and sorts them into piles in front of himself. Carol played the lowest value card and takes a red cube from the supply, as the winning card was red.
Gameplay
The lead player plays any card from their hand. Immediately adjust the company values as described above.
In clockwise order, each player will also play a card from their hand, matching the suit of the lead player if possible. If they do not have a card of that suit in their hand, they may play any card. Once each player has played a card, the winner of the trick is determined.
If all players played the same suit, the highest card of that suit played is the winner.
If more than one suit is played, check the values of the suits played. The highest card of the highest value suit played wins the trick.
The player who played the lowest value card in the trick takes one Power Cell cube matching the suit of the card that won the trick. If two 0s of the same suit are played in a trick, the later one is considered lower. If there are no remaining Power Cell cubes matching the color of the winning suit, the lowest player does not gain a cube.
The player who won the trick collects all of the cards played and places them face up in front of themself in stacks based on suit.
The player who won the trick then leads the next trick.
End of Game and Scoring
The game ends when all cards have been played.
For each suit in which a player has Robot cards and matching Power Cell cubes, they total up the Utility Ratings (counting the wedges in the middle of the cards) and multiply that sum by the number of cubes that match that suit.
Subtract one point for each Robot card in suits for which you have not collected any Power Cell cubes (the Utility Rating does not matter).
Subtract one point for each Power Cell cube in suits for which you have not collected any Robot cards.
Example:
(Carol's cards are shown: red 8 and red 2, blue 5 and blue 3, and orange 11, 9, 4 and 1. Beside them are her cubes: two red, one orange and one green.)
At the end of the game, Carol has:
- Red cards with a combined Utility Rating of 3 and two red cube: 3 x 2 = 6
- Two blue cards (Utility Rating doesn't matter) and no blue cube: -2
- Orange cards with a combined Utility Rating of 5 and one orange cube: 5 x 1 = 5
- No green cards and one green cube: -1
Total score = 6 + 5 - 1 - 2 = 8 points
Record the scores, either with pencil and paper or scoring chips (not provided).
Return the Power Cell cubes to the left of the Value card, shuffle all cards (including those set aside at the beginning of the hand) and deal 12 to each player.
The Value discs stay in the same order as they were at the end of the last trick.
The player to the left of the last round's first lead player leads the first trick.
Play rounds equal to the number of players.
The player with the most points by the end of the final round wins the game.