Sarkophag
Sarkophag Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Goal of the Game
Sarcophagus is a trick-taking game. In each trick, every player plays a card in turn. The player who plays the highest or the lowest card takes all the cards in that trick. Most cards show little mummy heads. The winner is the player who has the fewest mummy heads at the end of the game.
Game Pieces
60 cards, valued from 1 to 60.
Getting Ready to Play
The last player to see a mummy shuffles all the cards thoroughly and deals 10 cards to each player, face down. Cards that are not dealt can be set aside—you won't need them until the next game.
How to Play
The First Card in a Trick
The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick by playing one card from his or her hand. On subsequent tricks, the winner of the last trick leads. The other players follow in clockwise order from the leader.
Important: A card with 5 mummy heads cannot be played as the first card in a trick, unless the leader only has such cards left in hand.
The Second Card in a Trick
The second player determines, by way of the card he or she plays, whether the other players need to play a higher or lower card on the trick.
If the Second Card Is Lower Than the First
If the second player's card has a value that is lower than the first player's card, all the other players must also play a card whose value is lower than the first player's card.
The player who plays the lowest-value card on the trick has to take the trick.
Example: It's Nico's turn to lead the trick, and he plays the 22. The second player, Clemens, plays the 20, which means that all other players must also play cards lower than Nico's 22. Henrik is next and plays the 14. Finally, Daniel plays his 15. All players were able to play cards which are lower than Nico's 22. Henrik played the lowest card (14) and has to take the trick with its 10 mummy heads.
However, if a player cannot play a lower card—because he or she only has cards with a value higher than the first player's card in hand—that player must instead play a higher card. In this case, the player who plays the highest value card has to take the trick.
If the Second Card Is Higher Than the First
If the second player's card has a value that is higher than the first player's card, all the other players must also play a card whose value is higher than the first player's card.
The player who plays the highest value card has to take the trick.
However, if a player cannot play a higher card—because he or she only has cards with a value lower than the first player's card in hand—that player must instead play a lower card. In this case, the player who plays the lowest value card has to take the trick.
Example: Henrik took the last trick, so he has to play the first card on the next trick. He plays the 48. Daniel plays the 49, thereby determining that all players must play cards with a value higher than Henrik's 48. Nico manages to do so: he plays the 53. Clemens, however, does not have a card higher than 48 in his hand, so he plays the 39, trying to at least avoid getting too many mummy heads. He has to take the trick with its total of 5 mummy heads.
Example: Clemens leads the next trick, because he has taken the last one. He plays the 9. Henrik plays the 8, which determines the direction. Daniel does not have a card lower than 9, so he plays the 36, a card without mummy heads. This is a great opportunity for Nico to get rid of his 35. While neither Daniel nor Nico could play a card lower than 9, it's Daniel who has to take the trick (with 9 mummy heads), because he played the highest card (36).
The game continues in this manner until all 10 tricks have been played.
The End of the Game
When all 10 tricks have been played, each player adds up the mummy heads on their cards. The player (or players) with the fewest mummy heads wins!
Playing Over Several Rounds
Before the game begins, the players can agree on a certain number of mummy heads (e.g., 100). The game ends as soon as one or more players have exceeded this limit at the end of a round. Again, the player (or players) with the fewest total number of mummy heads wins.