Schlafmütze
Schlafmütze Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Pieces
100 sleepyhead cards (values 1 to 20, five cards each).
The Goal of the Game
All players try to get rid of their cards as quickly as possible by putting them in front of another player or on the piles in the middle of the table. But be careful: the order matters! A player who makes a mistake is a "sleepyhead", and not only has to end their turn, but will also get penalty cards from the other players!
Getting Ready to Play
At the beginning of the game, put all five "1" cards in the middle of the table, next to each other in a row. Shuffle the rest of the cards and deal them out as evenly as possible to all players (depending on the number of players, some may end up with one card more than the others, which is okay). All players put their cards in front of them in a face-down stack, which will be their personal draw pile.
How to Play
The player who got up the latest today begins, and the turn passes to the left.
On their turn, a player tries to get rid of as many cards as possible by putting them on the other players' piles or the ones in the middle. If they cannot get rid of a card this way, it goes into their own discard pile. That ends the player's turn, and the next player is up.
A player's turn always works the same way: First, the player checks if they can place the top card from their discard pile on a different pile (another player's or one in the middle). If that is not possible (or if the player's discard pile is empty), they turn over the top card of their draw pile and try to place that card on another player's pile or one in the middle. If there is no way to do that either, the player must put the card onto their own discard pile and end the turn.
Placing Cards
Placing Cards in the Middle
Cards can only be placed on the piles in the middle in direct ascending order. If a card fits onto more than one pile, the player can choose any one of those piles.
Example 1: It's Benedikt's turn. He turns over a 3 and places it on a 2 in the middle.
Placing Cards on Another Player
Players can put cards onto another player's discard pile in directly ascending or descending order.
Example 2: It's still Benedikt's turn, because so far he hasn't had to put a card onto his own discard pile. He turns over a 9, lucky him: he can put that on Andreas' 10 and continue his turn.
Example 3: Next, Benedikt must put the 10 from his own discard pile onto the 9 that is now on top of Andreas' pile (➊). Then he turns over a 15 (➋). He cannot get rid of that, so he has to put it onto his own pile (➌), which ends his turn.
More Than One Option?
If a player could correctly place a card on more than one pile, the ones in the middle always come first. The other players' piles are checked in clockwise order (to the left). If you can play a card on either your left-hand neighbor's or your right-hand neighbor's pile, for example, you must put it on the one to your left.
Example 4: It is now Dominik's turn. He has a 5 on top of his discard pile, which he must try to get rid of before turning over a card from his draw pile. He would like to play it on Thoren, but the middle comes first.
Note: the printed text of Example 4 ends at this point (the sentence is cut off in the source); the outcome is shown only in the accompanying diagram.
Sleepyhead!
A player has made a mistake if he or she:
- has overlooked that he or she could have placed a card; or
- has placed a card onto the wrong pile.
If the other players spot the mistake, they can call out "Sleepyhead!". The player who has placed his or her card incorrectly must take it back and put it onto his or her own discard pile. Also, as a penalty, the player must take the bottom card from each of the other players' draw piles and add them to the bottom of his or her own draw pile.
Important: A mistake only counts when a card has been placed wrongly! For example, if you overlook that you could have placed the top card of your discard pile in the middle, and turn over the top card of your draw pile instead, it only counts as a mistake if you place that card somewhere. If, at the last moment, you notice that you need to place the card from your discard pile first, you can still do so and avoid the penalty.
Example 5: Unfortunately, Dominik overlooks the fact that he should have placed his 5 in the middle. Instead, he turns over a 13 from his draw pile, doesn't find anywhere to place it, and puts it on his discard pile. The moment he does so, he hears joyful shouts of "Sleepyhead!" from all around, and all the other players give him the bottom card from their draw piles. Dominik puts the penalty cards underneath his own draw pile, and it is Thoren's turn.
Draw Pile Empty?
A player whose draw pile is empty leaves his or her discard pile face-up for the time being. The next time he or she would have to turn over a card, he or she flips the discard pile face-down and turns it into a new draw pile.
The End of the Game
The game ends as soon as a player has gotten rid of his or her last card. That player wins the game!