Score Cards Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• What's on a Card
  • Some of the Icons Used on the Cards
• Playing Score Cards
  • Play Area
  • Playing a Round
  • Between Rounds
  • Ending the Game
• Scoring & Strategy Explained
• Variants and Team Play
  • Explosive Scoring! For 3- and 4-Players
  • 4-Player Partnership Team Play
  • 4-Player Tournament Round Robin

Contents

• 50 Cards
• 1 Dry erase marker
• 1 Score Sheet (the PDF text shows only the count "1"; item name taken from the scoring instructions)

What's on a Card

• NUMBER: When played to the table, this is the number that cards refer to in the Scoring Text.
• COLOR/SUIT: When played to the table, the color may affect how this and other cards score.
• SCORING TEXT: This is the specific rule that determines how this card scores points. In most cases, this text will reference a category of other cards in play face up on the table, and score points based on the cards that fit that category. We'll look more closely at this in the "Scoring Explained" section.
• ID: This is used to look up extra details, clarifications, and translations of the card. It has no use during gameplay.

Some of the Icons Used on the Cards

• Cards of a specific color or suit
• Cards of any color or suit
• A Card's Color
• A run of Cards in numerical order (e.g. 3, 4, 5...)
• Cards belonging to a single group, set, or run
• The highest Number on any card
• On your next turn
• The last card played by another player
• Change any Card (this change is not permanent and lasts only until the end of your turn)

Playing Score Cards

Begin each game by selecting a starting player. That player shuffles the deck thoroughly and deals 5 cards to each player for the first round, then places the rest of the deck face-down in the center of the play area. Finally, the starting player turns over the top card of the deck and places it face-up next to the deck as the Starting Card (used for scoring). You are now ready to play!

Play Area

Each player has a display area in front of them (five card spaces, numbered 1 to 5, left to right) and the Score Sheet. The Starting Card and the deck sit in the center. The opponent's display is across from yours.

Playing a Round

Score Cards is played over the course of four rounds. In each round players will play and score a total of 5 cards from their hands.

Beginning with the starting player, the player plays a card from their hand to their display area and scores it immediately. They then draw a new card from the deck to their hand, ending their turn. The next player clockwise now takes their turn.

• Remember, you always draw a card at the end of your turn, even on your last turn of the round. You should have 5 cards in your hand at all times during the game.
• Additionally, to help keep track during the game, it is recommended that players play their cards from left to right, with the leftmost card being the first one you played, and the rightmost being the last.

Once everyone has played and scored five cards, give five Bonus Points to the player(s) who had the single highest score for a played card this round. In the case of ties, award the Bonus Points to all tied players.

Add up the score for each player and record the total points on the round total. Then erase the individual card scores for this round and proceed to the next.

Example from the play area: Manuel played the Blue 6 card ("Score 4 Points for each 6") and scores 4 points for each 6 Card including the Starting card, and records 8 points.

Between Rounds

Between each round, players KEEP the cards in their hand. Do not shuffle them back into the deck. Instead, collect all cards in all players' display areas, as well as the Starting Card, and shuffle those cards back into the deck. This is part of the strategy, because players start each new round with the cards they did not use from the previous round.

Once all of the displays have been cleared, the role of "starting player" passes to the next player clockwise. The new starting player begins the next round by turning over the top card of the deck to reveal a new Starting Card, and then taking their turn.

Ending the Game

At the end of the four rounds, the player that scored the most points is the winner! If tied, the tied player with the highest single card score in round 4 wins. If still tied, it is a shared victory.

Scoring & Strategy Explained

Here's a summary of how it works:

1. As soon as you play a card from your hand into your display area, you score it immediately.
2. Use the scoring text on the card that you played to determine how it will score points. When the text refers to a "group", that means the collection of cards in play that share the feature designated in the text.
3. Cards "in play" include:
   • All cards in your display area (including the card you just played).
   • The Starting Card.
   • All cards in ONE opponent's display area.
4. After determining the total points scored by the card played, record those points on the Score Sheet printed inside the box.

Scoring is the most important part of the game–it's in the name, after all! Your goal is to play your cards in an order that will score you the most points possible, and, hopefully, minimize the points that your opponent can score.

The order that you play your cards is important because once a card is in play, it can be considered for scoring on all subsequent cards played, both yours and your opponents. With this in mind, the decision of which card to play is a balance between how many points a given card can score right now, and how many points it may add to the scoring of other cards in the future.

You are now ready to play your first game of Score Cards! Go forth and score!

Variants and Team Play

Explosive Scoring! For 3- and 4-Players

This plays the same way as the Basic Game except that cards "in play" include ALL cards in EVERY player's display AND the Starting Card.

4-Player Partnership Team Play

Score Cards can also be played with 4 players in a 2v2 format. Partners sit opposite each other. The game will last 4 rounds with each player being start player once.

Cards "in play" include YOUR cards and ALL the cards in one other player's display area, PLUS the Starting Card.

Each player, at the end of their turn, may pass 1 card to their partner who looks at it then passes 1 card back. (The card passed back can be the same card or one from their hand.)

4-Player Tournament Round Robin

Score Cards plays great in a tournament setting! A four-player game can be played using a Round Robin format, with all four players playing each other player twice in two-player games.

Keep track of all Score totals for each game, and add them up for each player at the end.

Then, determine the top two players using total Points earned (with ties being broken by highest individual card play, and then highest total score if still tied) and have them play in a championship game. You can also have a consolation game between the bottom two.

We recommend using a separate 50 card deck (complete game) for each two-player game rather than sharing a single deck between them.