Shadow Cards
Shadow Cards Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Story and Idea
Before every trick round, you secretly predict with two of your hand cards how many trick points you will make in this round. Do you dare to make a bold prediction, or would you rather hold back? Whoever collects the most points over three rounds wins.
Players: 2-5. Age: 10+. Playing time: about 30 minutes.
Contents
- 60 cards, with values from 0 to 14, one each in the colors red, yellow, green and blue (four suits of 15 cards)
- 1 score pad
Your Task
In Shadow Cards you make a prediction using your own cards. It states how many points you believe you will win with your tricks. You try to hit your prediction exactly. Whoever manages this best over three rounds wins.
What is a trick? Everyone plays one card in turn. Together these cards form the trick.
The Trick Round
Each round consists of the following steps:
- Deal cards
- Predict trick points
- Play tricks
- Receive experience points
1. Deal Cards
Shuffle all cards.
If you play with five players, deal out all cards. Each player receives 12 hand cards.
If you play with two, three or four players, deal the cards into four stacks of 15 cards each.
With four players, everyone takes one stack as their hand cards.
With three players, everyone likewise takes one stack as their hand cards. Put the fourth stack to the side. How it takes part in the game is explained under 3. Play tricks.
The differences in the two-player game are found at the end of the rules.
2. Predict Trick Points
Estimate with your hand cards how many trick points you will win in this round. All of you simultaneously choose two hand cards of your choice and place them face down in front of you. The total value of these two cards is your secret prediction. It states how many trick points you want to win this round. For example, if you lay down a 7 and a 14, you want to make 21 trick points in the round. You may look at your prediction at any time during the game.
Trick points: If you win a trick, you choose one card from it. Its value is your trick points.
Example: Tom places his 13 and 14 face down in front of him as his prediction. He therefore wants to make 27 trick points in this round.
3. Play Tricks
The player who most recently had a vision begins and marks this on the pad. Then you lead the trick and play a card. All others follow clockwise and each play one card.
When playing the cards, you must observe the following:
If you play the first card into the trick, you may play any hand card. All others must follow suit. That means you must play a card of the same color as the first card in the trick. Only if you have no card of that color in your hand may you play a trump or another color.
Red is trump. A red card wins against every card of another color.
The trick is won by:
- The highest card in the trump color red.
- The highest card in the color played first, if there is no trump in the trick.
Example: Sonja leads the trick with a green 2. Yennefer follows suit with a green 11. Khamul would like to trump, but must follow suit with his green 8. Tom has no green, trumps with his red 4 and thereby wins the trick.
If you win a trick, you choose one of the cards in the trick. The value of this card corresponds to your won trick points. Place the cards of the trick as a stack in front of you and lay the chosen card face up on top.
Example: From the won trick, Tom chooses the green 8 as trick points and places the four cards, with the 8 face up on top, as a stack next to his prediction.
With three players, at the start of each trick you always turn up one card from the additional stack. This card has no influence on which color must be followed and cannot win the trick. If you win the trick, you may also choose this card as your trick points.
If you win a trick, you lead the next one by playing any card from your hand.
Place further won tricks in front of you so that all of your trick points are recognizable at all times.
4. Receive Experience Points
After you have played all hand cards, and therefore all tricks, the current round ends. Now you note your points on the pad. Enter your prediction in the prediction field and the total value of your trick points of the round in the trick-points field.
Example: Tom predicted 27 trick points. In the round he made 8+4+9+2+5+0 = 28 trick points. He enters 27 in the prediction field and 28 in the trick-points field.
You now receive experience points. These depend on your prediction and your trick points.
If you are playing your very first game of Shadow Cards, we recommend introducing the scoring possibilities step by step as follows:
First trick round of your first game
Important: This scoring applies only in the first trick round of your first game!
Your goal is to reach your prediction with your trick points at least. A low prediction is easier to reach, but also gives fewer points.
- If you manage this, you receive your prediction as experience points.
- If you have fewer trick points than predicted, you receive no experience points.
Example: Prediction 26, trick points 28: the player receives 26 experience points. Prediction 27, trick points 26: the player receives no experience points.
Then you shuffle and deal the cards for the next round. If you began in the previous round, the next person in turn order now leads the first trick of the round.
Second trick round of your first game
Important: The scoring is different from now on than in the first trick round of your first game! It is only supplemented in the third round.
You now receive, additionally, your made trick points as experience points. If your prediction equals your trick points, you receive three times your prediction as experience points.
| Trick points greater than prediction (trick points > prediction) | Trick points less than prediction (trick points < prediction) | Trick points equal to prediction (trick points = prediction) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experience points | Prediction + trick points | Trick points | Three times prediction |
| Example | Prediction 25, trick points 27: 52 | Prediction 25, trick points 17: 17 | Prediction 25, trick points 25: 75 |
In the total field you enter the total value of your experience points from all rounds played so far.
Third trick round of your first game
In normal play, the rules described here apply in every round!
You now also receive experience points if your trick points are 0. For this you have either won no trick, or chosen only cards with the value 0 as trick points.
If you have the most trick points in the round and they are not equal to your prediction, you receive only a part of them as experience points. From your three highest trick points you must subtract the remaining trick points. This rule does not apply in the current trick round if you have the most trick points and your trick points and prediction are equal.
| Trick points greater than prediction (trick points > prediction) | Trick points less than prediction (trick points < prediction) | Trick points equal to prediction (trick points = prediction) | Zero trick points (trick points = 0) | Most trick points (but not equal to prediction) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience points | Prediction + trick points | Trick points | Three times prediction | Double prediction | Three highest trick points minus remaining trick points |
| Example | Prediction 25, trick points 27: 52 | Prediction 25, trick points 17: 17 | Prediction 25, trick points 25: 75 | Prediction 24, trick points 0: 48 | Prediction 26, trick points 39 (cards 12, 11, 10, 6): 27 |
Example: Tom has 39 trick points and thereby the most in the round. Since this does not correspond to his prediction (26), he receives 12+11+10-6 = 27 experience points.
End of the Game
Whoever has the most experience points in total after three rounds wins. In case of a tie, all those involved win together.
Two-Player Game
In the two-player game you play a total of four rounds. As described before, you form four stacks with all the cards, of which you each choose one as your hand cards for the first round. You do not need the two remaining stacks again until the second trick round. For your prediction you choose three of your cards and place them in front of you. Then you play the first round as described above and receive experience points as usual.
If you have the most trick points in the round and they are not equal to your prediction, you subtract the remaining trick points from your five highest trick points.
For the second round you do not shuffle any cards, but each take one of the two remaining stacks. You play the second round like the first.
For the third and fourth rounds you shuffle all cards again and prepare four stacks again.