Smile Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Game Setup
Playing the Game
Game End
Scoring
- Scoring Example
Credits

50 cards (with values ranging from -5 to 6)
40 beads (35x clear, 5x blue)
1 bag to store the beads
This rules sheet

Game Setup

Prepare the draw pile according to the number of players.
- 5 players: Use all cards.
- 4 players: Remove all cards marked with the V symbol.
- 3 players: Remove all cards marked with the V or IV symbols.
Shuffle the remaining cards and place them as a face-down draw pile in the middle of the play area.
Each player gets 6 clear beads. Players should hold their beads secretly in one hand.
Place the remaining beads (clear and blue) as a common supply near the draw pile.
The last player to have seen a firefly is the starting player.

Playing the Game

The game is played over 10 auctions.

Each auction consists of 2 phases that must be played in sequence: Revealing and then Bidding.

1) Revealing

Reveal as many cards as there are players in the game and place them face up, from lowest to highest, next to the draw pile.

2) Bidding

After revealing the cards, bidding begins with the starting player and then continues clockwise. Bidding can last many rounds.

On your turn, you may bid or back out.

A) Bid: to stay in the current auction, you must place 1 clear bead on the revealed card with the lowest value. If more than one card has the lowest value, choose on which of those cards to place your bead. Then the next player takes their turn.

B) Back out: if at least one card has 1 or more beads on it, you may back out of the auction instead of placing a bid. Choose a card with beads on it, place it in front of you, and take all these beads in your hand. If more than one card has beads on it, choose a card among those with beads on them.

Once a player has backed out, they are skipped for the remainder of the current auction.

Important: if no cards have beads on them, you may not back out.

C) Last player: if you are the only player left in the auction, you automatically get the last remaining card, even if no beads are on it. You become the start player for the following auction.

Note: at this point, each player will have received one of the revealed cards.

Cannot bid and back out: if you can neither bid (you have no clear beads) nor back out (no cards have beads on them), you must take a clear and a blue bead from the supply, then immediately bid with the clear bead. (Blue beads track how many clear beads you've borrowed; at the end of the game, you lose 1 point per blue bead.)

Note: players may not bid with blue beads.

Supply exhausted: should the supply run out of either color of beads, use an appropriate substitute. Remember that whenever you take a clear bead from the supply, you must also take a blue one.

Two cards showing the same top-left color: if you ever have in front of you two cards showing the same color in their top-left corner, you must immediately discard both of these cards and remove them from the game.

3-Player Example

Adele is the starting player and must place a bead on the -2.

The next player, Bianca, can either take the -2 with the bead or place a bead on it. She decides to take the card. She gets the bead and, since she already has a card that shows yellow, she discards both of those cards.

Christopher is out of beads. He takes both a clear and a blue bead from the supply and bids with the clear bead. (He could have placed the bead on either card since they have the same value.)

Adele backs out and takes the card with a bead on it. (Had she wanted to place a bead, she could have placed it on either card.)

Christopher is the last player and takes the last card even though there are no beads on it. He will be the starting player for the next auction.

Game End

The draw pile will be exhausted after 10 auctions. When the last auction is completed, the game ends and the players score points as described below.

Scoring

Each player determines the sum of their cards by adding all of their values (positive and negative).

For each set of 5 clear beads a player has (rounded down), they add 1 point.

For each blue bead a player has, they subtract 1 point.

The player with the most points is the winner.

In case of a tie, the player with the most clear beads wins.

If the tie persists, the tied players share the victory.

Scoring Example

Cards: 6, 3, -2

Cards: 6 + 3 - 2 = 7 points

Beads: 6 clear = 1 point; 1 blue = -1 point

Final score: 7 points

Credits

Designer: Michael Schacht

Illustration: Atha Kanaani

Graphic Design: Philippe Guérin

Editing: Jean-François Gagné