Spring Cleaning
Spring Cleaning Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 63 x Cards (seven of each: ranks 1 to 9)
- 5 x Player Aids
- 20 x Trash Tokens (five of each: 1 to 4)
Setup
Perform the following steps in order:
- Place a Player Aid in front of each player.
- Place the following Trash tokens into the supply:
- 2 players - 1 value tokens
- 3 players - 1 and 2 value tokens
- 4 players - 1, 2, and 3 value tokens
- 5 players - All tokens
Any remaining tokens are placed into the box.
Gameplay
In Spring Cleaning, you and your opponents race to clean your houses the fastest by being the first person to play all your cards. You cannot change the order of your cards, but you can offer cards to your opponents, enticing them into playing your cards for you. When offering, you also draw a card into your hand, placing it in the best position to create powerful combinations.
If you take too long to organize your hand, your neighbors may shed out before you do, and you'll have to take trash as a penalty. The game lasts 3-5 rounds and ends when any player collects too much trash. Once the game ends, the player with the least trash wins!
Round Structure
Each round consists of four phases performed in order: Deal, Offer, Cleaning, and Scoring.
Deal Phase
Shuffle the deck and deal 12 cards to each player. Pick up and look at your hand without rearranging the cards.
5-player change: Deal 10 cards to each player.
Offer Phase
Each player simultaneously chooses 1 card from their hand and places it face down in front of them. Once all players have done this, flip the chosen cards face up to create an offer area in front of each player.
Card Locations
Your hand consists of cards you hold hidden from other players and offered cards that you place face up in your offer area. All cards in your hidden hand and in your offer area are considered to be yours.
All cards in your offer area must be visible to all players. When there are multiple cards in your offer area, they may be displayed in any order.
Note: Rotating offered cards 90° helps distinguish your offered cards from those played during the Cleaning phase. You can also place your Player Aid directly next to your offered cards to further distinguish your offer area.
Cleaning Phase
You and your opponents now race to be the first to play all your cards, both from your hidden hand and offer area. The first player begins a "trick" by playing a combination of cards to the center of the table.
Continuing clockwise, you play stronger combinations or draw and offer cards to your opponents. If your turn begins and your previously played combination is still the strongest, the trick ends. Played cards are discarded, and you lead the next trick.
The Cleaning phase ends immediately when any player sheds all their cards.
Combination Types
There are three types of card combinations:
- Single: 1 card
- Set: 2+ cards of the same rank
- Run: 2+ cards in a sequence of ascending or descending ranks
Lead Turn
In the first turn of each trick, the active player must play a combination of any size entirely from their hidden hand. You cannot use offered cards during a lead turn.
The first lead turn during the first round of the game is performed by the player with the messiest room. The lead turn for subsequent tricks is played by the person who played the strongest combination in the previous trick.
In a new round, the first lead turn is performed by the player with the most Trash points. If there is a tie, the tied player who took the most Trash points in the previous round performs the lead turn.
On Your Turn
In clockwise order, take turns by performing one of the following options:
- Play Combination - Play a combination stronger than the current strongest combination in the trick. You can use cards from your hidden hand and/or any number of offered cards from any player's offer area, including your own!
- Draw & Offer - Draw 1 card from the deck or any opposing player's offer area. Place this card anywhere within your hidden hand. Then, select one card from your hidden hand (this can be the card you just drew) and place it face up into your offer area.
Note: If you drew the last card from the deck, immediately gather all cards discarded from previous tricks and shuffle them to form a new draw deck.
Hand Restrictions
- You cannot rearrange your hidden hand.
- Cards played from your hidden hand must all be adjacent within your hand.
- If you play a run, the cards must be in the correct order (ascending or descending) within your hidden hand. For example, you may play a run of 3-4-5 or 5-4-3 but may not play a 4-3-5.
Unless you are performing a lead turn, you may add any number of offered cards to form your combination. You can place offered cards anywhere within the contiguous group of cards you are playing.
For example, you can play a 4-6-8 from your hidden hand as long as you also play a 5 and a 7 from one or more offer areas.
Stronger Combinations
A combination is stronger than the current strongest combination if it is either:
- The same size and type (single, run, or set) with higher values
- Exactly one card larger of any combination type
Example: The current strongest combination is a run of 5-6-7. You can beat this with a 6-7-8 but not a 9-9-9 because you cannot change types if your combination is the same number of cards as the current strongest. You could beat this with a 1-1-1-1 or a 1-2-3-4 because both combinations are exactly one card larger, but you could not beat it with any combination with five or more cards.
Empty Hidden Hand
If you have zero cards in your hidden hand but have at least one card in your offer, immediately draw all your offered cards into your hidden hand in any order.
Ending a Trick
The trick immediately ends if you play the strongest combination and no other player plays a stronger combination before it is your turn again. (This means all of your opponents performed Draw & Offer actions.) Move all played cards to a face-up discard pile.
The player who played the strongest combination in the previous trick now performs a lead turn to start the next trick.
Ending the Cleaning Phase
The Cleaning phase ends once any player has zero cards in their hidden hand and in their offer area. The current turn ends immediately, and the Scoring phase begins.
Scoring Phase
Add up the number of unplayed cards in your hidden hand and offer area. Then, assign Trash tokens as follows:
| Relative Card Amount | Trash Penalty |
|---|---|
| No cards | No Trash |
| 2nd fewest cards | 1 Trash |
| 3rd fewest cards | 2 Trash |
| 4th fewest cards | 3 Trash |
| 5th fewest cards | 4 Trash |
In the case of a tie, the tied player closest to the player with no cards, in clockwise order, is considered to have fewer cards than the other tied player(s).
If the game has not ended, begin a new round.
Game End
The game ends after the Scoring phase once any player has the total amount of Trash indicated below:
- 2 players - 3 Trash
- 3 players - 5 Trash
- 4 players - 7 Trash
- 5 players - 9 Trash
Games last between 3 and 5 rounds. The player with the least Trash wins! If there is a tie, the tied player who took the least Trash in the final round wins the game.
2-Player Changes
At the start of each Cleaning phase, draw 2 cards from the deck and place them face up nearby to create a neutral offer area. During play, cards in the neutral offer area are considered to belong to an opponent.
Refill the neutral offer to 2 cards total after each trick.
Credits
Designer: Jonathan Cox
Playtesters: Jessica Longhurst, Taylor Reiner, Carol LaGrow, Srinivas Vasudevan, Shreesh Bhat, David Cantrell, Paul Chen, Sean Ross, Adelle Frank, Anastasia Heuer, Arem, Chris Cepil, Daniel Newman, Hilko Drude, hollow_universe (Bryce), Kyle Jensen, Nahvid Etedali, Richard Walter, Ryan Campbell, Taylor Hall, & many more!