S'quarrels: A Game of Absolute Nuts
S'quarrels: A Game of Absolute Nuts Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
To store the most Acorns before WINTER comes.
Equipment
Action Cards:
- 8 - Quarrels
- 8 - Hoards
- 6 - Ambushes
- 2 - Whirlwinds
- 1 - Winter
Number Cards:
- 30 - Ones
- 24 - Twos
- 18 - Threes
- 12 - Fours
- 9 - Fives
Specialty Cards:
- 1 - Golden Acorn
- 1 - Rotten Acorn
Layout
All cards are drawn from the "Deck." All Action Cards are placed face up in the "Action Card Pile." End-of-turn discards are placed face down in the "Hoard Pile." The "Player's Hand" represents the cards each player is currently holding.
All players have their own "Storage Pile" in which they store Acorns (Number Cards) for points. The more cards in the "Storage Pile," the more points you will have at the end of the round.
Game Setup
Select a total score to play to (such as 50) and designate one player to keep score. Dealer shuffles the Deck and deals out SEVEN cards to each player.
All players discard any Action Cards in their Hand and draw replacement cards until they have a Hand of only Number or Specialty Cards. If WINTER was drawn during setup, then all discarded Action cards are shuffled back into the Deck.
How to Play
Play starts to the dealer's left and continues clockwise. The sequence of a turn is made up of 3 Phases - Draw, Store, and Discard.
Draw Phase - All players MUST draw at least one card from the "Deck" before storing any Acorns. If a player has fewer than seven cards after drawing their first card, they may choose to continue drawing, one card at a time, until they have seven in their Hand. If an "Action Card" is drawn, the player stops drawing immediately and plays the Action Card.
Store Phase - When a player has THREE matching Number Cards, they may choose to stop drawing cards and store Acorns (points) into their "Storage Pile." Once a player chooses to store Acorns, they can not draw any more cards. Any stored Acorns can not be taken and are thus safe for the remainder of the round.
Discard Phase - A player ends their turn by selecting and discarding a single card from their Hand face down into the "Hoard Pile."
Ending a Round
Once WINTER has been drawn, the round is over; all players count up the points in their "Storage Pile." A set is worth the number on the card. For example: if a player has one set of twos (three twos) and one set of fours (three fours), their total points for this round would be six (two points for the set of twos, and four points for the set of fours). Scorekeeper adds scores from each player to the scores from the previous round(s).
The winner of the round deals for the next round. If the round ends in a tie, then the player with the higher total score deals.
Ending Game
The first person to reach or exceed the predetermined score at the end of a round wins the game.
Action Cards
Quarrel
Highest card wins. ALL players select a card from their Hand and put it face down on the table. All players reveal their cards at the same time. The highest card wins. If two or more players place the same highest card, the matching players continue to Quarrel until one person has the highest card or the other player runs out of cards. Winner takes all cards played during the Quarrel and it becomes their turn. Winner may chose to skip their draw phase. Play continues to the winner's left. If Quarrel ends in a draw, all players retain their cards; player who drew the Quarrel would then continue their turn.
Hoard
First to slap the "Hoard Pile" wins. All players, EXCEPT the player who drew the Hoard Card, race for the cards in the "Hoard Pile." First one to slap the pile wins! Winner takes the entire "Hoard Pile," takes their turn, and may choose to draw cards if they have fewer than seven. Play continues to the winner's left.
Ambush
Randomly take one card from each player. Player randomly takes one card from each player's Hand then continues playing their turn.
Whirlwind
Redistribute cards. Player who drew the Whirlwind Card collects ALL players' Hands, shuffles them together, and then deals the cards out to everyone beginning with his/her own Hand and continuing to the left. After all cards are redistributed, player may then continue his/her turn.
Winter
End of round. When this card is drawn, the round is over and stored Acorns are totaled. Number cards in hand are not calculated in the final total.
Specialty Cards
Golden Acorn
The player holding the Golden Acorn at the end of a round receives an extra 5 points. The Golden Acorn trumps all other numbers and can be used in place of a number card to win a Quarrel. However, if the Golden Acorn is played during a Quarrel, it must be placed in the Discard Pile and is lost for the remainder of that round.
NOTE: If a player is forced to play the Golden Acorn during a Quarrel as their last card, they win the Quarrel and keep the Golden Acorn.
Rotten Acorn
The player holding the Rotten Acorn at the end of a round subtracts 5 points from his/her score. The Rotten Acorn can only be passed during a Quarrel, Whirlwind, or Ambush. Player may NOT discard the Rotten Acorn into the "Hoard Pile" unless it is the LAST card in their Hand at the end of their turn. If played in a Quarrel, the Rotten Acorn loses to all other cards.
Exceptions
- When ending a turn, if the player is out of cards, they do not draw more cards or discard to the "Hoard Pile."
- If a player slaps the HOARD pile when an Action card is played and the Action card was NOT a Hoard card, that player must put their highest most valuable card from their Hand into the Hoard pile.
- If a player happens to have the Golden Acorn and the Rotten Acorn in their Hand, the player may discard the Rotten Acorn over the Golden Acorn into the "Hoard Pile" as long as they have no other cards to discard.