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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Turn Overview
  • 1. Card Play in Detail
  • 2. Pass in Detail
  • Passing in a 2-Player Game
  • 3. Draw in Detail
• End of the Round
• Calculating Penalties
• End of the Game

Overview

Think of it like Daifugō (President). The goal is to play out all the cards in your hand as quickly as possible. However, you must think about how many plays it will take you to empty your hand. You are given as many tokens as the number you declare at the start, and if you do not go out using up exactly all of those tokens, you take penalty points. A round lasts until all players have no Play tokens left, or until someone has played out their hand and the field cards are then cleared. Continue for as many rounds as there are players, or until someone reaches -50 penalty points. The player with the fewest penalty points wins.

Components

• Playing cards: 32 (8 cards numbered 2 to 9 in each of 4 suits). A suit is one of the four icons on the cards. Call them mushroom suit, splat suit, or whatever you like.
• Tokens: 40. Front side: Play token. Back side: Wild card token.

Setup

• Put all 40 tokens Play-token side up in a pile near the center of the table.
• In a 2-player game, remove the 8 cards of any one suit and play with only the 3 suits (24 cards).
• Shuffle all the playing cards well and deal 8 cards to each player as their hand. In a 2-player game, the remaining 8 cards are placed face down as a draw pile. In a 3-player game, the remaining 8 cards are not used; set them aside face down.
• After everyone has looked at their hand, each player predicts how many plays it will take them to play out their whole hand, and all players simultaneously show that number with the fingers of both hands. Each player then takes a number of tokens equal to the number of fingers they showed, keeping them Play-token side up. They must not be turned to the back side. You can show 0 to 10 fingers, but until you are used to the game, we recommend showing 6 fingers and taking on the game with 6 tokens.
• The player who received the most tokens becomes the start player. If tied, those players decide by rock-paper-scissors.

How to Play

Starting with the start player, players take turns clockwise until the round ends. On your turn you basically either play cards, or pass and turn (switch) a token. Precisely, the things you can do on your turn are:

Turn Overview

First, if it is your turn and the last cards played to the field were played by you, the field cards are cleared (in a 3-4 player game) and you take your turn as the start player. "The field cards are cleared" means that the field cards and all the cards under them are removed for the rest of this round, leaving no field cards.

1. Card play: You can play cards only if you still have a Play token. Note that Wild tokens are not Play tokens.
2. Pass: Regardless of what tokens you have or whether you can play cards, a player can always pass. However, the start player cannot pass on the first play while they still have Play tokens.
3. Draw: Only in a 2-player game, you may draw.

1. Card Play in Detail

To play cards, you must first pay one Play token from your hand (return it to the center of the table). If you have no Play token left or no cards in hand, you cannot play cards. Then you play cards from your hand according to the number and values of the cards most recently played to the field (the field cards). For the start player's first play, there are no cards on the field yet, so they may play cards in any way they like. Cards played together in one card play, whether one card or many, are called the "field cards". The field cards are overwritten each time a player plays cards. There are three ways to play cards:

• Single: Play any one card.
• Set: Play two or more cards of the same number.
• Run: Play two or more cards of consecutive numbers in the same suit.

You must also follow these restrictions on the number of cards:

If you play the same number of cards as the previous field cards: at least one card must be higher than the highest number of the field cards, by 1 or more. For example, if the field cards are "three 4s", you can play "3, 4 and 5 of the same suit" or "three 9s". If the field card is a "5", you can play a "6", "7", "8" or "9".

If you play exactly one more card than the previous field cards: at least one card must be lower than the lowest number of the field cards, by 1 or more. For example, if the field cards are "two 5s", you can play "4, 5 and 6 of the same suit" or "three 2s". Note that this is not like a revolution in Daifugō where the strength of numbers is reversed; only at the moment when you play one more card than the field cards do you need a number smaller than the field cards.

Note that in this game you can play only the same number of cards as the previous field cards, or exactly one more. You cannot suddenly play many more cards than the field cards.

However, only the start player's first play has no field cards, so they may play any number of cards from their hand. For example, they can start by playing "4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the same suit" right away.

2. Pass in Detail

Passing ends your turn without playing cards. You may pass even if you could play cards. It is a so-called soft pass, so on your next turn you can still play cards. However, you cannot pass when there are no field cards, such as at the start of the game or after the field cards have been cleared (see above). In other words, the start player cannot pass on the first play when there are no field cards, but there is an exception: if you have no Play tokens left, you can pass even when there are no field cards (even as the start player). If the start player has to pass, the player to their left, that is, the player who takes the next turn, becomes the start player. Even if you already have no cards or tokens, your turn still comes as long as the round has not ended; in that case you pass.

A player who passes may, if they wish, "switch" one token.

Switching a token: You can turn over one token remaining in your hand. Turning a Play token over makes it a Wild card token, and turning a Wild card token over makes it a Play token. A Wild card token is no longer a Play token, so it cannot be paid for card play, but it can help you in another way.

Wild card tokens: A Wild card token can be played, only together with other cards, during card play, as a card of any suit and any integer number. Playing cards are 2 to 9, but a Wild card token can also be played as a 1 or a 10. There are several rules for playing a Wild card token:

1. A Wild card token cannot be played alone; it must always be played together with cards from your hand.
2. Only one Wild card token can be played at a time.
3. A Wild card token is not a Play token, so you must pay a Play token separately from the Wild card token. That is, if you have only Wild card tokens, you cannot play cards.

Passing in a 2-Player Game

Only in a 2-player game, when a player passes, the field cards are cleared at the end of their turn. The opponent then begins their turn as the start player. This may sound obvious, but because a 2-player game has a third option that is neither card play nor passing, this rule exists. A player who has played out their hand can only pass (they cannot "draw", described below).

3. Draw in Detail

Drawing is a rule only for 2-player games, and can be done only if the draw pile still has cards. Draw the top card of the draw pile, add it to your hand, and end your turn. Drawing is not a pass, so even the start player can do it. When you draw, your opponent naturally is in the state of "my turn has come while I am the one who last played the field cards", but the field cards are not cleared and they do not become the start player. The game simply continues. In a 2-player game, regardless of who last played the field cards, when either player passes the field cards are cleared and the opponent who did not pass becomes the start player. A player who has played out their hand cannot draw.

End of the Round

The round ends immediately, and penalties are calculated, when any one of the following conditions is met:

1. No player has any Play tokens. Note that this condition is met even if some player has only Wild card tokens, because they are not Play tokens.
2. The field cards are cleared while some player has played out their whole hand. Note that the round does not end at the moment someone plays out their hand. Even if someone plays out their hand, the round continues until the field cards are cleared, so several players can follow and play out their hands one after another. Also, a player may run out of cards while Play tokens remain, and this condition is still met. Note that Wild card tokens are not part of the hand.

Calculating Penalties

At the end of the round, each player receives penalties from all of the following. Record them on paper or on a smartphone.

1. If you have cards remaining in your hand that you could not play, the total of their numbers. However, identical numbers count as only one card. That is, even holding four 9s you lose only -9 points.
2. If you have one or more leftover Play tokens: -10 points.
3. If you have one or more Wild card tokens: -10 points.

Example: The round ends while you hold three 9s and one 5 in your hand, plus 3 Play tokens and 1 Wild card token. Penalty is 9 + 5 + 10 + 10 = -34 points.

After recording each player's penalty, if the game end conditions are not met, start a new round. Resume the game from the "Setup" section.

End of the Game

The game ends if any of the following conditions is met at the end of a round:

1. When as many rounds as there are players have been completed, the game ends. However, in a 2-player game, play up to 3 rounds.
2. If anyone's penalty reaches -50 points or more, the game ends.

When the game ends, the player with the fewest penalty points wins. If tied, the tied player who owns a Nintendo Switch 2 smugly declares victory (the rules note this is entirely unrelated to this game). If all tied players own a Nintendo Switch 2, or none do, the rules suggest giving up on thinking any further about tiebreaks.