The Four Deuces
The Four Deuces Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Components
- 1 Suit Power board
- 4 Suit tokens (Bootlegging, Gambling, Prostitution, Murder)
- 16 Suit cards (4 per suit, no ranks)
- 14 Dice (Gang members)
- 2 Character cards (Al Capone, Bugs Moran)
2. Setup
Randomly place the 4 Suit tokens on the Suit Power Track.
Each player takes 7 dice, rolls them, and arranges them in ascending order in front of themselves.
Shuffle the Suit cards and deal 4 cards to each player as their hand.
Deal 3 additional cards face down to each player. Players may look at their own reserve at any time.
Remove the remaining 2 cards from the game without revealing them.
Each player chooses 1 Character card and places it face up in front of themselves.
3. Gameplay
3.1 Start of a Round
Each player totals the pips on their dice. The player with the lower total becomes the lead player.
If tied, reroll all dice.
3.2 Trick Structure
Each round consists of 7 tricks.
The first 4 tricks are played using the 4-card hand.
The remaining 3 tricks are played after players add their 3 reserve cards to hand.
The lead plays 1 card from hand and places 1 die on it.
The follower must follow suit if able.
If able: play a card of the led suit and place 1 die.
If unable: play any card and place 1 die.
3.3 Trick Resolution
If both cards share the same suit, the player who placed the higher die wins the trick.
In a same-suit trick, the dice values must be different.
If the follower cannot place a die of a different value, the round ends immediately and the follower loses the round.
If the cards are of different suits:
Identify the suit of the card with the higher die.
Move that suit's token one space upward on the Suit Power Board (swap with the token directly above; no effect if already highest or equal dice values placed).
Then, The player who played the suit currently higher on the Suit Power Track wins the trick.
The winner places both cards face up in their trick pile.
Dice used in the trick are removed from the round.
3.4 Character Abilities
Once per round, before playing a card, a player may use their character ability.
Al Capone
Select 1 card from hand and give it to opponent.
Opponent returns 1 card of a different suit from their hand.
If they have no different-suit card, they return a card of the same suit.
(The ability is still considered used.)
Bugs Moran
Swap one of your opponent's unused dice with one of your unused dice of your choice.
4. End of Round & Victory
If a player wins their 5th trick during the round, that player immediately loses the round.
If all 7 tricks are completed without either player reaching 5 tricks, the player with exactly 4 tricks wins the round.
The first player to win 2 out of 3 rounds wins the game.