Trick'n Treat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component
• Goal
• Set-Up
• Gameplay
• Dummy
• End of the Game
• Ghost Card
  • 6: The Strengths of the numbers are reversed this round
  • 7: Winner get an extra candy this round
  • 8: Exchange your hand card with a same-colored card on the table
  • 9: Choose one card from your previously won tricks to add to your hand
  • 10: Choose a player to exchange one hand card with

Component

• 25 Friend Cards (Number 11-15)
• 30 Candy Cards (Number 0-5)
• 5 Ghost Cards (Number 6-10)
• 5 Player Tokens

Goal

Choose a game mode before playing: Cooperative mode or Competitive mode.

• Cooperative mode: Players must ensure that by the end of the game, each player has collected candies in four different suits!
• Competitive mode: Players will be divided into two teams. At the end of the game, your team must avoid collecting all the ghost cards and aim to have the highest score!

Set-Up

• For a 5-player game, use all the candy cards and friend cards. For a 3- or 4-player game, select one color and return all Candy Cards and Friend Cards of that color to the box.
• Shuffle the friend cards and candy cards together, then randomly deal 11 cards to each player as their hand. In a 3-player game, set aside the remaining 11 cards for the Dummy. (see page 6)
• Randomly deal 1 ghost card to each player's hand, and remove the remaining ghost cards from the game.
  • In a 3-player competitive mode, also deal one ghost card to Dummy.

Advanced Cooperative Challenge: If you're familiar with the cooperative mode and want to increase difficulty, remove all candy cards with the number 0. Each player will have one less card in hand.

• All players check the number of candy cards in their hand. The player with the most candy cards becomes the starting player. If there is a tie, randomly choose one of the tied players to be the starting player.
• Flip all player Tokens to the same side according to the chosen mode: in cooperative mode, flip the Tokens to the candy side; in competitive mode, flip the Tokens to the friend side.

(Each token has a candy side and a friend side; on the friend side the token's background is either dark or light.)

	Cooperative mode	Competitive Mode
5-player	Use all tokens	Use all tokens
4-player	Remove the color not in play	Remove 1 dark token
3-player	Remove all tokens	Remove 2 dark tokens

• Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player selects a player marker to place it in front of them.
  • Cooperative mode: You must collect 4 different colors of candy INCLUDE the candy token you received at setup. (see page 5)
    • In a 3-player game, skip this step. You must collect candy cards in four different colors.
  • Competitive Mode: Based on the background color of the chosen token, players are divided into two teams: dark and light.
    • In a 3-player game, the dark-colored player teams up with Dummy

Gameplay

Regardless of whether you are playing in cooperative mode or competitive mode, there are some basic trick-taking rules to follow. The game proceeds through several rounds, with each round following these steps:

• Leading: The starting player plays a friend card or candy card from their hand to lead the trick. (Ghost card can't lead a trick)
• Following Suit: In clockwise order, each players must play a card with same suit as leading card or a ghost card.
  • Some ghost cards have special effects when played. (see page 8)
• If you do not have a card of the leading suit, you may play a card of different suit, even if you still have a ghost card.

Example 1: The leading player lead the trick with a Blue 3; you can follow suit by playing any blue card or a ghost card.

Example 2: The leading player lead the trick with a Blue 3; you don't have a blue card, you can play any card.

• Winning a Trick: After all players have played a card, resolve the trick. The highest number card of the leading suit or ghost card wins the trick.
  • Some ghost cards have special effects during the trick resolution. (see page 8)
• Scoring: If there is at least one candy card in the trick (even it was played off-suit), you can choose one card to place in front of the trick-winner as a scoring card.
  • cooperative mode: The trick-winner chooses one of the candy cards to score.
  • competitive mode: Choose the candy card with the smallest number in this trick for scoring.
• If this trick contains ghost card(s), the trick winner adds them to their hand, and the remaining cards are placed face down in front of them.
• The trick-winner lead the next round.

Example: The five players played in sequence: Blue 3, Ghost 10, Green 2, Blue 11, and Red 14. Since the leading color is blue, only the numbers on the blue cards and the ghost cards are compared. The player who played Blue 11 wins this trick.

• Cooperative Mode: The winning player chooses to score either a blue or green candy card.
• Competitive Mode: Score the Green 2 candy card.

Dummy

(Illustration: the Dummy's 11-card hand is laid out as a row, with the TOP card at the right and the BOTTOM at the left.)

In 3-player game, the remaining 11 cards become "Dummy Hands" and revealed to all players. Depending on the mode, different rules for playing cards apply:

cooperative mode:

• In each round, the Dummy will automatically play. If he lead, he will play the topmost card from his hand. Otherwise, he will always play last and play the top card that follow suit. If he cannot follow suit, he will play the top card from hands.
• The Dummy do not score.
• If the Dummy win a ghost card, it will be removed from the game.

competitive mode:

• The Dummy will also receive one ghost card during dealing.
• The player with the dark-colored token will be on the same team as Dummy and will play the cards for the Dummy hands. The effects of the ghost card will also be handled by them.
• The Dummy play order will be opposite the dark-colored player, and the two teams will play alternately.

End of the Game

Game End: The game immediately ends when the new lead player has no more friend cards or candy cards in hand (i.e., they have no cards left or only have ghost cards).

• If a player has any non-ghost cards in hand when the game ends, discard them.
• In some cases, if other players run out of cards before the game ends, the game continues with them skipping turns.

Scoring:

• Cooperative Mode: If all players have collected candy in 4 different colors (including scoring cards and player tokens), everyone wins together; otherwise, all players lose the game.
• Competitive Mode: If one team's players hold all the ghost cards at the end of the game, that team loses. If both teams have ghost cards, the team with the higher total sum of scoring card numbers wins. If there's still a tie, the team with the highest-numbered ghost card wins.

Example: The dark team collected 3 ghost cards and 6 scoring candy cards, while the light team collected 2 ghost cards and 5 scoring candy cards. The dark team scored a total of 2+1+3+1=7 points, and the light team scored a total of 1+2+5+2=10 points. The two players on the light team win the game.

Ghost Card

• Ghost cards cannot lead a trick, but always follow suit and include in the trick's resolution.
• After a ghost card is resolved, it will add to trick-winner's hand.

6: The Strengths of the numbers are reversed this round

No effect when played. During the resolution phase, if this card was played in the round, the trick is won by the lowest-numbered card of the leading suit instead of the highest.

7: Winner get an extra candy this round

No effect when played. During the resolution phase, if this card was played in the round, the trick-winner can score an additional candy card.

• Cooperative Mode: The player may choose two different colored candy cards for scoring.
• Competitive Mode: The player selects the two lowest-numbered candy cards for scoring.

8: Exchange your hand card with a same-colored card on the table

When played, you can use another card from your hand to swap with a card already played in the current round. The swapped card must be the same color, either a candy card or a friend card. You can also swap a ghost card for another ghost card (but this will not trigger the effect of the swapped ghost card). Each card played in the current round can only be swapped once.

9: Choose one card from your previously won tricks to add to your hand

When played, you may secretly choose one card from the face-down cards in front of you to add to your hand. You cannot choose cards that are face-up and used for scoring.

10: Choose a player to exchange one hand card with

Choose a player or Dummy, you and they chooses one card from each hand and secretly exchange them simultaneously.

• Cooperative Mode: The player who plays this card chooses which cards Dummy will exchange.
• Competitive Mode: The player with the dark token chooses which cards Dummy will exchange.