Tricks and Treats
Tricks and Treats Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components and Setup
28 Candy cards
Shuffle these together into a face-down Candy deck. Deal 2 cards to each player to form their starting hand. You are the only one who may look at the cards in your hand.
1 Time's Up card
Take the bottom 3 cards from the Candy deck without looking at them and shuffle the Time's Up card into them, then place all these cards back on the bottom of the deck.
6 Lettered Basket cards
Take a quantity of these equal to the number of players in the game plus 2, and place them in a line in the center of the table. Return the rest of them to the box, they will not be used this game. For example, if there were 3 players you would use 3+2 = 5 total Lettered Basket cards.
6 Secret Letter cards
Return to the box any Secret Letter cards that do not match a Lettered Basket card in the center of the table. Shuffle the Secret Letter cards that do match those Baskets into a face-down deck, and deal 1 to each player. You may look at your own Secret Letter card, but should not show it to anyone else. The Lettered Basket matching your Secret Letter is considered your Basket for this game.
15 Special Basket cards
If you are playing with inexperienced or younger players, you may choose not to play with these. If you are playing with the Special Basket cards, randomly select 2 to add to the line of Lettered Basket cards. Shuffle them together with the Lettered Basket cards and then deal out the line to the center of the table, so that they all begin in a random position. Return any unused Special Basket cards to the box.
Gameplay Overview
Each turn you will draw one card, then add a card from your hand to any Basket. You may also choose to tattle on a player by trying to guess which basket is theirs. If you guess correctly they are eliminated, if you guess incorrectly you are eliminated. When the Time's Up card is revealed or when there is only one player left, everyone reveals which Basket is theirs and scores points based on the candy there. Highest score wins!
Gameplay in Detail
The player who most recently ate candy will take the first turn, then play will proceed clockwise around the table.
At the beginning of your turn, draw 1 card from the top of the Candy deck. If the Time's Up card is revealed on the top of the deck, the game ends immediately. Otherwise continue with your turn.
Next, you must play a card from your hand to any of the Baskets in the center of the table. Place the card below the Basket so that the number value of the card is visible to all players.
At any time during your turn (even before you draw your card for the turn), you may choose whether or not to tattle on someone. This is not mandatory. When you tattle on someone, point at them, say "Cheater!" and state which letter basket you think belongs to them. They will then show you their Secret Letter card (without revealing it to anyone else). If you guessed correctly, you may place their Secret Letter card face-up in front of you - it is worth 4 points for you at the end of the game, and the other player is eliminated and can no longer win or take turns. However, if you guessed incorrectly, you must give them YOUR Secret Letter card to place face-up in front of them and you are eliminated instead.
Once you have drawn 1 card, played 1 card, and optionally tattled on another player, your turn ends and the next player's begins.
Game End
If there is ever only 1 player who has not been eliminated, the game ends and that player wins!
Otherwise, as soon as the Time's Up card is visible as the top card of the deck, you may no longer tattle on anyone and the game ends immediately. Resolve any end-of-game effects on Special Basket cards (moving from left to right along the line), then reveal everyone's Secret Letter cards. Score 1 point for each candy on cards in your basket, and 4 points for each other player's secret letter card that is face-up in front of you. Whoever has the most points wins! In the case of a tie, all tied players are eliminated and the player with the highest non-tied amount of candy wins.
Notes on Special Baskets
Swapping Baskets - Some of the Special baskets allow you to swap Baskets. This means you switch the positions of the basket cards. When you move Baskets for any reason, the candy cards do not move, and are now considered to be in the new Basket at their location.
Adjacent Baskets - The cards at the far ends of the line of Basket cards are considered to be adjacent to each other for all purposes. This means that if you would swap a basket on an end with an adjacent basket, you may swap it with the basket on the opposite end. It also means that when a basket on an end is shifted past the end of the line, it will be moved to the first empty position on the far side of the line. If you have trouble remembering this, you may want to arrange the Baskets in a circle, rather than a line.
Zero Rule - Some of the baskets check for an even or odd number of cards. If there are no cards, then those baskets have no effect. Zero is neither even or odd. For example, if the Electric Slide basket has no cards at the end of the game, then the baskets do not shift to the left or right.
Experienced Play
Experienced gamers may want to play with the following additional rules:
- At the beginning of the game, the player who will take the first turn must give the last player in turn order the highest value Candy card from their hand. The last player in turn order must give the first player the lowest value Candy card from their hand.
- Nobody is eliminated immediately when you tattle on someone. Instead, write your guess on a scrap of paper, along with your name. Place this face-down in front of the player you are tattling on. At the end of the game, reveal all the guesses. If every other player guessed your Secret Letter correctly, you are eliminated. Otherwise, score 3 points for each correct guess. You may not tattle on the same player more than once.