Twin Palms Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Your First Game
• Normal Mode (2-4 players)
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Round Phases
    • 1. Deal
    • 2. Bid & Bet
    • 3. Play Tricks
    • Who Takes the Trick? — Advice for determining the trick winner
    • 4. Score
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Other Game Modes
  • Easy Mode (2 players only)
  • Advanced Mode (2-5 players)
  • Extreme Mode (2-5 players)
• Credits

Components

Playing cards in three suits:

• (24) Palms: numbered 0-10 (2 of each), and 2 wilds
• (24) Dolphins: numbered 0-10 (2 of each), and 2 wilds
• (24) Sunglasses: numbered 0-10 (2 of each), and 2 wilds

(30) Bid cards: 5 color sets, each numbered 0-5

(15) Bet cards: 5 color sets, each set includes a 0, 1/2, and max

(10) Hand Rank Reference cards

• (40) 1 point sand dollars
• (25) 5 point sand dollars
• (8) 25 point sand dollars

(1) Round Tracker mat

(1) Stingray token (to track rounds)

(1) Shark token (first player)

Your First Game

There are 4 modes of play in Twin Palms: Easy, Normal, Advanced, and Extreme. Each mode requires a different setup. For your first game we suggest you play Normal mode, which the following rules will explain. Once you have played a few games this way, learning the other modes will be a breeze!

Normal Mode (2-4 players)

Setup

1. Place the round tracker mat near the center of the play area, and then place the stingray token on the 1 spot.
2. Organize all sand dollar tokens and keep them near the round tracker.
3. Give each player the following:
   • (1) Normal mode reference card
   • (2) 1 point sand dollars
   • (1) Colored set of Bid cards
   • (1) Colored set of Bet cards
4. Gather the 24 Palm and 24 Dolphin-suited playing cards and shuffle them together to make a deck (do not use any Sunglasses-suited cards).
5. Give the person who last visited the beach the shark token.

Gameplay

A game of Twin Palms is played over several rounds. The number of rounds played depends on the number of players:

# of Players	# of Rounds
2 or 3	6
4	8
5	5

Each round progresses through the following phases in this order:

1. Deal
2. Bid & Bet
3. Play Tricks
4. Score

Round Phases

1. Deal

Shuffle the playing cards, and then deal each player a hand of 10 cards.

2. Bid & Bet

Examine your hand and then predict how many tricks you think your cards will win. Do this by selecting one of your Bid cards and placing it face down (hidden) in front of you.

If you are confident you will hit your bid exactly, you can earn more points by making a bet. Do this by selecting one of your Bet cards (Max or 1/2) and placing it face down on top of your Bid card. The Max Bet is equal to the current round number (round one = 1, round two = 2...etc) and the 1/2 Bet is equal to half of this (rounded down). If you don't have enough sand dollars to make your bet, you must use all you can. To not bet, place your 0 Bet card.

Once all players have selected their bids and bets, flip these cards face up simultaneously. If you made a bet, put that number of your sand dollars on top of your Bid card. All players then take back their Bet cards.

If this is your first game, we recommend ignoring the betting rules and removing all the Bet cards from the game.

3. Play Tricks

The person with the shark token starts the first trick in the round. To do so, they select two cards from their hand and play them face up. If any of the cards they play are wild, they must announce what number they are assigning to each wild. Wilds can be any number 0-10, but their suits are fixed.

After the first player has played their cards, the player to their left plays two cards from their hand. Continue until everyone has played two cards.

Each set of two cards played has a rank defined by the reference card (rank 1 is best). The player playing the highest ranked set of cards wins the trick. If two or more players played the same rank, then whoever played the highest numbered card wins.

The trick-winner collects the cards played by all players during that trick and sets them aside near their Bid card in a pile.

The trick-winner then starts a new trick, and the process repeats.

Ties: If two or more players play sets of cards with the same rank and numbers (a tie), their cards are discarded and they cannot win the trick. The winner is assigned to the next best set played.

If all players are tied, no one wins the trick and all cards are discarded. In this situation, the next trick is led out by the previous trick-winner.

Play continues until players have played all cards from their hands.

Who Takes the Trick? — Advice for determining the trick winner

When first looking at who will take a trick, ask: "Has a pair been played?" If so, pairs will always beat no pairs.

Pair: A pair of Palms – aka Twin Palms! – will always beat any other type of pair. Similarly, a pair of Dolphins will always beat any unsuited pair. If two player's pairs are the same suit, then the player with the highest numbered pair wins.

No Pair: Palms remain the strongest, followed by Dolphins, followed by mixed suits. When comparing the same ranked sets, look at the highest card played in each set. If both player's highest numbered card is the same, then look to the second card in each set. In all modes (except Extreme), it does not matter what suits are played in mixed no pairs.

4. Score

Once all cards have been played from player's hands, it's time to score. Players can earn points in the following ways:

• Exact bid
• Tricks won (missed bid)
• Bets

Note: Points are represented by sand dollars. The words "points" and "sand dollars" may be used interchangeably.

Exact bid: If the number of tricks you won matches the number you bid, then you collect the "Exact" points shown on your Bid card.

Tricks won: If a player did not collect tricks equal to their bid number, they do not earn the "Exact" points. Instead, they collect 1 point for each trick they won.

A bid of 0 is different from the other Bid cards. It awards 5 points if you win no tricks. However, if you do win any tricks, then you score nothing for the round. Any tricks you won do not score 1 point each if you bid 0.

Bets: If you placed a bet and you achieved your Exact bid, then you also win additional points for the sand dollars you bet. Collect 1 additional point for each sand dollar you bet.

If you did not bid correctly, any sand dollars you bet are lost. Return lost sand dollars to the bank. This is the only way to lose points in the game.

End of the Round

After all players have scored, the round ends. Pass the shark token to the next player clockwise, and also advance the stingray on the round tracker.

Then begin the next round following the same turn phases.

End of the Game

Once players have completed the defined number of rounds, the game ends. Players then count up their points, and the player with the most points wins!

If there is a tie score, the tied players may play additional rounds until a round ends with no tie. Or, they may agree to share the victory.

Other Game Modes

After you've learned Normal mode, check out these other fun ways to play Twin Palms!

Easy Mode (2 players only)

This is a great way to introduce children to the basics of Twin Palms. Set up a game the same way as described in Normal mode with the following exceptions:

• In Step 3 of setup, use the Easy mode reference cards.
• In Step 4 of setup, use only one suit: 24 Palms.

All other rules are the same as in Normal mode.

Advanced Mode (2-5 players)

Looking to spice things up? Let's add another suit! Set up a game the same way as described in Normal mode with the following exceptions:

• In Step 3 of setup, use Advanced mode reference cards.
• In Step 4 of setup, use all three suits: 24 Palms, 24 Dolphins and 24 Sunglasses.

All other rules are the same as in Normal mode.

Advanced mode example hands:

Bill wins the trick by playing a 3 Palm and a wild Palm. He declared that the wild card was another 3, giving him Twin Palms!

When only one player has played a pair, they win! Pairs always beat no pairs.

Kira could have won this trick by making her wild a 3, but she wanted to dodge it. She also doesn't want Bill to win, so she makes her wild an 8, creating a tie with Bill which cancels both their sets. Pam wins the trick.

Extreme Mode (2-5 players)

Buckle up for the most extreme Twin Palms experience! Set up a game the same way as described in Normal mode with the following exceptions:

• In Step 3 of setup, use Extreme mode reference cards.
• In Step 4 of setup, use all three suits: 24 Palms, 24 Dolphins and 24 Sunglasses.

Extreme mode has the highest number of ranks because the suits of the cards played matters when mixed pairs or mixed no pairs occur. The strength of these plays follows the same logic as the strength of the suits: Palms > Dolphins > Sunglasses.

All other rules are the same as in Normal mode.

Extreme mode example hands:

When mixed pairs are involved, always look at which suits were played first. In this case, Kira's 2 Palm card is all it took to win the trick.

If you are trying to lose a trick, don't make the same mistake Pam did here. While Sunglasses are the weakest suit, two 0's still counts as a pair!

Everyone wants to lose the trick here. While Bill and Kira's hands might look the same, Kira wins because she played a Palm and a Dolphin.

Credits

Game by Kristi B.

Art by Eric Hibbeler

Graphics by Charlie Bink

Copyright 2022 Bink Ink LLC