Plaintext
The Decktet B Suits b
The suits are not paired up in the same way at
Decktet Suits
www.decktet.com
every rank. The Savage is the only card in the
The Decktet is a fabulous thing from another
world, a six-suited deck of cards that can be
whole deck to pair Leaves and Wyrms. Moons
used to play dozens of different games. The structure of the deck is represented in the
Cards in the Decktet are distinguished by hav-
figure below.
Although it can be daunting to look at, it con-
Suns
ing different ranks, suits, and marks. Some
cards have two or even three suits. tains all the information about the number ranks.
There is a line between each pair of suits that
appears on a number-ranked card. The numbers
Waves
3
3 AGE
on that line are the ranks that have that pair.
Y
the PAINTER
Leaves
RN E
rank B
b
S AV
3 A
a F
f
the JOU
th e
D
d C
c 489
E
e
suits Wyrms
the PAINTER
E
e
2
the JOU
5
c D
C
Knots
f
F
36
d
37
A
a B
b
th e
26
RN EY
3 3
S AV
mark
3
AG E
69 79
Decktet Ranks
57
For example: The Savage is a rank 3 card 45
8
that belongs to both the suit of Leaves and the
A Aces
24
suit of Wyrms. It has the - mark, which means
8
that it is a face card.
A Ranks a
The core of the Decktet is the 36 card basic
3 2-9 Number
ranks
deck. It consists of
6 Aces,
You can see that the d
DeE pair appears only once,
on a rank 3 card. The more common a AbB pair ap- # Pawns
24 number-rank cards, and
6 Crowns (+).
pears three times, at ranks 4, 8, and 9.
G Each Pawn ($) and Court (//) has three suits.
%% Courts
There is an Ace and a + for each suit. The
number-ranked cards each have two suits, and
The structure is represented in these figures,
with each edge or line representing one card. * Crowns
there are three cards of each number-rank (like
the rank 3 cards pictured above).
G There are also some extended deck cards:
4 Pawns ($), 4 Courts (//), and an Excuse.
# %% C Marks c
The people in the deck are marked - and drawn
as face cards.
The extended extras are a bit like Jokers in a
mundane deck of cards. Leave them out unless The , and . marks appear on locations and
the rules for a game specifically say to include For example, the $aAe
EfF is represented by the events. A few cards are both.
them. upper left edge of the Pawns figure. The Aces and the Excuse don’t have marks.
©P.D. Magnus, www.decktet.com
Adaman E Game play e
You exercise your resources to control a card in
If you want to keep score, beyond just winning
or losing:
0 1 player
the capital or palace rows. In order to do so, H 1 h If you win, total up the ranks of the
You are the heir to the throne, but the discard one or more cards from your resource personality cards you control and the cards re-
monarch might live a very long time. You row. The cards must all share a suit with the maining in your resource row. The ranks of the
intend to speed things along, but it will card you are trying to control, and the total of eleven personalities in the basic deck add up to
only work if the major personalities in the their ranks must be at least the rank of the tar- 66, so it’s 66 plus the ranks in your resource row.
kingdom back your play. You need to buy, get card.
trick, or eliminate anyone who might stand H 2 h If you lose, total up the ranks of
Aces count as 1 (one). just the personality cards you control. With the
in your way.
Crowns (*) count as 10 (ten). basic deck, it will be less than 66 since you lost.
In this solitaire game, the - mark cards rep-
resent different people in the kingdom who you Note that the cards from your resource row do H 3 h If lose utterly, you score zero.
need to control. All of the other cards represent not need to share a suit with each other, pro-
elements which you can use to control them. vided they share a suit with the card you are
trying to control.
D Setup d If you control a - card, move it to the discard
Shuffle together the basic deck (A,2…9,+). pile. If you control any other card, move it to
Deal five cards in a row; these represent people your resource row; you may use it later to con-
and events occurring around the capital city. trol something else.
Deal another five cards below the capital to rep- After a play, deal cards so that the capital row
resent resources you have at your disposal. If has five cards. Then deal so that your resource
you turn up a - card when dealing your re- row has five cards; put - cards in the palace
sources, put it in a row above the capital cards row, as above. When the deck runs out, continue
and deal another card to your resources. Re- to play until one of the end game conditions is
peat if the next card is a -, and so on until you met.
have five resources none of which are - cards.
the Palace
F Ending the game f Playing well requires paying attention to who you
The game can end in three possible ways. One have controlled and who is still hiding in the deck.
means victory, the other two mean defeat. Here’s a list of the - cards, along with their clas-
the Capital sic deck names:
E 1 e You have moved all of the - cards to the
your Resources discard pile. You have control of everyone who 2 af
A F Author
matters and can safely seize the throne. You
win. 3 Bf
b F Painter
The row of cards above the capital represents 3 De
d E Savage
people snooping around the royal palace. If you E 2 e You cannot make any further moves, 4 Cd
c D Sailor
place a sixth card in the palace row, the game but there are - cards remaining in the palace or
capital rows. Without the backing of everyone, 5 Ef
e F Soldier
ends immediately. You only place cards in the 6 Ac
a C Lunatic
palace if you turn up a - while dealing your re- your plan must be abandoned. All that scheming
sources, however, so there will typically be few for nothing! You lose. 6 Be
b E Penitent
or even no cards there. E 3 e There are more than five - cards in 8 Ba
b A Diplomat
the palace row. With so many people snooping 9 Df
d F Merchant
about, someone has discovered your plot. You + B
b Bard
lose utterly. It’s the gallows for you, old chum. + A
a Huntress
©P.D. Magnus, www.decktet.com
Emu Ranchers When you add cards to a stack, you should set them
at a bit of an offset so that both you and your op-
it’s just an Ace or + — you earn some profit.
For profit, you score the total of any remaining num-
0 2 players ponent can see the ranks of all the cards. ber cards. Furthermore, you gain 5 additional points
It’s a hardscrabble life for emu ranchers like Discard: If you don’t want to play any of the if there is an Ace or + in the stack; 10 if there are
yourself, raising exotic birds for foreign markets. cards in your hand, you may select and discard one both.
With the high cost for every bird you hatch, it card. Put it on the top of the discard pile, starting
probably won’t be worth it in the end. B Example: At the end of the year, this is
the pile if necessary. Braddock’s stack for a blue bird. He discards the 4,
Each bird on your ranch is represented by a stack Draw: If you discarded, take the top card of the 6, and 8; these total exactly 18. This leaves the Ace,
of cards. Cards in a single bird stack must all share draw pile. Otherwise, you may take either the top 3, 5, +. He scores 18 points; that’s 3 + 5 = 8 for the
a suit and must be in rank order. At the end of the card of the draw pile or the top card of the discard number cards plus 10 for the Ace+Crown.
hand, the value of a bird is determined by the total pile (if any).
of the number cards in the stack. If the total is too
After you draw, your turn is over. If there are still
Ac
C 3a
AcC 4c
CdD 5b
BcC 6a
AcC 8c
CdD +c
C
low, then you can end up losing money on a bird. An
Ace or + makes the stack worth more: more profit cards in the draw pile, it is now your opponent’s turn. Your score for the year is equal to the total value
if you can cover expenses, but more loss if you can’t. H Year end h of your birds. Add it to the score from previous
The object, naturally enough, is to raise profitable years. It is possible to lose points for a bad year
birds. When the last card is drawn from the draw pile, the and even to have a negative total score from a hor-
G Setup g year ends. rific string of years.
Deal six cards to each player. The remaining cards After the year is over, you may play cards from your The player who went first should go second in the
form the draw pile. There is no discard pile at the hand onto birds that you already have in play. How- next year. A game typically consists of the scores
beginning. ever, you may not hatch new birds or draw cards for four years, but you may lengthen or shorten this
Decide who goes first in some equitable way. Play after the year has ended. Since there is no further as desired. Since there is some disadvantage to go-
alternates until the last card is drawn from the draw player interaction after the year end, you may lay ing first, it’s fairest to tally the score across an even
pile. down remaining cards without waiting for your oppo- number of years.
nent. Then discard any cards that you are not able
On your turn, you must do one of the following: hatch to play. I The extended deck i
a new bird, by starting a new stack; grow a bird, by
adding a card to an existing stack; or discard a card. For each bird, total up the number cards in the bird If you decide to use some of the extended deck
After that, you draw one card. stack. If the total is less than 18, then the you lose cards, just shuffle them in at the beginning of the
money on the bird. If the total is 18 or more, then game. My preference is to use the Excuse plus either
Hatch a new bird: You may start a new stack you may make a profit. (but not both) the Pawns $ or Courts //.
by selecting a card from your hand and playing it face
up in front of you. Losing Money: You lose points equal to the dif- If you have the Excuse in your hand at the end
ference between the bird’s total and the upkeep cost of the year, you may discard one of your birds that
Grow a bird: You may grow a bird by adding a of 18. If the number cards total to 15, for example, would lose money rather than scoring it. If you have
card from your hand to the top of a stack already you lose 3 points. Furthermore, you lose 5 more points no losing birds, then the Excuse has no effect.
in front of you. All of the cards in the stack must if there is an Ace or + in the stack; 10 if there are
share a single suit, although of course number cards A Pawn or Court is a limited wild card. It may be
both. played as any number rank, but only to grow a bird
will each have another suit as well. Stacks must be in
either increasing or decreasing order. B Example: At the end of the year, this is Brad- that matches one of the card’s suits. A Pawn or
dock’s stack for an orange bird. He loses 6 points; Court may not be played as an Ace or Crown, nor
The order of ranks is A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, +. that’s 18 - 9 - 8 = 1 for the number cards and 5 points may it be played to hatch a bird.
You may skip ranks. for the +. You do not need to declare the effective rank of the
B Example: The stack for a blue bird so far is B 9a
+b AbB 8a
AbB Pawn or Court when you play it, but you may not
AcC 4c CdD. You may only play a c C of rank 5 or higher Possible Profit: If the total of the number make a play which leaves no space for it at all.
on that bird. cards is 18 or more, you still need to pay upkeep for B Example: The stack for one of Morgan’s birds
If you hatch a bird with a number card, you do not the bird: Discard number cards from the stack that is A-3-6-$. If it is like this at the end of the hand,
need to declare which suit the stack will follow or which total at least 18. the $ can count as 9. If he adds a 9 to the stack,
direction it will go. This will eventually be determined You do not ‘get change’ for cards if you discard more then the $ can count as 8.
by cards you play when growing the bird. than 18. If there are any cards remaining — even if
©P.D. Magnus, www.decktet.com
Jacynth trict already controlled by an opponent, but it
is possible that subsequent card play will con-
is controlled. You may, however, place an influ-
ence token on a card that is part of a district
0 2–3 players nect what had been two separate districts. If you already control. This can be a good idea if
this happens, then the player whose token is on the card is part of an uncontrolled second dis-
Jacynth is among the oldest cities, and a map the higher ranked card controls the district. If trict.
of its streets is a record of history. It is you have more than one token in a district, the
a haphazard maze of overlapping interests You may not place more than one influence token
card ranks do not add together; only the highest per turn. You may not place an influence token
and neighborhoods, with intricate social bonds ranked card counts for control.
tying one block to the next. on a card that already has an influence token on
You could control the city if you could control J Setup j it. You may not move an influence token placed
a nexus in that maze of ancient intrigue, The dealer shuffles the deck, deals each player on a previous turn.
but first you would have to find it. a three card hand, and deals cards face up to Draw a card: Drawing a card ends your
This is a territory-control game. In addition form the initial play area. There are three pos- turn. After the deck is depleted, play continues
to the Decktet, you’ll need four influence tokens sible initial arrangements, shown on the left. With until thirty-six cards have been played and the
for each player. Each player needs a different each, further cards are played around the start- final player’s turn is complete.
colour or style of token. ing cards so as to form a six-by-six grid. L Scoring l
During the game, cards are laid out to form a The Razeway is the simplest of the starting At the end of the game, you score points for
six-by-six grid that represents the city. Players boards. The Towers and the Old City allow each district you control: One point for each
claim areas by placing influence tokens on cards, for more strategic and aggressive play, at the card that comprises the district. The winner is
aiming to control more of the city than their op- cost of making the grid less obvious; you may the player with the highest total score.
ponents do. want to place cards you aren’t using face down There is no bonus or special advantage for having
to lay out the center of the grid. more than one influence token in a district, and no
Each player starts with four influence tokens. effect from unplaced influence tokens remaining
K Game play k at the end of the game.
Players take turns, starting with the player on A district may consist of a single card, if that
the dealer’s left. On your turn, you begin by card is not adjacent to any that share a suit
adding a card to the city. Then you may place with it. A single isolated Ace or Crown would be
an influence token. Finally, draw a card. worth one point to a player who had a token on
it. A single isolated number card comprises two
the TOWERS the OLD Explore the city: Select a card from your single card districts, one for each suit, and would
RAZEWAY CITY hand and play it face up on the table, adjacent be worth two points.
to one of the cards already in play. You must
Districts: A district is a group of cards place it within the grid of the city. M The extended deck m
that share a suit symbol and are adjacent to You can add the Excuse, the $s, the //s, or any
one other. The cards in a district need not be Exert influence: If you have influence
tokens remaining, you may place one on a card in combination of these.
in a straight line, but each card must share an
edge with another card in the district. Districts play. You are not required to do so. You may The Excuse is a block card. It is not part of
do not connect across diagonals or across open place influence on the card you added this turn any adjacent districts, and no district may pass
spaces that do not have cards in them yet. or on another card, even on one of the starting through it. You may not place influence tokens
cards. on the Excuse.
A number card (since it has two suits) will be part
of two districts; one for each suit. You may not place an influence token on a card A Pawn ($) or Court (//), since it has three
that is part of a district controlled by another suits, will be part of three different districts.
A player controls a district when they have an player. This restriction applies even if the card Although they may be part of your districts,
influence token on a card in that district. has another suit that also makes it part of a you may not place influence tokens on Pawns or
You cannot place an influence token in a dis- second district, where only one of the districts Courts themselves.
©P.D. Magnus, www.decktet.com
Nonesuch If not, they lose one point for each trick they’ve
taken.
A Scoring a
Play continues until all cards have been played.
0 3–4 players
Once every player has bid, the player who has After the last trick, calculate scores based on
Nonesuch is a trick-taking game with this cen- the Excuse reveals it and discards it. If the players’ bids and the number of tricks they have
tral rule: At the beginning of each trick, the up card is a number rank card, then that player won. The player on the dealer’s left deals the
player leading it names a specific suit which other decides which of its suits will be trump. In any next hand.
players must follow. case, they take the up card into their hand to For the sake of having an official number, I rec-
replace the Excuse. ommend playing until some player reaches a cu-
N Dealing and bidding n O Playing the hand o mulative score of 31 points or more. The player
Randomly decide who will deal the first hand. The player on the dealer’s left leads the first with the highest cumulative score is then the win-
Subsequent hands are dealt by the player on trick. ner.
the old dealer’s left. B Strategy b
You may not lead a card with the trump suit until
The dealer shuffles the basic deck plus the Ex- a trump card has been played, unless you have Suppose you lead the Crown of Suns (+b B), and
cuse. Deal cards out as evenly as possible to nothing but trumps in your hand. Suns are not the trump suit. If one of the other
all players: 12 each with three players; 9 each players has no Suns, then they may play a trump
with four players. This will leave one card left When a card is led, the player who led it must se-
lect and announce one of the suits on the card. and take the trick. Even if all of them have Suns,
over, which is dealt face up in the middle of the perhaps one of them will play a card with both
table. If the up card is an Ace or Crown, then If the lead is an Ace or Crown, there is no choice
— just say what the suit is. For number cards, Suns and the trump suit. How likely is that?
its suit will be the trump for this hand. If the
up card is a number rank, then one of its suits you need to select which suit other players will
will be trump; the player holding the Excuse will be required to follow. 489
decide after bidding is complete. If the up card Clockwise around the table, each player plays a
2
5
is the Excuse itself, then there will be no trump card that has the named suit. Players who have 37
36
26
suit. no cards of the named suit may play any card
After looking at cards but before play begins: from their hand. 69 79
57
45
8
The player on the dealer’s left bids, then each If no trump was played, then the highest card of
24
8
player clockwise around the table bids. There the named suit wins the trick. If any trumps were
are three possible bids: 3
played, then the highest trump wins the trick.
A bid of Some means that the player expects (As usual — Aces lose to 2s, and +s beat 9s.) The answer depends on the trump suit. The fig-
to take at least one trick. The player scores For the purpose of following suit, all that mat- ure above summarizes the combinations. Look at
one point at the end of the hand for each trick ters is the named suit. But a card counts as the line connecting the lead suit to the trump
they’ve taken. trump if it has the trump suit, even if trump is suit, and you’ll see which cards have both of
A bid of Most means that the player expects different from the named suit. those suits.
to take at least half the tricks: at least 6 with The winner of the trick leads the next trick. Once If Leaves d D are trump when you lead Suns b B,
three players; at least 5 with four players. If someone has played a trump, it is permissible to for example, note that there is no line between
the player takes that many tricks or more, they lead with a trump card. B and d
b D. There are no cards with both those
score two points for each trick they’ve won. If suits in the basic deck. So no one can both follow
not, then they lose one point for each trick less B Example: Wyrms (e E) are trump. Tar-
rant plays 8aAb B and calls Suns (bB). Each sub- suit and trump.
than half that they’ve taken. If Moons a A are trump, however, look at a A and
sequent player must play a b B card if they have
A bid of None means that the player hopes to one. Raphael plays 2b Be E which both follows suit B: 4,8,9. There are three a
b Ab B cards at ranks
take exactly zero tricks. If they do, they score B) and is a trump card (e
(b E). Unless someone 4, 8, and 9. Unless those cards are in your hand,
a number of points equal to the number of tricks else plays a higher trump, Raphael wins the trick. you should probably expect someone to trump.
in the hand (12 with three players, 9 with four).
©P.D. Magnus, www.decktet.com
Thricewise flush (three cards that share a suit symbol), a
set (three cards of the same rank), or a straight
hands. If players have deferred cards in the fi-
nal turns or if the cards do not deal out evenly,
0 2–5 players (three cards in rank order). You may score mul- then there will be gaps left in the tableau at the
Thricewise is a game about the number three. tiple times with one card if it makes threesomes end.
Every turn, players select and reveal cards si- in different directions or of different kinds.
multaneously. In order by rank, cards are added The cards for a straight must be in order. For
to a shared grid. Players score each time they example: 5-6-7 is a straight, but 5-7-6 is not.
make three in a row — a flush, a set, or a straight.
Each trio is worth the rank of the lowest number
You’ll need a pad or scratch paper to keep score. card of the three: as few as 2 or as many as 9
C Setup c points. B Example: You play +b B, with 8a
AbB and
Shuffle together the basic deck (A,2…9,+). A and + are not numbers, and Aces and Crowns 9a
AbB already in place. It is worth 8 for the b
B
Deal three cards to each player. If there are do not effect to scoring. A set of three +s or flush plus 8 for the 8-9-+ straight; a total of
2 or 4 players, deal four cards face up to form three Aces is not worth any points, a straight 16 points.
a 2x2 grid; if there are 3 or 5 players, deal six A-2-3 is worth 2 points, and a straight 8-9-+
cards face up to form a 2x3 grid. is worth 8 points.
D Game play d Hitting the edge: If the grid of cards
is already six cards wide, then cards may not be
At the beginning of each turn, players each se- played to make it any wider. Similarly, if the grid
lect one card from their hand and place it face is six cards tall, then cards may not be played to
down in front of them. Once everyone has made make it taller. Until the grid reaches six cards in
a selection, cards are revealed. a direction, cards may be played to extend it on
Provided all the cards are of different ranks, either side. As a result, the starting cards may
players place their cards in order of increasing ultimately be anywhere in the grid: in the center,
rank. A player with an Ace would go first, then on a side, or in a corner.
a player with a 2, and so on; a player with a + Deferred cards: If you have deferred
would place last. cards on the table and are able to play in a later
If two or more players reveal cards of the same turn, then play the deferred cards along with
rank, their cards are deferred. Leave de- your new card. Although only the new card de-
ferred cards face up on the table; they may be termines when you are allowed to play, you may
placed during a later turn. If your card this play the new card and deferred cards in any or-
turn is deferred and you have deferred cards der you please. B Example: You play the 5e Ef
F with the other
left over from previous turns, they all remain de- If you do not get a chance to play your deferred cards as shown. You score 4 for the e E flush, 4
ferred until you get a normal play. Any players cards before the game ends, then the cards are for the fF flush, and 5 for the set of 5s; a to-
who have cards that are not deferred play nor- simply set aside. tal of 13 points. Note that both flushes use the
mally, lowest rank first. same cards (the 4-5-8) but they make flushes in
Drawing cards: After everyone has played
When adding a card to the grid, place it next their card — or set it aside because it was de- two suits.
to a card already in the grid. It may be adja- ferred — each player draws a card. After the
cent orthogonally (touching edges) or diagonally deck is depleted or if there are not enough cards
(touching corners). Cards may not be played on left for everyone to get one, then nobody draws.
top of other cards. But keep playing until players empty their hands. This document is ©2008-2018 P.D. Magnus. Some rights
Scoring: If you play a card that makes three reserved. It is offered under a Creative Commons Attri-
Game end: The game ends after the turn bution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 License.
in a row (either orthogonally or diagonally) then in which players play the last cards from their
you score points. The three cards may be a For more information, visit www.decktet.com