Regicide - A cooperative card game by Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger, Andy Richdale
Objective - Defeat the 12 Royals (Jacks, Queens, Kings).
Set Up:
- Shuffle the 4 Kings together face down. Shuffle the 4 Queens together face down and place on top of
the Kings. Shuffle the 4 Jacks together face down and place on top of the Queens. Flip the top card face
up to be the first Enemy. This is the Castle Deck.
- In solo, lay the two Jokers face up on the table.
- Shuffle the remaining cards (including 0/0/1/2 Jokers for 1/2/3/4 players) and deal each player 8/7/6/5
cards. This is the maximum hand size.
- Place the remaining cards face down. This is the Tavern Deck.
- There will also be a discard pile. This is the Hospital. You may count but not look through the Hospital.
- Choose a player to go first.
- Players may not communicate or hint at any information about their cards.
Turn Order:
0. Optional, solo only: Flip a face up Joker to discard your hand and draw 8 new cards.
1. Optional: Play cards from your hand to the table to attack the Enemy:
- Play a single card (can be an Ace)
- Play a single card (can be an Ace) plus an Ace ("Animal Companion")
- Play two or more cards with the same number (2,3,4 or 5) and a total value of 10 or less (cannot be
Aces).
- Play a Joker.
- Play no card ("Yield"). If all players yield consecutively, you are defeated.
2. Mandatory: Activate the suit power(s) of the played cards in the following order (skip the suit of the
Enemy, unless a Joker has been played). X is the total value of the cards played. Jacks count as 10,
Queens 15, Kings 20.
- Joker - Removes Enemy immunity to its own suit (may cause previously played Shields to activate). At
this point all players may state their desire to go next. The current player skips the rest of their turn and
then chooses any player to go next.
- X + a Heart - Heal the Tavern Deck. Shuffle the Hospital face down and deal X cards to the bottom of
the Tavern Deck. Then place the rest of the Hospital back face up.
- X + a Diamond - Hire Fighters from the Tavern Deck. Starting with the current player, while hand size is
less than maximum, draw one card from the Tavern Deck until X cards have been drawn or all players
are at maximum hand size or the deck is empty.
- X + a Club - Do double X damage from all cards in this attack.
- X + a Shield - Block X damage from the Enemy's next and future attacks.
3. Mandatory: Add up all damage to the Enemy so far and check whether it's defeated. Enemy Jacks
have 20 Health, Queens 30, Kings 40. If the Enemy is defeated:
- If the last King has been defeated you are victorious! Otherwise,
- Discard all cards on the table to the Hospital.
- Enemies defeated by their exact health amount are placed on top of the Tavern Deck.
- Enemies defeated by more than their health amount are placed in the Hospital.
- Reveal the next Enemy.
- The rest of the turn is skipped and the current player starts a new turn against the new Enemy.
4. Optional, solo only: Flip a face up Joker to discard your hand and draw 8 new cards.
5. Mandatory: Discard cards to the Hospital with a total value equal to or greater than the Enemy's
damage (after subtracting protection from any Shields). Enemy Jacks do 10 damage, Queens 15, Kings
20.
- Discarded Jacks have value 10, Queens 15, Kings 20.
- Aces have value 1 and Jokers have value 0.
- If you don't have enough cards, the game is lost. It's ok to end up with an empty hand.
- The next player clockwise now begins their turn.
