Decksplain

Objective: End the game with the lowest score

Setup:

1. Discard Jokers
2. Each player gets 4 face-down cards in a grid; peek at 2
3. Place remaining deck face down, start discard pile with top card face up

Take your turn, either:

• Draw from the deck and peak at the card:
  • If it’s a power card, you can use it (discard after)
  • Or exchange (see below)
• Draw the top card from the discard pile and exchange (see below)
• Call Cabo to end the game after others get one more turn

Exchanging cards, either:

• exchange the new card for one of your face down cards
• exchange the new card with matching multiples of your face down cards

A failed matching requires picking up a penalty card.

Power cards:

Scoring: Lowest points = 0 points, Calling Cabo and losing = card points + 5 points, Ace = 1, 2 - 10 = face value, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13, Red King = 0

After the round ends, score up everyone’s remaining cards and keep track of the total points everyone has accumulated. When a player gets to 100 points, the game ends.

Based on the rules originally printed by Mandy Henning and Melissa Limes, adapted to a 52 card deck:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232751/http://www.playcabo.com/instructions.html

House rules:

Consider the following rules to spice up your game:

• Black Kings can Spy and (optionally) Swap
• Cards can be matched and discarded with any card that’s discarded
• Matches can also be done with opponents cards
  • If you discard an opponents card, you may replace it with one of your own
• Calling Cabo and winning awards you -3 points

Objective: Don’t pickup an Exploding King

Setup:

1. Discard Jacks and Queens
2. Each player gets an Ace or Joker and 6 random cards
3. Count the number of players, shuffle the same number of Kings into the deck minus 1
4. Shuffle extra Aces/Jokers into the deck
5. Place the remaining (shuffled) deck face down

Take your turn:

• Play (and discard) as many cards from your hand as you like until your turn is over
• End your turn by picking up a card
• If you pickup a King, you must Defuse or lose

Hints:

• Your cards help you avoid the Kings, play as many as you like
• Running out of cards is fine, but now you’re powerless to avoid the King
• It’s unlikely the King is on top of the deck, especially at the start of the game

Cards:

Combos:

Objective: Win each round with the best card, end the game with the highest score

Vocabulary:

• trump cards are the highest valued

Setup:

1. Discard 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, 6’s, Jokers
2. Each player gets 1 row of 4 cards face down
3. One player then gets 4 face up cards on top of their face down cards and chooses a suit to be trumps
4. 4 more face up cards are placed on the remaining face down row
5. 2 more rows are added to each player in the same way

Play:

1. The player who chose trumps (or won the last play) plays a card
2. The second player then plays a card in return - they must play in the same suit if possible
3. The best played card wins
4. Exposed face down cards are flipped
5. Play again until all cards are used

The winning card:

The order from high to low is:

1. Jacks in order: Clubs, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds
2. Trumps suit in order: A-10-K-Q-9-8-7
3. First played card suit: A-10-K-Q-9-8-7
4. Any other card

Calculating card points:

Objective: Kill the royal cards

Dealing:

Steps:

1. Play a card or skip your turn
2. Activate the suit power
3. Deal damage to the enemy and check
4. Suffer damage from the enemy

Enemies:

Suits:

• Hearts heal - discarded cards go to the draw pile
• Diamonds draw to the hand
• Clubs deal double damage
• Spades shield against enemy attack
• Jesters negates immunity of enemey

More rules: https://www.regicidegame.com/how-to-play/

Objective: Be the first player to use all your cards and have the lowest points left in your hand

Setup:

1. Discard Jokers
2. Each player gets 7 cards
3. Remaining cards are placed face down

Take your turn, either:

• Draw one card from either the stock pile
• Use a card from your hand to add to a set or run on the table

Using cards:

• A set is 3 or more cards of the same rank (e.g., 7♣ 7♦ 7♠)
• A run is 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 4♦ 5♦ 6♦)
• You can add cards to your own or other players sets/runs once you’ve laid down at least one set or run

Ending the round:

• The round ends when a player discards their last card
• Other players then count the points in their remaining hands

Scoring: Ace = 1, 2 - 10 = face value, Face cards = 10