BASICS

NEW VERSION AVAILABLE

• This game has been updated and splitted to Scavengers and Amish Lords.

REQUIREMENTS

• 2 - 6 players. (See the player variations for 2-player-game and adjustments for 5 or 6 players.)
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards (optionally jokers).
• Simple bookkeeping equipment (pen & paper, or an abacus).

INSPIRATION

The original inspiration is a mix of a few things:

• From the Alice in Borderland (TV series).
• From the deck of cards and its traditional visualization of the 4 Kings. (♥K is the suicide king, ♦K his friend, while the ♤K is a warrior king and ♧K his friend.)
• From ancient cultures with sacrificial systems, social classes in feudal societies and learnings from dysfunctional family dynamics.

START UP

The deck is divided into the King Deck (4 Kings) and the Citizen Deck (48 cards) with optional jokers (with Joker's Trick extension).

• One of the players is chosen as the first King Dealer. The player on his/her left is the Citizen Dealer, and the player on his left starts the first trick.
• The game is played in rounds (seasons), and the dealing turns are passed clockwise after each round.

THE KING SIDE

At the start of each season, there's a new set of Kings at play:

• KING'S SECRET:  After shuffling and before dealing, the bottom of the King Deck is shown to everyone revealing one of the Harvest Kings (see below).
• ROYAL KING:  One of the Kings is turned face up and his suit becomes the royal suit (= trump suit) for the 9 tricks of the round.
• HARVEST KINGS:  Two Kings are left hiding behind the Royal King. They determine the suit related extra rewards / penalties during the harvest season.
• ABSENT KING:  One of the Kings is left out of the season. It's placed face down and sideways on top of the Royal King to seal the King Deck.
  • After dealing the Kings, the dealer / players should read out the prediction for the harvest season from the odds. (See the scoring and strategy for more.)

THE CITIZEN SIDE

The players represent village headmen, and each gets 9 hand cards (citizens) with an option to discard one and pick up a new one from the deck.

• The players stack the collected citizens face down sideways in front of them - they represent villages in the harvest season (it's okay to check inside).

PLAYING

TRICK RULES

During a single trick, the first player offers his/her card while other players try to either avoid it (if black) or fight for it (if red):

• The card is played face up and determines the local suit and trick colour. The player is left out of the trick (= cannot win nor lose).
  • Typically the card is placed perpendicularly on top of the collected village (face down in front of each player) - to be distinct from the active trick cards.
• The other players respond (in clockwise order) by playing their card face down. Each can freely play any handcard they want.
• After all have played, the cards are turned face up, and the judgments follow based on the trick colour.

WINNING TRICKS

Generally speaking, the highest card (2  <  3  <  ...  <  J  <  Q  <  A) wins the trick. However, the 4 suits are grouped into two or three categories:

• 1. RESPECTABLE SUITS:  The local suit (= suit of the offered card) and the royal suit (= suit of the Royal King) are the two best suits - the highest number wins, or if same number the royal suit wins.
• 2. HALF-RESPECTABLE SUIT:  The neigbour suit (= other suit, same colour) of the offered card is half respectable - unless royal suit. So, it's lower than the respectable suit(s) but still higher than the other colour disreputable suit(s).
• 3. DISREPUTABLE SUITS:  The other colours suits from the trick colour (except the royal suit) are disreputable and cannot claim rewards for victory - the rewards are discarded instead. With two equally low cards, the earlier played is always lower.

How the trick is collected depends on the colour of the cards and the trick colour.

RED TRICKS (winning good citizens)

Red cards represent good citizens (carrying + points), and tricks started by them are about winning the offered (or a better) good citizen:

• The winner of the trick chooses one of the played red cards (except his own card) and collects it into his village face down.
• In red tricks, there are no losers. All the other cards (except the reward) are discarded, and the winner starts the next trick (and is thus left out of it).

BLACK TRICKS (planting bad citizens)

Most tricks are started by offering a black card and they are attacks to plant / get rid of a bad citizen (carrying negative points).

• The loser of the trick collects the offered black card (without a choice).
• In addition, if there are any losing red cards (royal or not) the winner collects them into his village (only the losing reds - never the winning card).
• The other cards (including the winning card) are discarded, and the loser starts the next trick - watching as others deal with his payback.

TRICK EXAMPLES

Example 1: RED TRICK

Red tricks are mostly bottled up to near the end of the round.

• If ♧K is the Royal King and the first player offers ♦3 and others respond by ♧Q, ♦Q, ♤4 and ♥2.
• The 2nd player wins with the Royal Lady ♧Q and collects the red card of his choice (very likely the ♦Q) to his village.
• The other cards are discarded, and the winner then starts the next trick.

Example 2: BLACK TRICK (with 3 players)

Most of the tricks are black, and at the start of the round they often look like this:

• With ♤K as the Royal King, the trick starting with ♧5 and the other two respond by ♤8 and ♧9.
• Since the 1st player (with the ♧5) is always excluded, the 2nd player played the worst card ♤8, so he gets the offered ♧5.
• As there are no losing red cards, there's nothing to collect, and so all the other cards (♤8 and ♧9) are discarded.

Example 3: BLACK TRICK OVERFLOW (with 6 players)

As the round progresses black tricks start to yield good citizens. (With a Red King they often "leak" royals instead of "fill-n-overflow" - below both happen.)

• Let's say ♥K is the Royal King, and the first player offers ♤Q. The other players respond ♥7, ♤J, ♧4, ♥Q and ♦9.
• The 4th player wins with the Royal Lady ♥Q and collects the losing red cards (♥7 and ♦9) into his village.
• The last player lost with ♦9 (as ♧4 is half respectable), gets ♤Q and starts the next trick. The winning (♥Q ) and other cards (♤J and ♧4) are discarded.

Example 4: DISREPUTABLE VICTORY (with 3 players)

When players start to run out of hand cards, there might be disreputable victories:

• With ♦K as the Royal King, the first player offers ♦4 and the other two respond by ♤6 and ♧3 (presumably the season is near its end).
• The 2nd player wins with ♤6 but cannot claim victories (♦4) with a disreputable suit. Instead all the cards are discarded and he starts the next trick.

SCORING

HARVEST SEASON

After all the tricks have been played (= hand cards run out), the harvest season begins:

• First, the players reveal their village by turning the stacked cards face side up and spreading them to show each.
• The King Deck is then turned around to reveal the 2 Harvest Kings, while leaving the Royal King face down (and the Absent King mostly hidden behind).
• Score for each player is then counted from the citizens (with bonuses from Harvest Kings) and added to the player's cumulative score.

SOCIAL CLASSES

The red cards in the village yields plus points, while black cards punish with minus points according to the social classes:

• The peasants (2 - 5) are not worth anything in themselves (their suit might be though).
• The upper class citizens (6 - 10) are worth 1 p. each.
• Each Knight (J) and Lady (Q) is worth 2 p.
• Each Lord (A) is worth 3 p.

Typically each player first calculates his social balance and then the Harvest King bonuses are added to it to get the score for the round.

HARVEST KINGS

In addition the Harvest Kings grant extra points based on cards of their suit (regardless of number):

• The Fair Kings reward/punish players with at least 1 card of their suit:
  • The ♥ King of Hearts brings Harmony +2 p. into each village with a ♥ gracious heart.
  • The ♤ King of Spades causes Anarchy -2 p. in each village with a ♤ malicious spade.
• The Elitist Kings reward/punish players with the most cards of their suit (if no one has any, no bonus):
  • The ♦ King of Diamonds brings Prosperity +2 p. into the village(s) with the most ♦ diamonds.
  • The ♧ King of Clubs causes a Revolution -2 p. in the village(s) with the most ♧ clubs.
• Note. For learning the game, it's recommended to play the No Kings, No Harvest variation where there are no Harvest Kings at all.

END OF THE GAME

The game is played for an unfixed or fixed number of rounds (typically a multiple of the number of players). After enough rounds:

• The village headman with the highest score is crowned as the 5th King (his village becoming a new kingdom), while others are reduced to bad citizens.

EXTENSIONS

JOKER'S TRICK

You can also include a couple of jokers into the Citizen Deck:

• The jokers are not of any suit, but instead valid excuse cards: the joker cannot win or lose the trick nor is it collected. (He just jokes you out of a trick.)
  • In the special case that all responded with a joker, all the cards are discarded and the original player starts a new trick.
• Jokers can always be played, and you're never forced to play a joker (unless you have no other cards).
• When a trick is started with a joker, it functions like a black trick, except that the loser gets the highest played black card (if none, no penalty).

SCORING VARIATIONS

All of these variations only modify how the King Deck works: who are the Harvest Kings.

• In some traditions the King Dealer chooses the scoring variation for each round (before dealing).

NO KINGS, NO HARVEST

In this variation there are no Harvest Kings (nor bonuses related to them): The Royal King is simply turned face down after the tricks.

• This variation is recommended for learning the basic game mechanics. Note that the suit related personalities of the Kings are flattened: there are just 2 Black Kings and 2 Red Kings. (For the next step of the tutorial try the Evening King.)

DAY KING

There is only 1 Harvest King: The King Deck remains the same and so the Royal King simply appoints himself as the Day King.

• This variation keeps things simple and known - but inverses the personalities of the Royal Kings from the traditional game (Double King and Night King).

NIGHT KING (& EVENING KING)

There is only 1 Harvest King: After the tricks the Royal King and Absent King are flipped around to reveal the Night King.

• This variation is a good follow up to the No Harvest tutorial. The suit related personalities of the Kings are present but with a betting aspect.
• Alternatively, as an extended tutorial, you can instead make the bottommost card the Evening King (so everything stays known).

DOUBLE KING (original)

The original scoring system with 2 Harvest Kings: the whole King Deck is turned around to reveal the 2 Harvest Kings (Absent King hiding behind all).

TRINITY

There are 3 Harvest Kings: The two bottommost cards are turned around to reveal the Trinity of Kings - including the Royal King.

• This makes the gameplay more complex as there's more things to look and look out for. The personalities of the Royal Kings are also transformed.

MIRRORLAND

There are 2 Harvest Kings, but not the normal two: The topmost card (the Absent King) is turned face up revealing the 2 Kings of the Mirrorland.

• This variation inverses the personalities of the Royal Kings (making Trinity an in-between state between the original Double King and Mirrorland personalities).

PLAYER VARIATIONS

CUTTING DECK (with 2 or 3 players)

When playing with 2 or 3 players, it's highly recommended to remove the two lowest numbers from the deck: all the 2's and 3's (8 cards).

2-PLAYER-GAME & DUMMY (Non-Stop Nomad)

The game can be played with 2 players by introducing a dummy player: the Non-Stop Nomad to balance things.

• The dummy needs no hand cards (= always plays the topmost card of the deck) and has no village to collect cards: they are just discarded.
• The dummy is positioned between the players: either in front of the King Deck or on the opposite side, so that the dummy always starts the first trick and the Citizen Dealer plays last (= first dummy, then King Dealer, then Citizen Dealer).
• With 2 players you don't need bookkeeping equipment, but can just keep track of the point difference between the two players (= one number).
  • After counting each player's score, see who wins the round and by how many points - eg. if player A gets +3 p. and player B gets +1 p., the difference is 2 p. for the player A's advantage. If the player B was leading by 4 p. now the cumulative difference is now 2 p.

5- AND 6-PLAYER-GAMES (Crowded Kingdoms)

With 5 and 6 players, there are slight adjustments to the number of hand cards and/or initial exchange of cards:

• With 6 players, each player is dealt 8 hand cards, and a cyclical exchange of cards is used (see below).
• With 5 players, you can either deal 9 hand cards and use cyclical exchange, or 8 cards with normal exchange. (Or include at least 2 jokers and play normally.)
• The cyclical exchange is done among players: each player that wants to exchange puts a card face down and passes it onto the left and then gets a new card from the right (first pass, then get). In some traditions, the cyclical exchange is mandatory.
• It's recommended to play United Villages with 4, 5 or 6 players - there's also less bookkeeping.

UNITED VILLAGES (recommended for 4 - 6 players)

With many players, it's recommended to form teams of two players, with optional solo players:

• The team players are positioned opposite to each other (both neighbours are opponents), and any solo players somewhere in between.
• After the round, the teams' villages are united for harvest and all points are counted per team (including the harvest bonuses).
  • With solo players, each citizen in their village is counted as two citizens: For social class balance you can just double the outcome, and for Elitist King bonuses double the number of cards of that suit.
• The cyclical change is done within teams, while the solo players use the deck (or exchange with each other, if no deck left).

Variations:

• With 6 players you can alternatively form two teams of 3 players - each player has an opponent on each side.
• With just 2 teams, you don't need bookkeeping equipment, as you can just keep track of the point difference between the teams (like with 2 players).

GLOSSARY, ANALYSIS & STRATEGY

CARDS IN THE DECK

By number:

• K: Kings rule the kingdom (they are not citizens).
• A: Lords are very effective in tricks, and the most point-worthy afterwards (3 p.).
• Q: Ladies are almost as powerful in the tricks, and can bring high points (2 p.).
• J: Knights are powerful in the tricks, and carry the same points as Ladies (2 p.).
• 6 - 10: Upper class citizens are less powerful but you can still win tricks with them. They hold low points (1 p.).
• 2 - 10: Peasants are the least powerful but sometimes useful in tricks. They carry no points (0 p.), but their suit might be worth harvesting.
• Joker: Jokers are weird harmless strangers whom are generally liked. They hold no power nor points - use them to escape or start tricks.

By colour:

• Red cards represent good citizens but (as hand cards) you can't keep them to yourself - you must win them. Collecting them yields plus points.
• Black cards represent bad citizens carrying minus points and they are collected by losing black tricks.

By suits:

• ♥ Hearts are gracious citizens who are always good, and one ♥ gracious heart is enough to get a Harmony bonus (+2 p.) if it's around. They are not desired as hand cards and rarely used to start tricks.
• ♦ Diamonds are loyal citizens that can only benefit your village. If you have a lot of diamonds, your village might gain Prosperity (+2 p.).
• ♧ Clubs are disloyal citizens not worth keeping around. If you get many of them, they might cause a Revolution (-2 p.).
• ♤ Spades are malicious citizens causing trouble. Even a single ♤ malicious spade can cause Anarchy (-2 p.), so it's good to have high spades (or royals) in hand. They are also often used to start tricks to spread Anarchy.

ROYAL KINGS & THEIR GAMES

Each Royal King brings his own flavour to the seasons:

-  King of Spades (♤K) - the Barbaric King:

• His game is about winning good citizens from other villages - often by black overflow. ♥ Hearts might be very worthy, as well as collecting many ♦ diamonds. There is a punishment for most ♧ clubs in the air, but freedom from Anarchy (by having a ♤ spade).

-  The King of Clubs (♧K) - the Paranoid King:

• His game is much like the Barbaric King's (♤K) - so looting for reds - except with a paranoia of ♤ spades causing extra damage. However, there's no fear of Revolution (by collecting the most ♧ clubs).

-  The King of Diamonds (♦K) - the Crazy King:

• His game is about survival from the two black punishments (having a ♤ spade and having most ♧ clubs) while trying to steal some red cards (especially a ♥ gracious heart). Hording ♦ diamonds won't bring Prosperity.

-  The King of Hearts (♥K) - the Suicidal King:

• His game is about survival. It's guaranteed that ♥ gracious hearts won't bring Harmony, while having a ♤ spade or most ♧ clubs might punish extra. The only silver lining is the potential reward for collecting most ♦ diamonds. (His game is the only one where having many ♥ hearts as hand cards is a good thing.)

(Note that these notes are written for the original scoring variation: Double King. Details and personalities may vary according to the variation.)

ROYAL KINGS DIVIDED

By colour:

• Black Kings (♤K and ♧K)
  • It's easier and more yielding to overflow black tricks because there's no escaping red royal suit.
  • Accordingly having mostly red cards is bad luck, and the only hope lies in winning the very rare red tricks. (With a teammate, it can be much easier.)
  • (With traditional scoring) there's a relief in the air, when either Black King is the Royal King as they won't be harvesting (and at least one Red King will be).
• Red Kings (♥K and ♦K)
  • Due to the red royal suit, the black overflow is harder to induce (as there's only 1 weak red suit). On the other hand, the black tricks themselves become opportunities for stealing royal red cards (by playing higher). As a result, these games are mostly focused on thievery and survival in the black tricks.
  • With Red Kings, there's a strong imbalance between ♦ diamonds and ♥ hearts: one of them is royal while the other is the weak suit in black tricks.
  • (With traditional scoring) it's best to keep damages at minimum with a Red Royal King, because at least one of the Black Kings is harvesting.

By effect:

• Fair Kings (♥K and ♤K)
  • As Royal Kings, the Fair Kings are clear about the nature of the harvest season - in that what is missing from it: hunting for a ♥ gracious heart or avoiding ♤ spades. (In the inversed variations, they are clear about what is included in it.)
• Elitist Kings (♦K and ♧K)
  • As Royal Kings, the Elitist Kings make strategies more ambivalent, as both ♥ gracious heart and ♤ malicious spade bonuses are around. However they cut either the Prosperity reward (= most ♦ diamonds) or Revolution penalty (= most ♧ clubs) away (in traditional scoring). As Harvest Kings, they promote elitism.

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Ville Viitala, Johannes Aho, Rosanna Viitala, Emmi Viitala

CHANGE LOG

v2.0 (2023-01-22)

-  After initial tests with more players, reorganized and greatly simplified the game throughout. The basic architecture is the same, but trick gameplay is much simpler and scoring layers more intuitive and easier to combine with handcard strategies. (v0.1 2022-12-29 -> v1.3 2023-01-21)