BASICS

REQUIREMENTS

• 3 - 4 players. Supports 2 - 5 players (see Player Variations).
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards with 1 - 3 jokers (1 for 2 - 3 players, 2 for 4 players, 3 for 5 players).

BASIC IDEA

A New World is being colonized by ships from the Old World.

• Each player represents a colony in the new world and gets a settler card (ace or joker).
• Each round two ships of colonials (face cards: J, Q, K) arrive from the Old World, and the players try to recruit them to their colony.
• The settlers lure the colonials from the ship with promises (cards of 2 - 10) of matching suit.
  • As a rule of thumb, you should either collect only colonials of the same suit as your ace, or then only the opposite colour (with joker, either colour).
• After the two ships have been emptied, the royal lines of each player are evaluated from the collected colonials in relation to the settler card.
• The player(s) with the best royal line wins the round. The game is typically played until 3 wins - the winner becomes the Colonial Overlord.

DECK & STARTUP

The deck is divided into three parts:

• SETTLER DECK (4 aces + jokers): The aces and the joker(s) are shuffled and each player is dealt one settler card face down.
  • The players should check their settler card but keep it hidden from others (face down in front of the player).
  • With 2 or 3 players there's only 1 joker, with 4 players 2 jokers, and with 5 players 3 jokers. (Note. With 2 players, there's a Pirate Ship that gets a settler card.)
• COLONIAL DECK (face cards + leftover aces/jokers): The 2 leftover settlers and the face cards (J, Q, K) form the colonial deck (14 cards in total).
  • After shuffling, the topmost card is put face up and sideways under the deck - it's the absent colonial of the round (and won't be included in the ships).
    • Alternatively, with 4 or 5 players you can use one joker less and not use an absent colonial.
  • The 7 topmost cards of the colonial deck are turned around and laid on the table (overlapping each other) in front of the deck as the 1st ship.
• PROMISE DECK (cards 2 - 10): The low number cards are promises for attracting the arriving colonials.
  • Each player is dealt 7 hand cards. When there's only 1 left, the deck is reshuffled and each gets 6 more cards (and the 2nd ship arrives).
• Usually one player deals the promise deck and another player the settler and the colonial decks - the turns are passed clockwise each round.

PLAYING

RECRUITING RULES

During a recruitment each player plays a promise card face down, the cards are turned around and the highest number of an attractive suit wins.

• ATTRACTIVE SUITS: The colonials can only be recruited by promises of the same suit. Together these suits are called the attractive suits.
• SAME SUIT: With many of the same suit, only the topmost colonial is recruitable. After been recruited (or discarded), the next one becomes available.
• SUIT ORDER: With equally high promises of many attractive suits, the topmost attracted colonial gets recruited. (So their order defines the suit hierarchy.)
• DISCARDED: If no one plays the suits of the new arrivers, none is recruited and the topmost colonial is discarded.

RECRUITING A JOKER

When a joker is among the colonials, its suit is always any suit(s) not occupied by other colonials in the ship.

• For example, if there are no hearts (♥) and no clubs (♧) left, playing hearts or clubs can win the joker. If all suits are present, joker is not available.

Like normally, the order determines the attractiveness of the suits the joker represents - if it's the topmost card, its suits are the most attractive.

• JOKER DRAW: However, equally high winning cards of different joker suits cancel each other (as if they didn't exist) and the next best card wins.
  • For example, if hearts (♥) and clubs (♧) are the joker suits and 4 players play: ♥9, ♤8, ♧9 and ♧4, then the two 9's are cancelled and the ♤8 wins.

SECOND SHIP

When there's only 1 colonial left (and each player is holding 1 promise), the second ship arrives:

• The remaining colonial deck is turned around revealing 6 new colonials (laid above the last one).
• The promise deck is reshuffled from the played (and undealt) promises and each player gets 6 more hand cards.
• The remaining 7 recruitments are then played out (until there's no hand nor colonial cards left).

BUILDING COLONIES

SPECIAL RECRUITMENTS

The recruited colonials are collected face up above the settled card forming a royal line. The lines are evaluated after the round, but they can also undergo changes already upon recruiting:

• ACE - COLONIAL TAKEOVER: If another settler is recruited, it takes over: the original settler card is discarded and the new ace is put in its place face up.
• 3 SAME - COLONY COLLAPSE: A group of 3 colonials of the same number or same suit causes a conflict and are discarded away.
  • 3 colonials of the same number (J, Q or K) cannot tolerate each and other and will split up, while 3 of the same suit form their own colony leaving yours.
  • If both would happen simultaneously, the player chooses which 3 collapse (same suit or same number).

PANIC OF THE JOKERS

Recruited jokers remain inactive until the round ends. After the last recruitment is done, they wake up and panic out:

• Jokers try to escape by forming a colony collapse with any 2 cards of the same suit or same number (joker being the 3rd one).
• In such case, the 3 cards are discarded. If there are multiple options where the joker could attach, the player chooses which 3 collapse.
• Otherwise, the joker settles in and the player can choose which suit it represents.

EVALUATING ROYAL LINES

After the recruitments and panicking of the joker, the colonials are promoted as "royals" and form a government together with the settler card.

• The colour of the ace defines the foundation for the government. In the special case of aristocracy the suit of the ace matters as well.
• Joker as the settler card is always the favourable colour for the player, but never any suit. In other words, joker settlers cannot form an aristocracy.

The value of the colony is then counted from the royals in it:

• ARISTOCRACY: Having only cards of the same suit as the settler card (ace), each royal is worth 3 p. (with max. 6 p.)
• REVOLUTION: With only cards of the other colour as the settler card, each is worth 2 p. (with max. 8 p.)
• DEMOCRACY: Otherwise each card of the settle's colour is worth 1 p., and the other colour cards -1 p. (from min. -3 p. to max. 4 p.)

The player with the best royal line wins the round and gets one win point. With equal royal line scores, each winner gets a win point.

PLAYER VARIATIONS

PIRATE SHIP (2 players)

With 2 players, a Pirate Ship is introduced:

• The pirates get their own settler card which is simply left unused face down and sideways under the deck (and the absent colonial).
• The remaining promise deck represents their ship from which they always play the topmost card. Any recruits won by the pirates are discarded.

MANY JOKERS (with 4 and 5 players)

With 4 players there are 2 jokers in the settler deck, and with 5 players 3 jokers are included.

• Note that the jokers may end up as settler cards or in the colonial deck to arrive as recruitables.

STRATEGY

HAND CARDS

Your hand cards are the most crucial thing when orientating yourself in the game.

• If you have only high cards of one particular suit, you are very likely to get royal cards of that suit. However you can try to delay playing them and hope that the colonials of that suit get recruited (or discarded) away, so that you can safely play the cards away.
• When a ship arrives, it's typical that the first recruitments are won with 9's or 10's. This might be a good opportunity to get rid of relatively high cards (say, 6, 7 or 8) of suits you'd rather avoid.
• Conversely, when the ship is getting emptier, the last colonials (unless just unlocked) can often be won with very low cards (sometimes very reluctantly).
• Remember that one hand card is kept from the first set to the second. This can be useful for avoiding and/or hunting for a particular colonial.

GENERAL ORIENTATION

To reorientate yourself at any point of the round, check the following four things:

• Your promise cards (hand cards) and how they relate to
• The current colonials in the ship. If it's the 1st ship also thinking about what's left for the next ship.
  • Also pay attention to the order of the colonials - you might have to act fast or sometimes wait long.
  • If the joker is included, sketch out what are the suits it'll likely to be recruited with.
• Your settler card (face down ace / joker) - and how it can pair with your hand cards and the colonials to form suitable royal lines.
• The absent colonial (under the royal deck). Its absence can be advantegeous (to avoid a collapse) or disadvantegous (when you'd like to recruit it).

In the beginning, sketch out a few likely outcomes based on the four points above. When the 2nd ship arrives, it's a good time for reflection.

• Remember that things don't always go your way - sometimes you don't get what you want or cannot avoid getting what you don't want.
• So it's important to re-evaluate your strategy as well as to pay attention to how you can cause trouble to others (as it becomes more and more obvious).
• Also keep in mind that the leftover ace might end up in your royal line (want it or not), and that recruiting a joker is not always advantegous.

HISTORY

v3 - Royal Lines (2023-02-02)

• Reorganized the gameplay mechanics and scoring to be simpler and more flexible for many players. (Moved from 2 royals at a time to 2 ships of 7 royals at a time, and from 12 hand cards to two sets of 7 cards. And in scoring removed Dictatorship (= 0 royals) and modified democracy to include negative.)

v2.1 - Royal Lines (2017-01-21)

• Simplification: Removed comparing of relative points - instead the points are added straight to each player’s cumulative score up (winning at 15p.).
• Updated the names of some 'scoring modes' (theme from Mind Games and mind states back to Royal Lines and forms of government).

v2.0 - Mind Games (2014)

• Added the important mechanic of popping tri-lines and reorganized scoring and some gameplay details to make the game more balanced.

v1.0 - Court Game (2013)

• The earliest sketch - like v2 but not fully refined nor balanced. Up until v3, there was always just 2 face up colonial cards waiting (not 2 ships of 7 cards).

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Tomi Laine, Tuuli Vahtero, Akseli Leinonen, Matias Saresvuo, Emmi Viitala, Piia Tamminen, Matti Lehtinen, Ville Viitala and Johannes Aho.