Skull

A bluffing game of pure skill. Players start by laying cards face down, then bidding starts to see who can flip up the most without hitting a sword card. The object of the game is to be the first to succeed at two challenges of flipping up cards.

Setup

Each player gets 4 cards, usually of the same rank. One of them is a sword suit. Each player also needs a way to indicate that they won one challenge. This can be a piece of paper with one side decorated with a flower. The score mat starts face down, then flipped up after winning one challenge.

The Play

A round is played in 3 steps:

  1. Turn preparation
  2. Add cards
  3. Challenge

Turn Preparation

Every player puts one of their cards facedown. This can be a regular card or sword card.

Add or Challenge

The starting player can choose to place a second card on top of their first, or start the challenge. If they choose to put place another card, the option passes to the player to their left.

If a player cannot or does not want to play can additional card, they can issue a challenge. They announce the number of cards they can flip faceup without hitting a sword card. Other players can bidding higher going clockwise until all pass except one.

The Attempt

The challenger must flip the number of cards bid, starting with all of their own cards. After that, they can choose any cards from other players’ facedown stacks. They have to respect stack order. If they hit one sword card, they fail

Aftermath

If the challenger fails, they shuffle all their own cards and the owner of the sword card chooses one at random to be permanently discarded. If it’s the challenger’s own sword card they can choose which one is discarded. They are eliminated if they have no cards left.

If they are successful, then they flip up their score mat to indicate that they won one challenge. If it’s already faceup, they won the game.

Whether won or lost, the challenger is the starting player of the next round. if they are eliminated, then the player to the left starts.

One other way to win is if they are the last player left.

References