Isaludo - Beta
Isaludo - Beta
Isaludo - Beta
As an ode to the humble 52-card deck, this book contains ten solo
games playable with a standard deck of cards. Solo, because these
were designed in spurts over that weird year where social
distancing became a thing.
Some of these games are original. Some were born from games I’ve
enjoyed, modified to a point that I feel the gameplay and strategies
are different enough to count as a new game (though all original
authors are credited).
2
Basics and Conventions
The games in this book use a standard 52-card deck. Some games
require up to two jokers, which usually comes with the pack.
The book uses standard suits and colors: red hearts (♥) and
diamonds (♦), black spades (♠) and clubs (♣). The Jacks, Queens, and
Kings are called face cards; 2-9 number cards. Cards are identified
by their rank and suit icon: for example A♠, 4♥, 10♣, or Q♦.
All games in this book have a (personal) rating from 1-3 along six
axes, which may help you find a game you’re in the mood for:
3
Contents
Skyway ... p. 7
Co ●●○ | Wt ●●○ | Fo ●●○ | St ●●● | Ta ●●○ | Lu ●●○
A city builder about making convoluted overpasses for cars, with
elements of drafting and tile-laying.
Area 52 … p. 14
Co ●●○ | Wt ●○○ | Fo ●●○ | St ●●○ | Ta ●●○ | Lu ●●●
A game where you manage a team of expendable defenders to
efficiently take down deadly aliens.
Dead Center … p. 19
Co ●●● | Wt ●●○ | Fo ●●○ | St ●●● | Ta ●●○ | Lu ●●○
You’re trapped in a cabin and surrounded by zombies! Strategically
plan your movement and defeat them all before time runs out.
Foursquare … p. 29
Co ●○○ | Wt ●●○ | Fo ●●○ | St ●●○ | Ta ●●○ | Lu ●●○
A tile-laying game about building restaurants without having too
many closed down at the same time.
4
Loot the Loop … p. 32
Co ●●● | Wt ●○○ | Fo ●○○ | St ●○○ | Ta ●●● | Lu ●●●
Raid a temple, grab jewels, and avoid traps. A dungeon-delving
game played in your hand, similar to Maiden’s Quest.
Syndicate … p. 39
Co ●●○ | We ●●● | Fo ●●○ | St ●●● | Ta ●○○ | Lu ●○○
A brain-burning puzzle about gaining the mafia’s trust. Slowly
move your agents up the ranks to take out the syndicate from
within.
The Emissary … p. 47
Co ●●● | Wt ●●○ | Fo ●●● | St ●●○ | Ta ●●● | Lu ●●○
A solo trick-taking game where you try to gather support from
neighboring kingdoms using rhetoric suave.
5
The Games
6
Skyway
Overview
In Skyway, you are a city planner in charge of designing a
notoriously convoluted traffic interchange. Over three passes
through the deck, you will be drafting stacks of cards from a
random market, which you’ll place into a 3x3 grid. However, each
grid cell may only be stacked three cards high - any more and the
bottom cards get discarded. Your aim is to create a path of at least 5
increasing cards for each of the four suits.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
Setup
Separate all twelve face cards. Choose any three face cards and
place them face up as round markers, then remove the rest from
the game.
7
Shuffle the rest of the 40-card deck and place it face down. Leave
room for a discard pile, a 3-space market, and a 3x3 play area.
Turn one round marker face down to mark the first round.
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns. Each turn is composed of
the following:
1. Reset the market
2. Draft and play blueprints
8
Draft and play blueprints
Choose one of the three sets of blueprints and discard the rest.
Place your selected blueprint into one of the spaces in your 3x3 play
area, on top of any other cards already there. Fan all cards slightly
to the right so all their ranks and suits are visible. You may not
rearrange the order of any cards.
Each space of the play area may only be three cards high. If placing
cards causes that space to have four or more cards, discard from
the bottom of the stack until three cards are left. Place these
bottom cards in the same discard pile as the undrafted market
cards; they will be available again in future rounds, if any.
You will go through the deck three times. If the deck runs out of
cards in the middle of dealing the market in the third round, shuffle
one last time and deal enough cards just to finish the last market.
Game End
After three full passes through the deck, note your completed 3x3
play area. For each of the four suits, look for the longest sequence
of increasing value that can be drawn through vertically and
horizontally adjacent cards. The sequence may loop back on earlier
spaces, but you must move to a new grid space with each step. The
“height” or layer of the card doesn’t matter.
Overview
You are The Sandwich Guy, whose food truck is known far and wide
as a premier foodie destination. You're given a non-stop barrage of
ingredients, which you must discard three at a time to make
sandwiches. The quality of the sandwich you make is based on the
suits of the cards you discarded. Depending on the quality, you get
anywhere from two to four cards as replacement ingredients. You
win once you’ve gone through the whole deck.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
Setup
Shuffle the deck and place it face down on the table. Draw the top
eight cards of the deck to form your hand. Set aside space for a
discard pile.
11
Gameplay
Each turn, you must discard exactly three cards in your hand that
can be arranged into a valid sandwich, or you lose the game. A
sandwich is valid if one of the three cards is exactly between the
other two. That is, the difference between the first and second
card is the same as the difference between the second and third
card.
Card values go from Ace (1) < 2…10 < Jack (11), Queen (12) and King
(13). Cards “loop” around from King to Ace, so assuming that this is
your hand (arranged in order to be clearer), the following three
sandwiches are all valid:
● If they are all the same suit, draw the next four cards from
the top of the deck to add to your hand (e.g. A♣ 3♣ 5♣).
● If the discarded cards are all the same color but different
suits, draw three cards (e.g. 8♠ Q♠ 3♣).
● If the cards are not all the same color, draw two cards (e.g.
8♥ 8♠ 8♦).
12
You may only hold a maximum of eight cards at any time; if you
would draw a ninth card and you already have eight, ignore the last
draw - like the fourth replacement card if you discarded A♣ 3♣ 5♣
in the example above.
Game End
Any time you are unable to make a valid sandwich with the cards in
your hand, you lose.
If you draw the last card of the draw pile, you win the game.
Continue creating sandwiches without replacement until you can’t
anymore. Your score is the number of cards left in your hand; the
lower the better. A perfect game will leave you with only one card
in hand.
13
Area 52
Complexity ●●○ Weight ●○○ Footprint ●●○
Overview
As the commander of the Frontline Alien Resistance Team (F.A.R.T.),
you must manage a squad of elite soldiers to fight off a wave of
invading aliens. After the first wave, the aliens will attack again
with deadlier force - you win if you are able to repel both waves
without running out of resources. Having a good variety and
spread of defenders is critical to efficiently counter the invaders.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
Setup
Separate the black cards (defender deck) from the red cards (alien
deck) and shuffle each. Place the defender deck face down on the
table, and deal six cards face up (defenders). The position of the
14
defenders on the table doesn't matter. Hold the alien deck face
down in your hand. Leave space for a discard pile.
In Area 52, Aces have value 1, while Jack, Queen, and King are 11, 12,
and 13 respectively.
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns. Each turn, you reveal
three new aliens, then defeat or avoid these aliens one at a time.
Flip the top three cards of the alien deck (or as many as are left)
face-up in your hand. Be careful to maintain the order. The top
face-up card is the current attacker, and you should also be able to
see the next two attackers coming in.
15
Single Attack: Choose a defender with a greater value and
opposite color from the attacker. Discard your defender and
replace it with the attacker. Your soldier was hurt in the fight; it now
has a lower value. Note that the color swap means it can’t be used
for another single attack again - at least during this first wave.
If after any attack or sacrifice you end up with less than six
defenders on the table, immediately draw cards from the defender
deck to replace them. If you run out of cards in the defender deck,
you stop drawing and must make do with the forces on the board
for the rest of the game.
Once you've handled all three attackers in order, flip the next three
alien cards face up and repeat.
16
● Use a single attack from my 7♠ to defeat the 5♥ (discarding
the 7♠ and replacing it with the 5♥)
● Dual attack with (newly acquired) 5♥ + 3♣ to defeat the 8♦.
● I have no way to dispatch the K♥, so I sacrifice my 3♠, and
replace it with a new defender. K♥ moves to the back of the
alien deck. I need to remember to set up my defenders so they
can dual attack a 13-value alien later.
There are a couple of alternate plays which would have allowed you
to defeat all three aliens. Can you spot them?
Second Wave
Once you’ve defeated all cards in the alien deck, shuffle the discard
pile and start a second wave of attack using these cards. Remember
that all cards are discarded to the same pile, including defenders!
The second wave should thus have a greater number of aliens, now
with a mixed force of black and red cards.
In the second wave, the aliens are deadlier: Whenever you perform
a dual attack, you now also discard any defender used in that
attack whose color matches the alien’s color.
17
In the Second Wave example above, I’m in a pretty tough spot. 8♦ is
easy enough to defeat with Dual 7♠ + A♣, but what about the next
attacker 9♠? I have three options, none optimal:
Options (a) and (b) lose less units than (c), but how do I now handle
the third attacker Q♥? Dual J♦ + A♣ would have been the best
option, which I can’t do if I choose (a) or (b)!
Game End
If you run out of defenders on the board, you lose the game. Your
score is negative of the number of cards left in the alien deck,
including all face-up attackers. Subtract 50 from your score if
you’re somehow still on the first wave.
18
Dead Center
Complexity ●●● Weight ●●○ Footprint ●●○
Overview
In Dead Center, you must kill twelve zombies surrounding your 3x3
cabin before the deck runs out. You do this by playing cards into
piles within the cabin to attack adjacent zombies. The power and
precision of your attacks is determined not by the card you played,
but by the two other cards on the same line.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck with two jokers
Setup
Separate the twelve face cards (zombies). Shuffle the rest of the
deck, and deal nine cards (the cabin) face up in a 3 by 3 grid.
Shuffle the face cards, and deal one each face down on the twelve
spaces vertically or horizontally adjacent to the cabin’s outside
cards.
19
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns. Each turn, you must
perform each the following three actions in order:
Reveal a Zombie
If any zombies are still face down, choose and reveal one of them by
turning the card face up. As there are twelve zombies, this only
happens during the first twelve turns.
Play a card
Draw the top card of the deck, and play it face up into one of the
central nine piles. The pile(s) you may play on depend on the color
and value of that pile’s top card. You may play your card either on:
Aces have value 1. Jokers may be played on any card, and have any
card played on it. Cards you play on a pile become the new top card
of that pile.
20
● If the next card is a 3♦, I can play it on the 7♥, 8♥, A♠, or
Joker.
● A 7♠ can be played on the 7♥, 2♦, 10♣, or Joker.
● A Joker can be played anywhere.
Kill a Zombie
After placing your card, you may then kill a single face up zombie
adjacent to the pile you just played on, if your attack is strong
enough. (The four corners of the 3x3 grid have two adjacent
zombies each, the edges have one, and the center has none). The
strength of your attack isn't based on the card you played, but
rather its support cards: the two other cabin cards on the same
line as the card you just played and the zombie you’re attacking.
21
For an attack to kill a zombie, the sum of these two support cards
must be at least 10. In addition,
● To kill a king, both support cards must match the king’s suit.
● To kill a queen, both support cards must match the queen’s
color.
● There are no suit restrictions to kill jacks.
● If I play a card on the A♠, I can kill the K♣ (10♣ + 4♣) or the J♦
(7♥ + 4♠), but not both.
● Playing a card on the 7♥ can't kill the Q♠; the support cards
are the correct color but only have a sum of 5 (4♠ + A♠).
● Playing a card on the Joker doesn't kill the K♥; the support
cards total at least 10 (7♥ + 6♣) but are not both hearts.
22
When used as an attack support card, Jokers have value zero but
count as all suits. A Joker must be paired with a 10 to kill.
Game End
If you have to draw a card but the deck is empty, or if you are
unable to play a card, you lose. If you manage to kill all twelve
zombies, you win the game. Your score is the number of cards left
in the deck.
Variants
For a harder game, reduce the number of Jokers to 1 (my preferred
way to play), then to zero.
23
The First Boba Tea Shop in London
Complexity ●●○ Weight ●○○ Footprint ●●●
Objective
20XX. The British love their queues, but the hype for this newfangled
Bubble Tea is so huge that some people even dare to cut in line. How
will you direct them to maximize your sales during your first business
day?
In The First Boba Tea Shop in London, you are the franchisee of a
famous Taiwanese milk tea stand, managing an increasingly
agitated line of customers outside your store desperate to try the
newest craze. You need to play as many cards as possible into four
ordered queues. If someone tries to cut in line you can either kick
them out, or clear the whole line. To win, you must go through the
whole deck without discarding any four cards of the same rank.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
24
Setup
Shuffle the deck of cards and place it face down. Deal four cards
(customers) face up in a row to start the four queues outside your
store.
Gameplay
Unlike standard solitaire games where you see a card and decide
where to place it, here you do the opposite - you first choose a
location you think will be able to accommodate the card you will
draw next, then see if it does.
The game consists of playing cards one at a time into one of the
four queues, and managing the consequences of people not
following the politeness rule.
25
Playing a Card in a Queue
On your turn, first choose a queue, then a target position within
that queue for your next customer. This target position may be
above the highest card, below the lowest card, or in between any
two adjacent cards in that queue.
Draw the top card of the deck and check whether the card fits in
your target position following the politeness rule. If it does, the
card joins the queue at that position and the turn ends. (Shift the
cards around to make space as necessary.)
If it doesn’t, you must make a choice: let the rude customer stay or
kick the rude customer out.
If this new customer still doesn’t fit, you may again choose to let
them stay or kick them out. There’s no limit to the number of times
you may kick out a customer, but remember that you can’t change
target positions, and you lose two cards each time.
26
All cards are discarded face up. Pay attention to how many cards of
each rank you’ve discarded; once you discard the fourth card of
any rank, you lose the game.
It’s helpful to sort discarded cards into three rows. The first time a
card of a particular rank is discarded, it goes into the first row. The
second time, it goes into the second row, and so on. Cards in the
third row are dangerous: One more and the game ends.
27
Game End
Any time you discard the fourth card of any rank, you lose the
game. If you’ve gone through the entire deck of cards without
four-of-a-kind in the discard pile, you win the game! Your score is
the total number of cards still in queues at the end.
Other Notes
At any point before drawing, you may look through the remaining
cards in the deck, as long as you shuffle it afterwards. This becomes
especially useful toward the end of the game.
28
Foursquare
Complexity ●○○ Weight ●●○ Footprint ●●○
Overview
In Foursquare, you are the mayor of the fictional Flavortown, a
trendy neighborhood known for being the birthplace of
cutting-edge restaurants. New restaurants (cards) will be placed
one at a time in a 4x4 grid. Placing the highest or lowest card in a
row or column causes all other cards in that row or column to flip
over, as other restaurants go out of business or try to challenge the
newcomer. Your task is to end up with sixteen open restaurants in
your city, while preventing too many from being closed at once.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
Setup
Remove all the face cards from the game. Shuffle the remaining 40
number cards (restaurants) and hold this deck face down in your
hand. Draw the top card of the deck and place it anywhere on the
table to start your grid of restaurants.
29
Gameplay
Each turn, draw the top card of the deck and play it face up on the
table. You may play the card either:
Your whole grid cannot grow to more than four cards in length,
width, or height. This means you can have at most sixteen piles
arranged in a 4x4 grid, with each pile having a maximum of four
cards.
Flipping cards
After placing each card, look at the top cards of all the other piles
on the same row, if any. Check if the card you just placed is the
uniquely highest or lowest card in that row (In other words, it’s
either higher or lower than all other cards in that row, or the only
faceup card). If it is, this restaurant is too cool - flip over the top
cards of all other piles in the same row. Other restaurants on the
same street are forced to close down as they run out of customers.
However, a lot of copycats also try to open in empty lots to ride the
trend.
Afterward, check the columns as well - if the card you just placed is
the uniquely highest or lowest value in that column, flip the top
cards of the other piles.
If after flipping cards in both rows and columns, your grid has more
than four piles with facedown top cards (closed restaurants), the
industry goes into recession and you lose the game.
30
Grid coordinates are added to the example above to illustrate.
● Playing the 6♦ on B3 will flip the 10♣, 3♠, and 2♥ face down,
and the top facedown card on B2 face up. (You always just
flip the top card, not the whole pile)
● Playing the 6♦ on B1 will flip the 9♠ on A1 and the card on B2.
● Playing the 6♦ on B2 will flip the 10♣, but will not affect row 2
(6♦ is not the uniquely highest card on that row)
● I cannot play the 6♦ on A3 (not orthogonally connected), E2
(grid will be five cards wide), or D1 (Four cards will flip and I’ll
end up with five facedown cards.)
Game End
Continue drawing and placing cards one at time. If after placing and
flipping, you have a 4x4 grid of all face up restaurants, you win the
game. Your score is the number of cards left in the deck.
If you run out of cards to place, or you cannot place any card
without violating any of the constraints on grid size or number of
facedown cards, you lose.
31
Loot the Loop
Complexity ●●● Weight ●○○ Footprint ●○○
Loot the Loop is that weird game that is much easier to demonstrate
than to explain - the example at the end is a bit more detailed to
compensate. But once the rules have been internalized, I believe it
provides one of the most enjoyable “flows” of the games in this book.
Objective
You are the dashing adventurer Maxx Delver, currently exploring the
long-hidden Temple of the Sun. The temple is filled to the brim with
trinkets and traps, but you're most interested in the four royal jewels
said to lie within.
The temple you’re raiding is shaped like a closed loop (i.e., a donut),
and the top card represents your physical location within it. You
"move" through the temple, always forward, by moving cards from
the top to the bottom of the deck. The temple's layout will be
revealed as you explore, exposing traps you must avoid as you cycle
multiple times through the deck. You win once you get all four
jewels and land on the exit.
32
Components
● A standard 52-card deck with one joker.
● Aces are jewels you’re trying to loot. Number cards (2-10) are
minor trinkets in the temple. Face cards are traps you must
avoid, while the Joker is the temple exit.
Setup
Shuffle the deck and hold it in one hand, face down. Leave space on
the table for three cards (your notes) and a score pile.
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns. Each turn, you must
perform exactly one of the following four actions. What actions are
allowed depend on the top or top two cards of the deck.
33
1. Look Around
Turn the top two cards of the deck face up, careful to maintain
their order. If the second card of the deck is already face up, just
flip the top card and leave the second one as is.
You may ONLY perform this action if the top card of the deck is face
down.
Note that this is the only action you can do at the start of the game.
You generally want to perform this action whenever you can, as
revealing the temple layout is of vital importance.
2. Explore
If either or both of the top two cards in the deck are face-up
number cards (trinkets), choose one of those cards' values. Count
exactly that many cards from the top of the deck and move them to
the bottom, maintaining their order. Include the aforementioned
top two cards in the count. You see a branching path and decide to
take one, and see where it will lead you.
If there is only one face-up number card among the top two cards
of the deck, you may only travel by that count. If neither of the two
top cards of the deck are face up number cards, you may not use
the explore action at all.
Here are some examples of what the top of your deck might look
like, and their associated action options.
34
Each time you explore, after you move the required cards to the
back, take note of the new top card of your deck. This is the room
you land in.
3. Mark a Path
If the top card of the deck is a number card (trinket), remove that
card from the deck and place that card face up in front of you on
the table in your notes. You can mark a maximum of three paths at
any one time.
During your first pass through the deck, all cards are face down, so
you'll spend it exploring, looking around, and taking notes. Once
you start your second loop, some cards are already face up - start
timing your movement to land on face up trinkets and jewels.
35
Remember that treasures you land on are removed from the
temple, so the longer you stay the greater the density of traps!
Marking paths and returning to paths changes the top cards of your
deck, and is the primary way to manipulate movement options
when trying to land on specific cards.
Example
In the mid-game example below (top cards fanned to be clearer), it
seems like I’m stuck. I can only explore 4 or 6, both of which will
land me on a trap. For example, if I explore 6, I move six cards from
the top of the deck to the bottom - 4♦, 6♦, 10♥, a facedown card, K♠,
and another facedown card. It will land me on the J♥ which
represents a pit of spikes or something equally painful. Exploring 4
lands me on the K♠ in the same way.
My notes are full, so I can’t mark any new ones. Instead, I a) return
the 7♣ from my notes to the top of the temple, then b) explore 4.
36
Four cards are sent to the back of the deck. But now that I have an
extra card buffer, I just barely miss the K♠ and instead land on the
facedown card. I’m safe!
I push the bottom cards back under the bulk of the deck as I won’t
need to worry about them until later. I c) look around and find 9♥.
37
Game End
Continue exploring the temple and hunting for the jewels (aces) and
exit (joker). If you get stuck in the temple and can’t move, or all
movement choices you have will land you on a trap, you lose the
game.
If you land on the face-up exit after an explore action, check your
score pile. If you already have all four jewels, you immediately
escape the temple and win the game.
Your score is the total number of cards in your score pile, including
trinkets. Yes, greed is rewarded - you’re under no obligation to
immediately seek the exit once you have all four jewels. If you think
you can still nab more loot from the shrinking temple, by all means!
Other Notes
● You are free to look through the deck and all its face up
cards at any time. You may even count cards to plan routes.
You may not look at any face down cards, however.
● When traveling, it’s helpful to first count off the total
number of cards to move with your thumb, then transfer the
whole block of cards to the back. It's easier than doing it one
by one.
● It’s possible to start the game with a really unlucky streak
(like the top two cards being traps, and you can’t even move
once). Just restart the game, or just shrug and accept that’s
the life of a treasure hunter.
38
Syndicate
Complexity ●●○ Weight ●●● Footprint ●●○
Overview
In Syndicate, you lead a large-scale police sting operation in 1930s
Chicago to infiltrate the mafia. You must slowly gain the trust of
the mafiosos, bringing your team of undercover agents slowly up
the ranks. Promotion is difficult, as you may only bring in people
that have enough rapport and trust with the other existing
members of the same rank. Once you’ve promoted one agent above
the highest level, you can take down the whole operation in one
swoop.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
Setup
Remove all face cards from the game and shuffle the rest into a
40-card deck.
39
Deal five columns of cards face up, with cards fanned slightly so
their rank can be seen. The leftmost column should have nine
cards, then each column after should have two cards less (9, 7, 5, 3,
1). These five columns represent the five mafia ranks, with the
leftmost column being the lowest rung (rank 5) and the rightmost
one the highest (rank 1). The cards here are potential candidates
for the rank.
Choose any three cards from the remainder of the deck and place
them above the leftmost rank, fanned so their values are visible.
These are the current members for Rank 5. Remove the unused
number cards from the game.
40
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns. Each turn, you
simultaneously promote one member of a rank and replace the
promoted member with an eligible candidate from that rank.
You may only promote someone if you can find a valid replacement
from the candidates below it, which you move up to the members
area to replace the promoted card.
Each rank may only have three members maximum. At any time
promotion causes you to have four members in a rank, choose and
sacrifice one, leaving three. (Remove them from the game; they
suffer a grisly fate). There is no such limit for candidates.
Game End
Continue promoting and infiltrating the higher mafia ranks. Once
you’ve promoted someone from rank 1 (to a “rank zero”) you win
the game! Your score is the total number of dead (sacrificed) cards,
41
the lower the better. If you get stuck without a valid move, or you
give up, you lose the game.
42
Hide and Seek
Complexity ●●○ Weight ●○○ Footprint ●●●
Overview
You are Sheryl Holmes, terror of the first-grade playground. Known
far and wide (at least three schools over!) for your observational skills,
you have a reputation of being unstoppable at hide-and-seek.
In Hide and Seek, you will be placing cards around a grid of hidden
playmates, trying to match their suit. You may reveal anyone’s
identity at any time, and you score if the cards you placed match
the playmates’ suit. The more playmates you find, the easier it is to
narrow down the identities of the rest, so you must strike a delicate
balance between guessing too early versus too late.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers
43
Setup
Separate the twelve face cards. Randomly deal them face up into
four piles of three cards each, with no pile having any two cards of
the same rank or suit. Don’t think too much. (What I personally do
is imagine four piles and deal the royals one at a time to the first
pile that can accommodate it, scanning from left to right each
time.) After this, flip the piles face down, shuffle each pile, and
randomly exchange their positions. Wait a minute or so until
everything disappears from short-term memory.
Spread each pile vertically on the table to end up with a 3x4 grid
(playground) of cards. You should know that each column has a
Jack, Queen, and King of a different suit, but you shouldn’t know
where any card is, or even be able to name two specific cards which
are paired with each other in the same column.
Leave 14 spaces to place cards around the grid, a discard pile, and a
score pile. Shuffle the rest of the 40-card deck and turn it face up.
You should see the top card of the deck at all times, but no further.
44
Gameplay
The game is played over a series of turns until all twelve face cards
(playmates) are face up. Each turn you may do exactly one of the
following actions:
1. Place a guess
2. Reveal a face-down playmate
3. Withdraw a guess
Place a guess
Place the top card of the deck face up into an empty space at the
playground’s perimeter (“x”s in the diagram on the previous page).
Each space may only hold one card.
Reveal a playmate
Choose a face-down playmate and turn it face up. Then move any
previously placed guess on that playmate’s row and column that
matches the card’s suit to the score pile. Leave guesses that don’t
match its suit behind; ignore empty spots. You can score a
maximum of four cards per playmate you reveal.
Withdraw a guess
Discard the top card of your deck to remove a previously placed
guess of the same suit from around the playground. Discard both
cards. This is the only way to free up a locked guess space.
45
Since wrong guesses cost cards to remove, the game becomes one of
balance - Do I guess early, or wait for more info before placing cards?
Will I be losing opportunities to score if I wait too long, or be clogging
up spaces needlessly?
Example
In the example below, it might be a good idea to play the 7♠ on the
location marked with a red “X” for your next turn. Can you deduce
why?
Game End
The game ends after you decide to reveal and score the last
face-down playmate. Your score is the number of cards in your
score pile; to win, you should have a score of 20 or more (half the
deck).
46
The Emissary
Complexity ●●● Weight ●●○ Footprint ●●●
The game is inspired by the decktet game Gongor Whist, which itself
was patterned from the standard-deck card game Oneonta Whist.
This game also holds the core for the free print-and-play game For
Northwood!, which swept top prizes in the 2021 BGG 54-card contest.
Familiarity with trick-taking games will make understanding the
following rules a breeze. Of course, prior knowledge isn't strictly
necessary.
Components
● A standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
Setup
Separate the 9s and 10s (kingdoms) and place these eight cards face
down in a row (they’re just placeholders; the value doesn’t matter).
Separate the twelve face cards. Shuffle the Kings and Queens
together (rulers) and deal them face up from left to right, one on
top of each kingdom.
Set the four Jacks aside in a stack; these cards represent you and
your advisors. Shuffle the remaining 32 cards into a facedown deck.
47
Objective
In The Emissary, you are a young noble sent by your father to
gather support from eight neighboring kingdoms. In each kingdom,
you engage in a series of debates with their ruler. Using the right
amount of force and deference, you must win exactly a certain
number of debates per kingdom. Succeed and you may call upon
the ruler for future support; fail even once and lose the game.
Gameplay
The core game loop consists of 1) visiting a kingdom and 2) playing
out a series of debates in that kingdom against its ruler.
The position of that kingdom along the line determines how many
debates you must exactly win to get support from that ruler. The
leftmost royal needs one win, the next two, and so on. You must
win eight debates in the rightmost kingdom.
The ruler’s suit represents their favorite topic; for this kingdom,
this suit trumps all other topics of conversation.
48
Once you have chosen a kingdom to visit, you now play out the
series of debates.
The Debates
Place the top card of the draw deck face-up into a discard pile. The
ruler is now talking about a topic - you must respond! Play a single
card from your hand in response. Playing a card follows standard
trick-taking rules:
● You must play a card in your hand with the same suit (topic)
as the ruler’s card if you are able.
● If and only if you cannot follow suit, you may play any card.
Aces are low and have value 1. If you win the debate, place the card
you played in a separate scoring pile. If you lose the debate, instead
place your card in the discard pile as well. Keep engaging in debates
until you run out of cards in your hand. Once your hand is empty,
the number of cards in your scoring pile shows how many debates
you have won for that kingdom.
49
In the mid-game example above, I’ve already visited kingdoms #3
(K#3) and K#6, and am currently playing out debates in K#4. The
ruler just played an 8♥. Since I have no hearts in my hand, I can
respond with any card - 4♦ or 8♦ will win the debate, 6♣ or 7♠ will
lose it. Tough decision. Which one will give me the best chance to get
exactly four wins?
Advisor Abilities
To help control the number of debates you win, each of your Jack
advisors has a special ability you can activate, once per kingdom.
Before the first debate or between any two debates, you may
choose to activate advisor abilities by turning a face-up Jack face
down. (Activate it before the ruler card is dealt; you can’t use
abilities ‘in response’).
It’s up to you whether you want to use abilities earlier when you
have more cards in hand, toward the end, or a mix of both. Resolve
each ability fully before deciding to use another one.
50
The ability depends on the suit of the card used:
Hearts and clubs abilities change the number of cards in your hand,
and therefore change the total number of debates you need to play
in a kingdom. The target win number remains the same, however.
If you run out of cards in the draw pile, shuffle the discard pile and
continue using it.
When you run out of cards in your hand, if you have won exactly
the number of debates equal to the kingdom’s number,
congratulations! Add that ruler face up beneath your advisors. In
future kingdoms, you may also turn a supporting king or queen
face down to use their suit’s ability. The only difference is that
unlike Jacks whose abilities you can use once per kingdom, kings
and queens are one-time-use abilities. They’re still very useful in a
pinch, though.
Shuffle all the cards in the discard, scoring pile, and draw deck
together. Turn all spent Jacks back face up (not kings and queens),
draw eight new cards, and choose the next kingdom to visit.
51
Ending the game
Continue visiting the kingdoms one by one, convincing (and
leveraging) allies as needed. If you end any kingdom without
winning the exact number of debates needed, you lose the game.
Note that the central kingdoms are slightly easier, with kingdom 1
and 8 being very hard to win. Grab support before attempting
these, and approach them when you’re dealt a favorable hand!
If you get support from all eight kingdoms, you win the game.
Whether you win or lose, your score is the number of kingdoms
won plus the number of supporting kings/queens with unused
abilities, for a perfect score of 8+8=16 points.
52
Afterword
Thanks to everyone who’s reading this! The best way to show
support is by sharing this document, giving feedback to the
boardgamegeek thread or my email, or if you really want to, buy me
a coffee.
Credits
● Thanks to all proofreaders and supporters!
● Cover design image taken from clipart-library, personal use
license
● Card images from the wonderful Kenney the “Asset Jesus”
(CC0 1.0)
53