Bag-O-Loot Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Setup
• Taking a Turn
• Plays
• Lock Down
• Splits
• Bag-O-Loot
• Completing A Round
• Just To Be Clear...
• Website

Equipment

• The game consists of 85 cards: five of each numbered coin card and five looter cards.
• When playing with two players remove four complete sets of cards (13-16) and one looter card.
• Looter cards are wild and can be used in place of any other card at any time.

Setup

• Select someone to be the first dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck, deals eight cards to each player (face-down) and leaves the remainder (face-down) as the draw pile.
• Hold your cards in your hand so no one can see them.
• The player to the left of the dealer goes first.

Taking a Turn

• DRAW: Always start your turn by taking one card from the deck and adding it to your hand. When there are no cards left in the draw pile, each player gets to take one last turn.
• PLAY: You must make at least one play every turn: Open, Build, Steal, Snitch, or Punt.
• KNOCK: You end your turn by knocking on the table or saying "done" to let players know you are finished with your turn.

Important: You can make up to three plays (any combination of open, build, steal, and snitch) during your turn unless you are locked down. (See below.)

Plays

• OPEN: Start a new set by placing two or more matching cards face up in front of you in your "stash".
• BUILD: Add one or more matching cards to one of your sets in your stash.
• STEAL: Build on another player's set and it becomes yours. Move it in front of you into your stash.

Important: A set can never contain more than five cards.

• SNITCH: If you have a matching card for a set that contains a looter, swap your matching card for the looter. You do not take the set, only the looter card.
• PUNT: If you are unable or unwilling to make a play you can punt: Take a single card from your hand and place it face up in front of you as a "singleton". Then draw an additional card from the deck and add it to your hand. When you punt, you are immediatley locked down. (See below.)

Important: If you punt, it is the only play you can make during that turn.

Lock Down

• As long as you have a singleton in your stash you are locked down and can only make one play per turn.
• You get set free from lockdown when someone else steals your singleton or you build on it.
• If you build on a singleton, is the only play you can make during that turn.
• Because you can still punt while you are locked down, it is possible to have more than one singleton in front of you. All your singletons must be satisfied before you get set free.

Splits

• A split exists when more than one player has a set of the same type in their stash.
• You have the option to combine all the matching sets into one as your own if you are holding a matching card or a looter.
• If the resulting set has more than five cards, you add the extra looter(s) to your hand.
• Combining sets like this counts as one play in your turn.

Bag-O-Loot

• A Bag-O-Loot is a set of five matching cards with no looters. When you make a Bag-O-Loot you immediately turn the cards face-down, in a pile. A Bag-O-Loot cannot be stolen.
• If a Bag-O-Loot gets created when you snitch a looter from another player's set, the Bag-O-Loot still belongs to that player.

Completing A Round

• GOING OUT: When a player plays all their cards during their turn, the round is immediately over.
• Occasionally the round will end because the draw pile was empty and each player took their last turn without anyone going out.
• SCORING: Each Bag-O-Loot is worth ten points, looters are worth five points, all other cards are worth one point per card. To calculate your score, add up the points in your stash then subtract the points still in your hand. Record everyone's score, pass the deal to the left, and start a new round.
• WINNING: When any player has exceeded 100 points, the game is over and the player with the highest score is the winner.

Just To Be Clear...

• What is my "stash"? Stash is the term for all your open sets and Bags-O-Loot in front of you that are "yours."
• Do the colors mean anything? Throughout the game you will be making sets of matching cards. Cards are matched by the number value not by color.
• Can a set be made with consecutive cards? Can I make runs? No. There are no runs in Bag-O-Loot.
• If I add 2 cards to a set when building, does that count as one play or two? One. You can add one or more matching cards to a set as a single build play as long as the set never contains more than 5 cards.
• What about when I'm stealing? Do I steal with one card and then build on the set once it is mine? No. Stealing works exactly the same as building with the added bonus of the set becoming yours. So... If you have 2 fives and want to steal a set of fives from another player, you combine both your fives with theirs and the set becomes yours. This counts as one play.
• What if I want to steal a set with a matching card and a looter? That is still considered one play. It is the same as using 2 fives to steal a set of fives.
• Can I snitch a looter from my own set? Yes.
• Can I snitch a looter and steal at the same time? Yes, but it counts as two plays. Technically the way this works would be to snitch the looter (that's one play) then steal the set with that looter as a second play.
• So I can steal a set using a looter? Yup. As long as you don't make a set with more than 5 cards.
• Can I have more than one looter in a set? Yes. Just remember the five card limit for all sets.

Website

For for information, and other great games, visit www.bag-o-loot.com