Bested Another Time
Bested Another Time Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
72 Playing Cards, 0-17 in 4 suits 1 Lead Next Pass Card (2+) 1 Wild Pass Card (3+) 1 Discard Any Meld Pass Card (4+) 1 Bet/Wild Pass Card (5+) 1 Pass Card/Bet Pass Card (6) 6 Person/Player Aids 30 Good Point Cards/Blank/Alt Pass Cards (Pass, Bet, etc.)
Setup
[Solo Rules down below in Variants]
Gather the deck for the player count and deal out a certain amount of cards:
At 2 players, 1-12 in 3 suits. Deal each player 15 cards, with 6 cards undealt.
At 3 players, 1-15 in 3 suits. Deal each player 15 cards.
At 4 players, 1-15 in 4 suits. Deal each player 15 cards.
At 5 players, 1-17 in 4 suits. Deal each player 13 cards, with 3 cards undealt.
At 6 players, 0-17 in 4 suits. Deal each player 12 cards.
Gather the Pass Cards for the player count and all the Pass Cards from the previous player counts (if any) and lay them out near the play area:
At 2 players, add the Lead Next Pass Card.
At 3 players, add the Wild Pass Card.
At 4 players, add the Discard Any Meld Pass Card.
At 5 players, add the Bet/Wild Pass Card.
At 6 players, add the Pass Card/Bet Pass Card.
Example: At 4 players, you'll use Pass Cards "Lead Next", "Wild", and "Discard Any Meld".
At 2 players, each player now chooses any card in their hand to turn into a wild. They do this by flipping it around in their hand, so the back of the card is facing them. (A backwards card is a wild in this game.)
The start player for the first round is the person who last ate a raspberry.
Gameplay Flow
Play until all but one player sheds out, (Wild(s) included).
The start player must play to the table any valid meld (they cannot pass).
Valid Melds:
Single
Sets (any length)
Suited Runs (any length)
After the start player plays, the following players, in clockwise order, must either pass or play a higher set of cards of the same starting meld and number of cards.
When playing a Wild, players announce both the suit and the rank of any Wild when they play them (any rank 0-17, any suit [even if the deck makeup doesn't have those ranks]).
When a player passes, they take any one of the Pass Cards and puts it in front of themselves (except for the last player to pass in a trick). (More on all the Pass cards later)
If a player passes, they may NOT come back in, if play comes back to them. (Hard Pass)
If all but one player passes, that remaining player may continue to play a higher set of cards of the lead meld until they pass. This means a player may play over their own play repeatedly, if they can and desire to. When this final player passes, there won't be a Pass Card for them to take.
Example for 2 Player:
Bartok leads a 3. Rosita plays a 3. Bartok plays a 4. Rosita passes and takes the "Lead Next" Pass card. Bartok plays a 5, then a 7, then an 8, then passes. Rosita leads next with a pair of 6's, and returns the "Lead Next" Pass card to the center of the table.
Important: After everyone has passed (including the last player who may have played over themselves), the players will resolve the Pass Cards they took in descending order according to the player count number on the bottom right of the Pass Card (in a 4 player game that would be the Discard a Meld Pass Card). Thus, the higher the player count for the Pass Card, the earlier it activates. After activating their Pass Card, the player will return that Pass Card to the play area. After all other Pass Cards activate, the player with the Lead Next Pass Card will return their Pass Card and lead to the next trick.
Example for 4 Players:
Bartok leads a suited 4,5. Rosita passes and takes the "Discard a Meld" Pass card. Mavis plays a suited 5,6. Fidget plays a suited 7,8. Bartok passes and takes the "Lead Next" Pass card. Mavis plays a suited 9,Wild (as a 10). Fidget passes and takes the "Wild" Pass card. Mavis plays a suited 12,13, then passes. Rosita discards a single 4 face-up, and returns the "Discard a Meld" Pass card to the center of the table. Fidget takes one of the played cards, flips it back, and places it into his hand as a Wild. Finally, he returns the "Wild" Pass card to the center of the table. Bartok leads next with a pair of 5's, and returns the "Lead Next" Pass card to the center of the table.
When a player sheds out, they remove from the round the Pass Card with the highest number player count on it. That Pass Card cannot be claimed for the rest of the round. The player then flips that removed Pass Card to its other side. Note: if a previous player passed and took the highest number player count Pass Card, then the shed out player waits for the passed player to use that Pass Card before removing it from the game.
Play like this continues until all but one player sheds out. When this happens, the round ends immediately.
Pass Cards
Below is a list of the Pass cards, with player counts to use them at, and how they activate. All Pass Cards must happen, except taking a Wild.
LEAD NEXT (2+): The owner leads to the next trick.
WILD (3+): The owner may take any played card, flip it so the back of the card is facing them, and add it to their hand. The card is now a wild (any rank 0-17 and any suit, both declared when played). Players can declare any rank 0-17, even if the deck makeup doesn't have those ranks at that player count.
DISCARD ANY MELD (4+): The owner discards any valid meld from hand, face-up. This is a valid way to shed out.
BET/WILD (5+): The owner chooses whether they want a wild or if they want to bet on another player shedding out quickly. If they choose Wild, their flow is exactly like the Wild Pass Card above. If they choose Bet, they take one of their Good Point bet cards and place it on any player (including themselves). The scoring for this is explained later.
PASS CARD/BET (6): The owner chooses whether they want to bet or if they want to pass a card to another player. If they choose Bet, their flow is exactly like the Bet Pass Card above. If they choose to Pass Card, the owner passes any card in their hand to any other player. The receiving player now has this card in their hand. This is a valid way to shed out.
Scoring
When a player sheds out, they score 2 points per other player still holding cards.
The shed-out player also scores 1 point for each card in the hand of the player holding the most cards at the time of the shed out. This includes any wilds.
Example:
Bruce leads a suited 4,5 and sheds out. Jean-Paul has 2 cards left. James has 1 card left. Terry has 5 cards left. Clark has 0 cards left. Bruce earns 11 total points: 6 points for remaining players (3 * 2) + 5 points for the biggest hand, Terry's (1 * 5).
At 5/6 players, Good Point bets pay out.
Anyone with a bet on the player that shed out will get 1 point per non-shed-out player still holding cards times the number of bets a person had placed on that player.
Example:
Tim leads a 5 and sheds out. Jason has 2 cards left. Damian has 1 card left. Dick has 7 cards left. Jace has 3 cards left. Dick bet twice on Tim and Jason bet once on Tim. Tim earns 19 total points: 8 points for remaining players (4 * 2) + 7 points for the biggest hand, Dick's (1 * 7). Dick earns 8 points for his two bets (1 * 4 * 2) and Jason earns 4 points for his one bet (1 * 4 * 1).
End of Round
Players play until anyone passes the point threshold at the end of a round. The point threshold is different for each player count (see below), but the threshold can start anywhere for a shorter/longer game. The start player for subsequent rounds is the player with the least points (if tied, the tied player who did worst in the recent round in terms of shed-out position).
At 2 players, the threshold is 10.
At 3 players, the threshold is 20.
At 4 players, the threshold is 30.
At 5/6 players, the threshold is 40.
End of Game
After the threshold is passed, the player with the most points wins!
Whoo! Whoo!
If tied, the tied player who takes the longest to eat their next meal wins.
If still tied, the player who scored the most points wins.
Variants
Addition of Gaps
Add Suited Gaps (of any length) to the playable melds.
Example (Length 2):
Barbara leads a suited 5,7. Cassandra plays a suited 6,8. Stephanie plays a suited 11,13.
Example (Length 3):
Barbara leads a suited 5,7,9. Cassandra plays a suited 6,8,10. Stephanie plays a suited 11,13,15.
Addition of Zeros
Setup: Add all the 0s of any included suits into the game and deal 1 more card to each player (ignore at 6 player).
New Rule: 0s can be played normally as 0s OR as higher than ONLY the highest rank in the deck. This allows a player to reset the current meld down to 0 by playing over the highest rank in the deck.
Example:
In a 3 player game, the highest rank is 15. Cro leads a pair of 9s. Gol passes. Zu plays a pair of 13s. Cro plays a pair of 15s. This would make Zu pass in a normal game, but with this variant, Zu can play a pair of 0s, thus restarting the meld. Zu could NOT play over the pair of 9s with the pair of 0s because the 9s weren't the highest rank in the deck. Zu plays a pair of 0s. Cro plays a pair of 5s. Zu passes. Cro plays a pair of 7s. Cro plays a pair of 10s. Cro passes.
Example (using 0s to play over yourself, and Suited Runs):
In a 3 player game, the highest rank is 15. Cro leads a suited run of 1,2,3. Gol passes. Zu passes. Cro plays a suited run of 13,14,15. Cro plays a suited run of 0,1,2. Cro plays a suited run of 1,2,3. Cro plays a suited run of 13,14,15. Cro passes.
Note: Cro could not play 14,15,0 (no looping in the meld itself).
Solo
Theme
You've just left your bat friends after literally hanging out. And on your flight home, you get airway hypnosis thinking about all the interesting points they made about the movies you all just saw. Alas, the spirit of the starcase hits and you find yourself thinking of all the best things you could have said. Well now's as good a time as any to relive those chats to yourself, except this time you'll make all the best points at all the right times! You got this!
Setup
Use cards 2-13 in 3 suits. Deal 14 to yourself. Deal 7 to a dummy opponent hand, facedown. Set the rest of the deck to the side to be drawn from during play. The most currently-breathing player is the start player (that's you!)
Play Flow
You'll start a trick by playing any of the valid melds in the game, except:
Important: a "Single" meld can NEVER be played in the solo game.
If you cannot play a valid meld, you must use a wild to make a valid meld to play (explained later).
After you start by playing a meld, you may either play and beat what you just played with a higher meld of the same type as your lead meld, or pass.
If you play over yourself, you can then play another higher meld or pass, like above.
When you pass, you draw cards from the deck into your hand. The number of cards you draw depends on if you played over yourself in the recent trick, or if you just played once into the recent trick. If you played just once, you draw 3 cards. Otherwise, you draw 2. Then the trick is cleared and you lead again, starting a new trick.
Example:
Chocula leads a pair of 9s. Chocula passes. Chocula draws 3 cards. Chocula leads a 5. Chocula plays over themselves with a 6. Chocula passes. Chocula draws 2 cards.
Anytime during play, you may take one of the dummy hand's cards into your hand flipped as a wild. You can do this as many times as desired, but be aware that you are making the dummy hand's final score (likely) better, as seen later. Played wilds are discarded normally just like other cards.
Example:
Chocula leads a pair of 9s. Chocula takes a card from the dummy as a Wild. Chocula plays over themselves with a pair of 11s, using an 11 and a Wild. Chocula passes. Chocula draws 2 cards.
Play until either:
You shed out
The deck runs out
If the deck runs out, play out one final trick.
After the final trick, reveal the dummy hand.
Depending on the difficulty, the dummy hand now discards a certain number of suits before scoring: Normal: 1, Hard: 2. The dummy hand discards their worst suit(s), meaning their highest sum(s) of ranks in their suits. This remaining sum of suit(s) after discarding is the dummy opponent's round score.
Your score is the sum of the ranks in your hand at the end.
You compare your score to the dummy's round score. If you have a lower sum, you win!
If there's a tie, the tied player to exist first wins!
If still tied, share the victory.
Example (shed out):
Chocula leads a suited run of 9,10. Chocula plays over themselves with a suited run of 11,12, playing their last 2 cards. Chocula has shed out. Chocula reveals the dummy hand, which has a 3 of Clubs, 4 of Clubs, 2 of Hearts, and a 9 of Spades. Chocula is playing on Normal difficulty, so he removes the 9 of Spades. The dummy hand's final score is 9 (3 + 4 + 2), while Chocula has a final score of 0. Chocula wins!
Example (deck runs out):
Chocula leads a 10. Chocula passes. Chocula must draw 3 cards, but the deck only has 1. Chocula only draws 1 card. Now the final trick happens, Chocula leads a 4,4,4. (Note: if the deck had 3 cards and Chocula drew them all, this would still trigger the final trick, as the deck has run out.) Chocula passes. Chocula reveals the dummy hand, which has a 6 of Clubs, 7 of Clubs, 2 of Hearts, 5 of Hearts, and a 11 of Spades. Chocula is playing on Hard difficulty, so he removes all of the Clubs and the 11 of Spades. The dummy hand's final score is 7 (2 + 5), while Chocula has a final score of 8 because he had a 3 of Hearts and a 5 of Spades in his hand after the final trick. Chocula loses..
Playing 1 round is great, but you can play best of 3 or 5, with 2 additional rules.
In best of 3/5, you keep a running total of both your scores and the dummy's scores, and you win if your combined scores are under the combined dummy's scores. However, you deal 1 less card to the dummy hand each subsequent round, making their score (likely) better and giving you less Wild options. Good luck!!
What is a Shedding/Climbing Game?
A Shedding/Climbing game is a type of card game where players take turns playing melds, or combinations/sets of cards. The goal of Shedding games is to play out all of your cards first, or to shed out. The Climbing aspect refers to the card play, where players must play stronger or higher melds in order to play at all. The first player, or Start Player, will play a certain meld and the following players can either play a stronger set of cards of that same meld type or pass. Passing is declaring that the player is out of the card play until a new Start Player is determined. A new Start Player is determined when all but one player passes. The next leading player will start play again by playing any valid meld. Play continues until someone has shed out.