Black Jacky
Black Jacky Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
55 cards:
- 6 cat cards (front: Saloon, back: Wanted)
- 12 heart cards (front: red heart, back: black heart)
- 36 mouse cards (1 × the 1, 2 × the 2, up to 8 × the 8)
- 1 "+1" card
Setup
- Each player first chooses 1 cat card and places it in front of them with the Saloon side face up.
- Each player takes 3 heart cards and lays them out in front of them. The side with the red heart must be visible. If you are playing with 4 or more players, each player receives only 2 red hearts.
Note: All the talk of seven lives is nonsense! Cats have at most three …
- Place the "+1" card within reach, next to the game box. Unused cat and heart cards go back into the box.
- The player with the thickest fur becomes the starting player. Their right-hand neighbour shuffles all the mouse cards and deals 2 to each player. Pick them up so that your opponents cannot see them.
- The remaining mouse cards form a face-down draw pile in the middle of the table. Turn over the top card and place it beside the pile. It forms the first card of the discard pile. Now the game begins!
High Noon – The Duel Takes Its Course
The game is played over several rounds. The starting player begins the first round, and then you play clockwise in turn order. When it is your turn, you must first cheat (optional), and then you must play (mandatory).
Optional action: First, cheat
Lay down a card and use its trick.
If you want to cheat, lay one of your mouse cards face up in front of you. Then use the trick described on that card. All card tricks are explained on the back of the rulebook. Laid-down mouse cards remain in front of you until the Reckoning. You may cheat at most once per turn.
Caution, hombres! Cheating is not all advantages. Your opponents thereby learn part of your card values. And what has been laid down stays laid down – until the day of the Reckoning …
Mandatory action: Then, play
Afterwards you must play by carrying out one of these 3 actions:
Either: Draw!
Take 1 card from the top of the draw pile into your hand.
Take the top card of the draw pile into your hand.
If your card total is not yet high enough, then draw, gringo!
Or: Swap!
Put a card from your hand aside and instead take the top card of the draw pile or the discard pile.
Set aside a card from your hand. Then take either the top card of the draw pile or of the discard pile into your hand. Your "old" card is then placed face up on the discard pile.
Sometimes swapping a card is your last chance to get back under 21.
Remember: you can only swap from the discard pile. Whoever draws from there without first giving up a hand card gets what's coming to them!
Or: Knock!
Leave your hand of cards as it is and knock.
If you knock on the table, you leave your hand of cards as it is. If you are the first to knock, you also initiate the end of the round. Now all the other players get exactly one more turn. They may of course also knock if they wish. Important: whoever has knocked is protected from the card tricks of the other players.
If you think your hand of cards is good enough, then knock on wood … This puts your opponents under tremendous pressure!
Day of Reckoning
After the end of the round has been initiated and all the other players have made their last turn, the Reckoning takes place. Each player adds up the number values of their hand cards and of any mouse cards they have laid down in front of them.
Now the following applies:
- Whoever has a total of 21 or more loses 1 heart.
- Nobody has 21 or more? Then instead, whoever has the lowest total (in case of a tie: those with the lowest total) loses 1 heart.
My advice, paleface? Read the Reckoning example at the end of the rulebook!
If you lose a heart, return it to the box. If it was your last heart, turn your cat card over to the Wanted side. This means you are out for the time being and no longer active.
New duel, new luck!
If the "+1" card lies in front of a player, it goes back next to the box. The next active player (clockwise) becomes the new starting player. Their right-hand neighbour shuffles all the mouse cards and again deals 2 cards to all active players – that is, to all cats in the saloon. On we go!
Those Given Up for Dead Tap Longer …
If you have no hearts left, you no longer play for the time being. Instead, before the start of the round, you guess who will lose a heart. For this, place your cat card in front of the player you think will be hit in this round. (If several players are currently out, they guess in turn, starting from the current starting player.)
- Correct guess: You are right if the player you guessed loses a heart. As a reward, you receive 1 black heart and place it visibly in front of you:
- You are back in the game! Turn your cat card face up to the Saloon side again. But beware: the black heart is your last chance! If you lose it, you are finally out and are eliminated … This means you may no longer guess, and you return your cat to the box.
- Wrong guess: If you guess wrong, your cat stays on the Wanted side. Take it back and simply guess again in the next round.
Showdown – The End
As soon as only 2 players are left, guessing is dropped. These two cats settle the victory between themselves. Now "last cat standing" applies – the last cat with a heart wins the game.
If both players lose their last heart at the same time, there is no winner: boom, boom, everyone falls over …
Card Tricks
Here you will find explanations of the individual card tricks.
Important: Tricks can only affect active players. These are the players who have neither knocked nor been eliminated.
| Mouse card | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1 – Trick: The current round ends immediately after your turn. | As soon as you have carried out your mandatory action (draw, swap or knock), the Reckoning takes place immediately. The other players therefore no longer get a turn. |
| 2 – Trick: Erases the knock. | The round continues as if nobody had knocked so far. |
| 3 – Trick: Choose 2 active players. They give each other 1 hand card face down. | Both players freely choose which hand card they give to the other. Then they are swapped simultaneously and taken into hand. You may also choose yourself as one of the two players. |
| 4 – Trick: The next active player immediately draws 1 card from the draw pile. | Affects the next active player clockwise. (This can also be the cheater themselves.) They take the drawn card into their hand. |
| 5 – Trick: Turn this mouse card over. It is not added to your total on the Reckoning. | Turn this mouse card in your layout face down. On the day of the Reckoning it is not added to your total. |
| 6 – Trick: Place the "+1" card in front of an active player. | The "+1" card raises your total on the day of the Reckoning by 1. • You may also place the "+1" card in front of yourself. • Does the card already lie in front of an active player? Leave it there or place it in front of another active player. • Does it lie in front of an inactive player instead? Then you cannot take it away from them. In this case the trick expires. |
| 7 – Trick: Place the top card of the draw pile face up on the discard pile. |
The great Whiskertou says: If this is your first time or you are only dropping by the saloon briefly, try the delicious quick duel!
Variant: Quick Duel
In the quick duel, the game ends as soon as the first cat has no hearts left. Whoever then has the most hearts wins. In case of a tie, the winner is whichever of these players had the highest total under 21 in the current round. If that is also tied, there are several winners.
Reckoning Example
- Butch Catsidy has 7 and 5 in hand. In front of him lies an 8. The 8 in front of him brings a bonus of 0.1 (trick): 7 + 5 + 8.1 = 20.1.
- Sundance Cat has 8 and 5 in hand. In front of him lie a 6 and the "+1" card. In hand the 8 brings no bonus: 8 + 5 + 6 + 1 = 20.
- Calamietzi Jane has 7, 6, 2 in hand. In front of her lies a 6: 7 + 6 + 2 + 6 = 21.
Calamietzi Jane has a total that is too high at 21. Therefore she must give up 1 heart. Sundance Cat does have the lowest total (20 vs. Butch Catsidy's 20.1), but since someone else reached 21 or more, he does not have to give up a heart.