Can't Win Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up
• Gameplay
  • 1. Deal Cards
  • 2. Choose Constraint & Bid
    • A. Choose Constraint
    • B. Bid
  • 3. Playing Tricks
    • 3-1. Start the Trick
    • 3-2. Determining the Winner of the Trick
    • 3-3. Next Trick and End of Round
  • 4. Scoring
    • 4-1. Tricks
    • 4-2. Bids
• End of the Game
• Beginner-Friendly Rules

Components

• Cards x48 (1-12 in 4 colors)
• Can't Win tiles x5
• Bid tokens x18
• Support tokens x12 (only used with the beginner-friendly rules)
• Start marker x1
• Score pad x1

Setting Up

1. Place the Start marker, the 18 Bid tokens, and the 5 Can't Win tiles in the middle of the play area.
2. Use the following amount of cards for your player count:
   • 3 players: Use the 36 cards numbered 1-9 in each color. Find the 12 cards with the 4p icon in the bottom right corner and remove them from the deck (10-12 in each color).
   • 4 players: Use all 48 cards.

Gameplay

Each round follows these 4 steps:

1. Deal Cards
2. Choose Constraint & Bid
3. Play Tricks
4. Score

1. Deal Cards

Firstly, pick a random player to be the dealer for the round. They shuffle the cards and deal 12 to each player. The dealer changes each round to the player to the left of the current dealer.

You may look at the cards dealt to you, but keep them secret from the other players.

2. Choose Constraint & Bid

Starting with the dealer, everyone takes turns in clockwise order to choose their Can't Win tile (A) or make their bid (B). Once everyone around the table has finished one option, the dealer then completes their other option, A or B, and everyone follows suit. You may carry out the options in whichever order you choose, but you must do both A. Choose Constraint and B. Bid.

A. Choose Constraint

Choose 1 Can't Win tile from the play area to put in front of you after looking at the cards dealt to you. Each tile describes the constraint that prevents you winning with certain cards. Each constraint only affects the player who holds it.

Can't Win Tile Effects

• Revive Ban: You can't win tricks with pink Revive cards if you choose this constraint.
• Spell Ban: You can't win tricks with purple Spell cards if you choose this constraint.
• Item Ban: You can't win tricks with yellow Item cards if you choose this constraint.
• No Escape: You can't win tricks with even-numbered cards if you choose this constraint.
• No XP: You can't win tricks with odd-numbered cards if you choose this constraint.

B. Bid

Predict how many times you think you'll win after looking at your cards. Take that many Bid tokens to put in front of you. You may bid for 0 wins by not taking any tokens and saying, "Zero," instead.

The first player that carries out B. Bid each round takes the Start marker and puts it in front of themself.

If you think you can win exactly 3 times, take 3 Bid tokens.

When all players have finished making their choices, return the remaining Can't Win tiles and Bid tokens to the box.

3. Playing Tricks

Each trick is played by players choosing 1 card from their hand to put down, then determining the winner. You'll do this 12 times per round.

3-1. Start the Trick

The player with the Start marker chooses any 1 card from their hand to put down in front of themself. Starting a trick makes your card the lead card, and the color of the card you put down is the lead color for this trick.

The remaining players then follow in clockwise order. One at a time, everyone chooses 1 card to put down in front of themselves, face up and in portrait (upright) orientation. If you have any cards in your hand that are the same color as the lead color, you must play one of them. If you don't have any cards of the lead color, you may play any card.

If you play a card that falls under your Can't Win tile constraint, you must inform everyone you "Can't win!" Then place your card in front of you face up, but in landscape orientation (sideways). This shows you cannot win this trick with your card.

If the lead card is sideways, you must still play a card that matches the lead color if you have any in your hand.

3-2. Determining the Winner of the Trick

Once all players have put a card down, the winner is the player with the highest card that meets the right conditions.

First, check to see if there are any upright turquoise cards in play. Turquoise cards are the strongest color, known as the trump suit. If there are any trump cards in play, the highest number among them wins this trick.

If there are no trump cards, the player with the highest upright number in the lead color is the winner of the trick.

If there are no upright lead-color or trump cards, the player with the highest upright number card in any color wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest number, the player who puts their card down latest in the turn order takes the win.

If every card is sideways, the highest number of any color wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest number, the player who puts their card down latest in the turn order takes the win.

Example 1: Trump Cards in Play — The player that puts down the highest trump card wins.

Example 2: No Trump Cards in Play — The player that puts down the highest card in the lead color wins.

Example 3: No Trump Cards or Upright Lead-Color Cards — The highest upright card from the last player in the turn order wins, regardless of color.

Example 4: All Cards are Sideways — The highest card from the last player in the turn order wins.

Card Strengths (strongest to weakest): Upright trump cards, upright lead-color cards, upright cards of any color, sideways cards.

The winner of the trick puts all the cards that were played in a face down pile in front of themself. Each pile shows 1 win this round. No one may look at the fronts of these cards once they are face down.

If you have any Bid tokens when you win a trick, put 1 on the pile of cards you put in front of you. This makes it easier to tell how many times you have won and how many bids you have remaining.

3-3. Next Trick and End of Round

The winner of the last trick becomes the leader and starts off the next trick. Continue until everyone runs out of cards in their hand. The round ends when nobody has any cards left. Then, move on to scoring and the next round.

4. Scoring

Record the points you earn for your wins and bids on the Score Sheet.

4-1. Tricks

Write down the number of tricks each player won this round.

4-2. Bids

Record the number of points each player scores for their Bid tokens as follows:

Score 1 point if your Bid tokens exactly match the number of tricks you won. Score 2 points if you bid 0 and win no tricks. Score 0 points if your bid did not match your wins.

Scoring Example 1: You bid for 2 wins and won 2 tricks. Bid wizard! (You hit your bid!) Write "2" in the Tricks row, and "1" in the Points row.

Scoring Example 2: You bid for 0 wins and won 0 tricks. Write "0" in the Tricks row, and "2" in the Points row.

After scoring, return all the Bid tokens, Can't Win tiles, and the Start marker to the middle, and begin a new round from Step 1, Deal Cards.

End of the Game

The game ends when you have completed as many rounds as there are players.

Find the total of your Tricks and points separately by adding up each row. Write the total of each in the Sum column. Then, multiply the two totals in the Sum column to get your final score. The player with the highest final score wins! In the event of a tie, the player with the highest Points row total wins. If it's still a tie, then the players share the victory!

Beginner-Friendly Rules

Bring players that are new to trick-taking into the game by using these modified rules. Make the following changes to play a beginner-friendly game:

Setting Up: Find the 12 Support tokens and put them within reach of all players.

Gameplay — 4-2. Bids: Record the number of points each player scores for their Bid tokens as follows:

If your bid was wrong, you get 0 points but gain 1 Support token to place in front of you. Support tokens help you bid more flexibly in the following rounds. You can collect Support tokens until your bid matches your wins. You do not need to return them at the end of a round.

Score 1 point if your Bid tokens exactly match the number of tricks you won. Score 2 points if you bid 0 and win no tricks.

When you have Support tokens during scoring, your bid is more flexible. Each token allows you to add or remove 1 from the number of wins you bid for. If your bids match your wins during scoring, whether your original bid was exactly right or if you have enough Support tokens to make your bid match your wins, you must return your Support tokens to the pile.

The points you get for correct bids do not differ in the beginner-friendly rules, even when you have Support tokens.

Scoring Example: You predicted 2 wins and got 1 win, and you have 2 Support tokens. With the 2 Support tokens, you can treat your wins as any number from 0 to 4 wins. Bid wizard! Write "1" in the Tricks row, and "1" in the Points row. Then, return all your Support tokens to the pile.