Cheap Shot
Cheap Shot Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Game of Insult Rummy
The gloves are off in this Gut Bustin' game of biting insults and sassy blocks.
Players attempt to arrange cards into insults and target an opponent. The more attitude, the better!
Object
The goal of the game is to have the most points!
On their turn, a player targets a specific opponent and plays down an insult, or rummys onto one of their existing insults, using cards from their hand. The more attitude, the better!
The targeted player may be able to block the insult with a red card and cause an upset! Cards that remain on the table as either an insult or a block will count as points at the end of each hand.
Set Up
Do this now and read the details later!
Grab a pencil and paper for recording scores.
The smartest player shuffles all of the cards together several times and deals seven cards to each player as their hand. Two players? Deal each player eleven cards.
The dealer creates a draw pile in the center of the table and puts the top card face up next to the pile. The player to the left of the dealer goes first. Play continues clockwise. Deal rotates left after each hand.
Consecutive hands are played until one player reaches the required points to win. See Winning The Game (pg 5) for details.
Rules of Play
A turn consists of: (1) Draw, (2) Play (optional), (3) Discard.
1. Draw
A player may take one card from the top of the draw pile, OR they may take one, two, or three cards from the top of the discard pile if available (in order to have more than one card in the discard pile, the game must have been going a few turns).
If more than one card is taken from the discard pile, the player must use the card at the bottom of their draw to play down as part of an insult, and may use any of the other drawn cards.
See More About The Draw (pg 4) for details.
TIP! Hold the cards cascade style for ease of arranging an insult.
2. Play (optional)
Players have the option to play down a new insult with two or more cards from their hand, or rummy onto their own existing insult.
Players may or may not have a play each turn. A turn may be used to just draw a card and discard.
- An insult played down must begin with and contain only one green subject card (cards that begin with "You" or "Your").
- Commas are never implied. An insult may not have more than two connectors (cards that begin with "and").
- If a majority of the players object to an insult as not "making sense" or being an incomplete sentence, the card player must put the insult back into their hand. As an example of not making sense: "YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY IS/ARE A HIDEOUS PRIMATE!"
- Only one insult may be attempted each turn.
Targeting an opponent
The card player (let's call her "Lauren") names a person, plays cards from her hand onto the table in her own playing area, and verbalizes the insult with as much attitude as she can muster:
"Hey Steve, You / are a barfly."
Blocking
To block the insult, the targeted player (Steve) may play down a red block card in his playing area (with even more attitude)!
"Eat my shorts!"
At this point, Steve may select one of Lauren's cards from the insult for his own hand. The red block card stays on the table in front of Steve as a point for him at the end of the hand. The remaining cards from the insult are returned to Lauren's hand, then she must discard to end her turn.
Remember, only one insult may be attempted during a turn!
Countering the Block
A red block card may be used to counter a red card back and forth for as many red cards as the players wish to use out of their hands.
Sandy plays an insult:
"Dave, Your mom / looks like a human yardsale."
Dave blocks:
"Oh, real mature."
Sandy counters that block:
"Stop. You are just embarassing yourself."
The insult would stand and the red block cards remain face up in each player's own point area on the table in front of them.
Each block card will count as one point at the end of the hand.
See Points (pg 5) for details.
Rummying (Adding To Your Existing Insult)
Sandy can rummy onto an insult that she already has down on the table as her turn. The insult must still make sense. If blocked, and Sandy cannot play a counter block, all of the cards in the insult go back into Sandy's hand, minus one that the targeted player may choose.
From the previous example, Sandy adds two cards to her existing insult:
"Your mom / looks like a human yardsale / and / often makes me feel icky."
Sandy can target any player with the new and improved insult. The more cards in an insult, the bigger the points!
3. Discard
Every turn ends with a discard, even the last turn when going out... unless a block card is any players' last card.
If a player has an insult to play but does not have a discard, they must wait until their next turn to play the insult in order to have a discard.
Position the discards so players can read the three top cards, as the next player may draw up to three cards from the discard pile.
More About The Draw
If two or three cards are taken from the top of the discard pile, the player (Sandy) must play down an insult this round. Within her insult, she must use the card at the bottom of her draw as part of the insult.
If Sandy does not use all of the discard pile cards she had drawn in her insult, she sets the unused cards to the side just in case her insult is rejected for not making sense or being incomplete. If rejected, she must reassemble the discard pile as it was using all of the drawn cards.
If the insult is accepted, she then adds the unused cards to her hand.
Sandy finishes her turn with a discard.
Going Out
A hand continues until a player (Lauren) is able to go out. To go out, she uses all of her cards in hand and saves one card for the discard. She hurls the final insult at Dave, and if not blocked with a red block card, she throws her last card face down with some sort of "Take that!" comment. The hand is over!
Another way to end a hand is to play a block card as any player's last card. As an example, Lauren plays down an insult targeted at Dave. Dave uses his last card in hand to block the insult. He may choose to end the hand, or select a card from Lauren's insult for his own hand (if he is low on points and wants the hand to continue).
At the end of each hand, after points are recorded, move used cards from the discard pile and point areas to the side and deal from the unused draw pile.
When the draw pile runs out, the top three cards of the discard pile are kept in place. The remainder of the discard pile, plus any cards used in previous hands, are shuffled and placed face down to become the new draw pile.
Winning The Game
- 2 - 3 Players: The first player to 100 points wins!
- 4 - 6 Players: The first player to 75 points wins!
To shorten the game, limit it to three hands. Highest score wins!
Points
Each insult is scored individually. The longer the insult, the more points! An insult can have a maximum of six cards, as only one green subject card and no more than two connectors ("and") may be used. Each card in an insult adds the number of its position for scoring:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21
Example insult (cards in order): Your entire family / (is/are) cantankerous / and / (is/are) certifiable / and / make(s) me want to barf.
See Point Chart on page 6.
Each played block card counts as one point.
Illustration: a red block card reading "Zip Your Pie Hole!"
Penalty
Deduct one point off of each player's score for each remaining card left in their hands. A hand cannot go below zero points.
Point Chart Per Insult
| # of Cards | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 |
Variation
A house rule may include allowing a reforming of the insult to make it stand. This is only a house rule with nice people in the game, not evil sociopath players.
Liquid Refreshment Option: Every time your insult is blocked ;)