Cry Baby
Cry Baby Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Cry Baby is a trick-taking game played in 4 rounds of 7 tricks each. At the start of each round, you must choose the orientation of your hand of cards and bet on the number of tricks you think you can win during the round. If you win your bet, you will gain a lot of points. Otherwise, you can cry, it helps a lot…
At the end of the 4th round, the player with the most points wins the game.
Content
- 44 Conspirator cards (dual coloured) — front shows the card's active side, back shows the reverse side.
- 1 Reminder card — indicates the distribution of the Conspirator cards.
- 25 Bet cards (5 per colour).
For those familiar with trick-taking games
There are 4 types of Conspirators.
The Queen (blue) and the King (red) have no real powers. They are the colours!
The Enchanter (yellow) makes a little magic, so the Enchanter is the trump card! They always win against the Queen and the King.
The Dragons (black) are creatures born of magic, so they are the supertrump cards! They always win the trick.
Setup
- Place the Reminder card at the centre of the table.
- Each player chooses a colour and takes the 5 Bet cards of that colour.
- Equip yourselves with a quill and parchment (not included) to write the scores at the end of each round.
- Distribute 7 Conspirator cards to each player.
- Place the remaining Conspirator cards in a face-down pile. They form the supply.
- The player who can cry, here and now, is the start player and will be the leader of the first trick.
The first round can begin!
Start of a Round
Each player takes their 7 Conspirator cards and looks at them in their current orientation. Then, they rotate them to look at them in the other orientation.
Players will now choose the definitive orientation of their Conspirator cards and form their hand for this round.
Finally, they select a Bet card and place it, face down, in front of them. Several bets are indicated on these cards. If, at the end of the round, the player has won a number of tricks equal to one of the bets on the selected card, they gain the associated points (written above the bet that has been won).
Once all the players are ready, they reveal their Bet cards simultaneously and place them, face up, in front of them so they are visible to all players.
The preparation is done, you can now proceed with the 7 tricks (there are as many tricks as cards in your hand).
Warning: you cannot change the orientation of a card in your hand, except when you Cry!
Salomé has received the following cards. When she rotates them, she gets the red 13 and red 26, the blue 25 and blue 29, the yellow 9 and yellow 13, and the black 40. She chooses to play with this orientation and thinks she can take 3 tricks with it. Then, she selects the Bet card on the right. So, if she wins 2, 3, or 4 tricks, she will gain 3, 9, or 4 points respectively, and nothing at all if she wins fewer than 2 tricks, or more than 4 tricks!
Playing a Trick
Each of the 7 tricks of a round is played as follows:
The leader starts the trick by playing one of the cards in their hand, without any restrictions. The suit of this card is the leading suit. Then, one after the other, in clockwise order, each player plays a card from their hand, while respecting the following rules:
- If they have a card of the leading suit, they must play it.
- If they do not have a card of the leading suit, then they can play any card they want.
Whether they have a card of the leading suit or not, a player can always choose to play a black card.
Once all the players have played a card, you have to determine who Cries and who wins the trick.
The player who played the lowest card (regardless of its suit) is the Crybaby. They choose one of these two bonuses:
- Cry about their hand: they change the orientation of ONE card in their hand.
OR
- Cry for 1 point: they take a card from the supply and place it under their Bet card.
The winner of the trick is the player who played:
- the black card with the highest value; or, if no black card has been played,
- the yellow card with the highest value; or, if no black or yellow card has been played,
- the card with the highest value in the leading suit.
This player takes the cards played in the current trick and places them, face down, in front of them, next to any previous tricks they may have won.
If you still have cards in hand, the winner of the trick becomes the new leader and starts a new trick. If you don't, it's the end of the round.
Reminder: you cannot change the orientation of a card in your hand, except when you Cry!
- Note: when you play a card, place its active side on the Reminder card. This way, all the players know the colours and values of the cards that have been played for this trick.
- Note: you can play cards that are lower or higher in value than the cards already played; this only matters in determining who wins the trick and who Cries.
- Note: in case of a tie for the lowest-value card, all the tied players Cry and get the bonus they chose.
- Note: A player can have the lowest card and still win the trick.
- Note: depending on the game state and the selected Bet card, it can be a better idea to Cry in order to worsen one's hand instead of improving it.
- Note: if the leader starts a trick with a dragon (black), the other players have to play a dragon as well if they have one in their hand.
Frédéric starts the trick with a blue 11. Salomé plays her blue 29. She has a chance of winning this trick. But here comes Muriel, who does not have blue cards and plays a yellow 11 instead. She wins this trick, because yellow is stronger than blue. Besides, Frédéric and Muriel can Cry, because they both played the lowest-value card! Frédéric decides to Cry about his hand and rotates his blue 3 into a yellow 30. Wow, that's strong! Muriel prefers Crying for 1 point. No profit is too small.
End of a Round
Once the 7th trick of the round has been played, each player counts their points the following way:
1 point per card won by "Crying for 1 point". Then, these cards are returned to the supply.
Plus:
- If the player won a number of tricks equal to one of the bets on their Bet card, they gain the associated points. Then, they remove the Bet card from the game.
- If the number of tricks they won is not equal to any bets on their Bet card, they do not gain points for their bets. They take their Bet card back and will be able to play it again during another round.
Note the scores on the parchment (or any appropriate material!). Add these scores to the ones from the previous rounds.
At the end of the round, Salomé has won 3 tricks. That's exactly what she needed: she gains 9 points! Muriel has won a total of 3 tricks. It's no good news, as she cannot validate any bet on her card; she had to win a maximum of 2 tricks! Still, she won 2 points by Crying. So, she has gained a total of 2 points for this round!
If this was the 4th round, the game is over!
If not, start a new round: take all the Conspirator cards back (the ones in the supply and the ones won by Crying) and shuffle them. The player who has the highest score is the new leader.
- Note: shuffle the cards well before dealing them for a new round; you can even rotate some of them.
- Note: in case of a tie when determining the new leader, the player who cried most during the round becomes the new leader (or select randomly).
End of the Game
The game ends after the scoring phase in the 4th round. The player who has the most points wins! In case of a tie, the winner is the player who won the most points during the 4th round. If there is still a tie, the author of the game wins! And now, you have a good reason to cry!
Special Thanks
The author thanks his wife and children for their support, as long as his extreme playtesters: his entire family and in-laws, Astien, Jess, Julien, JB, Mat, as well as all the members of the Compagnie des Auteurs Lyonnais (CAL).
Credits
- Author: Frédéric Vuagnat
- Illustrator: Crocotame
- Editorial director: Simon Villiot
- Artistic director: Claude Lucchini
- Rules editing: Thibaut François
- Proofreading & translation: Ambre Poilvé
v 1.4 — BLAM!