Daytime Minutes

a trick-taking game by Cardner & Alex Babakitis

Components

• 45 talk cards (1–15 in 3 suits: friends, family, work)
• 4 plan cards (150, 180, 210, 240)
• 1 time card
• 1 time tracker token
• 1 start player token
• 18 SIM card tokens
• 4 reference cards
• 1 rulebook

Each talk card has two values: a talk value and a minutes value.

The numbers 1–15 are talk values, which are used to determine who wins tricks and collects cards.

The minutes values are 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60. Minutes are counted toward the active plan card, which represents all players' target for the round.

Game Setup

The player who most recently talked on the phone takes the start player token. Each player takes 3 SIM card tokens.

Set the time card in the center of the play area. The time tracker token starts on the morning space of the time card. Set the 180-minute plan card face-up near the time card, and set the other plan cards aside face-down nearby.

Shuffle all talk cards together and deal 9 to each player. Set aside any undealt talk cards face-down without revealing them.

Playing a Hand

The player with the start player token leads the first trick. Beginning with the lead player and proceeding clockwise, each player in turn plays a talk card from their hand into the trick. The lead player may play any card from their hand into the trick.

In general, up to two different suits may be played into a trick.

If only one suit has been played into a trick so far, the active player may play a talk card of any suit. Once a second suit has been played into a trick, the active player must play a card from one of those two suits, if able.

If a player's hand consists of cards of only one suit, they may play a card of that suit even if it will become the third suit in the trick. If cards from all three suits have already been played into a trick, later players may play a card from any suit.

There are two types of tricks: Daytime and Evening.

The position of the time tracker token on the time card indicates which type of trick is being played. There are three spaces on the time card: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. Morning and Afternoon are both Daytime tricks.

Advance the time tracker after each trick. After an Evening trick, start over again at Morning.

Cards played into Daytime tricks are collected. For each suit, the player who played the highest talk value collects all cards of that suit from the trick. Players keep their collected cards face-up in front of them. Multiple players may collect cards during one trick.

Cards played into Evening tricks are discarded face-down and not collected.

After each trick, the player who played the highest talk value of the led suit (the original suit of the trick) leads the next trick.

For Three Players

In a three-player game, one card will be added into each trick by an unknown caller.

In the first hand, after dealing a hand of 9 cards to each player, place the deck of undealt cards face-down to the right of the player with the start player token.

After each hand, move the position of the deck one space clockwise, so it is between a new pair of players.

During each trick, flip the unknown caller's top card into the trick after the player to the right of the deck plays into the trick. (In the first trick, the unknown caller will play fourth, though this will change as lead changes throughout the round.)

The unknown caller's cards are collected following the normal rules for trick evaluation. If the unknown caller collects cards, discard them face-down. If the unknown caller wins the lead, it leads the top card of the deck and play continues clockwise for the trick. The unknown caller has no SIM cards and cannot incur overage charges or collect the fewest minutes.

Scoring

At the end of a trick, if any player has collected more minutes than the active plan card, they have incurred overage charges and the hand ends immediately.

All players who incurred overage charges discard a SIM card token.

The player with the fewest minutes collected during the hand also discards a SIM card token.

Any player who has collected exactly the number of minutes on the active plan card gains a SIM card token.

If no player incurs overage charges during the hand, only the player with the fewest minutes collected will discard a SIM card token.

If all but one player incurs overage charges, the remaining player does not lose a SIM card token, even though they collected the fewest minutes.

Setup for the Next Round

Give the start player token to the player who collected the fewest minutes. If there is a tie, the player with the lowest total talk value on their collected cards takes the start player token.

Shuffle all talk cards together and deal 9 cards to each player. Set aside any undealt talk cards face-down without revealing them.

The player who incurred overage charges chooses the plan card for the next hand after seeing their new hand of cards. They may choose any of the four plan cards.

If two or more players incurred overage charges, the player among them with the highest total talk value on their collected cards chooses the plan for the next hand. If no player incurred overage charges during the hand, the player with the fewest minutes collected chooses the plan.

Game End

The game ends when any player has 0 SIM Card tokens.

The player with the most remaining SIM Card tokens wins!

In the case of a tie, the victory is shared.