Dexterity Jane Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Setup
• Playing a Round
  • 1. Reveal
  • 2. Guess
    • Card Contents
    • Cards Depicting a Bent Digit
    • Cards Depicting No Digits Bent
    • Lock Your Guess
  • 3. Verify
    • Special Rule for Two-Player Games
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Simplified Version
  • Hand Cards 1 – 24
  • Hand Cards 25 – 60
• Stick-Up Variant
  • Overview
  • Setup
  • Playing a Round (Stick-Up)
    • Card Contents
    • Performing a Stick-Up
    • Performing a Double Stick-Up
    • Two Identical Bullets Cancel Each Other!
    • Lock Your Guess (Stick-Up)
  • Playing a Round (Stick-Up) — Verify
  • End of the Game (Stick-Up)

Overview

Look at the cards spread out on the table, and bend the appropriate digits as quickly as possible. Dexterity Jane is a game of speed that blends observational skills and… dexterity.

The player with the most points at the end of the tenth round will be declared the winner.

Contents

• 10 Round tiles, numbered 1 – 10
• 60 Hand cards
• 8 Order tokens (hats)
• 1 rulebook

For the Stick-Up variant (see page 12):

• 10 Coin tokens (values 0 – 6)
• 1 Sheriff token

Setup

Place the following to the side of the play area:

1. The Hand cards, shuffled and stacked, Fame side up (face with a number).
2. The Round tiles, stacked in ascending order, with tile number 1 on top.
3. The Order tokens (one token fewer than the number of players, starting with 1, then adding them in ascending order).

Playing a Round

A game lasts ten rounds. Each round comprises three phases:

1. Reveal
2. Guess
3. Verify

1. Reveal

Draw a number of Hand cards equal to the top Round tile on the stack. Deal them out as evenly as possible to the players, Fame side up.

Thus, a total of one card is dealt during the first round; two cards during the second; and so on. This means that some players might not have any cards, or that some players might have more than one.

Simultaneously and quickly, the players who received cards flip them face up in the middle of the table.

Do not overlap the revealed cards, and do not rearrange them. This means they will remain in random orientations, and players will have to pivot them in their minds.

2. Guess

Important: during this phase, no one is allowed to touch the revealed Hand cards.

Everyone considers all of the revealed Hand cards.

Card Contents

Each card depicts a left hand or a right hand, on which a maximum of one digit is bent.

Two identical cards cancel each other! Each pair of identical cards in a Round is canceled. Two cards are considered identical if they depict the same hand (left or right) in the same position (with the same digit bent, or with no digits bent).

Note: the hands depicted have different colors, backgrounds, and other attributes (glove, scar, ring…) which have no impact on the game. This is all purely decorative; just ignore it when you play.

Cards Depicting a Bent Digit

Each player must bend all of the digits depicted as bent on the set of revealed cards, being careful to respect which hand is shown (left or right).

If one hand is not depicted on any of the cards, then no fingers should be bent on that hand.

Cards Depicting No Digits Bent

A card depicting a hand with no digits bent cancels all other cards depicting a bent finger on this hand (left or right). Thus, this hand should remain completely open.

By changing just one card from the previous example, no digits at all on the left hand should be bent!

Lock Your Guess

As soon as you think you have reproduced what this set of cards requires, you must lock your guess, which is to say that you put both of your hands on the table palms down, being careful to keep your digits bent according to your guess.

Immediately, announce your number: If you are the first player to lock a guess, you call out, “First!” If you are second, you call out, “Second!” etc. Then you wait, without budging your digits/hands, until the other players have all locked their guesses.

However, the last player cannot lock their guess; this means the last player will score no points this round! This player's role will be to verify the other players' guesses (even in a two-player game).

Tip: so you don't forget the order in which folks locked their guesses, before you continue, you can distribute the Order tokens to keep track of this order. This may be very helpful for some players. If you all agree you don't need the Order tokens, you can proceed without them.

During the verification process, it is crucial for players who still have a guess locked to keep their fingers/hands immobile.

3. Verify

The player who was last, and thus not allowed to lock a guess, is in charge of verification.

Now you can rearrange and reorient the Hand cards in the middle of the table to make them easier to read.

To verify everyone's guesses, proceed as follows:

1. Sort the Hand cards into two groups: cards depicting a left hand, and cards depicting a right hand.
2. Within each group, discard each pair of identical cards (these cards cancel each other). Although it is rare, it's possible that no cards are left as a result.
3. Within each group, if there is a Hand card that depicts no digits bent, discard the entire group (because no digits on this hand should be bent).
4. Verify whether the first guesser's guess meets all the criteria on the remaining cards:
   • If yes, this player earns the Round tile for this round, and places it in front of them (its number represents the number of fame points they earned).
   • If no, this player earns nothing. Now check the second guesser's guess, then third, and so on, until someone has the right combination.
   • If no one got it right, then no one gets the Round tile; discard it.
5. If someone earns the Round tile, continue verifying the other players' guesses. In order, each of these remaining players who got it right takes a Hand card from the discard pile (while supplies last) and places it Fame side up in front of them, making it worth 1 fame point. If there are no cards left in the discard pile, the remaining players get no reward.

Special Rule for Two-Player Games

If the player who locked a guess is wrong, that player loses the round. Instead, the other player earns the Round tile as if they had locked a correct guess.

Note: to make it easier to verify people's guesses, you can flip the locked guesses palm up (without changing the guess!).

End of the Round

The round ends after all of the locked guesses have been verified.

Discard all of the Hand cards used during the round.

End of the Game

The game ends after the tenth round.

Each player totals their fame points:

• Each Hand card is worth 1 fame point.
• Each Round tile is worth a number of fame points equal to the number on the tile.

The player with the most fame points wins.

If it is a tie, the tied player with the higher-numbered Round tile wins.

Simplified Version

This version makes it a little easier to learn the game, and also makes Dexterity Jane accessible for younger players.

Note: this version is incompatible with the Stick-Up variant (see page 12)!

Hand Cards 1 – 24

At the beginning of the game, shuffle Hand cards 1 – 24, and stack them Fame side up. Only these twenty-four cards will be used to play the ten rounds of the game (according to the usual rules); thus, never discard these cards!

When you start a new round, shuffle all of the Hand cards (1 – 24) before drawing cards according to the new Round tile.

On these cards, the color of the mat in the background also indicates which hand is depicted:

• Red mat = left hand
• Green mat = right hand

(The card numbers can be found on the hand illustrations.)

Hand Cards 25 – 60

At the beginning of the game, stack Hand cards 25 – 60 Fame side up (no need to shuffle them).

In the simplified version, these cards are only used as fame points. Use them in the Verify phase to reward players who locked a correct guess but didn't earn the Round tile.

Important: in the simplified version, never shuffle the two stacks together (i.e., keep 1 – 24 separate from 25 – 60).

Note: cards 25 – 60 also have green and red mats in the background, but they are assigned… randomly! So, when you play the full sixty-card game, you cannot rely on the mat colors!

Now you are ready to play the simplified version, so you can grasp Dexterity Jane! Read the rest of this later.

Stick-Up Variant

Add the following rules to the basic rules.

Overview

When a stick-up is triggered, you must quick-draw and shoot an opponent to steal a Coin token; these tokens are worth points at the end of the game.

Setup

Deal a random Coin token face down to each player. Keep these tokens face down throughout the game; however, you are allowed to peek at your own token at any time.

Return the remaining tokens to the box without revealing them.

Flip the Sheriff token in the air. Whichever side is showing when it lands determines (for the entire game) which hand will get priority when resolving stick-ups.

Playing a Round (Stick-Up)

1. Reveal: no additions to the basic rules.

2. Guess: you can either perform a stick-up or lock a guess as in the basic game (victim of a stick-up or not).

Card Contents

Cards that depict a bullet allow you to perform a stick-up; however, there can only be two stick-ups at most in a round: one for the left hand, and one for the right hand.

Performing a Stick-Up

A bullet on a Hand card (even if the bullet is partially obscured) allows a stick-up using the matching hand (left/right).

As soon as you think a stick-up is allowed for a hand, shape that hand like a pistol, point it at another player and shout, “POW!” then keep your “pistol” pointed at your victim. Place your other palm flat on the table; you can no longer try to reproduce the positions indicated on the Hand cards in the middle of the table this round.

After you have performed a stick-up with one hand, nobody else can perform a stick-up with this same hand this round. It is your responsibility to make sure that nobody else copies your stick-up. If someone does, call them out, and they can do something different (perform a stick-up with the other hand, or lock a guess). The wasted time will be sufficient penalty for the mistake!

Another player can still perform a stick-up with the other hand if it is allowed (i.e., there's a bullet, and nobody else has performed a stick-up with this hand this round).

Nobody is ever required to perform a stick-up just because bullets are available. Even a player with no Coin tokens left can perform a stick-up.

Performing a Double Stick-Up

You can perform a stick-up with both hands if you think it's allowed; however, you must perform both stick-ups simultaneously: aim both hands and shout, “POW! POW!” then keep your “pistols” pointed at your victim(s). That's right: in a double stick-up, you can aim at the same person twice, or two different people.

Two Identical Bullets Cancel Each Other!

Each pair of cards depicting bullets with the same hand (left/right) cancels these bullets. The hands depicted do not need to be identical: they could have different digits bent, or even an open palm.

Example: both right hands have bullets. So these bullets cancel each other; no right-handed stick-ups are allowed. A left-handed stick-up is possible, though!

Lock Your Guess (Stick-Up)

Your "pistol" and the other hand flat on the table, or two "pistols," count as your locked guess for this round. You keep this guess until the end of the round, so you cannot try to earn the usual points for the Round.

Playing a Round (Stick-Up) — Verify

3. Verify: first of all, verify the stick-ups, if there were any.

If there were two stick-ups, first verify the one matching the hand depicted on the Sheriff token (even if one player performed a double stick-up).

Looking only at the cards depicting this hand (left/right), verify that there is an odd number of bullets (pairs cancel themselves!).

• If yes, the stick-up was a success: the robber steals a face-down Coin token from their victim.
• If no, the stick-up backfired: the victim chooses a face-down Coin token to their robber.

If the player who is supposed to lose a Coin token has none, nothing happens.

It's possible that the robber for one stick-up is the victim of another. For example, you could be performing a stick-up with your right hand, while someone else uses their left hand to perform a stick-up on you!

After verifying the stick-ups, move on to verifying the guesses locked on the table per the usual rules; only the players who did not attempt a stick-up participate.

End of the Game (Stick-Up)

Add the values of the Coin tokens in your possession to your fame points. The player with the highest total wins.

In the event of a tie, the tied player with more Coin tokens (regardless of their values) wins. If it is still a tie, the tied player with the higher-numbered Round tile wins.