Drawing Dead (2017) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Goal
• Gameplay
• On Your Turn
  • Step 1: Draw
  • Step 2: Action
    • Play a Role Card
    • Play a Poker Card
    • Claim the BUTTON
  • Step 3: Clean Up
• Winning Hands
  • When You Win a Hand
• Winning the Game
• Other Stuff
  • Joker's Wild!
  • Bad Guys
  • Ace in the Hole!
    • Example
• Optional Rules
  • Fast Draft
  • Advanced Draft
• FAQ
• Glossary
• Reference Side: Poker Hand Rankings
  • Setup (Reference Side)
  • Goal (Reference Side)
  • On Your Turn (Reference Side)
  • Winning (Reference Side)
  • Poker Hand Rankings

Contents

• 1 x 53-card poker deck
• 40 poker chips
• 1 dealer button
• 15 role cards
• 1 Rulebook/reminder card

Setup

Deal each player 1 face-up poker card. High card goes first!

Shuffle the poker deck and the role deck separately and put them in the middle of the table.

Each player gets:

• 15 chips
• 2 poker cards
• 1 role card

Those 3 cards are known as your STASH and must be hidden from other players. You may look at your STASH at any time.

After players have received their starting chips, set the rest aside in the BANK.

Goal

Have both 40 chips AND the most chips at the table at the end of a hand.

Gameplay

Players take turns in order, moving clockwise around the table. During each player's turn, they will play cards from their STASH to the table trying to create the best 5-card poker hand.

If you assemble a better hand than the person with the BUTTON (see below) you may claim it for yourself. Manage to hang on to it until your next turn and you win the hand... and the POT!

NOTE: If you are not familiar with poker hand rankings, you can find them on the back of this booklet.

On Your Turn

Step 1: Draw

Draw 2 poker cards AND 1 role card.

NOTE: If there are no cards in a deck, reshuffle it's trash pile.

Step 2: Action

You may take the following actions in any order and as many times as you choose (including none).

Play a Role Card

Take it from your STASH and place it face-up in front of you.

Role cards are FREE!

If it is not STOPPED (see ACE IN THE HOLE!), do what it says in its ABILITY BOX.

TRASH the card after completing the action.

Play a Poker Card

Take it from your STASH and place it face-up in front of you. It is now known as an UPCARD.

BET 1 CHIP each time you play a poker card.

If you have no chips, you may play poker cards for free.

UPCARDS stay in play until the hand ends.

NOTE: Only UPCARDS count toward your 5-card poker hand!

Claim the BUTTON

NOTE: You can only claim the BUTTON if you have a better 5-card poker hand than the player that currently has it.

When you do not wish to take any further actions, inform the other players and proceed to ...

Step 3: Clean Up

Discard cards until you have NO MORE THAN 5 UPCARDS AND 5 STASH CARDS.

Winning Hands

If your turn starts and you have the BUTTON, you win the hand!

When You Win a Hand

• Take all the chips in the POT.
• Check to see if someone has 40 or more chips.
• If any player has 40 or more chips the game ends (see below).
• If nobody does, play continues until someone has 40 or more.
• Trash all UPCARDS on the table (NOTE: Players keep their STASHES).
• Reshuffle each DECK with its respective TRASH pile.
• Add 5 chips to the pot from the BANK.
• Proceed as normal and take your turn.

Winning the Game

If at the end of any hand you have forty or more chips and you have the most chips at the table, you win the game.

If two players have forty or more chips and are tied, continue playing until someone with over forty chips is the chip leader.

Other Stuff

Joker's Wild!

There is one Joker card in the deck and it is wild. Wild cards are always considered to be the card that will make the best hand.

Bad Guys

Some cards reference Bad Guys. You can tell a Bad Guy apart from the other characters by the words BAD GUY written just above the ability box and below the art.

Ace in the Hole!

Cards with the ACE IN THE HOLE ability can be played during an opponent's turn. In the case of stopping the effect of a role card, wait until your opponent has made all card related game play choices for that role before playing your ACE IN THE HOLE! When a role is stopped, it trashed with no effect. See example below.

Example

An opponent plays the Dirty Cheat and decides he wants to steal your Joker. If you have the Sheriff in your hand, when they say they're going to steal your Joker, simply put the Sheriff card face-up on the table and declare that you intend to stop them. If they don't stop your Sheriff, the Dirty Cheat will be foiled and will have no effect. Put both cards into the discard pile.

Optional Rules

If you wish to draft the role cards instead of drawing them from the deck, try the following systems once you are familiar with the game:

Fast Draft

Begin the game as usual but, instead of drawing a role card, the first player:

• looks at the top two role cards and selects one to keep
• passes the other to the player on their left

THE NEXT PLAYER WILL THEN:

• take the role he or she was passed
• look at the top card of the role deck
• select one of those two cards to keep
• pass the other role card to the player on their left

Play continues this way with the draft mechanic replacing the role card draw each turn.

Advanced Draft

At the beginning of the game, instead of being dealt one role card, each player gets three. EACH PLAYER WILL THEN:

• Look at their cards
• Select one role card
• Pass the two remaining cards to the player on the left
• Look at the two cards passed to them and select one.
• Trash the remaining role card

Shuffle the role deck. Play then continues as normal. This may be combined with the fast draft system above.

FAQ

What if I have 5 of a kind? Does that beat a royal flush? No. You're building the best five-card poker hand. Neither five of a kind, nor a six-card straight would count. See the back of the rules for the poker hand rankings.

Can I take the button if I don't have the best hand at the table? Yes. You just need to have a better hand than the player currently holding the button.

What if I tie the player with the button? Can I take it? No, you would need a better hand than that player.

If I play a Bad Guy and it's stopped, does it still count for Baron Von Doom's bonus? Yes, if it's stopped, you still played it. The Baron doesn't care!

Can I play poker cards before playing the Duke or Magic Man? Yes. You can play as many poker cards as you want before AND/OR after you play role cards.

Glossary

• ACE IN THE HOLE! - Cards with this ability can be played when it isn't your turn.
• BAD GUY - Some cards reference Bad Guys. You can tell a Bad Guy by looking at the box under the art.
• BUTTON - The large chip-style token is the BUTTON. If your upcards make a better 5-card poker hand than the player with the BUTTON (or if the BUTTON is unclaimed), you can claim it. If you start your turn with the BUTTON, you win the hand.
• CLEANUP - The step at the end of your turn where you have to trash cards until you have 5 UPCARDS and 5 STASH CARDS or less. During your turn you can have any number in play, but can only keep 5 at the end of it.
• POT - When players bet chips for playing poker cards it goes to the POT. When a player wins a hand, they take all the chips in the POT. Whenever the pot is empty add 5 chips to it from THE BANK.
• ROLE CARD/ROLE DECK - The deck of 15 character cards that grant you their special powers.
• POKER DECK - A standard 52-card deck plus 1 Joker.
• STASH - The cards you draw that are kept secret from other players at the table. Unless a card says otherwise, your STASH is always hidden from other players.
• STOP - When you stop a ROLE CARD, cancel its ability. It still counts as being played, but has no effect.
• TRASH - Cards that are TRASHED are discarded from the zone they were in and added to the TRASH PILE of the appropriate deck.

Reference Side: Poker Hand Rankings

The back of the booklet summarises setup and turns and gives the poker hand rankings.

Setup (Reference Side)

Each player gets 15 chips, 2 poker cards and 1 role card.

After players have received their starting chips, set the rest aside in the bank.

Goal (Reference Side)

Have both 40 chips AND the most chips at the table at the end of a hand.

On Your Turn (Reference Side)

Step 1: Draw. 2 poker cards AND 1 role card.

Step 2: Action. You may take the following actions in any order and as many times as you choose (including none).

• Play a Role Card. Role cards are FREE! Just do what it says on the card then trash it!
• Play a Poker Card. BET 1 CHIP for each. Played cards are called UPCARDS. NOTE: Only UPCARDS count toward your 5-card poker hand!
• Claim the BUTTON. NOTE: You can only claim the BUTTON if you have a better 5-card poker hand than the player that currently has it.

Step 3: Clean Up. Discard cards until you have NO MORE THAN 5 UPCARDS AND 5 STASH CARDS.

Winning (Reference Side)

If you start your turn with the button, you win the hand.

• Take all the chips in the pot.
• Trash all upcards.
• Reshuffle both decks with their discard piles.
• Check to see if there is a winner (40 or more chips and the most chips at the table).
• If there is no winner, play continues as usual.
• Take your turn.

Printed as "40 or mote chips" on the reference side; read here as "40 or more chips".

Poker Hand Rankings

Ranks are 2-10, J, Q, K, A in ascending order. Suits are Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds.

1. Royal Flush - A, K, Q, J, 10 sharing a suit
2. Straight Flush - 5 cards in a row sharing a suit
3. 4 of a Kind - 4 cards sharing a rank
4. Full House - 3 cards sharing a rank AND 2 cards sharing a different rank
5. Flush - 5 cards sharing a suit
6. Straight - 5 cards in a row not sharing a suit
7. 3 of a Kind - 3 cards sharing a rank
8. 2 Pair - 2 cards sharing a rank AND 2 cards sharing a different rank
9. 1 Pair - 2 cards sharing a rank
10. High Card - highest card at the table