Instinct Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object
• Key Terms
• Setup
• Bidding
• Play
• Taking Tricks
• Scoring
• Winning the Game
• Strategy
• Player Errors

Components

A 66-card deck made up of five suits (black, blue, green, red, and white) numbered 1 through 12, 6 TRUMP cards, and 2 score cards.

Object

To BID the exact number of TRICKS you will capture during the ROUND. You get points if you capture the exact number of tricks you predicted. The first player to score 100 or more points wins the game.

Key Terms

• Hand: The 11 cards dealt to you.
• Trick: Each player plays one card from his or her hand (following suit if possible). When everyone has played a card, the collection of played cards is called a "trick." The highest card played captures the trick.
• Round: A round consists of 11 tricks.
• Bid: The number of tricks you claim you will capture during the round.
• Trump: There are six trump cards that beat all other nontrump cards regardless of the suit led.
  • If a trump card is played on a trick, you still have to play a card of the suit led (if possible).
  • If a trump card is led, you may either play a trump card or a card of any other suit (even if you have a trump card). This is the only time you are not required to follow the suit led.
  • All trump cards share the same rank. If more than one trump card is played, whoever played the last trump card captures the trick.

Setup

Randomly choose a player to be the dealer for the first round. The deal will then pass clockwise after each round. The dealer shuffles and deals 11 cards to each player. (Note: unless you are playing with six players, not all the cards will be dealt.) Designate a player to be the scorekeeper.

Bidding

Starting with the dealer and proceeding clockwise, each player bids the number of tricks he or she intends to capture during the round. A player may bid as few as 0 tricks up to the maximum possible 11 tricks. The scorekeeper records each player's bid.

Play

• The dealer leads by playing any card from his or her hand. Play then proceeds clockwise.
• If you have a card of the same suit as the suit led, you must play that card. (This is called "following suit.") If you have more than one card of the suit led, you choose which of those cards to play.
• If you don't have any cards of the suit led, you may play a card of another suit or a trump card.

Taking Tricks

After everyone has played a card, the player who played the highest card in the suit led captures the trick unless someone played a trump card. In the following example, the second player captures the trick because the blue 9 is the highest card of the suit led.

• If someone plays a trump card, that player captures the trick, because trump cards are higher than all nontrump cards.
• All trump cards share the same rank. If more than one trump card is played, whoever played the last trump card captures the trick.
• The player who captures the trick puts the cards face-down in front of him or her (once a trick is turned face-down, players cannot look at those cards). That player then plays the first card for the next trick.

Scoring

• If you capture exactly as many tricks as you bid, you get 10 points.
• If you capture more or fewer tricks than you bid, you get 0 points.
• Bonus points: For some bids, you can score bonus points in addition to the 10 points you get for making your bid:
  • If you bid 0 tricks and make your bid, you get 10 bonus points (20 total).
  • If you bid 1 trick and make your bid, you get 5 bonus points (15 total).
  • If you bid 4 tricks and make your bid, you get 5 bonus points (15 total).
  • If you bid 5 tricks and make your bid, you get 10 bonus points (20 total).
  • If you bid 6 or more tricks and make your bid, you get 50 bonus points (60 total).

Winning the Game

The first player to score 100 or more points wins the game. If two or more players reach 100 at the same time, the player with the highest total score wins. If there is a tie for high score, both players win the game. (If you want to play a short game, you can play until someone scores 60 points or until each player has dealt twice, whichever comes first.)

Strategy

• The Underbid: When the total number of tricks bid by all players is fewer than 11, there's an underbid-there are more tricks than players want to take. You should find it easier to capture tricks, so don't be too aggressive; only capture the tricks you thought you would capture when you made your bid. For example, if you bid 2 tricks because you have a blue 12 and a trump card, don't capture a trick with your red 9 if you can help it.
• The 11 Bid: When the total number of tricks bid is exactly 11, there's an 11 bid-there are exactly enough tricks for everyone to make their bids. During a round with an 11 bid, if one player misses his or her bid then at least one other player will also miss his or her bid.
• The Overbid: When the total number of tricks bid is more than 11, there's an overbid-there are fewer tricks than players want to take. You should find it more difficult to capture tricks because most of the 11s, 12s, and trump cards have probably been dealt. Capture any trick you can, even if it's a trick you weren't planning to capture when you made your bid.

Follow these general strategy guidelines until a player misses his or her bid-after that, you can bet that player will then try to make you miss yours. Remember that once you miss your bid, you might as well try to make others miss theirs. You won't get any points either way, so you have nothing to lose.

Player Errors

• Bidding out of turn: If someone makes a bid out of turn, the bid stands and the other players continue bidding in the proper order. There's no penalty for bidding out of turn.
• Playing cards out of turn: If someone plays a card out of turn, the card remains in play and the other players continue playing cards in the proper order. To determine which trump card was played last, pretend all cards were played in the proper order. There's no penalty for playing out of turn.
• Revoking: Failing to follow suit when you are able to do so. Players should not intentionally revoke, but revoking does occasionally happen by mistake. If any player thinks another player has revoked during the round, he or she must challenge that player before the end of the round. When a challenge has been made, the round ends and all other players score as if they made their bids. If the challenger is correct, he or she scores his or her bid and the player who revoked scores -10 points. If the accused player did not in fact revoke, he or she scores his or her bid and the challenger scores -10 points.