翡翠の商人 (Jade Merchant) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Game Flow
• Round Flow
• Bidding
• Examples
  • Example 1
  • Example 2
• Scoring
• End of Game

Contents

56 cards and 1 rulebook.

• 12 jade cards (1 × 12)
• 8 gold cards (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
• 6 counterfeit gold cards (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
• 14 spice cards (1 × 4, 2 × 4, 3 × 3, 4 × 3)
• 16 book cards (A, B, C, D, E × 3 each, and 1 wild card X)

Each card shows an icon, a name, a scoring formula, a note, and the number of cards of that type.

Setup

• Shuffle all cards well and form a draw deck.
• Decide the seating order and the first player by a fair method.

Game Flow

• The game is played over 7 rounds.
• Each round, 8 cards are drawn from the draw deck, and the players distribute them among themselves by bidding.
• The player whose collected cards have the highest total value (points) wins.

Round Flow

• Draw 8 cards from the draw deck and lay them face up in the centre of the table, where all players can see them.
• The players then bid against each other on how many cards they want to take.
• The player who named the fewest cards chooses a card they like and takes it for themselves.
• The player who took a card places it face up in front of them so that everyone can see it, and rests until the end of the round. The remaining players repeat the bidding in the same way.
• When only one player is left, that player takes all the remaining cards. The round ends.
• The next round begins with the player who took a card last.

Note: in each round, every player takes cards once each.

Bidding

• The first player states how many cards they want to take.
• Then, clockwise, each player in turn either states a smaller number than the one before, or passes.
• Bids may also be of the form "take N, return one" (○枚取って一枚返す). Such a bid is treated as a number 0.5 lower than "take N". The order of bids is therefore: three cards > take three, return one > two cards.
• After taking a card, the player chooses one card from those they already held and moves it to the centre of the table. Cards moved to the centre are taken by other players in that same round.
• Counterfeit gold cards cannot be returned with a "take N, return one" bid.
• "Take one, return one" is the minimum bid. There is nothing lower.
• A player who passes can no longer take part in that bidding (a hard pass). Their turn is skipped until the player who takes a card has been decided.
• When all but one player have passed, the remaining player takes the number of cards they declared.

Examples

Example 1

1. The first player, A, declares 4 cards. Then, clockwise, B, C and D each declare a smaller number or pass: B declares 3, C passes, and D declares 2.
2. A, whose turn comes round again, passes. Then B declares 1.
3. B, who declared the fewest, chooses one card of their choice (the number they declared) and places it face up in front of them. They then rest until the end of the round.

Note: no player has a "return card", so the minimum is one card.

Example 2

1. C, who took the last card in the previous round, declares "take three, return one". D declares 2. A declares 1. B wanted to declare "take one, return one", but the card B held was a counterfeit gold card and could not be returned, so B passes.
2. C, whose turn comes round again, passes. D, who declared the lowest number, declares "take one, return one".
3. D, who declared the lowest bid, chooses one card of their choice (the number they declared, which is one card), swaps it with one of the cards already in front of them, and places the new card face up. They then rest until the end of the round.

Scoring

Gold: the face value of each card is its points.

Counterfeit gold: the face value of each card is its points. However, if the total of a player's counterfeit gold exceeds the total of their gold, all of that player's counterfeit gold scores 0 points.

Jade: points depend on how many jade cards a player collected:

Jade cards	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Points	1	3	6	10	15	21	28	36	45	55	66	78

Spices: the total value of the spices each player collected is compared between the players.

• The player with the most spice value receives 24 points, the second player 12 points, and the third player 6 points.
• Spices themselves carry no points; points come only from ranking.
• Note: if players are tied, the points for the tied positions and the next position are added together and split equally. For example, if two players are tied for first, each receives 18 points.

Books:

• Each complete set of A, B, C, D and E scores 20 points.
• A set missing one card scores 10 points. A set missing two cards scores 5 points.
• Cards that are not part of a set score 1 point each.
• If one player completes several sets, each set is scored.
• Note: X may be used as any of A, B, C, D or E. At final scoring, declare which letter the X card stands for.

End of Game

• When the draw deck is empty, the current round is the last round.
• When the last round ends, the game ends and the total value (points) of all collected cards is calculated.
• The player whose collected cards have the highest total value (points) wins. In a tie, the player who holds the gold card of higher value wins.