Jericho
Jericho Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 Game rules
- 110 Cards:
- 3 scoring cards
- 22 trumpet cards (value of 2)
- 85 wall cards: 17 in each of 5 colours with the following values: 1 (4x), 3 (5x), 4 (4x), 5 (3x) and 7 (1x)
Game Preparation
- The 3 scoring cards are set aside. The remaining cards are well shuffled.
- Each player is dealt 7 face-down cards, which he takes into his hand.
- To ensure that scoring takes place at somewhat regular intervals, the remaining cards are now split into 6 approximately even piles. A scoring card is shuffled into three of the six piles. Afterwards, starting with a pile containing a scoring card, the remaining piles are placed one on top of another, alternating between piles without and piles with scoring cards, such that a single draw pile is formed. This draw pile is placed in the middle of the table, within easy reach of all players.
- Finally, each player chooses 1 card from his hand and places it face-down in front of himself. These cards will become the first cards played out by each player into their layouts. They are not revealed until each player has added a card to the supply in the first round.
- The players choose a starting player for the first round.
Game Play
The game is played over 3 rounds.
At the start of a round, all players feed the supply. Afterwards, players play out cards in clockwise order until a scoring card appears.
Scoring follows, which ends the round.
After the third round a final scoring occurs, after which the game is over.
Feeding the Supply
Each player chooses one card from his hand and places it face-down into the middle of the table. These cards form the "supply".
Hint: To make sure that the supply does not become confused with the draw pile (especially when the draw pile gets smaller), the supply cards should be kept in a disorganised heap.
The players may not draw a new card. Instead, they now continue play with one fewer card in hand.
First Round Exception: After each player has fed the supply, they must reveal the face-down card they added to their layout during game preparation.
Once each player has fed the supply, the start player begins by playing out a card.
Playing and Drawing Cards
On a player's turn, he must play a card out from his hand. He must choose one of the following three options:
A. Play out a wall card B. Play out a trumpet card C. Add a card to the supply
Afterwards, he draws a new card from the draw pile and adds it to his hand without revealing it to anyone.
It is now the end of his turn; play passes to his left-hand neighbour.
A. Play out a wall card
The player takes a wall card in the colour of his choice from his hand and plays it face-up into his layout. The number in the corner of the card indicates the length of the wall segment.
Starting a wall in a new colour
If the player plays out a wall card in a colour that he does not yet have in his layout, then he starts a new wall in this colour.
Note: Each player may start walls in each of the five colours.
Lengthening a wall
If the player plays out a wall card in a colour that he had already played previously, then he must add the card to that wall. This lengthens the wall. All cards of a single colour within a player's layout belong to the same wall. A wall can consist of as many cards as a player wishes.
B. Play out a trumpet card
The trumpet cards are jokers. They show a wall of all five colours.
When a player plays a trumpet card, he must announce which colour it will be.
Two things now occur:
All walls of the chosen colour on the table are checked to see which player has the highest-value wall card in that colour. That card is removed from the wall,
and
if the player who played the trumpet card already has a wall of the chosen colour, then he adds the trumpet card to it.
Removing the highest-value card
All players check the walls of the chosen colour to see which player has the highest-value wall card in that colour. That card is removed from the wall and added face-down to the supply.
Example: Bernd has a green wall consisting of two 1-value cards and a trumpet card (value of 2). Andreas has a green wall consisting of one 1-value card. He plays a trumpet card and announces "Green". The highest-value within the green walls is the trumpet card in Bernd's wall. He must add it to the supply. Afterwards, Andreas can add his just-played trumpet card to his own green wall.
If multiple cards tie for highest value, then they are all added to the supply.
Note: If the highest-value card is in the wall of the player who played the trumpet card, then he must remove his own card and add it to the supply.
Lengthening one's own wall
If the player who played the trumpet card already has a wall in the chosen colour, then he may add the trumpet card to that.
Note: A player is allowed to choose a colour for a trumpet card in which he does not yet have a wall, in order to potentially hurt his opponents more effectively. In this case, he can't lengthen any of his own walls; the trumpet card is removed from the game instead.
C. Add a card to the supply
The player chooses a card from his hand and adds it face-down to the supply, without showing it to any of the other players.
Hint: This option should be used when a player has wall cards in hand of a colour in which he has a comfortable lead. Adding a card in such a colour to the supply is usually a guaranteed victory point.
Scoring
When a player draws a scoring card, he immediately reveals it to all players and scoring occurs. The player is allowed to draw a replacement card from the draw pile.
Trumpet cards in one's own wall
Trumpet cards in a player's wall have a value of 2. A wall may never consist of trumpet cards alone, as they don't have a colour of their own.
If the player playing the trumpet card doesn't have a wall in the chosen colour yet, then the trumpet card is removed from the game.
If the last coloured wall card should be removed from a wall, so that the remaining wall consists solely of trumpet cards, then those trumpet cards are removed from the game.
Example: Bernd is the only player with a yellow wall. It consists of a 3-value card and two trumpet cards. Andreas plays out a trumpet card and announces "Yellow". The highest-value card within a yellow wall is Bernd's 3-value card; he must add it to the supply. His two trumpet cards, which used to be part of a yellow wall, are now without a card to determine their colour. Therefore, Bernd must remove them from the game. Andreas must also remove his just-played trumpet card from the game, since he doesn't have a yellow wall he could lengthen it with.
Sorting the supply
The cards in the supply are revealed. Any trumpet cards in the supply are removed from the game. The remaining wall cards are sorted according to colour and made into small piles.
Comparing wall lengths
All players compare the lengths of their walls in the various colours. For each colour, each player adds up the numbers in the corners of the cards.
Distributing cards from the supply
The player with the longest wall of a colour wins all cards of the same colour in the supply. He takes the cards won and places them in a face-down pile in front of himself.
In the event of a tie, the tied players divide the cards up equally between themselves. Any leftover cards remain in the supply for the next round.
If there are walls in a colour of the supply that no player has a wall in yet, then they remain in the supply for the next round.
The next round
After all the cards in the supply have been distributed, the scoring ends and the next round begins.
Note: All wall cards previously played out by the players remain on the table for the next round.
The players all feed the supply and play then continues with the player to the left of the player who drew the scoring card.
Game End
After the third round, the game ends and the final scoring takes place.
Final Scoring
Each player separates out all 1-value wall cards from his walls – these cards are marked with a gold nugget beneath the number 1 in the corner. Each player then adds these cards to the ones he's already won during round scoring.
Note: All cards in hand, played-out wall cards with values higher than 1, and all cards remaining in the supply after the third scoring (because they were not claimed by a player) are worth nothing.
Finally, each player counts how many cards he has won. The player who won the most cards is the winner.
Hint: Instead of counting all the cards, it is often easier to simply compare the relative heights of the piles of cards won.
In the event of a tie, then the winner is the tied player who has the most cards left in his walls.