Malabares Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Objective
• How to Play
  • Before the performance
  • During the performance
  • Example of a round
  • End of the performance
  • Scoring the performance
• End of the Game
• Malabares: Quarto Malabarista
  • Components
  • Setup
  • How to Play
• Malabares: Cobográn Finale
  • Components
  • Setup
  • How to Play

Components

• 17 juggling cards (8 knives, 8 torches, 1 club)
• 1 circus card

Setup

1. Shuffle the juggling cards and deal (2P) 6 cards / (3P) 5 cards to each player. These cards form each player's hand and should not be revealed to the others. (2P) Remove 2 juggling cards and leave them face up, they will not be used at the moment.
2. Put the remaining juggling cards face up at the center of the table. Those cards are "in the air".
3. Reserve a space in front of each player to place, during the game, cards that belong to them but are on the floor.
4. Place the circus card in the center of the table with the daytime side facing up.
5. The player who has been to the circus most recently will be the first leader.

Objective

Earn more points with the cards that remain in your hand or in front of you at the end of 2 performances.

How to Play

Malabares is played over 2 circus performances; during each one, several rounds take place until the performance ends, in which you will continuously exchange cards from your hand for others, juggling them.

Before the performance

Everyone performs these steps simultaneously.

• Pass (2P) 2 cards / (3P) 1 card from your hand to the player on your left.
• Flip the cards in your hand upside down so that the dark side of each card is facing up, as indicated by the gray hand. Cards in this configuration are hidden and have not yet been used in the performance.

During the performance

Each round of Malabares follows these three steps, always in the same order.

1. Throw: (3P) The leader plays a card from their hand on the table, choosing where to place it, to start the round. Then, in clockwise order, the other players also play a card from their hand, which must have the same object (torches or knives) as the first card played.

If you don't have any cards with the same object, you can play any card.

The club card can be played at any time, regardless of which card started the round.

(2P) In a 2-player game, the card-playing dynamic is different, and each player plays 2 cards in this order:

1. Leader (A) plays any card.
2. Opponent (B) plays a card with the same object.
3. Opponent (B) plays any card.
4. Leader (A) plays a card with the same object.

2. Catch: Starting with the player who played the highest-numbered card and proceeding in descending order, take one of the cards that was already "in the air" (in the center of the table) and add it to your hand.

• This card must be placed with the dark side facing down because it has already been used in the performance (the side with the sun and moon icons facing up).
• When comparing card values, the club (9+) is higher than the knife 9, but smaller than the torch 10.
• (2P) Analyze each card individually. The player who played each card takes their action according to the descending order.

3. Fall: The player who played the lowest-numbered card will no longer be able to take cards "in the air." Take the highest card played in this round and place it in front of you, with the dark side facing down to indicate it has "fallen to the ground."

• This player now has one less card in their hand until the end of the performance and will be the next leader.
• The remaining cards played go to the center of the table and are "in the air," awaiting the next round.

Example of a round

(1) Throw: Amanda is the leader and plays the knife 5. Bruna follows the object and plays the knife 9. Carlos doesn't have any knives in his hand, so he plays the torch 12.

(2) Catch: Carlos played the highest card (12), so he chooses one of the cards that are in the air to add to his hand. Bruna played the second-highest card (9) and took the other card in the air to add to her hand.

(3) Fall: Amanda played the lowest card (5), so she takes the highest card played in the round (Carlos's 12) and places it in front of her, facing up. The other cards go to the center and remain "in the air."

End of the performance

Continue playing rounds until one of the following situations occurs, ending the performance at the end of the round:

• A player has only (2P) 2 cards / (3P) 1 card left in their hand because all other cards fell while juggling;
• A player no longer has any hidden cards and has managed to perform a Piolin Move (as indicated on the circus card) considering both their hand and the cards on the floor:
  • Daytime: Have the club and no knives;
  • Nighttime: Have the club and no torches;

Scoring the performance

Each player displays the cards left in their hands on the table, without spinning them, joining them with the cards that are "on the floor" (that have the dark side facing down). The score of the performance is calculated by summing the points of each card according to the period indicated on the circus card. During daytime, the score is indicated by the sun, during nighttime, it's indicated by the moon.

• If you performed the Piolin Move, each of your cards is worth 4 points, regardless of the value printed on them.
• Hidden cards are worth negative points, as indicated by the gray hand icon.

Write down each player's score. Flip the circus card to the other side to indicate the passage of time. To prepare for the next performance:

• Everyone takes the cards in front of them to form their new hand.
• (2P) Randomly select 2 cards that are "in the air" and remove them from the game, replacing them with the cards that were previously removed during the preparation or at the end of the previous performance.

End of the Game

At the end of the second performance, the player with the highest total score wins the game and will join Piolin from now on at the Alcibíades Circus. In case of a tie, the tied players will perform a juggling act to break the tie (the others will decide who wins).

Malabares: Quarto Malabarista

The person who runs the box office also wants to try his luck as a clown! With more competition, who will star alongside Piolin as the new juggler?

Components

• 2 new juggling cards (17 and 18)

Setup

1. Shuffle the new juggling cards with the other juggling cards from the base game.
2. Deal 4 juggling cards to each person to form their hand.
3. Follow the setup as normal with the remaining juggling cards.

How to Play

To play with 4 people using this expansion, follow the base game rules for 3 people. Here are some changes that occur with 4 players:

• Since there are 4 cards in hand, the Piolin Move is worth 16 points.
• The presentation still ends when someone has only 1 card in their hand. At this point, only 3 cards will be "on the ground."
• The Cobográn Finale expansion can be played with 4 players as normal.

Malabares: Cobográn Finale

Isn't this cobogó brick too heavy for juggling? I don't know if that'll work, huh! This expansion is recommended for those who have already mastered the rules of the base game!

Components

• 1 cobogó brick card (9+) and 1 circus card (with cobogó bricks at the back).

Setup

1. Swap the club card from the base game for the cobogó brick card.
2. Swap the circus card from the base game for the circus card from this expansion.
3. Continue with the base game setup as usual.

How to Play

During the Throw phase, the cobogó brick cannot be played at any time like the club. It can only be played if:

• you are the leader and the cobogó brick is the first card of the round;
• you do not have any cards of the object played by the leader.

The Piolin Move is performed in the same way (swapping the cobogó brick for the club). However, if you successfully perform the Piolin Move using the cobogó brick, you win the game immediately, even if it is still the first presentation.