Mary Engelbreit Loonacy
Mary Engelbreit Loonacy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Loonacy is a simple game of matching pictures. Be the first to play all of your cards and you win!
Number of Players
2 - 5 players.
Setup
To begin, shuffle the deck and deal 7 cards to each player.
After all players have had a chance to look at their cards, establish the discard pile(s) by flipping over cards from the top of the deck. The number of discard piles will vary with the number of players, as shown. (The sheet gives this as a diagram only; the counts below are read from the diagram's cards beside the deck.)
- 5 Players: 1 discard pile.
- 4 Players: 2 discard piles.
- 3 Players: 3 discard piles.
- 2 Players: 4 discard piles.
How to Play
You can place a card from your hand onto any of the discard piles if one of the pictures on your card matches one of those on the card you are covering.
Open Face Hands
Although you may hold your cards in your hand if you wish, for this version of Loonacy we recommend that players spread their hands out onto the table, particularly when you are holding a lot of cards, so as to best see what you've got. Don't worry about other players being able to see what you have... they've got their own cards to worry about!
How to Win
Be the first player to get rid of all the cards in your hand.
No Turns
In this game, players don't take turns. Any time a player has a card that can be played, they may jump right in and do so. If two players try to play on the same pile at the same time, the one whose card first reaches the pile wins that race. You can play any number of cards in a row as long as each is a match, but you must play each one in turn, using the same hand. You can't just drop them down in a stack. If someone else is quick enough to jump in between your plays, you must let them.
Going First
In Loonacy, it's always everyone's turn, so the first to play is whoever jumps in and makes the first play!
When No One Is Able to Play
When you can't play (or don't want to), point at the deck. Remaining players can continue playing until they can't play and are also pointing at the deck. When all players are pointing at the deck, everyone draws a card (without looking at it) and holds it face down in front of them. When each player has a card, everyone puts their new card into their hand at the same time and play continues.
When the Draw Pile Runs Out
If you come to a pause when everyone needs to draw but there aren't enough cards left for each player to get one, shuffle all the discard piles together into a new draw pile and re-start the discard piles as during setup. (Or, if your group prefers, you can keep the topmost card from each discard pile in place, and just reshuffle the rest of the cards.)
If a Player Must Leave
If someone finds they must drop out of the game, they can simply use their hand of cards to form a new discard pile and excuse themselves. Unless it is a 2-player game, the others can continue without interruption.
Playing Other Games
These cards can also be used to play variants of classic card games such as Rummy, Solitaire, Go Fish, and others! For rules and more information, please go here: looneylabs.com/more-Loonacy
The variant rules for other card games are published separately at looneylabs.com/more-Loonacy and are not included in this rulebook.