NeoN
NeoN Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game sequence (illustrated overview)
The first page of the rulebook presents the game sequence as a comic strip. Its captions read:
- Place as many cards on the table as there are players participating. These cards will become victory points.
- The start player plays one of the possible combinations with his hand cards: Solo, Set or Run.
- "I got a run." The other players may only play another run or a solo in this round.
- "Me, too." "Solo." The highest value wins when the number of cards is equal.
- After everybody has played a card, everybody takes a card from the table in the order of the played cards. In the current turn... The cards are not added to the hand cards.
- "I'll take the 6." "Well, the 4 is for me." "And the no. 2." "Too bad, I've lost." The cards used for the run and the solos will become the victory points for the next turn.
- At the beginning of the 2nd round, from the 2nd round on one can win up to 2 cards. "Wow, I can get 8 points with the two 4 point cards..."
- The player with the highest number of victory points wins. "Yeah, over the rainbow!!"
- "The secret to victory is to use your cards at the correct time. Aaagh, what shall I do now without cards???"
Introduction
Cards are lying on the table, which will count as victory points at the end of the game. You try to get cards with points as high as possible, however, the order to choose these cards is determined by the cards that you play from your hand.
Single hand cards are called "Solo". 2 or more hand cards with the same number are called "Set" and 2 or more cards with consecutive numbers are called "Run". The higher the cards that you play, the earlier you will be able to choose cards from the table. However, your hand cards will become the victory point cards for the next round, so you have to choose your cards carefully in order not to provide to many good victory point cards for others in the next round.
Content of the game
Rainbow cards: 60 cards with values 1 – 6 (10 each).
Number of players
2 - 6 players. For 3 players the preparation is slightly different. For 2 players some additional rules are added.
Preparation
The deck is shuffled. As many cards as players taking part are placed in the middle of the table. For 2 players 4 cards will be laid in the middle of the table. These cards will be called victory point cards (VP cards).
The other cards are dealt to the players. For 3 players each player is dealt 14 cards. The remaining 15 cards are returned into the box and won't be used during this game. It is not allowed to check the values of the returned cards. With 2 players each player receives 2 separate decks of hand cards, which must not be mixed. The first deck is taken on the hand, while the 2nd deck is placed face down in front of the player. It is forbidden to have a look at the cards of the 2nd deck while still playing with the cards of the first deck. If the other player inquires about the number of remaining cards of the first deck, each player has to answer truthfully. After all cards of the first deck have been used, the game continues with the cards of the 2nd deck.
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of VP-cards | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Number of hand cards | 14 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Number in the 2nd deck | 14 |
The start player is determined.
Game sequence
Playing of hand cards
- Beginning with the start player each player must play hand cards in clockwise order. If a player still possesses hand cards, he has to play at least one card.
- A round consists of each player playing one card from his hand. In case of 2 players both players play 2 cards from their hand during each round.
- There are 3 different possibilities for playing hand cards.
- Solo: Only one hand card is played. A Solo can always be played.
- Set: A set consists of 2 or more hand cards with the same number. If a player has played a set in the current round, other players can only play a solo or another set.
- Run: A run consists of 2 or more cards with consecutive values. You cannot use the same value more the once. The cards with values 1 and 6 are not connected. If a player has played a run in the current round, other players can only play a solo or another run.
- After each player has played his hand cards (in case of 2 players each player plays twice), the VP-cards are distributed.
Special rules with 2 players
After each player has played one or more of his hand cards, all players have to play one more time in the same order. After a player has played either a set or a run, everybody can only play another set or run (it is of course always possible to play a solo).
The hand cards which are played first, are laid to the left of the player, the 2nd hand cards to the right of the player.
Choosing the VP-cards
The number of played hand cards determines the order in which VP-cards can be chosen. If several players played the same number of cards, the card with the highest number determines the order. If the highest number is also equal, the order in which the cards were played decides the order to pick VP-cards.
Special rules for 2 players
When playing with 2 players, the order is not determined by player, but by group of hand cards which were played in the current round. The number of played cards determines the order. If several groups contain the same number of cards, the card with the highest number determines the order. If the highest number is also equal, the order in which the cards were played decides the order to pick VP-cards.
The rulebook's diagram (labelled "Game with 2 players") shows the position and order of the cards played by each player. Player A and player B take turns to play the cards on location 1, 2, 3 and 4 (the diagram places locations 3 and 1 on the side marked A and locations 2 and 4 on the side marked B). This order also determines the order in which VP-cards are picked if both the number of cards and the values of these cards are identical.
After the order has been determined, each player can choose VP-cards once. With 2 players each player can choose twice depending on the order of the groups, unless a player has only played hand cards once, in which case he is only allowed to choose once. If a player hasn't played any hand cards, he is not allowed to choose any VP-cards.
In the first round it is only possible to choose a single VP-card. Starting with the 2nd round, a player can either choose a single card or 2 cards with the same value.
The VP-cards are not added to the hand cards, but are placed face down on the VP-card pile of each player. It is possible for each player to check his own VP-cards, but it is not allowed to check the VP-card pile of other players.
After all players have chosen VP-cards (twice for 2 players), all remaining VP-cards are removed. They will not be used anymore in the game.
End of a round
After all players have chosen the VP-cards and the remaining VP-cards have been removed, all players lay the hand cards which they played in the current round into the middle of the table. These hand cards will become the VP-cards of the next round.
If 2 or more players don't have any hand cards anymore, the game ends. In case of 2 players the game ends if one player doesn't have any hand cards left. With 3 or more players the remaining hand cards of each player are removed, they will not be used anymore in the game. With 2 players the hand cards will be included in the calculation of the victory points.
As long as still a sufficient number of players have hand cards, the game continues and a new round starts. The player who first chose VP-cards becomes the start player of the next round. If this player doesn't have any hand cards left, the player on the left will become the start player.
A player who doesn't have any hand cards anymore, cannot participate in the game anymore and cannot get any further VP-cards.
End of the game
The values of the VP-cards are added. The player with the highest number of victory points wins the game. If several players have the same victory points, they share the victory.
With 2 players the player who still owns cards either in his hand or face down in the second group on the table will receive one victory point per remaining card. The values of the cards are not taken into account, each card only counts as 1 victory point.