Octrix
Octrix Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preparation
Each participant first receives an Octrix sheet and 8 tokens. The counting cards numbered 1 to 8 are placed face up on the table as a pile, sorted in numerical order.
The dealer is determined by lot. The dealer deals each player 8 cards from the well-shuffled deck. With fewer than 4 players, the remaining cards are set aside.
After each player has picked up and sorted his cards, he marks each card on the Octrix sheet by suit and value, placing his tokens in the corresponding fields.
Play
Before the game begins, study the other players' cards closely so that you can plan your tactics. How these are to be played is best learned through a practice round.
Each player then chooses one card from his hand and places it face down in front of him on the table. When all cards are ready, they are turned face up to determine who has won the trick.
The first trick of a round is always won by the highest card.
The highest Octrix card of all is the Eight of Clubs (Kreuz-Acht), and the lowest is the Ace of Diamonds (Karo-As). The ranking of the cards is therefore as shown on the Octrix sheet: the highest cards are the Eights, in the suit order Clubs (Kreuz), Spades (Pik), Hearts (Herz), Diamonds (Karo), continuing down through the ranks to the four Aces. Where the values are equal, the better suit wins; for example, the 5 of Spades beats the 5 of Hearts.
Back to the game: the player with the highest card wins the trick and receives the counting card numbered 1. Before the played cards are set aside, determine which card wins the next trick. This is decided by the highest and lowest cards of the previous trick:
- If they are of the same colour (red or black, regardless of suit symbol, that is Hearts and Diamonds, or Clubs and Spades), then in the following round the highest card wins the trick.
- If the two cards are of different colours (that is, one red and one black), then the lowest card wins the trick.
Translator's note: the sheet says "in the following round" here, but the sentence refers to the next trick; "round" in this sheet means the set of 8 tricks, as stated in the introduction.
So remember:
Same colour: highest wins. Different colours: lowest wins.
Finally, the tokens of the cards played in each trick are removed from the Octrix sheet, and play continues with the next trick until all 8 tricks have been made. At the end of each round, the counting cards are collected, sorted and stacked again as at the start. The playing cards themselves are shuffled together after each round and dealt anew.
Scoring
After each round, the points for each player are recorded. Each counting card scores 1 point, but for consecutive counting cards the points are multiplied by themselves. A player with the counting cards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8 therefore scores 11 points: 1 point for the 1st card, 3 times 3 = 9 points for the cards 3, 4 and 5, and 1 point for the 8th card.
As already described, a round can be worth between 1 and 64 points. The first player to reach 88 points wins the game.
Translator's note: the sheet says the trick winner receives "the counting card numbered 1" and does not restate in words how the counting cards are assigned to later tricks. The scoring example above (cards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8) shows the cards are won by number. Transcribed as printed.
Partnership Game (Team Game)
In this variation of Octrix, 4 participants play in two teams of two, with the partners sitting diagonally opposite each other. Between the partners sits one opponent each. Unlike normal Octrix, the cards are played face up here, as follows: the dealer and the player to his left each draw a card from their hand and throw it face up into the middle of the table at the same time. Anticipating this partial action, the other two players each choose a card that they remove visibly from their own holdings and likewise add face up to the two cards already played. The partners receive the due counting cards together for the tricks. Everything else proceeds according to the normal rules.