Of What's Left
Of What's Left Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 52 Playing Cards
- 4 Special Cards
- 1 Variant Card
- 4 Player Aids
- 4 "Bonus" Reminder Cards
The Hook
An almost-shedding/climbing game where players want to have fewer cards when someone else sheds out.
See What is a Shedding/Climbing Game? below for a description of a shedding/climbing game.
Setup
Give each player an Ace and any Special Card, to act as Wilds (any suit, 1-14). Players hold them flipped, to help remind players that they are Wilds. Also, players will each get a "Bonus" reminder card to be placed in front of them with the "No Bonus" side up.
Shuffle and deal all remaining cards:
- 3p: 2-13, 3 suits
- 4p: 2-13, 4 suits
The start player for the first round is the person who got the least sleep last night.
Gameplay Flow
Play until someone plays their last card(s), Wilds included.
The start player must play to the table any valid meld.
Valid Melds:
- Singles (e.g. an 8)
- Sets, any length (e.g. two 5s)
- Suited Runs, any length (e.g. a 9-10 suited run)
After the start player plays, the following players must either pass or play a higher set of cards, but always of the same starting meld and number of cards.
When playing a Wild, players announce both the suit and the rank of any Wild played.
If a player passes, they may come back in, if play comes back to them.
If all but one player passes, that remaining player discards all played cards and becomes the new start player. They then start again, playing any valid meld.
Important: When a player has 5 or fewer cards, that player flips their "Bonus" card to the other side. Now, that player cannot pass if they have a valid play. This includes using their Wild.
With a much smaller group to keep each other alert, your owls can't stay awake if they tried!
Example:
Blathers leads a 4.
Kaepora has 6 cards in his hand and passes.
Longclaw has 4 cards in her hand, a 3, 5, 5, and 8. Having 4 cards, Longclaw cannot pass if she can play. Since she can legally play her 5 or 8, she must play one of those cards.
Longclaw then leads a set of two 5's.
Kaepora has 6 cards in his hand and passes again.
Blathers has 3 cards in his hand, a 2, 6, and a Wild. Having 3 cards, Blathers cannot pass if he can play. Since he can legally play his 6 and Wild, he must play those cards.
Play like this continues until any player is out of cards. When this happens, the round ends immediately-do not play out the rest of the round.
Finally, everyone scores.
Scoring
Players lose a point per card in hand.
If a player has 5 or fewer cards in hand (and flipped their "Bonus" cards), they gain bonus points equal to the smallest rank in their hand of their remaining cards.
Wilds in hand are the lowest rank and worth 0 points.
Example Scoring:
Hollis sheds out and gets a score of 0. (0 cards left, 0 lowest rank)
When Hollis shed out, Tootsie had 1 card left in his hand, a 4. His score is 3: 4 (his lowest rank) - 1 (1 card left in hand).
When Hollis shed out, Rowlet had 2 cards left in her hand, a 7 and a Wild. Her score is -2: 0 (her lowest rank of 0 with the Wild) - 2 (2 cards left in hand).
When Hollis shed out, Zaz had 7 cards left in her hand: three 5's, three 6's, and a 10. Her score is -7: -7 (7 cards left in hand). [No Bonus]
End of Round
Players play rounds per player, moving the start player clockwise.
End of Game
Most points wins! Whoo! Whoo!
If tied, the tied player who didn't shed out in the final round.
If still tied, first tied player to fall asleep tonight wins.
Variants
Threshold Scoring
Players play until anyone passes the current point threshold. Then, compare scores as usual.
The point threshold starts at 25, but is lowered by 5 whenever any player gets a negative score in a round. The threshold can start at 15 for a shorter game.
Special Cards
Shuffle the 4 special cards and give one to every player, setting aside any undealt special cards, facedown.
The 4 special cards that act thusly:
- The Dragowl can only be played alone as a single. It beats any single, including a Wild.
- The Dowl passes the lead to any other player, picked by the player playing the Dowl.
- The Pheowl is just like a Wild.
- The Owlish is a 1 that gives the initial lead for the hand to the player who got it. In addition to having the lead, when the Owlish is played, the player may make a "wish" for another card (i.e. 2 through 13, but not a special card or Wild). From that point forward, if the wished for card can legally be played it must be played. Once the wished for card is played, the Owlish is fulfilled and there is no further obligation to play the wished for card. The wish does not force players to use a wild.
Any special card is lowest and worth 0 when someone sheds out.
What is a Shedding/Climbing Game?
A Shedding/Climbing game is a type of card game where players take turns playing melds, or combinations/sets of cards. The goal of Shedding games is to play out all of your cards first, or to shed out. The Climbing aspect refers to the cardplay, where players must play stronger or higher melds in order to play at all.
The first player, or Start Player, will play a certain meld and the following players can either play a stronger set of cards of that same meld type and amount of cards, or pass. Passing is declaring that the player is out until play returns to them or a new Start Player is determined. A new Start Player is determined when all but one player passes.
That remaining player will start play again by playing any valid meld. Play continues until someone has shed out.