Perspective
Perspective Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 reference card (summary of the actions by color)
- 6 objective cards
- 20 double-sided cards
- A rulebook
Overview
Perspective is a hand-management and memory game that requires no special knowledge. The winner is the player who first manages to match the colors on the backs of their double-sided cards with their objective card.
Perspective can be played by 2 to 4 players, or as a solitaire game.
In the 2 to 4 player game, each player holds a hand of 3 cards. Each card has two sides. Once in hand, one side faces the player (the private side) and the other side faces the partner or the opponents (the public side). The private side of a card determines which action a player can take. When a card is played, it is placed on the discard pile, private side visible.
Each player has an objective card in front of them. The goal is to match the colors and the order of the public sides of the cards in their hand with their objective card. During their turn, a player may lay their 3 cards down (without changing their order, public side visible) to check whether their objective has been reached. If it has not, the player discards and draws a new hand of three cards.
When a player draws a card, the top card becomes their private side, so that the player never sees the public side. When the draw pile is exhausted, remove the first card of the discard pile to start a new discard pile, and turn over the remaining cards (without shuffling them) to form a new draw pile. All cards in the discard pile must remain partially visible at all times.
Each turn, the active player draws and plays one card.
Players must not rearrange their cards or talk to each other about the cards they hold.
Main Actions
The actions are determined by the color of the private side of the card discarded.
Yellow: turn The active player turns one card in their hand or in their partner's hand, so that the public side becomes the private side.
Green: exchange The active player takes one card from their hand and places it (without turning it) in their partner's hand. They then take one card from their partner's hand and place it (without turning it) in their own hand.
Red: replace The active player takes one card from their hand (or from their partner's hand) and places it on the play pile. They then take one card from the play pile and place it in the hand of that player, making sure that the visible side becomes the private side.
Blue: rearrange or inform The active player does one of the following:
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rearranges, in any order they choose, the cards of their hand or of their partner's hand;
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OR asks to know the color of the public side of one of their cards;
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OR informs their partner of the color of the public side of one of their cards.
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The active player makes all decisions concerning the actions, regardless of whose hand is concerned.
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Actions may only be performed on the active player's hand, on their partner's hand, or on the common hand (2 and 3 players), never on an opponent's hand.
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When a card arrives in a hand, the active player chooses where it is placed in that hand.
Turn Order
The first player is the one wearing the most items of clothing in the color of the first card of the draw pile.
The active player then draws the first card of the draw pile and places it in their hand, wherever they wish. They then play a card from their hand by placing it on the discard pile and perform the action corresponding to its color.
The player to the left of the active player then becomes the active player, and play continues clockwise.
Checking the Objective
At the start or at the end of their turn, the active player may check whether they have reached their objective. To do so, they lay their cards on the table, public side visible and without rearranging them:
- If their sequence of cards matches their objective card, they have reached their objective.
- Otherwise, they discard their cards one by one onto the discard pile, turning them over (so that the private side becomes visible), and draw three new cards. Their turn then ends.
Setup and Victory by Player Count
4 Players
Setup: Deal a hand of three cards to each player, private side up, along with an objective card. Each player picks up their cards, taking care not to see the public sides of their cards.
Form two teams. Players on the same team sit facing each other.
The player wearing the most items of clothing in the color of the first card of the draw pile begins.
Victory: Both members of a team must complete their objective to win. As soon as a player has reached their objective, set their cards aside and continue to play. As soon as the second member of the team has also reached their objective, the team wins.
3 Players
Setup: Set up as for 4 players, but place 3 additional cards in the center of the playing area. These cards form the common hand. When the common hand is formed, each card is turned over so that every player can see and learn the private side of each card.
Since there is no partner, the common hand serves as the partner for all players.
Victory: The first player to reach their objective wins.
2 Players
Setup: Remove one copy of each card that has the same color on both sides. The rest of the setup is identical to the 3-player setup.
Victory: The first player to reach their objective wins.
2 Players (Advanced Rules)
Setup: Same setup as for 2 players, but without objective cards.
Victory: The common hand in the center of the playing area becomes the objective of each player. Therefore, each time a card in the common hand changes, the objective changes. The public and private sides of the common hand are both considered as possible objectives, so there are two of them (one visible and one hidden).
The first player to reach either objective (visible or hidden) wins.
Common Hand
For the common hand, the visible sides are the public sides and the hidden sides are the private sides.
- Using the red/replace action on the common hand: the card taken is turned over so that its private side is on top of the play pile.
- Using the blue/inform action on the common hand: the active player may choose to look at the private side of one card.
Solitaire
Setup
Remove one copy of each card that has the same color on both sides.
Place the 4 remaining double cards in the center of the playing area, forming a plus sign (+), with one color in each direction.
Place 3 cards at the base of each double card, matching the color of the visible side with the corresponding central card (see the diagram in the printed rules, which is not reproduced here).
Under each hand of three cards, place an objective card that does not show the color of the three cards (see the diagram in the printed rules, which is not reproduced here).
Victory
Match each hand with its objective (see the diagram in the printed rules, which is not reproduced here). Count the number of moves needed to reach the objective.
Gameplay
In solitaire, the action to perform is determined by the color of the card with which there was interaction. Start with the last card placed during setup.
Yellow: turn
- Action: Turn over a card of your choice.
- Next action: determined by the visible color of the card that has just been turned over.
Green: exchange
- Action: Change the position of two non-central cards by turning them over (so that the top side ends up underneath).
- Next action: determined by the color of one of the two cards before they were turned over.
Red: replace
- Action: Change the position of one central card with another card by turning them over (so that the top side ends up underneath).
- Next action: determined by the color of one of the two cards before they were turned over.
Blue: rearrange or inform
- Action: Look at the hidden side of a card.
- Next action: determined by the color of the top side of that card.
OR
- Action: Rearrange any of the 4 hands.
- Next action: the color that is not part of the hand's objective.
Glossary
Private side: The side of the card facing the player to whom the card belongs.
Public side: The side of the card not facing the player to whom the card belongs.
Draw pile: The stack of cards from which cards are drawn.
Discard pile: The stack of cards that have been used.
Partner's hand: The hand of a teammate in a 4-player game.
Common hand: The hand placed in the center of the playing area that is not controlled by any player. With 2 and 3 players, this hand is considered to be the partner's hand of each player.