Primo
Primo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 104 number cards
- 10 special cards
- 6 base cards (Ablagekarten)
Goal
Play as many of your own number cards as possible during your turn, but you may only place cards that fit. It helps to be able to move whole rows of cards that are already on the table. The first player to get rid of all of their cards wins.
Setup
Lay the 6 base cards side by side in the middle of the table. Place one number card (no special card) on each base card. These number cards form the start of a row.
Shuffle all number cards and special cards together and deal all cards evenly to the players. With 5 players, the first three players each receive one extra card.
Each player places their cards, without looking at them, as a face-down draw pile in front of them, then takes the top 6 cards from their draw pile into their hand. The oldest player becomes the starting player.
(Diagram labels: draw pile of a player; hand cards of a player.)
Turn Structure
Play proceeds clockwise. On their turn, the active player has two options:
- Either they exchange any number of their hand cards with their own draw pile,
- or they play one or more of their hand cards.
Exchanging Cards
A player who exchanges cards may put any number of their hand cards under their own draw pile and then refill their hand to 6 cards. A player may also pass and do nothing. Then the next player clockwise takes their turn.
Playing Cards
The player may play any number of their hand cards and add them to the rows laid out in the middle of the table. Number cards are always added in descending order, one after another (Fig. 1). Colours have no role in the basic game.
(Figure 1 and Figure 2 are shown in the printed manual.)
The active player may, first or during their turn, also rearrange the layout. In doing so, they may add a whole row, or the accessible part of a row, to another row. The continuous order must also be observed here. The lowest cards of a row are accessible. Cards may never be removed from the middle of a row (Fig. 2).
If a complete row from 13 down to 1 is laid out (Fig. 1), the row is cleared immediately. Its cards go back into the box and are out of the game. If there is no number card on a base card, the active player may open a new row with any number card from their hand. The active player may also play one or more special cards.
Special Cards
Top card (Top-Karte)
The player assigns this card to a row and may, in this turn, add number cards on top of that row. The continuous order must still be kept.
Note: Each top card allows adding on top of only one row.
At the end of their turn, the top card is removed from the game and placed back in the box.
Take card (Nimm-Karte)
The player assigns this card either to row A or to row F. The other players then, clockwise, each take the top card of a row, beginning with the row on which the take card lies. Each player must take the card from a different row. The active player themselves does not take a card.
Each received card goes onto that player's own draw pile.
If a player no longer has a draw pile, they must open a row with the card they received. After that, the take card is removed from the game.
Translator's note: the German text says "oberste Karte" (top card) for the card taken from a row, and "unterste Karten" (lowest cards) for the accessible cards. Both are transcribed as printed.
The active player may perform these actions (adding hand cards, rearranging the layout, playing special cards) as often as they like and in any order. At the end of their turn, they draw from their own draw pile until they again hold 6 cards in hand.
Note: As soon as a player has played all 6 of their hand cards, their turn ends and they draw 6 cards. The next player clockwise then takes their turn.
Example
(The printed manual shows a layout of rows A to F before the example, and a second layout after Michael's turn.)
Elisabeth (3-player game) is up. Her hand cards are: 10, 9, 5, 5, 2, 1.
She places a 5 on row E, then moves the complete row B and places it on row E as well. She then adds her 2 and her 1 to it. Next she moves all cards from 10 down to 1 from this row onto row A. This makes row A a complete row, which is immediately cleared and removed from the game. Into the now empty row A she places her 10 and her 9 from her hand. Into the now empty row B she places her last hand card, the 5. She then draws 6 cards from her own draw pile, and the next player is up.
Svenja has only hand cards with values 12 and 13, which she cannot play at the moment. So she exchanges 4 of them and puts them under her own draw pile. Then she draws cards until she has 6 in hand again, and the next player is up.
Michael first plays the special card "Take" and assigns it to row A. Therefore Elisabeth must take the top card of row A, the 10, and put it on her draw pile. Svenja must take the 5 from row B. Then Michael plays a 13 and a 12 on row B, and a further special card, a top card, on row C. Therefore he may now place an 8 and a 9 from his hand above the 7 lying in row C. He has played all his hand cards and draws 6 cards. Now Elisabeth is active again.
Ending the Game
When a player has used up their entire draw pile and plays their last hand card, the game ends immediately and this player is the winner.
Variants
- Several rounds: Play several rounds. Each card a player still holds at the end of a round (draw pile and hand cards) counts as one negative point. The player who ends a round receives 3 positive points. After 4 rounds, the player with the fewest negative points is the winner.
- Colour variant: For a more demanding game, take the card colours into account. Two further options are available here: within a row the colours must always alternate, or only single-colour rows are allowed.