Release!
Release! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
The base game of Release! has 54 cards. These cards are divided into two decks.
Play Deck (36 cards). Every play card has a rank (the number in the corner of the card) and a suit (Doors, Fruits, or Birds). Some play cards have special abilities described on the card.
Tools & Methods Deck (18 cards). Every Tools & Methods card has a scoring rule that describes how points are won or lost.
Plug-ins and Expansions
Although the base game of Release! is pretty fun by itself, we designed Release! with extensibility in mind. You can add lots of variety to Release! by installing different plug-ins and expansions into the base game. In addition to offering some pretty wild shifts to gameplay, some of these plug-ins and expansions will replace existing cards, while others will form completely new decks.
To discover new plug-ins and expansions stop by inedo.com/release
Set Up
The base game of Release! can be played with 2 to 5 players. However, if you combine two copies of the base game, you can play with 5 to 10 players.
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Determine Play Style. Based on the number of players, you will either be pair programming or working remotely.
Pair Programing. When there are 4, 6, 8, or 10 players, choose a teammate and sit across from them so that play will alternate between players of different teams; i.e. your teammate shouldn't sit right next to you. You and your teammate will share a score, so choose wisely!
Note that teammates' hands are still private, and they aren't allowed to discuss the specific cards, or strategy. Like true pair programing, you just need to be mentally synced.
Working Remotely. When there are 2, 3, 5, 7, or 9 players, you are on your own. Working remotely is a little lonely, but at least no one tells you where to sit.
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Remove Cards. When there are 5, 7, or 10 players, remove all copies of the 2 of Fruits from the game.
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Shuffle Tools & Methods. Shuffle the Tools & Methods Deck and place it face down in a central location.
Congratulations! Your Release! setup is now complete.
Release! Syntax
Release! is a trick-taking game, and if you're familiar with other trick-taking games such as pinochle or euchre, the concepts will be similar but the syntax is a bit different.
When we refer to a release, we are speaking of a full hand of play. The term iteration describes a trick, or a single round of play. Playing a card in a trick is called committing to the iteration, and the player who takes the trick will have won the iteration.
Playing Release!
A game of Release! consists of 5 rounds of play. Each of these rounds is called a release, and is played in the same manner over 4 steps.
1. Reveal Tools & Methods Card
Draw the top card from the Tools & Methods deck and place it face-up such that all players can see it. This card describes the scoring rules for this release, and will help players decide which cards to commit to iterations in an attempt to win or avoid winning them.
2. Deal Play Cards
Shuffle the play cards and deal all of the cards, an equal number to each player, in clockwise rotation. These cards will form the player's hand, and should be kept secret from all other players, including their teammate.
In a 2-player game, randomly discard 12 cards from the Play Deck before dealing.
Note: no player has administrative privileges to view these, or any other discarded cards; they must remain hidden for the duration of the release.
3. Play Iterations
Each release consists of a number of iterations equal to the player's hand size. The hand size will vary depending on the number of players, and will generally be 9 to 12.
Determine Leading Player. If this is the first iteration in a release, the player or team with the lowest points will lead. If there is a tie (such as at the start of the game), the last player or team who broke the build leads. This is to say, just flip a coin.
For subsequent iterations, the player who won the last iteration leads.
Note: when pair programming, teammates can decide which of them leads on the first iteration.
Committing Cards to the Iteration. The leading player commits (plays) any card from their hand, and places it in the center of play area. This is called the led card.
Then, in clockwise order, each other player commits a card from their hand, placing it in the center of the play area.
If you have any cards of the led card's suit, you must commit one of those cards. Otherwise, you may commit a card of another suit. This is called breaking suit.
The player who committed the card with the highest rank of the led suit wins the iteration. If duplicate cards of a single rank are committed, the card committed first is considered to be ranked higher. This player then takes all cards committed to the iteration, and places them face down in front of them. These cards are now that player's artifacts. Not artefacts mind you, artifacts.
Note: some cards have special abilities described on them. This description includes the effect, and how the effect is triggered. This effect may take place immediately, during the iterations, during scoring, or next Tuesday - be sure you've resolved effects at the correct time.
Iterate Iterations. Continue playing iterations until all players have played all their cards. This will always happen on the same iteration as everyone has the same number of cards.
4. Score Artifacts
The specific scoring rules will change from release to release based on the Tools & Methods card revealed at the beginning of this release. Scoring rules play out in a few different ways; some will involve specific suits or ranks in your artifacts, whereas others will be based on the number of iterations won.
When pair programming, combine artifacts with your teammate before tabulating your score.
Keep in mind that you can, and probably will, go below zero. Sometimes, the software just shouldn't have been written.
Note: cards can never be used twice for any scoring mechanic, for example one card can not be used in two straights.
Note: points awarded immediately by an effect are not added during this round of scoring. Those should have already been added to your score.
After 5 releases that's it! The team or player with the highest point total wins, and are clearly better people in most fashions.
Quick Reference
1. Set-Up
A. Determine players i. Choose Teammates, if applicable ii. Remove 2 of Fruits, if needed
B. Shuffle Tools & Methods cards
2. Releases
A. Reveal a Tools & Methods card B. Shuffle and deal play cards C. Iterations i. Determine Leading Player ii. Leading player commits (plays) a card iii. Each other player (in clockwise order) commits a card (must follow led suit if possible) iv. Determine winning player (who committed the highest rank of led suit) v. Winning player card places all committed cards in their artifacts vi. Repeat until all cards are played D. Score artifacts based on the T&M card E. Repeat until five releases are scored
Release! Settings
This rulebook describes the out-of-box configuration for Release!, but other ways to play can be just as fun. You are welcome to establish house rules and tweak the settings as desired. Following are some suggestions.
Increase or decrease the number of releases for longer or shorter games; play to 35 points instead of five releases; remove any Tools & Methods card you don't like; Work Remotely with any number of players; when Pair Programing keep artifacts separate during scoring.
Glossary
Artifacts - a face-down pile of cards a player has won from iterations; these may not be revealed until scoring.
Break Suit - when a player commits a card to an iteration that is not of the led suit; you may only break suit if you have no cards of the led suit in your hand. Cards which break suit cannot win an iteration.
Commit - playing a card in an iteration.
Discard - a card removed from play for the duration of a release; these are face-down and inaccessible to players.
Hand - a set of cards that each player may commit to an iteration during a release; these are known only to that player and may not be revealed to other players.
Immediate - an effect that is resolved as soon as the specified action or condition occurs; if two effects could be resolved in this manner, resolve them in clockwise order starting with the leading player (or, if not in an iteration, then the player with the least-wrinkled shirt).
Iteration - a single round of play in which each player commits one card in clockwise order.
Led - describes the first card or suit that was committed to any iteration.
N-of-a-Kind - a set of N cards with matching rank; for example, the 5 of Birds, 5 of Doors, and another 5 of Doors would make a three-of-a-kind.
Place, Transfer - moving a card from one area (such as a player's hand) to another (such as the iteration play area); if the new area is face-down, then the placed card is also face-down.
Rank - the number listed in the corners of a cards; in the Release! base game these range from 2 to 13.
Release - a single hand of play consisting of a number of iterations equal to hand size.
Reveal - making a face-down card visible to all players, either temporarily or for the duration of a release; when revealing from your hand, the effect is temporary, whereas revealing from a deck (such as Tools & Methods) is permanent.
Score - an accumulation of points awarded to players; the score generally will only change during the scoring step, but some cards will immediately change a player's score; note that teammates always share a single score.
Straight - a set of sequentially ranked cards. A "longest straight" is the set with the most cards in a larger set (such as artifacts); if there are two candidates for longest straight, pick one. Cards in a straight do not need to share suit unless specified, such as "straight of Birds".
Suit - a class of cards; in the Release! base game the suits are Birds, Fruits, and Doors.
Swap - replacing one card with another; if a replaced card was face-down, then its replacement remains face-down.
Teammate - when pair programing, your partner; teammates can only share a score, and not discuss specific cards or strategies.
Unmatched Rank - in a larger set of cards (such as artifacts), these are sets of 1 card after grouping by rank; for example, with the 3 of Fruits, 4 of Fruits, 5 of Birds, 5 of Doors, and another 5 of Doors; there are two unmatched ranks (3 and 4).
Core Cards
The card text below is transcribed from the base game card faces (card IDs RI01 to RI54 as printed on each card). Each card lists its suit icon and rank in the corners.
Play Deck
The play deck has 36 cards: ranks 2 to 13 in each of the three suits, Doors, Fruits, and Birds.
Ranks 2 to 9 (24 cards, RI01 to RI24). Cards of ranks 2 through 9 in each suit have no special ability text; their rank and suit are their only features.
Rank 10 (RI34 to RI36).
- Jez Humble (RI34, Fruits, 10): "This card ranks 14 if only Fruits were committed to this iteration. Otherwise, this card ranks 0." Note: this counts only during iterations.
- Gene Kim (RI35, Doors, 10): "This card ranks 1/2 a rank higher than the previous card committed to this iteration. If led, this card ranks 0." Note: this counts only during iterations.
- Dan North (RI36, Birds, 10): "If any cards ranked 2 to 9 of any suit were committed to this iteration, this card ranks 0; if not it ranks 14." Note: this counts only during iterations.
Rank 11 (RI31 to RI33).
- Kent Beck (RI31, Fruits, 11): "After you commit this card, you may immediately swap any card from your artifacts with a random card from another player's artifacts."
- Elisabeth Hendrickson (RI32, Doors, 11): "After another player wins an iteration, you may reveal this card and then swap it with a card committed to that iteration."
- Kenji Hiranabe (RI33, Birds, 11): "After you win an iteration, you may reveal this card and then swap it with a card committed to that iteration."
Rank 12 (RI28 to RI30).
- Kathy Sierra (RI28, Fruits, 12): "If you commit this card to the last iteration of a release, immediately score +4."
- Gojko Adzic (RI29, Doors, 12): "At the end of this iteration, the player who won this iteration immediately scores +2."
- Patrick Debois (RI30, Birds, 12): "At the end of this iteration, the player who won this iteration immediately scores +2."
Rank 13 (RI25 to RI27).
- Linda Rising (RI25, Fruits, 13): "When scoring this release, the player or team that has this card in their artifacts doubles the points received (whether positive or negative) from the Tools & Method card."
- Jeff Patton (RI26, Doors, 13): "At the end of this iteration, all players pass 1 card to the right."
- John Allspaw (RI27, Birds, 13): "At the end of this iteration, all players pass 1 card to the left."
Tools & Methods Deck
The Tools & Methods deck has 18 cards. Each card's scoring rule is printed on its face; "+" and "-" values are points gained or lost during scoring.
Deployment Pipelines (RI37): +1 for each card in your longest straight.
Greenfield Development (RI38): +6 if you win exactly one iteration. Additional rule: teammates score separately for this card.
Refactoring (RI39): +6 if you win exactly four iterations.
Distributed Source Control (RI40): +3 for each three-of-a-kind.
Collaboration (RI41): +1 for each unmatched rank.
Legacy Codebase (RI42): -1 for each card in your longest straight.
Tight Deadline (RI43): -6 if you have more than 8 cards of a single suit.
Excessive Branching (RI44): -2 for each two-of-a-kind.
Complex Requirements (RI45): -5 if you win exactly as many iterations as another player.
Inconsistent Documentation (RI46): -1 for each unmatched rank.
Architecture Review (RI47): +2 for each iteration won. -1 for each 12.
Conference Experience (RI48): +4 for each 11-12-13 straight. -1 for each 2.
User Friendly (RI49): +1 for each 4-5-6 straight. -2 for each 13.
Boilerplate Code: Doors (RI50): +1 for each 2 to 9 of Doors. -1 for each 10 to 13 of Doors.
Boilerplate Code: Birds (RI51): +1 for each 2 to 9 of Birds. -1 for each 10 to 13 of Birds.
Senior Level Development (RI52): +1 for each 10 to 13. -1 for each 2 to 9.
Platform Zealot: Birds (RI53): +1 for each 2 to 9 of Birds. +2 for each 10 to 13 of Birds. -1 for each Door.
Platform Zealot: Doors (RI54): +1 for each 2 to 9 of Doors. +2 for each 10 to 13 of Doors. -1 for each Bird.