Rimtik
Rimtik Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
To win a round of Rimtik, you must be the first to get rid of all of your cards.
Each player is dealt 5 cards at the start of the game. Each player keeps their cards hidden from the other players.
The remaining cards form the draw pile: place them face down in the centre of the players.
The aim of the game is to win a predefined number of rounds, depending on how long you want to play.
The Harsh Law of Rimtik
In the jungle of Rimtik there are no turns...
Players play as fast as possible, but never twice in a row, by placing their cards on a common discard pile, located next to the draw pile.
Each time a player takes a card from their hand to play it, they must simultaneously say a word. Keep this in mind to understand the rest of the rules.
The youngest player starts the first round. They turn over the top card of the draw pile while simultaneously saying a word of their choice.
In Rimtik, the permitted words are those found in the dictionary and proper nouns. For more controversial words, the players must reach a consensus.
Feathers
To play a card from your hand onto the discard pile, you must respect 2 rules:
- The card you play must share at least one colour with the card played by the previous player. The shape of the feathers does not matter; only their colour counts.
Each of the following pictograms refers to a colour, whether the feather is intact or damaged. The five pictograms are: a blue triangle, an orange circle, a red star, a purple spiral, and a green square.
- The player must say a word.
- If the feathers on the card being covered are intact, the word spoken must rhyme with the last word spoken.
- If, on the other hand, the feathers are damaged, the player must change the rhyme.
You must look at the card you are covering to decide whether to rhyme or not, never at the card you are playing.
Smurf & calligrapher, does that rhyme? (translator's note: the original example pairs "Schtroumpf" with "calligraphe", which rhyme in French; the example is kept as printed.)
For beginner players, a poor rhyme is enough. For experienced players, the second word spoken defines the richness of the rhyme, within the limit of a monosyllabic rhyme.
Faults
As soon as a player commits one of the following faults, they must take their card back and draw a new one:
- Colour fault: playing a card with no colour in common with the card being covered.
- Rhyme fault: changing the rhyme when a rhyme is required, or rhyming when the rhyme must change.
- Timing fault: placing your card before saying a word.
- Repetition fault: saying a word that has already been used during the game, though someone still has to notice it...
After a fault, play resumes immediately from the last word spoken and the last card played before the fault.
Words already used are forbidden from one round to the next until the end of the game.
Rimtik Cards
On some cards, the feathers are not coloured but grey.
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To play a Rimtik card, it must have the same number of feathers, and those feathers must be in the same state (intact or damaged) as the feathers of the card that has just been played. The colour no longer matters.
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When playing it, the player must:
- Say "RIMTIK!"
- Keep their hand resting on the discard pile.
The other players then quickly bring their hands down onto the discard pile in turn. The last player to have placed their hand takes a card from the draw pile.
After a Rimtik card, the player who has just drawn an additional card restarts play with the first card of the draw pile.
End of Game
As soon as a player succeeds in playing their last card, they win the round!
For a good dose of fun, count 3 winning rounds.
For each round you have won, you start the following rounds with one additional card, until the end of the game. In a game of 3 winning rounds, you will have to get rid of 7 cards for your last round!
The player who wins a round restarts the next one from the draw pile.
You may immediately play again from your hand after restarting from the draw pile, whether at the start of a round or after having lost on a Rimtik card.
Beginner Variant
Concentration, speed, vocabulary: all this seems complicated? Don't panic: there is a beginner variant that lets you play at your own pace and prepares you for more fiercely contested duels.
What changes?
Instead of playing in any order, the players place their cards in turn. Once you have played, it is your neighbour's turn to play, and so on.
If you cannot play, draw a card from the draw pile and pass your turn.
Rimtik cards can always be played at any moment, even if it is not your turn, provided you are able to do so, of course.
Expert Variant
You are quick, observant, and sharp-witted, and you want to spice up your games of Rimtik? No problem: there is an expert variant that should bring your neurons to their limits!
What changes?
The design on the back of the cards is not always the same. When you play a card, you must now pay attention to the design on the back of the card on top of the draw pile. It indicates an additional constraint to respect when you say your words.
Only one constraint is in effect at a time. It stays active as long as the card imposing it remains on top of the draw pile. The constraint changes as soon as that card is drawn, revealing a new constraint.
The expert constraints:
- Naturalist parrot: this parrot is more interested in the fauna and flora of the planet than in its fellow birds. The words you say must necessarily refer to animals or plants.
- Chef parrot: this parrot compels you to say words that awaken its appetite! E.g.: recipes, foods, kitchen utensils...
- Globetrotting parrot: this parrot wants your words to remind it of its past travels, using geographical proper nouns (places, countries, regions, oceans, rivers, cities, etc.).
- Famous parrot: this celebrated parrot asks you to use only the names of well-known characters! (Celebrities, historical figures, comic book heroes, film characters, etc.).
- Young graduate parrot: this parrot, a recent graduate, requires you to spell your words instead of saying them. Of course, any spelling mistake noticed by another player is considered a fault of the game.
- Upside-down parrot: this parrot makes you do everything backwards! Your words must no longer rhyme (or must not rhyme), but must begin (or must not begin) with the same syllable as the previous word.
- Three young parrots: these three young parrots only tolerate words of 3 syllables or more.
- Contrary parrot: this parrot has a spirit of contradiction. It requires you to rhyme on damaged feathers and to change the rhyme on intact feathers.