Seven Merry Monsters
Seven Merry Monsters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
60 cards: 7 different monsters with 7 cards each, 11 jokers.
Basics
A game of Seven Merry Monsters is played over several rounds. At the end of a round, you get points for the monsters you have captured. You write down the points won for each player. A game ends as soon as a player has reached at least 150 points. The player with the most points wins. In each round, you receive 10 cards, which are used to play 8 tricks. The cards captured in a trick are laid out face up in front of you. You receive points for each type of monster in your display. It's a good idea to collect as many different monsters as possible, but as few of one type as possible!
The Round
The cards are shuffled. Each player receives 10 cards. The rest are put aside. In the first round, the player who looks most like one of the monsters starts. In the following round, the next player in clockwise order starts. In a round, you play 8 tricks. The cards you win in a trick are laid out face up in front of you.
The last two unplayed cards are then also placed in your [display; sentence cut off in the printed rulebook. See End of a Round.]
The Trick
Whoever is next plays a card and puts it in the middle of the table. Then it is the turn of the person to the left, and so on. Any card can be played, regardless of color or number. A trick is over as soon as
- Case 1: each player has played a card.
OR
- Case 2: two cards with the same number were played and this is the highest number in this trick.
Examples:
- Antum plays a 5, Bruno a 3 and Conny a 5. The trick is over, no matter how many people are playing.
- Anton plays a 7 and so does Bruno. The trick also ends immediately.
Who wins the trick?
- In Case 1 the cards go to the player who played the card with the highest number.
- In Case 2 the person who played the second highest card and thus created the tie decides which of the two gets the trick. He can take the trick himself or give it to the other tied player.
- It is possible that there are players who were not able to play a card in this trick. They now take one of their hand cards and place it in their display according to the rules.
Who starts the next trick?
Whoever got the cards in the last trick starts the next trick.
The Display
What happens to the cards I win?
You place the cards won in a trick face up in a personal display in front of you. You place the same monsters on top of each other in a column.
The Jokers
You place the jokers in any column. They then count as the monster in whose column they are and may not be assigned to another monster during the rest of the game. Multiple jokers can be placed in the same column. A joker never starts a new column; it may only be assigned to a monster that is already in play.
Very rare special case: a trick consists only of jokers and you don't have a monster in your display yet. You put these cards aside and can distribute them as you wish among your monsters at the end of a round. In the even rarer case that you still haven't collected a single monster at the end of the round, you get one point for each joker collected in this way.
End of a Round
As soon as 8 tricks have been played, the current round ends. You now add the two cards remaining in your hand to your display according to the rules. Then you add up the points you receive for your display.
Scoring
You receive points for each type of monster in your display. The fewer monsters of a type you have collected, the more points.
| Number of Monsters in a Column | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 Monster | 10 |
| 2 Monsters | 6 |
| 3 or more Monsters | 1 point/card |
Example: the player gets 10 points each for Kim and Helmut. Elvis and Waltraud each get 6 points. The columns for Marianne and Detlef each contain 3 or more cards, so they get 3 and 5 points respectively. In total, this player has scored 40 points.
You write down the points scored by each player on a piece of paper. Then it's on to the next round if the end of the game has not yet been reached.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as at least one player has reached 150 or more points. The player with the most points wins. TIP: For a shorter or longer game you can also adjust the number of points to be reached.
Variants
Seven Merry Monsters is so much fun that after several games you might want to try a variant. These variants are a little less tactical, as the two remaining cards are put into the display BEFORE the 8 tricks are played.
"Two Original Monsters"
Instead of putting the two remaining cards in your display at the end of a round, they are placed face up there at the beginning of a round according to the normal rules for the display. So here too, no joker can be left alone in a column. This variant has the potential to cause trouble right from [the start; sentence cut off in the printed rulebook.]
"Monster under the Bed"
Instead of putting the two remaining cards in your display at the end of a round, they are placed face down at the beginning of a round according to the normal rules for the display. Two different monsters in two different columns, or both monsters in one column if they are the same or one of the cards is a joker. Here too, no column can consist entirely of jokers. If you capture a monster that you already have a card of face down in front of you, the face down monster is turned over.