Splitz
Splitz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Each round the leader lays out a row of cards with numbers and divides it into three parts. Each player votes, secretly from the others, for one part, but receives it only if no one else claims it. At the end of the game the players score victory points for having the majority of cards of each denomination, and the player with the most victory points wins.
Components
- 70 cards of the main deck:
- 55 number cards from 1 to 10 (the number of copies equals the denomination: one 1, two 2s, and so on up to ten 10s)
- 15 joker cards
- 12 choice cards (4 sets with differently coloured backs, 3 cards in each)
- 2 divider cards
Goal of the Game
Collect cards with numbers from 1 to 10, relying on the fact that the majority of cards of one denomination will bring you victory points equal to that denomination. Remember: the higher the denomination, the more such cards are in the game, and so the harder it is to collect a majority.
Setup
Give each player 1 set of 3 choice cards. Shuffle all cards of the main deck (numbers and jokers) thoroughly and place them in the centre of the table face down.
Choose the first player at random and give them the 2 divider cards.
Course of Play
The game consists of several rounds, in which the role of the leader passes from player to player, starting with the first player, clockwise.
Forming the Row
At the start of the round the leader:
- Reveals cards from the main deck and lays them out one after another in a horizontal row: 7 cards in a 2-player or 3-player game, or 9 cards in a 4-player game. Important: the order of the laid out cards cannot be changed.
- Divides this row into 3 parts (white, blue and black) with the divider cards, at their own discretion, so that each part has at least one card.
Example: Diana, Ilya, Maxim and Oksana are playing as a foursome. Oksana became the leader and laid out 9 cards. Then she decided to divide the resulting row into a white part of 3 cards, a blue part of 2 cards and a black part of 4 cards. (The row, left to right: 4 3 6 | divider | 5 7 | divider | joker 8 2 10; the parts are labelled white, blue, black in that order.)
Only in a 2-player game: After the leader has divided the row into 3 parts, the second player, at their own discretion, chooses one part and discards it.
Voting
Then all players, including the leader, vote secretly from the others: they choose the part they would like to claim and place the choice card of the corresponding colour face down in front of them. As soon as all players are ready, all the choice cards are revealed.
Distribution of Cards
The players proceed to distribute the cards:
- if no one claims a part, the cards of this part are discarded,
- if one player claims a part, they receive all the cards of this part and lay them out in front of themselves,
- if two or more players claim a part, and it consists of:
- three or more cards, this part is divided by the leader, at their discretion, into three parts, and an additional round of voting is held among these players.
- two cards, this part is divided in half by one divider card, and an additional round of voting is held among these players.
- one card, it is discarded and the players receive nothing.
Example: The players voted and revealed their choice cards. Maxim takes the white part, Diana gets the blue part. (Maxim played white, Diana blue, Ilya black, Oksana black.) Since Ilya and Oksana together claimed the black part, Oksana, as the leader, divided the 4 cards into three new parts: white with a joker and an eight, blue with a two and black with a ten. Ilya and Oksana vote again, and as a result Oksana takes the two cards of the white part and Ilya takes the ten.
Note: in a 4-player game a situation can arise in which two players claim one part and the other two players claim another part. In this case the leader first holds a separate round of voting for the first pair of players, and then for the second.
Sorting the Cards
Players lay the cards they received face up in front of themselves, grouping them by denomination, so that a player can have at most 10 stacks of cards.
A joker can be added only to existing cards of one denomination. If a joker became the first and only card that a player took, the player waits for the first card of any denomination and the joker is automatically added to it. A joker cannot be moved to cards of another denomination during the game.
Note: in case of disputed situations, players should lay out cards in turn, starting with the player sitting to the left of the leader.
As soon as a player has received their part, they can no longer claim parts in the further distribution in this round and must wait for the start of a new round.
End of the Round
The round ends:
- when every player has received their part,
- or when there are no cards left in the row.
The role of the leader passes to the next player, who takes the divider cards and prepares to start a new round.
End of the Game and Determining the Winner
If the leader has laid out the last cards from the deck (in a 4-player game the last round is played with 7 cards instead of 9), the players finish the current round, and the game ends with it. Players count the number of cards of each denomination, starting with the smallest.
The player who collected the most cards of one denomination lays out one card of this denomination in front of themselves, closer to the centre of the table — this is their victory points. All other cards of this denomination of all players are discarded.
Example: Maxim has more fives and eights than each of his opponents. Maxim receives 5+8=13 victory points.
If several players have an equal number of cards of one denomination, all players with the maximum number of cards of this denomination each add one card to their rows of victory points.
After determining the majority within all denominations, players count their victory points, and the player with the most points is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the winner is the player whose row of victory points has more cards of different denominations.