The Imposter Kings Card Game

The Imposter Kings Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Quickplay Two-Player Variant

Setup the Deck

Make a deck with the 14 following cards:


Queen	Princess	Fool
Sentry	Warlord	Mystic
Oathbound (x2)	Soldier (x2)	Inquisitors (x2)
Elder (x2)

Place the Assassin faceup on the side of the playing area. This is the Accused card. It's removed from this round, and both players can see that it's not in either player's hand. Typically, the Accused card is randomly selected, but for the first round, we'll use the Assassin.

Give a random King to each player, making sure one is the "True King" card (written on the top left of the card).

Shuffle and Deal

Deal each player 7 cards. Place the King faceup in front of you. The player with the True King may choose who goes first. Rotate the chosen player's King to indicate that they are going first. Each player then chooses one card as their Successor and places it facedown next to their King. Many cards benefit your opponent if they can guess what you have in your hand, and the Successor essentially hides a card from those abilities. For the first round, we recommend just playing a Soldier (value 5) or higher valued card as your Successor. When you use your King during the round, you will take the Successor into your hand.

Start play

The Court, or playing area of the round, is empty at the beginning. The first player may play any card they wish to the Throne or the top of the Court. After playing a card, the card's ability triggers. These abilities can either be mandatory or player's choice, indicated by "may choose to." After the ability is resolved, the next player plays an equal or higher value card than the current card on the Throne, which becomes the new Throne card (stack all cards in a row so people may see all played cards this round). You may also choose to flip your King once per round to take your Successor into your hand as your turn.

Some cards have keywords. The two you'll encounter in this version are Disgrace and Antechamber:

Disgrace: To disgrace a card, you flip that card facedown in Court. That card is effectively removed from the round and has a value of 1 (even if it is on the Throne).
Antechamber: If any card instructs playing a card in your Antechamber, place that card in front of you faceup. If you have faceup cards in your Antechamber when you start your turn, you must choose and play one to the Throne (ignoring the card's value) as your turn. The card still uses its ability and has its value once on the Throne.

Use the "Basic Rules" cheatsheet to refer to these at any time!

During your turn, if you have cards in your Antechamber, you must play one to the Throne (ignoring card values) as your turn. Otherwise, you have two options:

You play any card in your hand to the Throne that is an equal or higher value than the card currently on the Throne

You may choose to flip your King as your turn (follow instructions on that card)

Players alternate playing cards until one player cannot play any more cards. Your goal is to prevent the other player from capturing the Throne. You can do this by either playing a high enough card that they cannot play on or by making them run out of cards to play on their next turn.

Some quick card notes for your first round

Some cards are exceptions to the equal or higher value rule, such as the Elder (value 3) can be played on any Royalty (Queen and Princess, both valued 9), or the Oathbound may be played on any card provided that you can play another card afterwards of any value. Always follow the rules on the card.

In two-player, the Inquisitor makes the other player play a named card to the Antechamber, which they would then have to play on their next turn. Effectively in a two-player game, you force them to play a card from their hand if you guess correctly, and it's your turn again. This is a decisive first move, and you can easily disrupt their plans by forcing them to play a card they were saving for later. Be careful! They can still use the card's ability.

End of Round

The winner of the round gets one point. The loser of the round gets the True King. We recommend you play this way a couple of times to get the basic flow of the round.

Adding the Assassin

Once you feel comfortable, you may also shuffle in the Assassin to the deck before dealing cards. The remaining card after dealing 7 cards to each player becomes the Accused card.

Both players should be made aware that the Assassin kills any player that flips their King, so be careful if you don't have it in your hand (as your opponent likely will have it). You may use the Inquisitor to flush her out (by forcing them to play it if it's in their hand) or use the Mystic's ability to cancel her ability for that round.

If you have the Assassin, you can choose to hide it as your Successor to protect her from the Inquisitor. You can also use your own Inquisitors to get rid of the Mystic before she has a chance to deal with the Assassin.

Adding the King's Hand

After playing a couple of games with the Assassin, you may also choose to include the King's Hand. Simply shuffle him into the deck, and after dealing 7 cards to each player, one card is flipped faceup as the Accused card, and the remaining card is discarded facedown next to the Accused card.

The King's hand is a value of eight but is one of the two cards that can be played out of turn as a Reaction (the other being the Assassin). The King's Hand also introduces a new concept called "Condemned Cards." When a card tells you to Condemn a card, you place it in front of you like an Antechamber card facedown. If you have a Condemned card when your turn starts, you must remove that card facedown from the game as your turn. If a card you played during your turn gets condemned that card is immediately removed and your turn is over.

If someone plays a Fool or another powerful card that you wish to cancel, you may use the King's Hand to prevent that ability from happening. Using the King's hand against the opponent's card in two-player will remove both cards from the round and the round continues as if they didn't play that card (in this example, the player who played the Fool would take the next turn after the Fool and King's Hand were both removed from the game). A more complicated example: If Player 1 flips their King, Player 2 tries to Assassinate, and Player 1 attempts to use the King's Hand, again, you can simply just remove the Assassin and King's Hand from the game as if they weren't played, and the King flip would resolve as normal.

Two-Player Standard Rules

These are the full rules of the Two Player game. The goal remains the same: Stay alive and eliminate other players. You lose if you can't play a card on the Throne during your turn or get assassinated.

If you haven't played Quickplay yet, the full rules are listed below. However, we still recommend you try Quickplay to get a couple pressure-free games under your belt.

If you're here from Quickplay, there's some good news! Not much has changed, other than adding a couple of cards and changing some of the setup. Here are the key differences:

Players need to win 7 points to win the match. Each round, one player will win 1-3 points, depending on how well they do (see End of Round).
You add two new cards in addition to the Assassin and King's Hand (Judge and Zealot) and are dealt 8 cards instead of 7. Familiarize yourself with these cards before play.
Players choose to place a Successor like previously but also must discard one card to be removed from the round facedown after the True King determines who goes first.
Each player may choose to Mulligan after the True King decides who goes first, which means that round ends as if it wasn't played.

There are cheatsheets included with the game that will help you keep track of the cards, summarize their abilities, and share each card's quantity in the game's Standard versions.

Setup the Deck

Make a deck with the following 18 cards:


Queen	Princess	King's Hand
Sentry	Warlord	Mystic
Oathbound (x2)	Soldier (x2)	Inquisitors (x2)
Zealot	Assassin	Judge
Elder (x2)	Fool

Give a random King to each player, making sure one is the "True King" card (written on the top left of the card). Note that after this round, whoever loses the previous round receives the True King.

Shuffle and Deal

Deal each player 8 cards. Take the last two cards, and flip one faceup. This is the Accused card. It's removed from the round, and both players can see that it's not in either player's hand. The remaining card is facedown hidden from both players and cannot be used this round.

All players place their King faceup in front of them. The player with the True King may choose who goes first. Rotate the chosen player's King to indicate that they are going first.

If a player is dissatisfied with their hand, they may elect to Mulligan which means the round ends as if it was not played. Each player gets one free Mulligan per match. If the player chooses to use an additional Mulligan, they get the True King for the next round, but their opponent gains 2 points.

Each player then chooses one card as their Successor and places it facedown next to their King. Players also pick one card to discard from the round facedown (placed next to the Accused card).

Start play

During your turn, check to see if you have any cards in your Condemned area. If you have any Condemned cards, you must choose and remove one from the round as your turn. If not, but you have cards in your Antechamber, you must play one to the Throne (ignoring card values) as your turn. Otherwise, you have two options:

You play any card in your hand to the Throne that is an equal or higher value than the card currently on the Throne

You may choose to flip your King as your turn (follow instructions on that card)

Players alternate playing cards until one player cannot play any more cards. Your goal is to prevent the other player from capturing the Throne. You can do this by either playing a high enough card that they cannot play on, making them run out of cards or assassinating them with the Assassin.

End of Round

The winner of the round gets one point. If your King is still faceup when you won the round, you gain an additional point. You also gain an extra point if the opponent still has their Successor or any cards in their hand.

The loser of the round gets the True King card for the next round and can choose who goes first after dealing cards.

Keywords

Some cards have keywords. You may refer to these in the cheatsheet at any time!

DISGRACE Flip the card facedown in Court. That card is effectively removed from the round and has a value of 1 (even if on the Throne)
REACTION Cards with Reaction may only use their ability during special circumstances outside of the normal turn order. Reaction cards describe what triggers the reaction. For example, the King's Hand only works when someone chooses to use a card's ability; the Assassin works when a King is flipped. You may only react once per trigger.
ANTECHAMBER If any card instructs playing a card in your Antechamber, place that card in front of you faceup. If you have faceup cards in your Antechamber when you start your turn, you must choose and play one to the Throne (ignoring the card's value) as your turn. The card still uses its ability and has its value once on the Throne.
CONDEMN If any card instructs to Condemn your card, place that card in front of you facedown. If you have Condemned cards when you start your turn, you must choose and remove one Condemned card from the round as your turn. If you play a card to the Throne and it becomes Condemned (usually by the King's Hand), immediately remove that card from the round as your turn. Players may not view any card removed from play that is facedown, unless the information was already known by all players (King's Hand and its executed card, for example).

Three-Player Standard - Cutthroat

Three-player is a tight match free for all. Players will learn a lot more information about each opponent's hand and many tools to modify their hands to be the last one alive. In this mode, players may also earn a point for being second place, so it's always better to knock someone out.

Three-Player Standard is a bit different from Two-Player and Four-Player Standard rules. The key differences from the Two-Player Standard are as follows:

Before the True King chooses who goes first, all players reveal three cards from their hand. Each player will choose one card from their opponents' revealed cards to take for their own hand, starting with a player who revealed a card with the highest value (the printed rulebook ends this bullet here; the rules are given in full under Shuffle and deal below)
The True King determines the first player and direction of play
There is a special rule for the Assassin - After a successful assassination, the player who played the Assassin may view all cards from the opponent, and choose to secretly swap their Assassin for any of those cards. They may choose to also keep the Assassin.
No Mulligan rules
Slightly different scoring - If there is a second place, they get one point, and first place gains an additional point for each opponent with cards in their hand

Setup the Deck

Make a deck with the following 25 cards:


Queen	Princess	King's Hand
Sentry	Warlord	Mystic
Oathbound (x2)	Soldier (x2)	Inquisitor (x2)
Zealot	Assassin	Judge (x2)
Elder (x2)	Fool	Herald
Executioner (x2)	Spy	Warden (x2)

Give a random King to each player, making sure one is the "True King" card (written on the top left of the card). Note that after this round, whoever loses the previous round receives the True King.

Shuffle and deal

Deal each player 8 cards. Flip faceup the remaining card. This is the Accused card. It is currently removed from the round, and all players can see that it's not in any player's hand. All players place their King faceup in front of them.

Before the round starts, each player will reveal three cards, then exchange one of those cards with their opponents' using these following rules:

Each player chooses any two cards from their hand and puts them facedown in front of them. After all players place their cards in front of them facedown, the facedown cards are revealed simultaneously. Then all players will then choose an additional card from their hand to put facedown next to the other two. Again, after all players place their cards, these cards are revealed simultaneously. This gives an opportunity for players to look at their opponents first two cards before committing to their third card.

From the three cards placed faceup, the player with the highest valued card must choose any opponent's faceup cards to take as their own. After taking a card, that player places that card near their other faceup cards to clearly illustrate that it is the card they took from another player. The player that lost a card now takes a card from the other player. The final player then takes one of the initial cards from the player who started the exchange. If players are tied for the card with the highest value, the True King decides who goes first between the tied individuals.

At this point, players should have three cards in front of them, one different from what they had before. The True King holder chooses who goes first and the direction of play. Rotate the chosen player's King to indicate they are going first. If the direction of play is clockwise, rotate the King to the left, and if the direction of play is counterclockwise, rotate the King to the right. Players then take their cards back into their hands.

Each player then chooses one card as their Successor and places it facedown next to their King, and chooses one card to discard from the round facedown (put by the Accused card, away from Court).

Start play

The Court, or playing area of the round, is empty at the beginning. The player with the True King decides who goes first. That player may play any card they wish to the Throne or the top of the Court. After playing a card, the card's ability triggers. These abilities can either be mandatory or the player's choice, indicated by "may choose to." After the ability is resolved, the next player plays an equal or higher value card than the current card on the Throne, which becomes the new Throne card (stack all cards in a row so people may see all cards that have been played). Some cards are exceptions to this rule. For example, the Elder can be played on any Royalty cards, which are the Queen and Princess. You may also flip your King once per round to take your Successor into your hand as your turn.

You play any card in your hand to the Throne that is equal or higher value than the card currently on the Throne

You may choose to flip your King as your turn (follow instructions on that card)

Players alternate playing cards until there is only one person able to play cards. Your goal is to prevent the other players from capturing the Throne by either playing a high enough card that they cannot play on, making them run out of cards or assassinating them with the Assassin. If any player loses, they place their cards facedown in front of them. These cards may not be looked at and are considered out of play for the round.

There is a special rule for Three Player Standard regarding the Assassin. If you manage to assassinate another player by revealing your Assassin, you may look at the assassinated opponent's hand and Successor card and add your Assassin card. You may then secretly choose one of those cards to put back in your hand (including the Assassin again). The assassinated player's cards are now removed from the round facedown as usual.

End of Round

The winner of the round gets one point. If your King is still faceup when you won the round, you gain an additional point. You gain an additional point for each opponent who still has their Successor or any cards in their hand.

The player who came in 2nd place will also gain one point.

The 3rd place player gets the True King card for the next round and can choose who goes first and the direction of play after dealing cards, and each player exchanges cards.

Four-Player Standard - 2v2

Four-Player Standard takes all the cards in the standard deck to pit two players against two other players. It's a true test of strategy, as you have to manage not only your own hand but your partner's hand. If one of you loses, you both lose. Cards may harm your teammate if you're not careful, but those same rules may allow you to save your teammate from situations where they might not survive otherwise...

Key differences between Four-Player and Two-Player versions:

You have a teammate playing across from you, and if either of you loses, the team loses.
Add 11 new cards, totaling 29: 2 Executioners, Herald, 2 Wardens, a Spy, and an additional Judge, Zealot, King's Hand, Assassin, and Fool
Before the True King chooses who goes first, all players reveal three cards from their hand, and one facedown card to share with their teammate secretly. Teammates may communicate only through sharing cards.
A player may swap up to two cards secretly with their teammate.
Teammates may look at each other's successor cards right before the start of play.
The True King chooses the first player and the direction of play.
A single Mulligan for the whole team
Slightly different scoring - One additional point if either teammate has a faceup King. One additional point if either opponent has cards or a successor still in their hands.

Setup the Deck

Make a deck with the following 29 cards:


Queen	Princess	King's Hand (x2)
Sentry	Warlord	Mystic
Oathbound (x2)	Soldier (x2)	Inquisitor (x2)
Zealot (x2)	Assassin (x2)	Judge (x2)
Elder (x2)	Fool (x2)	Herald
Executioner (x2)	Spy	Warden (x2)

Give a random King to each player, making sure one is the "True King" card (written on the top left of the card). Note that after this round, whoever loses the previous round receives the True King.

In Four-Player Standard, you have a teammate who sits across from you. You may not communicate with them or any other player about the contents in your hand. How strict you want to enforce the rules is up to those playing the game. We like playing with light banter allowed without using signals, but regardless of what you choose, we recommend that you have all players agree on what's acceptable.

Shuffle and deal

Deal each player 7 cards. Flip faceup the remaining card. This is the Accused card. It is currently removed from the round, and all players can see that it's not in any player's hand.

All players place their King faceup in front of them. Each player then chooses any three cards from their hand and puts them facedown in front of them. These cards will be visible to all players and are one way to share information about your hand to your partner. After all players place their cards in front of them facedown, each player's facedown cards are revealed simultaneously.

Each player then plays a fourth card facedown, separate from the first three. This card will only be visible to your partner. After all players have placed their fourth card facedown, each player may look at their partner's facedown card.

The True King holder may choose who goes first and the direction of play. Rotate the chosen player's King to indicate they are going first. If the direction of play is clockwise, rotate the King to the left, and if the direction of play is counterclockwise, rotate the King to the right.

Like in Two-Player Standard, if a player is dissatisfied with their hand, they may elect to Mulligan, which means the round ends as if it was not played. You must declare this right after the True King holder decides who goes first and the order of play. That player declares "Mulligan" out loud without teammate discussion; once said, the Mulligan takes effect. Each team gets one free Mulligan per match. After that, if that team chooses to Mulligan again, that player gets the True King next round, but their opponents gain 2 points.

Starting with the first player and following the order of the turn, each player chooses one card to take from any of their teammate's four cards in front of them (the three faceup cards and one facedown card). They stay faceup or facedown, and you cannot take a card they've already taken from you. After all players have taken their turn, players then take their cards back into their hands.

Each player then chooses one card as their "Successor" card and places it facedown next to their King. After both players on a team have chosen their Successor, they may secretly look at their partner's successor card.

Each team may put out up to two cards in front of them facedown to trade those cards with their partner (without communicating with their partner). If each teammate puts out a different number of cards in front of them, they have to try to match the number of cards they placed. If they cannot come to an agreement, they trade no cards.

Finally, each player must discard one card from the round facedown (place next to the Accused card, away from the Court).

Start play

The Court, or playing area of the round, is empty at the beginning. The player with the True King decides who goes first. That player may play any card they wish to the Throne or the top of the Court. After playing a card, the card's ability triggers. These abilities can either be mandatory or the player's choice, indicated by "may choose to." After the ability is resolved, the next player plays an equal or higher value card than the current card on the Throne, which becomes the new Throne card (stack all cards in a row so people may see all cards that have been played). Some cards are exceptions. In a team game, keep in mind that each card may affect your partner. For example, the Inquisitor may also cause your partner to play a card to their Antechamber, as its ability affect all other players. The Executioner not only affects your partner but also affects you (its ability reads "All players...").

You play any card in your hand to the Throne that is equal or higher value than the card currently on the Throne

You may choose to flip your King as your turn (follow instructions on that card)

Players alternate playing cards until one player cannot play any more cards. Your goal is to prevent your opponents from capturing the Throne by either playing a high enough card that they cannot play on, making them run out of cards or assassinating them with the Assassin. If any player loses, their partner also loses, and the other partnership wins.

End of Round

The winner of the round gets one point for their team. The team also gets one additional point if either teammate has their King faceup. The team also may earn one additional point if either opponent still has their Successor or any cards in their hand.

FAQ

Can I use the Princess' ability if I don't have a card in my hand? What if my opponent doesn't have a card in their hand? No, the Princess may only target a player that is a valid target (an opponent with cards in their hand) and only if you have a card in your hand to swap.

Can a player ask about what was already played? Look at Disgraced cards? Ask how many cards are in an opponent's hand? Look at their own Successor and Discard? This is not meant to be a memory game. Players may look at the Court, Disgraced cards, how many cards each player has, and their own Successor card. You may even look at information that you learned earlier, provided that there was no opportunity for that information to change (for example, if you used the Spy to look at an opponent's Successor, and that Successor has not changed, you may look at it again later on). You may always look at your own Successor.

What if multiple players have a Reaction card ability they'd like to use? After a card is played to trigger an ability, players declare if they would like to play a Reaction in the order and direction of play, until ending up with the original player. If someone uses a card with a Reaction, the same process happens in the same order and direction of play starting with the next player until it goes back to the player who played the reaction. You may react to a Reaction, but can only react to each card only once.

When does the King's Hand prevent an ability? After the target of that ability has been chosen. For convenience, we've listed all the interactions with the base cards that may use an ability below:

Card	When the King's Hand may prevent it
Princess	After card owner chooses opponent; before card exchange
Sentry	After choosing to exchange; before showing card to exchange
Spy	After choosing to Disgrace it; before looking at Successors
Mystic	After choosing the number for the ability
Warden	After choosing to exchange; before showing card to exchange
Herald	Before the ability is used
Soldier	After saying a card's name
Judge	After picking an opponent and saying a card name, but before they reveal any information
Inquisitor	After saying a card's name, but before any cards are confirmed in player's hands
Executioner	After saying a card's name, but before any cards are confirmed in player's hands

Can the Queen be stopped by the King's Hand? No, the Queen's ability is mandatory; the King's Hand may only stop a card when its owner chooses to use its ability.

Can the Princess be stopped by the King's Hand? Yes, but only if its owner chooses to use her ability. The King's Hand may only stop a card when its owner chooses to use its ability.

Can you King's Hand a card that is not targeting you? Yes, you may always use the King's hand as a reaction as long as the trigger is met (opponent chooses to use a card's ability).

Can you target yourself or your partner with the Spy? Yes, you may use the Spy's ability on any player.

If I use the Mystic's ability on the number 8, can my opponent play his 8 on numbers higher than 3? Yes, the Mystic's ability makes a card a value of 3 after it's already on the Throne.

Does it affect cards in all areas of gameplay? Yes. However, a lot of cards refer to "base value," which is not affected by the Mystic.

Can I play the Warlord on a Royalty card? No, it has a value of 8 in your hand, so you cannot play it on a Royalty. However, once played, it will have a value of 9

If there is a Royalty in the Court, can I play the Warlord on a card with the value of 8? Yes, it has a value of 8 in your hand, so you can play it normally. It also becomes a value of 9 once played.

Does the Warlord's ability apply to Disgraced Royalty? No, Disgraced cards are removed from the game.

Does the Warden count itself as part of its trigger? Yes, you play the card and then use its ability.

Does the Oathbound's ability trigger when played from the Antechamber? No, the Antechamber rules state, "you must choose and play one to the Throne (ignoring the card's value)." Ignoring the card's value means you are not playing on a higher valued card; therefore, the ability does not trigger.

Can I play my Oathbound as my last card on a 7 or higher? No, as part of the Oathbound's condition to play on a higher card, it mentions you MUST play another card. Therefore, it is invalid to play the Oathbound on a higher value card if its your only card.

Does the card played by the Oathbound's ability trigger? Yes, it's being played just like any other card.

Can I put the same card down as my Successor when using the Herald's shuffling ability? Yes

Do I use the ability of the card I played to take the Herald back into my hand? Yes, it's being played just like any other card.

Is the Herald's ability prevented if played from the Antechamber? Yes, the Herald is a regular 6 if played from the Antechamber.

Can I use the Herald's ability if I've already flipped my King? No, the Herald's ability relies on taking your Successor. If you don't have a Successor, the Herald is a regular 6.

Can the Soldier Disgrace itself? Yes. There are some times where it's even better to have it disgrace itself based on the turn order.

If multiple opponents have the declared card, does the soldier gain +2 for each opponent? No, it can only gain the +2 value once.

Why would I play the Judge? The Judge lets you play a card to your Antechamber, which lets you ignore card values next turn to play a card no matter what. Use this knowledge to powerfully play a card you normally wouldn't be able to play on.

Does the Inquisitor affect my Partner in Four-Player Standard? Yes. This can be helpful to your partner, or harmful.

Does the Executioner also affect its owner when played? Yes, the card mentions "All players" in its ability.

Can I use the Assassin's ability from antechamber? No, the Assassin's ability can only be used from your hand.

If I have two Assassins in the Four Player game, and one is blocked by the King's Hand, may I play the other? No, you may only react to a trigger once. In this case, the trigger for the Assassin is "If a player flips their King," so you may only target a King flip one time.