Twitch
Twitch Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The game contains 72 ZACK! cards that determine the order of play. There are also 6 player cards, which have the same colour on both sides and are used to show each player's colour. The 30 challenge cards, with coloured circles in each player's colour, are used to show other players' mistakes. The draw box (the sabot) sits at the bottom of the box and stays there during play. Cards are thrown into this box.
Setup
Players sit in a circle around a table. The box is placed in the centre of the table, at an equal distance from each player. Each player chooses a colour and takes the player card of that colour. In addition, each player takes one challenge card for each opponent's colour.
The player card and the challenge cards are placed in front of each player.
Remove the 6 Stop cards from the game (yellow background, yellow border). They are used only in the advanced rules.
Remove any unused ZACK! challenge cards.
The remaining ZACK! cards are shuffled and dealt equally among the players. Players do not look at their cards, but place them in a face-down pile in front of them, and place one hand on the pile to show they are ready.
Playing the Game
When everyone is ready, the game starts with the player to the left of the dealer. That player turns over the top card of their pile and throws it quickly into the box.
Note: A player must always turn the card so that it faces the other players, so that everyone sees the face of the card at the same time.
Example: It is Blue's turn to play, but Blue has not yet reacted. Yellow notices this and throws Yellow's challenge card with the blue circle into the box. While Yellow is doing this, Blue throws the top card of their pile into the box. Blue's card lands on top of Yellow's challenge card. Yellow's challenge succeeds.
Challenges
With challenge cards, a player can gain an advantage over their opponents. A challenge card is played outside the turn of a player.
When a challenge card is played, the challenger must state the reason for issuing the challenge. A player can be challenged for two reasons:
-
The player reacts too slowly. During a player's turn, another player may challenge them by throwing their challenge card of the appropriate colour (that is, the colour of the player whose turn it is) into the box before the ZACK! card of the player whose turn it is. The challenge succeeds if the challenge card lies beneath the ZACK! card played by the player whose turn it is. If it lies on top of it, the challenge fails.
-
It is not the turn of the person who has just thrown their card. If a player plays when it is not their turn, an opponent may throw a challenge card. This may only be done if the "wrong" card (the one that should not have been thrown) is one of the four cards on the top of the box. The challenge succeeds if the accused player cannot prove that it was indeed their turn. The challenge fails otherwise.
Each player may challenge only one opponent at a time. The colour of the challenge card must match the colour of the challenged player. If it does not, the challenge fails.
On a successful challenge, the challenged player must take all the ZACK! cards from the box and place them face-down under their pile. The challenge card returns to its owner, who restarts the game.
If the challenge fails, the challenger takes all the ZACK! cards from the box and places them face-down under their own pile. They return their challenge card to the others. The wrongly challenged player resumes the game.
Note: ZACK! is a game of speed, and it can happen that other ZACK! cards are played after a challenge card has been thrown. These are returned to the appropriate players and placed face-down under their piles.
It can also happen that several players throw challenge cards into the box at the same time. Only the player whose challenge card lies beneath all the others, played almost simultaneously, may pursue their challenge. Return the other challenge cards to their owners.
The Box Is Always Right!
It can happen that several players throw a card into the box almost simultaneously. When this happens, the card that lies beneath all the others is played first, then the card just above it, and so on.
If a player throws a card into the box when it is not their turn, they can only hope that the others do not notice.
If a player misses the box, they are naturally allowed a second attempt. However, they run the risk that an opponent will beat them to it with a challenge card. So: stay focused and get straight to the point!
End of the Game
The player who throws the last card from their pile into the box wins, if, on their next turn, they throw their colour card into the box instead of a ZACK! card.
Note: If a player throws their colour card into the box but still has cards in their pile, or it is not their turn, or it is their turn and they have not noticed, then they have made an error and may be challenged by their opponents.
If you play several games of ZACK! in a row, change the dealer: the next dealer is the player to the left of the previous dealer. The first player to win two games is THE winner.
Tips for Beginners
The first time you play ZACK! you should leave out the Nochmal and Zurück cards. These can be added once you are familiar with how the game flows.
Rules for Experienced Players
When players and beginners play together, experienced players should always wait a few seconds before challenging the beginner. Once the beginner has won two games, these considerations may be forgotten.
The Stop Cards
Once several games of ZACK! have been played, the six Stop cards should be shuffled into the ZACK! cards and the following additional rules added:
Each time a Stop card is thrown into the box, the game pauses momentarily. Any ZACK! card thrown after the Stop card is returned to its owner, who places it face-down under their pile. There are three types of Stop card:
- Farbe wahlen (choose a colour): The player who threw this card chooses a player colour. They may choose their own colour. The chosen player must throw the next card.
- Wechseln de Farben (change colours): All players pass their colour card and their challenge cards to the player on their left. The player who threw this Stop card restarts the game.
- Links=Rechts (left = right): All cards of Rechts become cards of Links, and vice versa. The left-right exchange lasts as long as the Links=Rechts card is in the box. If another Links=Rechts is thrown, right becomes right again and left becomes left again.
ZACK! Card Explanations
- Coloured circle: The player whose colour matches the coloured circle on the ZACK! card must play next.
- Rechts (Right): The person to the right of the player who threw the card is the next player.
- 2 Rechts (2 to the Right): The person two places to the right of the player who threw the card is the next player.
- Links (Left): As Rechts, but to the left.
- 2 Links (2 to the Left): As 2 Rechts, but to the left.
- Nochmal (Again): The value of the card played just before this one is repeated.
- Example: A Rechts card lies beneath a Nochmal card. The person to the right of the player who played the Nochmal is the next player.
- Zurück (Back): The person who threw the card just before the Zurück card is the next player.
- Example: A red-circle card lies beneath the Zurück. The person who threw the red-circle card is the next player.
Note: When a Nochmal (again) or a Zurück (back) card is the first card thrown into the box, the player who threw that card must throw another one.