Won Over
Won Over Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
To be the first player to reach the Finish line.
Equipment
- a deck of 75 cards
- 4 playing pieces
Spread out all 75 cards and take a good look at them. You'll find:
- 13 Track cards
- 2 Suit Yourself cards
- 4 Sidetracked cards
- 56 playing cards: 4 suits, each a different color and numbered 1-14
Set Up
- Place the 12 Track cards face up in a row onto the table. Because the color of the Track cards will determine trump, place them in order: red, blue, orange, green, and repeat. Then place the Finish card at one end of the track. The track should look like this: the Finish card at the start, followed by the Track cards in the repeating color order red, blue, orange, green, with the arrow marked "Repeat the colors in order."
- Each player chooses a playing piece and places it onto the table at the opposite end of the Finish card. (Don't place them onto the first Track card, yet.)
- Each player cuts the cards. Whoever cuts the highest numbered card becomes the first dealer. (In case of a tie, all players would cut again. In case of a Suit Yourself or Sidetracked card, the player cutting it should cut again until he or she gets a numbered card.) The color of the highest card will be the first trump suit of the game.
- The dealer shuffles the deck again and deals all the cards face down to each player. When only three people are playing, remove cards 11-14 in each suit. There will be an odd number of cards left over, so the dealer should place them off to the side, out of play. (For a two-player game, see p.7.)
- Each player picks up his or her cards and arranges them by suit. Don't let the other players see your hand.
- The player to the left of the dealer will play the first card. Play continues, in turn, to the first player's left.
Game Play Summary
In this game, you'll try to win "tricks." A trick is the batch of cards, one from each player, played to the table during a round. The player who wins the trick advances his or her playing piece along the track. So to reach the Finish line, you must win several tricks.
- The player to the left of the dealer "leads" the first trick by playing any card he or she chooses face up to the table.
- Starting from the left of the first player, each player, in turn, plays a card face up to the table. The cards played in the trick must follow the suit of the lead card. For example, if green is the first card played, everyone else must play green. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule: a) If you do NOT have a card of that suit; OR b) If you choose to play a Suit Yourself or Sidetracked card.
- Whoever plays the card of the highest value wins the trick. The winner places the trick face down to the side, moves his or her playing piece to the next unoccupied card along the track, then leads with the first card of the next trick.
- Play continues in this way until each player has played all of his or her cards.
- If no one reaches the Finish line after all the cards have been played, the player to the left of the last dealer shuffles and deals the cards just as before. (The dealer should include the odd cards out from the previous hand when he or she reshuffles for the new deal.)
- The player to the new dealer's left leads the first card regardless of who won the last trick from the previous hand. Continue playing in this way until someone reaches the Finish line.
Winning a Trick: The Value of the Cards
Following Suit
Let's say the lead card is a suit card (red, blue, orange, or green). If possible, everyone must follow suit, and the highest card would win the trick. If a player can't follow suit, he or she either "throws away" a card of another suit (plays a card of the least value) or plays a trump, Suit Yourself, or Sidetracked card.
Trump
The trump suit is the one suit whose cards will beat other cards that are not in the trump suit, regardless of number values.
As you know, at the start of the game the trump suit is determined by a cut of the cards. Thereafter, the trump suit will be determined by the color of the Track card on which the lead playing piece sets. (Sidetracked playing pieces don't count.) So every time the lead playing piece is on a new color, you've got a new trump suit.
a) The highest card in the trump suit beats any other trump and is the second most powerful card in the game.
b) The lowest card in the trump suit beats the highest card in any other suit.
c) There's only one card the highest card can't beat: the Suit Yourself card.
The Suit Yourself Card
This card is the most powerful card in the game and may be played at any time. You don't have to follow suit to play this card.
a) The Suit Yourself card beats any trump, even the highest one.
b) The Suit Yourself card beats any card of the suit that's led.
c) If a Suit Yourself card is led, it requires the other players to play trump. If a player doesn't have a trump, he or she may play a card of another suit, a Sidetracked card, or another Suit Yourself card.
d) The first Suit Yourself card played during the trick wins that trick, even if another Suit Yourself card is played along with it.
e) If a player plays a Suit Yourself card when a Sidetracked card is led, he or she wins the trick and moves off the track.
The Sidetracked Card
This card is the weakest card in the game and may be played at any time. You don't have to follow suit to play this card. The object is NOT to win a trick in which a Sidetracked card is played. If you do, you must move off the track.
a) Any trump will beat a Sidetracked card.
b) Any card of the lead suit will beat a Sidetracked card.
c) If a Sidetracked card is led, it requires the other players to play trump; the highest trump would win the trick. If a player has no trump, he or she may play a card of any other suit or another Sidetracked card, and avoid winning the trick.
d) There is one situation in which the Sidetracked card will win the trick: If a Sidetracked card is led, and none of the other players has a trump, or if they play Sidetracked cards, too, the player who led with the Sidetracked card wins the trick and moves off the track.
Getting Sidetracked
If you should win a trick with a Sidetracked card in it, you must move your playing piece off to the side of the Track card on which it was setting. In order to get back on track, you must win a trick without a Sidetracked card in it. When you do, move your playing piece back onto the Track card where it stumbled off. If another playing piece has since occupied that space, move it ahead to the next empty Track card.
If a sidetracked player should win a trick with another Sidetracked card in it, his or her playing piece remains where it is; it doesn't move backwards.
If everyone is sidetracked at once, the last trump suit remains the trump suit, until someone gets back on track.
Moving Your Playing Piece
a) When you win a trick, move your playing piece ahead one Track card.
b) Playing pieces may not occupy the same Track card. Therefore, you may move your playing piece past any other(s) blocking the card(s) directly ahead of you.
Example: If you're X and you win a trick, you may move three cards ahead, right past Y and Z.
The Two-Player Game
The rules for a two-player game are the same with the following exceptions:
- Remove cards 11-14 in each suit.
- Deal sixteen cards to each player. Place the remaining cards to the side, out of play.
- Each player plays with two playing pieces.
- When you win a trick, you may choose which playing piece you wish to move.
- When you win a trick with a Sidetracked card in it, your opponent chooses which of your playing pieces moves off the track.
- The first player to reach the Finish line with both his or her playing pieces wins the game.
Strategy Hints
a) You may not want to sidetrack a player who is directly in front of you. Try to win that trick if you can and move past that player.
b) Keep track of the number of Sidetracked cards played so that you'll know when it's safest to lead with a high card to win the trick.
c) Remember to watch for a change in trump suit, and that a sidetracked player never counts as the lead player who determines trump.
d) Remember that leading with a trump isn't always the best strategy. An opponent could play a Suit Yourself card or a higher trump to beat it, or else a Sidetracked card to move you off the track.