Border Stones

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. The formations
6. Claiming a stone
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Border Stones is a duel for two. Nine stones lie in a row between the players. At each stone, both of you build a small hand of three cards on your own side – a bit like a mini poker hand. When both hands at a stone are complete, the better one wins the stone. The first player to win five stones, or three stones next to each other, wins the game.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers and 9 coins, buttons or other small objects as the stones.

Border Stones is our own adaptation for an ordinary deck, inspired by Schotten Totten (Reiner Knizia, 1999), also published as Battle Line. It has not been playtested yet.

The cards

You play with all 52 cards. Each card has a value: Ace = 1, 2 to 10 as printed, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13. The Ace is always low.

Setup

1. Lay the 9 stones in a straight row across the middle of the table, between the two players. One side of the row belongs to you, the other to your opponent.
2. Shuffle and deal 6 cards to each player. The rest go face down as the draw pile, within reach of both.
3. Decide who starts; in the next game, the other player starts.

Playing a turn

On your turn you do these three things, in this order:

1. Claim stones (optional): take every stone you have won (see "Claiming a stone"). Move it to your side of the row, in its place – the row keeps its order.
2. Play one card from your hand face up on your side of any stone. Each side of a stone takes at most three cards. You can't play at a stone that has already been claimed. Lay your cards at a stone in a short column pointing towards you, so it is clear which stone they belong to.
3. Draw one card from the draw pile, back up to 6. If the draw pile is empty, you don't draw.

If you have no card left, or no free place for a card, you skip step 2 (you may still claim stones).

The formations

The three cards on one side of a stone form a formation. From best to worst:

• "In a row" means consecutive values: A-2-3 and J-Q-K count, but Q-K-A does not (the Ace is only 1). The order in which the cards were played doesn't matter.
• Same formation on both sides? The higher total of the three values wins.
• Same total too? The player who completed their three cards first wins. To remember this, lay your third card crosswise if your opponent's side of that stone is not yet complete.

Claiming a stone

At the start of your turn you may claim a stone in two ways:

• Both sides are complete and your formation is better. (Your opponent would claim it on their turn if theirs is better.)
• Only your side is complete, and you can prove that your opponent can't beat it, whatever cards they add. For the proof you may only use the cards that lie face up on the table – at any stone, on either side. Cards in your hand don't count, since your opponent can't see them.

The cards at a claimed stone stay where they are, face up – they still count for later proofs.

Example (proof): Anna has 9♠ 9♥ 9♦ – a triple – at stone 1. Ben has 5♣ 6♣ there. Only a suited run beats a triple, and the only cards that would give him one are the 4♣ and the 7♣. If both of these lie face up somewhere on the table, Anna can claim stone 1 at once, although Ben's side isn't finished. If the 7♣ is in Anna's hand, that is no proof – she has to wait.

Winning the game

You win at once when you have claimed

• five stones, anywhere in the row, or
• three stones next to each other (for example stones 4, 5 and 6).

Running out of cards. With 52 cards for 54 places, some places always stay empty. When neither player can play a card any more, decide every stone that is still open: a complete side beats an incomplete one; if both sides are incomplete, the higher total wins; if the totals are equal, the stone stays with nobody. If after that nobody has won, the game is a draw.

Tips for beginners

• Don't commit too early. A single high card at many stones keeps your options open; your opponent must show their plans first.
• Watch the adjacent stones. Three in a row ends the game – defend a gap before it opens.
• Use the table for proofs. Once key cards are gone, a strong but not perfect formation may already be safe.
• A stone can be given up. If your opponent has a suited run at a stone, play your worst cards there.
• Count the values. There are only four cards of each value, so a triple needs three of them – check whether they are still out there.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Claim any time: stones may be claimed at any moment during your turn – also right after playing a card.
• Bigger hand: hold 7 cards instead of 6 for more choice.
• Best of three: play three games; whoever wins two wins the match.