Club Fight

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Values
4. Playing a turn
5. The six actions
6. End of the game
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Club Fight is a quick solo puzzle. The 13 clubs are your only weapons; all other cards are dealt into a 3×3 grid that you must clear, again and again, until the whole rest of the deck is gone. Each turn you spend one club to clear cards with one of six actions. But hearts, spades and diamonds fight back: whenever three or more cards of one of these suits lie in the grid, they block one action.

• Players: 1.
• You need: one standard deck with one joker (easy) or two jokers (hard).

Designed by D. Teuber (2023) – official rules: Club Fight (itch.io). Our text follows the rules of July 2024.

Setup

1. Choose your level: 1 joker for easy, 2 jokers for hard.
2. Take out the 13 clubs, shuffle them and put them face down: this is the clubs deck.
3. Shuffle the other cards (39 cards plus your joker or jokers) and put them face down: this is the grid deck.
4. Deal 9 cards from the grid deck face up in a 3×3 grid – three rows of three, left to right, top to bottom.
5. Draw 4 clubs into your hand. Keep room for a face-up discard pile (you may look through it any time).

Values

A = 1, 2–10 = their number, J = 11, Q = 12, K = 13. Jokers have no suit and no value.

Playing a turn

1. Discard one club from your hand and carry out one action with it (see below). The cards you clear go on the discard pile, together with the club.
2. Refill the grid: deal cards from the grid deck into the empty places, left to right, starting with the top row and working down.
3. Draw clubs until you have four in your hand again (as long as there are any left).

Each club is used only once, so the game lasts at most 13 turns.

The six actions

Always available:

1. Match – clear all grid cards with the same value as your club.
2. Sum – clear any number of grid cards whose values add up exactly to your club's value.
3. Any – clear any one grid card. This is one of only two ways to clear a joker.

Can be blocked:

4. Line – choose a row or column that contains a card of the same value as your club, and clear every card in it – jokers included. No diagonals. Blocked while 3 or more diamonds lie in the grid.
5. Up/Down – discard a 2 to 7 of clubs to clear all grid cards lower than it, or a 7 to Queen of clubs to clear all cards higher than it. (The 7 may do either; the Ace and King can't be used for this.) Blocked while 3 or more spades lie in the grid.
6. Run – clear grid cards that, together with your club, form an unbroken sequence of values, one card of each value, suits don't matter (e.g. 6-7-8-9 with the 8♣). The King doesn't connect to the Ace. Blocked while 3 or more hearts lie in the grid.

Count the suits before you choose your action: a block holds only while the three cards are in the grid. It is possible for all three blockable actions to be blocked at once. Jokers count for no suit and are never matched, summed or counted as higher or lower.

Example: Look at the picture. Four diamonds lie in the grid, so Line is blocked. Hearts and spades have only two cards each, so everything else is allowed. Your options include: - Match with the 6♣: clears the 6♥ and the 6♠ (2 cards). - Sum with the Q♣: 9 + 2 + 1 = 12 clears the 9♠, the 2♦ and the A♦ (3 cards). - Up/Down with the 3♣: clears everything lower than 3 – the 2♦ and the A♦. - Run with the 3♣: A-2-3-4 clears the A♦, the 2♦ and the 4♥ (3 cards) – and with them two diamonds, which may lift the block on Line.

The joker stays until you clear it with Any or Line.

End of the game

• You win as soon as the grid is empty and the grid deck is used up.
• You lose if you have used your last club and cards are still left.

Tips for beginners

• Plan for the jokers. A joker can only go with Any or Line. Don't wait until the end, when Line may be blocked and every club counts.
• Break up blocks. Clearing two hearts can be worth more than clearing three cards, if it opens up a big Run next turn.
• Middle clubs are the strongest. A 7 of clubs can go up or down; 5s to 9s make long runs. Save them for a crowded grid.
• Aces and Kings are weak. Use them for Match, Any or a Sum early, while the grid is full.
• Count what is left. Up to 41 cards must be cleared with 13 clubs – about three per turn on average.

Variants

All optional.

• All Clear (easier, earlier rules): you may discard three clubs in sequence (e.g. 9-10-J of clubs) to clear the whole grid at once. The designer dropped this action in 2024 because saving A-2-3 for a final All Clear became the obvious strategy.
• Score a loss: count the cards left in the grid and the grid deck – the fewer, the better.