Cuttle

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Playing a turn
4. Point cards
5. One-offs
6. Permanents
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Cuttle is a duel for two players. You lay point cards in front of you and try to be the first to reach 21 points. But almost every card can also be used as a weapon: to destroy, steal or cancel your opponent's cards. Cuttle is often called the ancestor of trading card games like Magic: The Gathering – with an ordinary deck.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer. The dealer shuffles and deals 6 cards to themselves and 5 cards to the opponent, one at a time, face down. Your cards are your hand – keep them hidden.
2. The rest of the deck goes face down in the middle as the draw pile. Leave room next to it for the scrap pile, a face-up pile of cards that are out of play.
3. The player who did not deal takes the first turn. Then you take turns.

Playing a turn

On your turn you do exactly one of these things:

1. Draw the top card of the draw pile. There is no limit on how many cards you may hold.
2. Play a point card (A–10) face up in front of you.
3. Scuttle one of your opponent's point cards.
4. Play a one-off: a card whose effect happens once, after which the card goes to the scrap pile.
5. Play a permanent: a card that stays on the table and keeps working.

When the draw pile is empty you may also pass instead. If three passes follow one after another (for example you, your opponent, you), the game is a draw.

Point cards

The cards A to 10 can be played as point cards: face up in front of you, where they count A = 1, 2 = 2 … 10 = 10. Your score is the total of all point cards on your side of the table.

Scuttling: instead, you may use a point card from your hand to destroy one of your opponent's point cards. Your card must be higher, or the same rank with a higher suit. Suits rank from low to high: ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠. Both cards go to the scrap pile.

Example: your opponent has the 7♥ in front of them. You can scuttle it with an 8, 9 or 10 – or with the 7♠, but not with the 7♦.

One-offs

Instead of scoring points, the cards A–7 and 9 can be played as one-offs. Put the card on the scrap pile and do what it says:

Cancelling with a 2: when your opponent plays a one-off, you may immediately throw a 2 from your hand onto the scrap pile – even though it isn't your turn. The one-off then has no effect and also goes to the scrap pile. Your opponent may cancel your 2 with a 2 of their own, and so on: if an even number of 2s was played, the one-off happens after all.

Permanents

The 8, J, Q and K can be played as permanents. They stay face up on the table until something removes them. (The 8 can also be played as a point card.)

More about Jacks: a point card can be stolen back and forth by adding more Jacks on top – the last Jack decides who owns it. If the point card is scrapped (by an Ace or by scuttling), all Jacks on it are scrapped too. If a Jack is removed from a point card – scrapped by a 2 or a 6, or returned to hand by a 9 – the top Jack still on it decides who owns the card; with no Jack left, it goes back to the player who first played it. So a 6 returns every stolen point card to its first owner.

More about Queens: a Queen does not protect against effects that hit everything (A, 6) or against scuttling.

Winning the game

You win immediately when your point cards add up to at least 21. Each King in front of you lowers this target:

Example: you have one King and point cards 6 + 5 = 11. You now play the 3♦ as a point card: 14 points – you win!

Tips for beginners

• Don't throw every card down as points: an Ace can wipe out a big lead in one go.
• Keep a 2 in your hand if you can – it's the only card you can play in your opponent's turn.
• A King is often worth more than a 10: it can cut your target by 7 points.
• Before you play a Jack, check whether your opponent has a Queen – it protects their point cards.
• Count the cards that have been scrapped: they tell you which threats are left.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• Random discard: for the 4, your opponent shuffles their hand and you pick the two cards blindly.
• Hand limit (cuttle.cards): the rules used for online tournaments set a limit of 8 cards in hand. They also change a few cards, for example: a card returned by a 9 can't be played again on the next turn, and 4 Kings win at once.
• Cutthroat: a three-player version with a lower target (14 points) and a 7-card hand limit.
• Team Cuttle: four players in two teams of two, partners sitting opposite; if either partner reaches the target, the team wins.