Expeditions

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. End of a round
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Expeditions is a card game for two. Each of the four suits is an expedition that you can start on your side of the table. You play cards to an expedition in rising order, and at the end of a round each expedition you started scores the total of its cards – minus 20, the cost of setting out. Wager cards double, triple or quadruple the result, for better or worse. The big question all game long: which expeditions are worth starting, and when is it too late?

A game has three rounds; the higher total wins.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck and paper and pencil for the score.

Expeditions is our own adaptation for an ordinary deck, inspired by Lost Cities (Reiner Knizia, Kosmos, 1999). It has not been playtested yet.

The cards

Take out the four Aces and the jokers. You play with 48 cards: in each suit the 2 to 10 and the Jack, Queen and King.

The three wager cards of a suit are all the same: a Jack does exactly what a Queen or King does.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer. The dealer shuffles the 48 cards and deals 8 cards to each player, one at a time, face down.
2. The rest go face down in the middle as the draw pile.
3. Leave room in the middle, next to the draw pile, for four discard piles – one per suit. Each player will build their expeditions on their own side of the middle: up to four columns, one per suit.

The non-dealer takes the first turn. Then you take turns.

Playing a turn

Each turn has two steps, always in this order:

1. Play or discard one card. Either

• play it to one of your expeditions – the column of its suit on your side. The first card of a suit starts that expedition. Each further card must be higher than the card played before it in that column. Gaps are fine (a 3 can follow a 2, or a 9 can follow the 3), but you can never go back down. Wager cards can only be played to an expedition before its first number card – as its very first cards; or
• discard it face up onto the discard pile of its suit in the middle. Each suit has its own discard pile; lay the cards so that only the top one can be seen.

2. Draw one card. Either the top card of the draw pile or the top card of any discard pile – but not the card you have just discarded in this turn. You always end your turn with 8 cards.

Your opponent's expeditions are separate from yours: both of you can start an expedition in every suit.

Example: Anna's hearts expedition is K♥ Q♥ 4♥ 7♥. She holds 5♥ and 9♥. The 5♥ can't be played there any more, since 7 was her last heart. She plays the 9♥ to the column and draws. Later she discards the useless 5♥ – and hopes Ben doesn't need it.

End of a round

The round ends immediately when someone takes the last card of the draw pile. Nobody plays any more; the cards still in your hand don't count.

Tip: taking cards from the discard piles makes the round longer, because the draw pile doesn't get smaller.

Scoring

Score each expedition you started (every suit with at least one card on your side). Suits you never started score nothing – not even minus points. An expedition with only wager cards counts too: 0 − 20 = −20, multiplied.

1. Add up the numbers of the cards in the expedition (wager cards count 0).
2. Subtract 20 – the cost of the expedition. The result may be negative.
3. Multiply by the wager cards: no wager ×1, one ×2, two ×3, three ×4.
4. Bonus: if the expedition has 8 or more cards (wager cards included), add 20 points. The bonus is not multiplied.

Add the results of your expeditions: that is your score for the round. It may be negative.

Example: Anna ends the round with these expeditions:

• ♠ J 3 6: 3 + 6 = 9, minus 20 = −11, one wager ×2 = −22.
• ♥ K Q 4 7 9 10: 4 + 7 + 9 + 10 = 30, minus 20 = 10, two wagers ×3 = 30.
• ♦ 2 5 6 7 8 9 10: 47 − 20 = 27, no wager = 27, and 7 cards – no bonus: 27.
• ♣ not started: 0.

Her round score is −22 + 30 + 27 = 35. With one more diamond – the 3 or 4, played before the 5 – her diamonds would have had 8 cards and scored 20 more.

Winning the game

Play three rounds. The winner of a round (the one with the higher score) shuffles all cards and deals the next round, so the loser starts it; after a tied round, the other player deals. After the third round, the higher total wins. If it's a tie, play a fourth round.

Tips for beginners

• Don't start too many expeditions. Each costs 20 points; a half-finished one can cost more than a good one gains.
• Wagers are for early, strong suits. Only put a wager down if you already hold several cards of that suit – with a bad result it doubles your loss.
• Watch what you discard. Your opponent can pick it up. A card you don't need may be exactly what their expedition lacks.
• Watch the draw pile. Near the end, play the cards that score rather than waiting for the perfect card.
• Take from discard piles to stall when you still have many good cards in hand and need more turns.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• With Aces: add the four Aces as expedition cards worth 1, the lowest number card (after the wagers, before the 2). The deck has 52 cards and the rounds get a little longer.
• Short game: play one round only.