Hot Air

Full rules

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

Overview

Hot Air is a balloon race for two. Four stages lie between the players, each with a few prize cards on it. At every stage both players must fly the same set of balloons – one balloon card for each prize, in the same suits. Over the plains the lower total wins, over the mountains the higher total. Whoever wins a stage takes its prizes. Collect enough prizes of one suit and you claim that suit's trophy. The first player with two trophies wins.

The twist: you may play your cards on either side of a stage – on your own side, or on your opponent's side to spoil their flight.

• Players: exactly 2.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks, ideally with different backs. You use 40 cards from each.

Hot Air is our own adaptation for ordinary decks, inspired by Balloon Cup (Stephen Glenn, Kosmos, 2003). It has not been playtested yet.

The cards

From each deck take out the same 40 cards:

• The 40 cards of the first deck are the balloon cards. Their values: Ace = 1, 2 to 10 as printed, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13.
• The 40 cards of the second deck are the prize cards. For them only the suit matters.
• From the unused cards of the second deck, take 4 cards as stage markers. The rest goes back in the box.

Setup

1. Lay the four stage markers in a row across the middle of the table, between the two players. From left to right they are stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. The side of the row facing you is your side.
2. A marker lying face down is a plain: there the lower total wins. A marker lying face up is a mountain: there the higher total wins. At the start, stages 1 and 3 are plains (face down) and stages 2 and 4 are mountains (face up).
3. Shuffle the prize cards and put them face down as the prize pile. Draw prize cards and lay them face up on the stages: 1 card on stage 1, 2 on stage 2, 3 on stage 3 and 4 on stage 4. The number of prize cards on a stage is always the stage's number.
4. Shuffle the balloon cards and deal 8 to each player. The rest is the draw pile, face down. Leave room for a discard pile.
5. Decide who starts.

Too many spades: there are only 7 ♠ balloon cards, so a stage may never hold four ♠ prizes – nobody could finish it. If a fourth ♠ prize comes up for stage 4, put it at the bottom of the prize pile and draw another.

Playing a turn

On your turn:

1. Play one balloon card face up next to any stage, on your side or on your opponent's side.
2. Draw the top card of the draw pile. When the draw pile is empty, shuffle the discard pile to make a new one.

Which cards fit: the prize cards on a stage decide what each side needs – one balloon card of the same suit for each prize card, no more and no less. A stage with prizes 2♦ and Q♣ needs one ♦ and one ♣ balloon on each side. You may play a card at a stage only if that side still lacks a card of that suit. Lay the cards of a side overlapping, so that all values can be seen.

You must play if you can – even if your only playable card helps your opponent.

If you can't play: show your hand to your opponent to prove it. Then say how many cards you will exchange (1 to 4), put them on the discard pile and draw as many. If you can play now, you must: play one card and draw as usual. If you still can't, show your hand again; your turn is over.

Winning a stage

As soon as both sides of a stage are complete, the stage is flown (finish your turn and draw your card first):

• Plain (marker face down): the player with the lower total on their side wins.
• Mountain (marker face up): the player with the higher total wins.
• Tie: the player who played the last card at this stage wins – no matter on which side it was played.

Then, in this order:

1. The winner takes the prize cards and lays them face up in front of them, sorted by suit.
2. All balloon cards at the stage go on the discard pile.
3. The winner turns the stage marker over: a plain becomes a mountain and a mountain a plain.
4. Refill the stage from the prize pile with as many prize cards as its number. If the prize pile doesn't have enough cards, the stage is removed from the game.
5. Claim trophies (see below).
6. The loser of the stage takes the next turn – even if they have just played.

Example: Stage 2 is a mountain with the prizes 2♦ and Q♣. Ben's side shows K♦ and 7♣ (13 + 7 = 20), Anna's side J♦ and 10♣ (11 + 10 = 21). On a mountain the higher total wins, so Anna takes the 2♦ and the Q♣. The four balloon cards go on the discard pile, stage 2 turns into a plain and gets two new prize cards. Ben lost, so he plays next.

Trophies

Each suit has one trophy. To claim it you need that many prize cards of its suit: ♥ 7, ♦ 6, ♣ 5, ♠ 4.

When you have enough, put exactly that many prize cards of the suit face down in a pile in front of you and lay one of them face up on top: that is your trophy. Extra prize cards of that suit stay with you. A trophy can't be lost again, and nobody else can claim that suit any more.

Three for one: once the trophy of a suit is claimed – by either player – its prize cards can still be useful. When you claim a trophy, you may use 3 prize cards of a claimed suit in place of 1 card of the suit you need. You can do this more than once; each group of three must be of one suit.

Order: after a stage is flown, its winner claims all the trophies they can. Then the other player may claim one trophy, then the winner again, and so on. You don't have to claim a trophy as soon as you can – but waiting may let your opponent get it first.

Example: Ben has already claimed the ♥ trophy. Anna wins a stage and now has 3 ♠ and 3 ♥ prizes. She needs 4 ♠ for the ♠ trophy – she uses her 3 ♠ plus her 3 ♥ as the fourth and claims it.

Winning the game

The first player to hold two trophies wins immediately.

Game stuck: if both players, one after the other, end a turn without playing a card, clear every unfinished stage: its balloon cards go on the discard pile, its prizes stay and the stage starts again empty. All stages removed: if the prize pile can't refill any stage any more and nobody has two trophies, the game ends: more trophies wins; if that's equal, more prize cards (trophies included) wins; if that is equal too, the game is a draw.

Tips for beginners

• Low cards for plains, high cards for mountains. An Ace or a King is gold – at the right stage.
• Spoil your opponent's side. A King on their side of a plain, or an Ace on a mountain, can ruin a stage for them.
• Finish stages on your terms. Since a tie goes to the player who played last, the last card is often the deciding one.
• Aim for two cheap trophies. ♠ needs only 4 prizes and ♣ only 5; ♥ needs 7.
• Count the suits. Only 7 ♠ balloons exist: when several ♠ prizes are out, the stages may block each other.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Without the exchange: as in Piñata, the designer's later version of the game, play without the three-for-one rule.

Deviations from Balloon Cup: the original has five colours and five trophies and ends at three trophies; with four suits there are four trophies, and the first to two wins (with four trophies, three could end in a two–two deadlock). The grey colour (5 cards, trophy 3) is left out; the other colours keep their card numbers and values. The prize cards replace the coloured cubes and the bag. The rules for too many spades, a stuck game and the end with all stages removed are our additions.