Orbit

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. The task table
4. Setup
5. Choosing the tasks
6. Playing a trick
7. End of the mission
8. Talking and signals
9. A failed mission
10. Missions
11. The logbook
12. Tips for beginners
13. Variants

Overview

Orbit is a cooperative card game: all players form one team and win or lose together. It is a trick-taking game – everybody plays one card, the highest card wins all of them, and those cards together are called a trick. At the start of each round the team takes on a few tasks, such as "I win exactly two tricks" or "I win the 9♥". Each task belongs to one player, and every task must be fulfilled. The catch: you may not talk about your cards. Apart from one small signal per round, you have to read your teammates from the cards they play.

The game is played as a series of missions. The higher the mission number, the more difficult the tasks you have to take on. Failed missions are simply played again.

• Players: 3 to 5; best with 4.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks (ideally with different backs), one coin or small token per player, and paper and pencil for the logbook.

Orbit is an original game written for this site, inspired by the cooperative card game The Crew: Mission Deep Sea. It uses its own rules and tasks.

The cards

Play cards (deck 1). Take the Ace to 9 of each suit – that is A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 – and the four Kings: 40 cards. Put the 10s, Jacks, Queens and jokers of this deck back in the box.

• In each suit the Ace counts as 1 and is the lowest card; the 9 is the highest.
• The four Kings are trumps. A trump beats every ordinary card. The Kings are ranked K♣ (1) < K♦ (2) < K♥ (3) < K♠ (4). They do not belong to any suit – K♥ is not a heart.

Task cards (deck 2). The whole second deck without jokers – 52 cards – is the task deck. The rank of a task card says what the task is, the suit tells you which suit it is about (only for tasks that mention "this suit"). The task table below lists all tasks.

The task table

Each task has a difficulty (1 = easy, 3 = hard). "I" is the player who owns the task. "Cards" means the play cards in the tricks you win; Kings belong to no suit.

Example: The task card 6♥ means "I win no hearts". The task card 9♣ means "I win the trick that contains the 9♣". The task card 7♠ means "I win no tricks" – for the 7, the suit doesn't matter.

Setup

1. Shuffle and deal all 40 play cards, one at a time, face down: - 4 players: 10 cards each. - 5 players: 8 cards each. - 3 players: 13 cards each. The last card is laid face up in the middle and is out of play for this round.
2. Everybody picks up their cards and sorts them. Don't show them to anyone.
3. Whoever holds the K♠ is the commander for this round and says so. (With 3 players, if the K♠ is the face-up card, the player holding the K♥ is commander.)
4. The mission number gives the target: the total difficulty of the tasks you must take on (see "Missions" below).

Choosing the tasks

1. The commander shuffles the task deck and turns up 6 task cards, face up in the middle.
2. Starting with the commander and going clockwise (to the left), each player takes one of the face-up task cards and puts it in front of themselves. Keep a running total of the difficulties taken.
3. A card may only be taken if the total does not go above the target. If no face-up card fits, turn up more cards until one does.
4. Stop as soon as the total equals the target. Put the remaining task cards aside.

Some players may end up with several tasks, others with none. Choose by looking at your own hand – but in silence. Nobody may say "I can do that one" or "please don't give me that". With 3 players, a task naming the face-up card can't be taken; put it aside.

Example: Mission 7, so the target is 4. Anna is commander and turns up 9♣, 2♥, 7♠, Q♦, J♥ and 3♠. Anna holds the K♠ and lots of high cards, so she takes the 2♥ ("exactly 2 tricks", difficulty 3): total 3. Only a difficulty-1 card still fits. Ben holds the K♥ and no clubs, so he takes the 9♣ ("win the 9♣"): total 4 – done. Cleo and Dan have no tasks this time.

Playing a trick

The commander leads (plays the first card of) the first trick. Then, clockwise, each player adds one card face up:

• Follow suit: if you have a card of the suit that was led, you must play one. If a King was led, you must play a King if you have one.
• If you can't follow, you may play any card – a King (to trump) or a card of another suit.

Who wins the trick? If any King was played, the highest King wins. Otherwise, the highest card of the suit that was led wins. Cards of other suits never win, however high they are.

The winner takes the trick, lays it face up in front of them (slightly overlapping the previous tricks, so everyone can count them and see which cards they hold) and leads the next trick.

Example: Ben has the task 9♣. Dan leads the 9♣. Anna follows with 2♣, Ben has no clubs and trumps with the K♥, Cleo follows with 5♣. The K♥ is the only King, so Ben wins the trick – and with it the 9♣. His task is fulfilled.

End of the mission

Play until all cards have been played. Then check the tasks: if every task is fulfilled, the mission is a success. If even one task is not, the mission fails.

Often you notice earlier that a task can no longer be fulfilled – for example when the owner of "no tricks" wins a trick, or another player wins the card someone needed. Then the mission has failed and you can stop at once.

Some tasks are impossible from the start: whoever holds the K♠ always wins the trick they play it in, so they can't fulfil "no tricks" or "no King". Don't take such a task – nor two tasks that contradict each other.

Talking and signals

During a mission you may not give any information about your cards: no hints, no "hmm", no pulling faces. You may talk about the rules, whose turn it is and the mission number. Between missions, talk as much as you like.

The only way to tell the team something is a signal. Each player may give one signal per mission:

1. You may signal only between tricks or before the first trick – never in the middle of a trick.
2. Take one card from your hand (not a King) and put it face up on the table in front of you.
3. Place your coin on it to say what it is: - coin on the top edge: this is my highest card of this suit, - coin in the middle: this is my only card of this suit, - coin on the bottom edge: this is my lowest card of this suit.
4. The statement must be true at that moment. If a card is none of these (for example the middle one of three), you can't signal it.

The card still belongs to your hand. It stays face up until you play it, and you play it normally whenever you like (following suit as usual). Once it has been played, turn your coin over: you have used your signal.

Example: Cleo holds 2♥ and 8♥. She lays the 8♥ face up with her coin on the top edge: "the 8♥ is my highest heart". Now everybody knows that Cleo does not have the 9♥ and that her other hearts are all lower. Later Dan lays his 4♣ face up with the coin in the middle: it is his only club. Once he has played it, everyone knows he can't follow clubs any more and may trump them with a King.

A failed mission

Example: Cleo has the task "exactly 1 trick" and has already won one. Dan leads the 4♠. Anna plays the 6♠, Ben the 2♠. Cleo's only spade is the 9♠ – she has to follow suit with it and wins her second trick. The mission fails. Had Cleo signalled "9♠ – my only spade" earlier, Dan would have led spades only after she had got rid of it, or led a King instead.

Missions

Play the missions in order, starting with mission 1. Each deal is one attempt. If you succeed, write down the attempts and go on to the next mission. If you fail, collect all cards, shuffle and try the same mission again – with a new deal, possibly a new commander and new tasks.

The target is half the mission number, rounded down, plus 1:

• Radio silence: missions 5, 10, 15 and 20 are played without any signals.
• 5 players: with only 8 tricks each round, lower the target by 1 (but not below 1).
• After mission 20 you can go on with the same formula as long as you like.

The logbook

Keep a sheet of paper with one line per mission: the mission number, the date and the number of attempts it took. After mission 20, add up all attempts – that is your team's score. Next time, try to beat it.

Tips for beginners

• Lead high to collect, lead low to give. To win a card you need, lead the highest card of that suit. To hand a trick to a teammate, lead low.
• Watch the face-up tricks. All won tricks are visible – count which high cards and Kings are already gone, and how many tricks everyone has.
• Take tasks your hand can control. "The first trick" is easy with the K♠, "no tricks" is easy with many low cards and no Kings, "the 9 of a suit" is easy if you hold it.
• Use your signal early – especially to show a dangerous only card or a highest card.
• Save your Kings. Trump only when the trick holds something you need – a careless King can wreck a teammate's task.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Mayday: once per mission, before the first trick, anyone may ask "Mayday?". If everyone agrees, each player passes one card face down to the left. The attempt counts double in the logbook.
• Free choice: turn up 8 task cards instead of 6.
• Hard mode: no signals at all in any mission.