Power Struggle

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Combinations
5. Playing a hand
6. Scoring
7. The next hand: the strong get stronger
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Power Struggle is a climbing game for 3 or 4 players: whoever starts a round lays down a single card, a pair, a triple or a five-card poker hand, and in turn the others must beat it with something higher of the same size – or pass. Four or more cards of the same number form a coup, which beats anything. The first player to get rid of all 16 cards wins the hand; everyone else scores penalty points for the cards left in their hand – and the more cards, the more each one costs. When someone reaches 100 penalty points, the lowest total wins.

• Players: 3–4, each playing for themselves.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks (ideally with the same back) to make a 64-card pack, and paper and pencil (or the score pad).

Power Struggle is our own adaptation for ordinary cards, inspired by Gang of Four (Lee F. Yih; Days of Wonder edition 2002). The original's three colours become three suits, and its special cards become an Ace, two Jacks and a King. Where the original rules leave details open – how pairs and five-card hands of the same type compare – we follow the usual Big Two way. It has not been playtested in this form yet. If you know Big Two or Dragon and Phoenix, the poker hands will feel familiar.

The cards

Take these 64 cards from the two decks:

• From both decks: A to 10 of clubs, diamonds and hearts (60 cards). Each of these cards is in the pack twice.
• From one deck: the A♠, J♣, J♦ and K♥.

Everything else (the other spades, the other face cards, the jokers) goes back in the box.

Numbers: an Ace counts as 1, the lowest number. Then come 2 to 10, then the two Jacks (above the 10s, the J♦ above the J♣) and at the top the K♥, the highest card of all.

Suits only matter when numbers are equal: ♣ lowest, then ♦, ♥ highest. So 7♥ beats 7♦, which beats 7♣ – but any 8 beats any 7.

The four special cards:

Setup

1. Choose a dealer. The dealer shuffles and deals out 16 cards to each player, one at a time.
2. With 3 players, the dealer also deals a fourth hand of 16 cards face down to one side. It is not used; nobody looks at it.
3. Sort your cards by number and suit.

Combinations

On your turn you play one of these:

• Straights and flushes can only use the numbers 1 to 10 – no Jacks, no K♥ – and a straight never goes round the corner (9 10 1 2 3 is not a straight).
• Beating the same kind: the higher number wins; if the numbers are equal, the higher suit decides. Pairs and triples compare their number, then their best card (if that is equal too, their next card). Straights, straight flushes and flushes compare their highest card, a full house its three of a kind.
• Five-card hands beat each other by type as well: straight < flush < full house < straight flush. Any flush beats any straight, and so on.
• You may never play exactly the same cards as the ones you are beating (7♥ 7♦ on 7♥ 7♦): your play must be higher.

Coups

A coup is four or more cards of the same number. It is the only thing that breaks the rule of "same size": on your turn you may play a coup on top of any play – a single, a pair, a straight – and win the round with it if nobody answers.

• Only a higher coup beats a coup: more cards beat fewer (any five of a kind beats any four of a kind), and with the same number of cards the higher number wins.
• Each number from 1 to 10 is in the pack six times, and the 1s seven times (with the A♠), so a coup can have up to 7 cards.
• You may also lead a coup like any other combination.

Playing a hand

Direction: the first hand of the game is played anticlockwise (to the right). After each hand the direction changes: clockwise, then anticlockwise again, and so on.

1. Lead: in the first hand, whoever holds the A♠ starts. Their first play must contain the A♠ – alone or in a combination. (With 3 players the A♠ may be in the unused hand; then the player to the dealer's right starts with anything.) In every later hand, the winner of the previous hand leads anything they like.
2. Beat or pass: in turn, each player either plays a higher combination with the same number of cards (or a coup), or passes. You may pass even if you could play. Passing does not stop you from playing later in the same round.
3. End of the round: when all the other players have passed one after another, the last player to play wins the round. The played cards are put aside face down, and the winner leads the next round with any combination.

The hand ends at once when a player plays their last card.

Example: Anna leads 3♣ 3♦. Ben plays 6♦ 6♥. Carla passes. Dan plays 6♥ 6♥: the numbers are equal, both best cards are hearts, but his second card (♥) beats Ben's second card (♦). Anna plays a coup, 2♣ 2♦ 2♥ 2♥ – four cards on a pair, allowed only for a coup. Ben, Carla and Dan pass: Anna wins the round and leads again.

Last card

• When you have one card left, you must say "Last card!". If you forget and play your last card, it doesn't count as going out: the hand goes on among the others until one of them goes out (you take no more turns; if your card won the round, the next player leads), and you score 1 penalty point for that hand.
• The player sitting just before a player with one card left (the one who plays right before them) must make it hard for them: when singles are being played, they must play their highest single card, and when they lead a new round, they must lead a pair or larger combination if they can.
• Anybody may ask any player at any time how many cards they have left.

Scoring

When a player has gone out, everybody else counts the cards left in their hand. The more cards you hold, the more each one costs:

Example: Carla goes out. Anna holds 5 cards (5 points), Ben 9 cards (9 × 2 = 18), Dan 14 cards (14 × 4 = 56).

The next hand: the strong get stronger

Before every hand except the first, after the deal:

• The loser of the previous hand – the player who was left with the most cards – gives their highest card to the winner.
• The winner then gives the loser any card they choose.
• Both cards are shown to everybody.

If several players tied for the most cards, the one with the highest total score gives the card; if their totals are equal too, the one closest to the winner going anticlockwise gives it.

Winning the game

Play hands until somebody has 100 penalty points or more. Then the player with the lowest total wins. Players with equal lowest totals share the win.

Tips for beginners

• Plan your hand. Split your 16 cards into as few plays as possible; five-card hands shed cards fast.
• Don't break a coup lightly. Four 7s are a coup – split into two pairs, they are just two pairs.
• Watch the counts. With 8 cards in your hand each card costs double; get below 8 quickly if you are falling behind.
• Passing is a weapon. Hold back a strong combination until it wins a round and gives you the lead at the right moment.
• Keep the K♥ and a coup for the end – they are the surest way to win the last round and go out.

Variants

• Short game: play to 50 penalty points.
• Always clockwise: if changing direction confuses the table, play every hand clockwise.