Regicide

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. A turn
5. Yielding
6. Combos and companions
7. The jester
8. Talking
9. Winning and losing
10. Solo play
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Regicide is a cooperative card game: all players form one team and win or lose together. The twelve face cards – Jacks, Queens and Kings – are your enemies. You fight them one at a time by playing cards from your hands. The number on a card is the damage it deals, and its suit gives a special power: hearts bring used cards back, diamonds let you draw, clubs hit twice as hard and spades protect you. After every attack the enemy strikes back, and you must throw away cards from your hand to survive. Defeat the last King and you all win; if anyone can't survive a blow, you all lose.

• Players: 1–4 (solo rules at the end).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck plus 2 jokers.

Designed by Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger and Andy Richdale (Badgers From Mars, 2020) – official rules: regicidegame.com. Regicide is also sold with its own illustrated deck; everything below works with an ordinary deck.

The cards

• Number cards 2–10 are your attack cards. They are worth their number.
• Aces are animal companions. They are worth 1 and have a special way of being played (see "Companions").
• Jokers are jesters. They are worth 0 and cancel an enemy's immunity (see "The jester").
• Jacks, Queens and Kings are the enemies:

Attack is the damage the enemy does to you each turn; health is the total damage you must deal to defeat it.

Setup

1. Castle deck. Shuffle the four Kings and put them face down in a pile. Shuffle the four Queens and put them face down on top. Shuffle the four Jacks and put them face down on top of the Queens. So you fight the Jacks first, then the Queens, then the Kings. Put this pile in the middle and turn the top card face up: this Jack is the current enemy.
2. Tavern deck. Shuffle all number cards 2–10, the four Aces and the jesters for your player count (table below). This is the tavern deck – your draw pile. Put it face down next to the castle. Cards that are used up go face up onto a shared discard pile beside it.
3. Deal each player cards up to their hand limit – the most cards a player may ever hold.

Choose a starting player; the rules jokingly suggest whoever most recently "overthrew a king" – any choice will do. Play goes clockwise (to the left).

A turn

Each turn has four steps:

1. Play a card from your hand face up in front of you – or yield (see below).
2. Use the suit power of the card you played.
3. Deal damage to the enemy and check whether it is defeated.
4. Suffer damage from the enemy.

Step 1 – play a card

The card's number is its attack value: a 7♥ attacks for 7. Instead of one card you may play a combo or a companion pair (see below).

Step 2 – suit powers

The power of the played card always takes effect – you may not skip it. Red powers happen straight away; black powers work in steps 3 and 4.

• ♥ Hearts – heal. Shuffle the discard pile and count out as many cards as the attack value (or all of them, if there are fewer). Put them face down under the tavern deck without looking at them. Put the rest of the discard pile back face up. (The cards lying in front of you against the current enemy are not on the discard pile yet.)
• ♦ Diamonds – draw. As many cards as the attack value are drawn from the tavern deck, shared out: you draw one, then the next player clockwise draws one, and so on round the table. A player whose hand is full is skipped; nobody may ever go above the hand limit. If the tavern deck runs out, simply stop drawing.
• ♣ Clubs – double damage. In step 3 the card deals twice its value: an 8♣ deals 16.
• ♠ Spades – shield. The enemy's attack is reduced by the card's value. Shields add up: every spade played against this enemy, by anybody, keeps counting until the enemy is defeated.

Immunity: every enemy ignores the power of its own suit. Against the J♦, diamonds still deal damage, but nobody draws cards; spades played against the J♠ don't shield.

Example: The enemy is the Q♣ (attack 15, health 30). Anna plays the 6♠. Spades work against a club enemy, so from now on the Queen attacks for only 15 − 6 = 9. The Queen has taken 6 damage.

Step 3 – deal damage

The attack value is dealt to the enemy (doubled for clubs). Add up all damage dealt to this enemy so far, by all players. If the total is at least its health, the enemy is defeated:

1. The enemy card goes to the discard pile – but if the damage was exactly equal to its health, put it face down on top of the tavern deck instead: you have won it over to your side.
2. All cards played against this enemy go to the discard pile (this also ends their spade shields).
3. Turn up the next castle card: the new enemy.
4. You skip step 4 and immediately take another turn against the new enemy, starting at step 1.

Recruited enemies are cards like any other once they are in the tavern deck: in your hand, a Jack is worth 10, a Queen 15 and a King 20, both for attacking and for discarding, and their suit power works as usual.

Step 4 – suffer damage

If the enemy survived, it attacks you: its attack value minus all spades played against it. You must discard cards from your hand with a total value at least as high, one at a time onto the discard pile. An Ace counts 1, a joker 0. You may end up with an empty hand – that's fine. If you can't discard enough, you are killed and everyone loses.

Then the next player clockwise starts their turn.

Example: The J♥ (attack 10) has taken 12 damage so far. Ben plays the 5♣: clubs double, so it deals 10 – total 22, the Jack is defeated. Because 22 is more than 20, the J♥ goes to the discard pile. Ben turns up the next Jack and takes another turn at once.

Yielding

Instead of playing a card you may yield: say "Yield" and go straight to step 4 – you only suffer the enemy's attack. You may not yield if all other players yielded on their last turn (with 3 players: after two yields in a row, the third player must play a card).

Combos and companions

• Combos: instead of one card you may play 2, 3 or 4 cards of the same number, as long as their total is 10 or less: two 2s, 3s, 4s or 5s, three 2s or 3s, or four 2s. All their suit powers apply, each using the total value.
• Companions (Aces): an Ace can be played alone, or paired with one other card (not a joker) – even another Ace. It adds 1 to the attack, and the powers of both suits apply using the total. Aces can't be part of a combo. If both cards have the same suit, the power applies only once.
• If hearts and diamonds apply together, heal first, then draw.

Example: Anna plays 3♦, 3♠ and 3♣ together: total 9. Players draw 9 cards, the enemy's attack is reduced by 9, and the enemy takes 18 damage (clubs double).

Example: Ben plays the 8♦ with the A♣: total 9. Players draw 9 cards, and the enemy takes 18 damage.

The jester

A joker may be played in step 1, always on its own. It deals no damage, but it cancels the current enemy's immunity: from now on, cards of the enemy's suit use their power against it. Spades played earlier against a spade enemy now start to shield; clubs played earlier against a club enemy stay single.

After a joker, skip steps 3 and 4 – the enemy doesn't attack. Then you choose who takes the next turn (anyone, including yourself).

Talking

You may not reveal or hint at the cards in your hand ("I have the 10♣", "I hope someone plays a diamond"). You may mention public facts: "I have two cards left", "Only three cards in the tavern deck!". Right after a joker, until the next player starts, everyone may say in general terms whether they want to go next ("I have a good play", "I'd rather not").

Winning and losing

• You win together when the last King is defeated.
• You lose together when a player can't discard enough in step 4, or when a player can neither play a card nor yield on their turn.

Solo play

Set up as usual, but put both jokers aside face up; your hand limit is 8. Play turn after turn on your own. Twice per game you may turn over a joker to discard your whole hand and draw back up to 8 – at the start of step 1 (before you play) or at the start of step 4 (before you take damage). This does not cancel immunity, and it isn't "drawing" in the sense of diamond immunity.

The official rules don't mention yielding in solo play. We read the yielding rule literally – there are no other players who could have yielded before you – so you may not yield; allow it if you want an easier game.

• Won without using a joker: gold victory.
• Used one joker: silver victory.
• Used both: bronze victory.

Tips for beginners

• Diamonds when you're running low. Cards in hand are your life, and drawing is the only way to get more – save diamonds for when hands are thin.
• Hearts before diamonds. Once the tavern deck runs low, hearts put discards back underneath so diamonds have something to draw.
• Aim for exact kills. Every enemy you defeat with exactly its health joins your deck as a strong 10, 15 or 20.
• Spades save cards. A shield keeps working for every later attack of that enemy, for all players.
• Yield wisely. Yielding costs no card, but the enemy still hits – only yield when your hand can take it and a teammate has a better play.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start. These are our own adjustments, not part of the official rules.

• Easier: add one joker to the tavern deck, or raise everyone's hand limit by 1.
• Harder: lower everyone's hand limit by 1 (solo: 7).
• Shorter game: leave out the four Kings; you win when the last Queen is defeated.