Roses and Thorns

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Playing a round
4. Out of the game
5. Winning the game
6. Tips for beginners
7. Variants

Overview

Roses and Thorns is a game of bluffing and bidding for 3–6 players. Everybody has four cards: three roses and one thorn. In each round, you lay cards face down on your own small stack. Then the players bid: how many cards can you turn face up – starting with your own – without finding a thorn? The highest bidder has to prove it. Turn up only roses and you have won the round; win two rounds and you win the game. Find a thorn and you lose one of your cards for good. Lose all four and you are out.

• Players: 3–6 (up to 10, see Variants).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers.

Roses and Thorns is our own adaptation for an ordinary deck, inspired by Skull (originally Skull & Roses, Hervé Marly, 2011). The texts and some rules are our own. It has not been playtested yet.

The cards

Each player takes all four cards of one rank – for example Anna the four Queens, Ben the four 7s, Carla the four 4s. Everybody gets a different rank.

The rest of the deck lies ready as a supply of markers.

Keep your cards hidden in your hand all game. Nobody should know which cards you still hold.

Playing a round

1. Everyone lays a card

At the start of a round, every player picks one card from their hand and lays it face down in front of them. This is the start of your stack. Do this all at once.

2. Adding cards

The start player begins (in the first round, choose one at random); then play goes clockwise. On your turn, either:

• add a card: lay one more card from your hand face down on top of your stack, or
• start the bidding: say a number – how many cards you are sure you can turn up without a thorn. It must be at least 1 and at most the number of cards on the table (all stacks together).

If you have no cards left in your hand, you must start the bidding.

3. Bidding

Once somebody has bid, no more cards are added. Going on clockwise from the bidder, each player either:

• raises: names a higher number (still at most the number of cards on the table), or
• passes: they are out of the bidding for this round.

The bidding ends when everybody else has passed, or as soon as somebody bids the total number of cards on the table. The highest bidder is now the challenger.

4. The challenge

The challenger turns up as many cards as they bid, one at a time:

1. First your own stack. Turn up your own cards from the top down. You may not touch other stacks before your whole stack is face up.
2. Then the other stacks. Choose any other player's stack and turn up its top card. Keep going – from any stacks in any order, always the top card that is still face down – until you have turned up as many cards as you bid.

All roses? The challenge succeeds. Take a card from the supply and lay it face up in front of you as a marker. If you already had a marker, you win the game.

A thorn? Stop at once – the challenge has failed. You lose one card:

• Collect all your cards (hand and stack), shuffle them and hold them out face down.
• The owner of the thorn draws one of them without looking and puts it aside face down without showing it. It is out of the game.
• Was it your own thorn? Then the player to your left draws the card.

You can see from your remaining cards what you lost – but nobody else knows whether it was a rose or your thorn.

5. Next round

Everybody takes back their cards. The next round is started by:

• the challenger, if they succeeded or turned up their own thorn,
• the owner of the thorn, if they found someone else's.

If that player is out, the next player to their left starts.

Example: Anna (Queens), Ben (7s) and Carla (4s) each lay a card. Anna adds a second card, Ben adds one, Carla says "3". Anna raises to "4", Ben and Carla pass. Anna turns up her own stack: Q♥, Q♦ – two roses. Now she needs two more. She turns up the top card of Carla's stack: 4♣, a rose. Then the top card of Ben's stack: 7♠ – a thorn! Anna shuffles her four cards, and Ben draws one and puts it aside face down. Anna has only three cards left. Ben starts the next round.

Out of the game

A player who has lost all four cards is out. Their marker no longer counts. The others play on, and everybody else keeps their markers.

Winning the game

You win the game when you

• succeed in a second challenge, or
• are the last player left with cards.

Tips for beginners

• The thorn is your weapon. Nobody can bid safely while your thorn might be lying on your stack.
• Your own stack comes first. If you have laid your thorn, bidding is dangerous – you would find it yourself. If you have laid only roses, a low bid is safe.
• Watch who adds cards. A player who happily adds card after card may be hiding a thorn at the bottom – or may just want you to think so.
• Bid to push others. A bid you don't want to win can force a rival to raise too high.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Bigger table: with 7 to 10 players, the game works the same way; it just takes longer.
• Quick game: a single successful challenge wins the game.
• Original rule for your own thorn: if you turn up your own thorn, you choose which of your cards you lose, instead of having one drawn at random. Bidding on your own stack then becomes less risky.