The Emissary

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Setup
3. Ranks and trumps
4. Visiting a kingdom
5. A debate
6. Advisor abilities
7. After a kingdom
8. Winning and scoring
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

The Emissary is a solo trick-taking game. You are a young noble sent to win the support of eight neighbouring kingdoms. In each kingdom you hold eight debates with its ruler – small duels in which the ruler turns up a card and you answer with one from your hand, as in a trick of Whist. The catch: every ruler wants you to win an exact number of debates – one in the first kingdom, two in the second, up to all eight in the last. Hit the number and the ruler supports you; miss it by even one and the game is lost.

• Players: 1.
• You need: one standard deck without jokers, and a table with room for a long row of cards.

Designed by Wilhelm Su (published free in his collection Isaludo, 2021) – our text follows his rules of September 2021.

Setup

1. Take out the eight 9s and 10s and lay them face down in a row from left to right. These are the eight kingdoms. Their values don't matter; they only mark places. From left to right they are kingdoms 1 to 8.
2. Shuffle the four Kings and four Queens together and deal them face up, one on each kingdom, from left to right. These are the rulers.
3. Put the four Jacks face up in a small stack to one side. They are you and your advisors.
4. Shuffle the remaining 32 cards (Ace to 8 of each suit) and put them face down: this is the deck. Leave room next to it for a face-up discard pile and for your scoring pile.

Ranks and trumps

• Cards rank from 8 (high) down to Ace (low); an Ace counts as 1.
• The suit of the ruler you are visiting is that kingdom's favourite topic: it is trumps. A trump beats any card of another suit.

Visiting a kingdom

1. Draw eight cards from the deck. Look at them.
2. Choose a kingdom you haven't visited yet – one whose ruler still lies on it. Its ruler is your opponent in the debates. You visit every kingdom exactly once, in any order you like.
3. The kingdom's number (its place in the row) is your target: in kingdom 1 you must win exactly one debate, in kingdom 4 exactly four, in kingdom 8 all eight.

A debate

1. Turn the top card of the deck face up onto the discard pile. This is the ruler's topic.
2. Answer with one card from your hand: - If you have a card of the same suit, you must play one (this is called following suit). - Only if you have none may you play any card.
3. You win the debate if - you followed suit with a higher card, or - the ruler's card is not a trump and you answered with a trump (you flattered the ruler with a favourite topic).

In every other case you lose it – also when the ruler's card is a trump and you can't follow suit. 4. Won: put your card face down on your scoring pile. Lost: put your card on the discard pile.

The ruler always turns up the next topic; you never lead. Keep debating until your hand is empty. The number of cards in your scoring pile is the number of debates you won in this kingdom.

Example: You visit kingdom 4 (the K♣), so clubs are trumps and you need exactly four wins. Your hand is A♣ 6♣ 3♥ 8♥ 2♦ 5♦ 4♠ 7♠. The ruler turns up the 6♥: you must play a heart – the 8♥ wins, the 3♥ loses. Next comes the 4♣, a trump: you must follow with a club – the 6♣ wins, the A♣ loses. If the ruler later turns up a diamond after you have played both of yours, any club wins (flattery), while a heart or spade loses.

Advisor abilities

Each Jack can bend a debate series once per kingdom. Before the first debate or between two debates – never after the ruler's card is already turned up – you may turn a face-up Jack face down to use its suit's ability:

• Finish one ability before you decide on the next. You may use several in one kingdom.
• Discarded cards go on the discard pile.
• Hearts and clubs change the number of cards in your hand – and so the number of debates you will play. Your target stays the same.
• The kingdom's number belongs to its place in the row: after a spade swap, the new ruler brings its suit, but the target doesn't change.

After a kingdom

• Exactly on target: the ruler supports you. Take it off its kingdom and lay it face up next to your advisors. Later you may turn a supporting King or Queen face down to use its suit's ability, just like a Jack – but only once per game.
• Not exactly on target (too many or too few wins): you have lost the game.

Then gather the discard pile, your scoring pile and the deck, and shuffle them together into a new deck. Turn all your Jacks face up again (spent Kings and Queens stay face down). Draw eight new cards and choose the next kingdom.

If the deck runs out in the middle of a kingdom, shuffle the discard pile and use it as the new deck.

Winning and scoring

You win once all eight rulers support you. Win or lose, your score is the number of kingdoms you won plus the number of supporting Kings and Queens whose ability you haven't used – a perfect game scores 8 + 8 = 16.

Example: You win five kingdoms, used two of those rulers' abilities and then miss the target in kingdom 8 by one debate. Score: 5 + 3 = 8.

Tips for beginners

• Count before you choose. With lots of trumps and high cards, go for a high-numbered kingdom; with a weak, scattered hand, choose a low one. Kingdoms 1 and 8 are the hardest – keep them for a hand that fits.
• You never lead, so you can't avoid a topic. A long suit protects you (you can often follow with a low card and lose on purpose); being void in a suit lets you win with a trump or lose with a throw-away.
• Plan your losses as carefully as your wins. In a low kingdom, low cards and following suit are your friends.
• The heart Jack is an emergency brake: it throws out your trumps when you are winning too much. The club Jack adds cards – and debates – when you need more wins.
• Supporters are one-shot rescues, and unused ones count for your score. Spend them when a kingdom would otherwise be lost.

Variants

All optional.

• First version (more forgiving): in the designer's first rules (2019) a missed kingdom doesn't end the game. Instead your Jacks and supporters are your reputation: each point you are off the target costs one of them (turn it face down), and you lose only when you would have to turn over the last one. The abilities were also different: ♣ wins the current debate, ♥ loses it, ♦ draw two and discard two, ♠ makes spades trumps for the rest of the kingdom – each use costs one point of reputation. Score: the number of kingdoms visited.