Card games
Dobble
ZygomaticDenis Blanchot, Jacques Cottereau…2009
- players
- 2–8
- minutes
- 15
- years
- 6+
In the box
55 round cards, 8 symbols per card · 1 metal tin
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designers
- Denis Blanchot, Jacques Cottereau, Guillaume Gille-Naves, Igor Polouchine
- Artwork
- René Goscinny, Laura Mena, Mikmak Studio, Ingrid Vang Nyman
- Publisher
- Zygomatic
- Mechanics
- Hot PotatoPattern RecognitionSpeed
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Any two cards always share exactly one symbol: spot it before anyone else and name it out loud before touching the card. Everyone plays at the same time, according to the chosen mini-game, to take, put down or give away cards. Each mini-game ends when the draw pile is empty, and its winner depends on its rules: the most cards in The Towering Inferno, the fewest in The Poisoned Gift.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
55 cards, 8 symbols per card, Choose a mini-game
- 55 round cards, each showing eight symbols. Any two cards always share exactly one symbol: same shape, same colour, only the size changes.
- Before the first game, practise: two cards in the centre, and the first player to name the matching symbol turns over two more.
- Choose a mini-game and read its rules to everyone.
How to play
Everyone at once, Matching symbol, Name it before touching
- Everyone plays at the same time. You must name the symbol before touching the card.
- The Towering Inferno: one face-down card in front of each player, the draw pile face up in the centre. At the signal, turn your card over; the first to name the symbol shared by their card and the draw pile's card takes that card and puts it on their pile.
- The Well: all the cards are dealt, except one placed in the centre. Discard from your pile onto the centre card, naming the matching symbol each time.
- Hot Potato, over several rounds: each player holds one card face up. Whoever finds the symbol shared with an opponent's card gives them their card; that player must in turn get rid of all their cards at once.
- Catch Them All, over several rounds: one card in the centre, and as many face-down cards around it as there are players. Turn them over, and everyone grabs those sharing a symbol with the centre card.
- The Poisoned Gift: like The Towering Inferno, but you look for the symbol shared by the draw pile and an opponent's card, and give the card to that opponent.
- In case of doubt, the first to name the symbol wins; if two players spoke at the same time, the fastest to take or put down their card wins.
Scoring
Depends on mini-game, Most or fewest cards, The Well: last loses
- The Towering Inferno and Catch Them All: the most cards wins.
- The Poisoned Gift: the fewest cards wins.
- The Well: the last to empty their pile loses.
- Hot Potato: the last player left holding the cards loses the round and keeps them; after at least five rounds, the player with the most cards has lost.
- The rulebook's tournament scoring: Towering Inferno, 1 point per card and 5 more for the best; Well, +10 for the first out, −20 for the last; Poisoned Gift, +20 for the player with the fewest cards, +10 for the second; Hot Potato, −5 per round lost; Catch Them All, 1 point per card.
End of the game
Empty draw pile, Mini-games in a row
- Each mini-game ends when the draw pile is empty (or when all the piles have been emptied, in The Well).
- You can play several mini-games in a row: the loser chooses the next one. Whoever has won the most mini-games, or has the most points on the tournament scale, wins the game.
- Tie at the end of a mini-game: a duel between the tied players, one card each, and the first to name the matching symbol wins.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
What is the idea?
Each card shares exactly one symbol with any other card in the game. The first to spot that symbol and name it acts according to the mini-game.
How is that mathematically possible?
It is a construction from finite geometry (a projective plane): fifty-five cards, eight symbols each, and always exactly one in common between two cards, never two.
How many mini-games are there?
Five in the rulebook: The Towering Inferno, The Well, Hot Potato, Catch Them All and The Poisoned Gift. Same components, different kinds of tension.
Do you have to name the symbol out loud?
Yes: you must say it to claim the match, not just point at it. That is what sets off the laughter when the word will not come.
How do you win?
It depends on the mini-game: have the most cards, have the fewest, or not be the last to get rid of them. Over several mini-games, count the wins or use the tournament scoring.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.