Skyjo Action

1.Setup

• The box holds 150 cards: 120 playing cards (three −2s, eleven 0s, seven copies of each other value from −1 to 12, and 15 Stars), 27 Action cards (nine effects, three copies of each) and 3 blank Action cards for inventing your own.
• Make two piles: the playing cards (numbers and Stars) on one side, the Action cards on the other.
• Lay out 4 Action cards face up; the rest form the Action draw pile. A card taken from this row is replaced at once, and played Action cards form their own discard pile.
• Each player gets 12 playing cards, laid face down in a rectangle four cards wide and three high, and turns two of them face up.
• A playing card turned over in the middle of the table starts the discard pile; the rest form the draw pile.
• The player whose two face-up cards add up to the most starts. A Star revealed during setup lets you take an Action card.
• In later rounds, whoever ended the previous round starts.
• 2 to 8 players, ages 8 and up.

2.How to play

• On your turn, choose just one of three options: take a playing card, take an Action card, or play an Action card.
• Playing card from the draw pile: swap it with a card in your grid, face down or not, or discard it and then turn one of your face-down cards face up.
• Card from the discard pile: it must replace a card in your grid, and the replaced card goes face up onto the discard pile.
• Action card taken, from the row or its draw pile: place it next to your grid; it can only be used from your next turn, unless an Action card says otherwise.
• Action card played: apply its effect, then it goes to the Action discard pile. You may also discard it without using it.
• Three identical cards in a column, or four in a row, go to the discard pile: that is a Skyjo. This also applies on the last turn, when all cards are face up.
• Each time you place or reveal a Star in your grid, including by taking a Star from the discard pile, you may take an Action card. Not at the end of a round, nor when the Star arrives through a card exchange.
• A Star is worth 0, but it can take the value of the cards in its row or column to make them disappear, during the round as well as at its end. A whole row or column of Stars may be discarded, but you don't have to.
• As soon as a player has turned all their cards face up, each other player takes one more turn, then the round ends. No Action cards can be played during this last turn.

3.Scoring

• Everyone turns over their remaining face-down cards and adds up their grid: numbers at face value, Stars 0.
• A column of Stars kept in your grid scores −10, a row of Stars −15.
• Each Action card still lying next to your grid costs 10 points.
• The player who ended the round doubles their total if they don't have strictly the lowest of the round; only a positive total is doubled.
• In Marquoir, enter each player's round total, doubling included.

4.End of the game

• The game ends at the end of the round in which a player reaches or exceeds 100 points.
• The lowest cumulative total wins.

House rules and pitfalls

• The nine Action cards: remove one card from every player, swap two of your own cards, take two extra turns, draw three cards and keep one, look at a hidden column or row, defend against an attack (with an extra turn), replay a card from the Action discard pile, steal an Action card and play it at once, swap cards with other players.
• For beginners, the rulebook suggests removing the cards that steal an Action card and those that remove a card from every player.
• Rulebook variants: a single draw pile with 5 to 10 Action cards shuffled in; a game without Action cards, for 1 to 6 players; a game with number cards only, for 1 to 4 players; and, for up to ten players, a 3 × 3 grid with only one card turned face up at the start.
• For the original rules, without Action cards or Stars, see the Skyjo page.

Variants

chosen when starting, the scorer follows

Frequently asked questions

The box

Released

2019

Age

Ages 8+

Designer

Alexander Bernhardt

Publisher

Magilano

Mechanics

Pattern BuildingSet CollectionTake That

Contents

• 120 playing cards: numbers from −2 to 12 and 15 Stars
• 27 Action cards: nine effects, three copies of each
• 3 blank Action cards

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