This card game can be player with a standard deck of cards and was inspired by the hilarious game "Killer Bunnies". If your a fan of the Killer Bunnies game then you will recognise some of the game play mechanics given here. However you will also not fail to notice that it plays significantly differn'tly.
In ancient times Noble families fought each other over the diamond mines. They collected diamonds and tried constantly to kill the Nobles of other families. With their competition removed the name and reputation of their own family would rise.
Your objective during the game is to collect Diamond cards and "face" cards, that is Kings, Queens and Jacks of any suit. In this game the suit of the "face" cards does not matter.
Diamonds : These represent diamonds found by your family and are used to calculate final scores at the end of the game.
Clubs : These represent a physical attack on another players Noble ( a Club perhaps ).
Spades : These represent a sneaky pit-trap that has been set for another players Noble.
Hearts : These represent the defensive measures taken by your family to fend off the attacks of the other Noble families.
Jokers : Leave the Jokers in the deck as these have special uses.
Deal each player 5 cards. Players then pick the first card they want to play and place it face down on the table in front of the player. This is the players "First Plan" card.
Players then select the next card they want to play and place it face down on the table in front of them and below the First Plan card. This card is the "Second Plan" card.
On your turn you do the following things in the order given.
When you turn over your "First Plan" card...
If it's a Face card ( Noble ), play it face up in front of you.
If it's a Club or Spade play it on top of another players face up Noble. You may play a black card on top of a black card already played by another player. If there are no Nobles on the table, discard your card.
If it's a Diamond, place it face up beside you.
If it's a Heart discard it. ( You should be playing these from your hand to defend your Nobles, but sometimes you dont have a choice. )
If it's the Colour Joker you may cause another players Noble to defect to your side. Take one of their face up Noble cards and place it with yours. It is now yours.
If it's the Black & White Joker you may steal a Diamond card from another player and place it with yours.
When you start your turn, your first task is to defend your Nobles that are under attack by Spade and Club cards.
To defend a Noble you must play a Heart or a Diamond from your hand that has a number equal to or greater than the Black card number. If you do this, then discard the Heart/Diamond and the Black card. Think carefully before defending a Noble with a Diamond as this will effect your end score. We call defending with a Diamond "Bribing".
If you dont have a suitable Heart/Diamond, or choose not to defend the Noble, then discard both the Black card and the Noble card.
If a Noble card has two or more Black cards on it, then each Black card must be defended against seperately with a Heart or Diamond card for each. You must defend against the top Black card and then any underneath it, in a top to bottom approach.
When the last card is drawn from the deck you are into the End Game. Play continues with players placing their the "Second Plan" card from their hand and not drawing their hand up to four. You continue playing until all cards have been played.
During End Game some players are likely to run out of cards before others. In these cases the players just have to sit out their turn and wait for everyone else to finsh
When the last card has been played you calculate the scores. Any Black cards sitting on Nobles are ignored.
To calculate your finishing score do the following. Total the numbers on your Diamond Cards this is the first total. Next you calculate the points for your Nobles that are still on the table. You get 1 Point for each Jack, 2 points for each Queen, and 3 points for each King. This total is your second total. You then calculate your final score by multiplying your first and second totals.
Note : It is possible to score Zero if you dont have any Diamonds or dont have any Nobles.
The following alternate rules have been suggested by the members of the Board Game Geek community.
Any Diamond card may be used to block any attack. Thus you might use a 2 of Diamonds to Block a 5 of Clubs attack.
At the end of game when scoring, any Noble card with a Black Spade attack card on it only scores 1 point when calculating the Noble points total.
At the end of game when scoring, any Noble card with a Black Club attack card on it score nothing when calculating the Noble points total.
At the end of game when scoring, for each set of three Nobles ( a set being a King, Queen, Jack ) gain an additional 3 points when calculating the Noble points total.
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