ZXT Games

Objective

The goal is to have the lowest score. Score zero to win the round instantly!

Setup

• Players: 2 to 5 players.
• First Deal: Cut the deck. Highest card deals first.
• Next Deal: The player with the lowest score in the previous round deals the next. In case of a tie, the player who knocked deals, or the player who collected the lower value cards (if no one knocked or the person who knocked is not part of the tie).
• The Deal: Deal 5 cards to each player.
• The Stock: Place remaining deck face down in the center. Turn the top card over to start the Discard pile.

Card Values

• Ace: 1 point
• 2: WILD. Can be used as any card value to help form groups of same-numbered cards to reduce their value to zero.
• 3-10: Face value
• J, Q, K: Notional rank (e.g. Kings are 13, not 10)

Scoring Zero

If you have 3 or more of a kind (e.g. three 7s), those cards are worth zero points.

Example: A hand of four 7s and a 2 (wild used as a 7) is worth zero total.

Gameplay Turn

1. Turn Order: The person to the left of the dealer goes first.
2. Draw: Start your turn by drawing the top card from the Stock or the Discard pile.
3. Discard: End your turn by discarding one card face up.
4. Knocking: If you think you have the lowest score, you can knock instead of drawing a card.

Ending the Round

• After a Knock: Every other player gets one final turn. Then all hands are revealed.
• Stock Runs Out: If the Stock pile runs out of cards, the round ends immediately.
• Zero Score: If anyone's hand reaches 0 at any time, they reveal it immediately. The round ends instantly. No one else gets another turn.
• Score Recording: Record the score of each person's hand, adding it to their running total.

Invalid Knock & Penalties

If you knock but do not have the strictly lowest score (ties are okay):

• 1st Invalid Knock: You receive a Star (★). No point penalty.
• 2nd Invalid Knock: You receive a 2nd Star. +10 point penalty added to your score.
• 3rd+ Invalid Knock: You receive another Star. +20 point (increases by 10 per additional star) penalty.

Winning the Game

• Elimination: If a player goes over 100 points, they are eliminated.
• Victory: Play continues until one player remains under 100 points. The winner must have a score of 100 or below. If everyone goes over 100, no one wins.
• Skunking: The winner's final score is circled. If another player went above 100 while the winner's score was below 50, an extra circle is added for each player they "skunked".

Objective

Be the first partnership to reach a score of 40 by winning tricks and capturing the "Lost Heir" card, while avoiding the penalty "Wrong Boy" card.

Deck

A specialized 32-card deck:

• 4 Suits (Cities): Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg
• Ranks (High to Low): 7 (Mayor), 6 (Chief), 5 (Commissioner), 4 (Detective), 3 (Captain), 2 (Sergeant), 1 (Policeman).
• 0 (Special): Blank (Halifax/Montreal), Lost Heir (Winnipeg), Wrong Boy (Toronto).

Setup

• Players: 4 Players (Fixed partnerships: North/South vs East/West).
• First Dealer: Shuffle and deal cards face up. First player to get the Lost Heir or Wrong Boy deals.
• Dealing: Deal entire deck (8 cards per player).
• Rotation: Dealer rotates to the left each round.

Bidding & Refusal

• Starting left of dealer, players bid the number of points they can earn.
• Minimum Bid: 4.
• Players may Pass.
• Highest bidder wins the right to name the trump suit and leads the first card.
• Note: Do not announce the suit during bidding, only the number.
• Dealer's Privilege (Refusal): When bidding returns to the dealer, the dealer can refuse the high bid by saying "I won't take your bid". If refused, the bidder must either raise (bid +1) or give the bid to the dealer at the current price. This continues until either the bidder lets the dealer have it or the dealer lets the bidder have it.
• All Pass Rule: If all players pass on the bidding, the hand is discarded, and the deal moves to the next player.

Gameplay & Leading

• Naming Trump: Highest bidder names a city to be trump by leading with trump as the first card played this hand.
• Following Suit: Players must follow suit if able. If not, they may play a trump or discard another city card.
• Winning Tricks: Highest card of led suit wins, unless trump is played (highest trump wins). Winner leads next trick.
• Taking the Lead: The winner of a trick leads the next trick. However, the winner may explicitly tell their partner to "Take a lead", forcing the partner to lead the next trick instead.
• Note: You cannot pass the lead on the very first trick of a hand.

Scoring

Scores are tallied after each round:

• Trick Won: +1 Point
• Lost Heir (Captured): +5 Points
• Wrong Boy (Captured): -3 Points
• Tallying: Scores are tallied and added to the partnership total after each round.
• Maximum Score: The max score in one hand is 12 (7 tricks + 5 Lost Heir and did not take the Wrong Boy). If a team takes all 8 tricks and both boys, the score is 10 (8 tricks + 5 Lost Heir - 3 Wrong Boy).

The Bidder's Risk

• Success: If bidding team meets/exceeds bid, they score their total earned points.
• Failure: If they fail, they lose the amount of their bid (negative points possible).
• The opposing team always scores whatever points they earned.

Winning

The first team to reach 40 points wins.

Objective

Predict the exact number of tricks you will take each round. If you hit your bid exactly, you score big; if you miss, your score is blacked out.

Setup

• Players: 2 to 8 (best played with 4)
• Game length: The number of rounds depends on the player count. To find the maximum round number, divide 52 by the number of players and round down (e.g. with 4 players, max round is 13; 5 players, max round 10).
• Deck: Start with a standard 52-card deck (no Jokers). Number of cards is determined by multiplying the number of players by the max round (e.g. 4 players x 13 max round = 52 cards; 5 players x 10 max round = 50 cards). Remove lowest-value cards (i.e. 2s) first.

The Scorecard

Create a column for the Round Numbers in ascending order up to the max round, then back down to 1. Four-player example:

Dealing & Trump

• First Dealer: Players cut the deck; highest card deals first. Dealer rotates left each round.
• Dealing: The number of cards dealt to each player is equal to the current Round Number.
• Determining Trump: After dealing, the player to the dealer's left cuts the remaining undealt deck. The dealer flips the top card of the cut deck face-up. The suit of the card is trump for the round.
• "Maximum Round" Exception: When the entire deck is dealt (e.g. Round 13), there is no trump suit.

Bidding

After the round's cards have been dealt and trump is determined (if applicable), starting left of the dealer and moving clockwise, players announce exactly how many tricks they think they will win. Scorekeeper records it.

The Dealer's Trap: The total sum of all bids cannot equal the total tricks available. The dealer (bidding last) must bid to ensure the sum is over or under. At least one player will always fail!

Gameplay

• The Lead: Player to the left of dealer leads first.
• Following Suit: You must follow the leading suit if possible.
• Playing Trump / Discarding: If you cannot follow suit, you may play a trump or discard.
• Winning the Trick: Highest trump wins. If no trump, highest card of leading suit wins (Aces high). Winner leads next.
• Next Trick: The winner of the trick collects the cards, places them face-down in a pile, and leads the first card for the next trick.

Scoring (The "Blackout")

At the end of each round, players compare their tricks won to their bid.

• Successful Bids: If exact, you get a '1' in front of your bid to make your score.
• Bid 0, won 0 = 10
• Bid 3, won 3 = 13
• Bid 11, won 11 = 111
• Failed Bids (The Blackout): If you win more or fewer tricks than you bid, your score is "Blacked out". The scorekeeper draws a solid circle or square over your bid, and you recevie 0 points for that round.

Winning the Game

Play until the final 1-card round is done. Highest total score wins!