The goalBe the last player still holding cards. Unlike most card games, you want to keep your hand.
The deck
- 88 suit cards in red, blue, green and yellow. Each colour has the nine characters twice (Banner 1, Jester 2, Herald 3, Guard 4, Tower 5, Bishop 6, Knight 7, Queen 8, King 9), plus 2 Reverse and 2 Capture +1.
- 18 grey wild cards: 4 Wild, 4 Capture +2, 2 Chaos, 4 Draw +3 and 4 Shield.
- 2 Swap cards: one red/yellow, one blue/green.
Setup
- Shuffle all 108 cards and deal 10 to each player. Put the rest face down as the draw pile.
- Turn over the top card to start the discard pile, and leave room beside it for the burn pile. If the card is a Capture +2, Chaos, Draw +3, Shield or Swap, shuffle it back in and turn over another. A Wild: the first player names the colour. A Reverse: play starts to the right. A Capture +1 has no effect.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts. Play passes to the left.
Your turn
- Catch up. If you hold 3 cards or fewer, draw 1 card first. When only two players are left, you draw only if you hold 1 card.
- Play or burn one card. A card that can be played goes on the discard pile: it must match the active colour, or the value of the top card (the same character, or the same action). Grey wild cards can be played on anything. A card that can't be played is burned: face down on the burn pile, and the top card stays the same. You may burn a card even when you could play another.
The active colour is the colour of the top card, or the colour named for the last Wild. Capture +2, Chaos, Draw +3, Shield and Swap don't change it.
Card effects
-
Characters 1–9 · 72 in deck
Nothing. Match them by colour or by value.
-
Reverse · 8 in deck
Play changes direction. No effect when two players are left.
-
Capture +1 · 8 in deck
Take 1 random card from another player: they fan their hand face down and you pick one.
-
Wild · 4 in deck
Name the new active colour.
-
Capture +2 · 4 in deck
Take 2 random cards from other players: both from one player, or one each from two players.
-
Chaos · 2 in deck
Every other player burns 1 card of their own choice, face down on the burn pile.
-
Draw +3 · 4 in deck
Draw 3 cards from the draw pile.
-
Shield · 4 in deck
Place it face up in front of you, not on the discard pile. It blocks one Capture take or one Chaos burn aimed at you, then leaves the game. Shields stack, and they don't count as cards in your hand.
-
Swap · 2 in deck
Play it when the active colour is one of its two colours. Trade your whole hand with another player's hand. Shields stay where they are.
Knocked out, and winning
The moment you hold no cards, you are out, even with Shields in front of you. The last player holding cards wins. If the last two players go out at the same moment, the player who played the card wins.
Draw pile empty? Keep the top card of the discard pile, and shuffle the rest of it together with the burn pile into a new draw pile.
Rulings for this playtest
These are open design questions. Play them as written, and tell us when they feel wrong:
- The first player names the colour when the first card is a Wild.
- Used Shields leave the game.
- A simultaneous knock-out goes to the player who played the card.
The browser version plays all three the same way.
Card Keeper is still in closed playtesting, so the rules on this page can still change. If you played a game, the single most useful thing you can tell us is what you argued about.
Tell us on Discord