You are all very superstitious people, afraid of the omens of bad luck: black cats, broken mirrors , walking under ladders and, worst of all, Friday the 13th! It is up to you to play your cards wisely to avoid getting too much bad luck.
Components
50 numbered cards
3 rule summary cards.
Object of the Game
To have the lowest bad luck score at the end of the game. You score points at the end of each round. The game lasts 4 rounds.
Setup
At the start of each round, shuffle the cards and deal them out as evenly as possible to all of the players.
The first players of the round may have one more card than the last players; that' s OK. With three players, deal a fourth hand, which remains face-down, and is not used during the round.
Game Turn
One player starts the round, then play progresses clockwise. On your turn, select one card from your hand and play it face-up into the middle, using different piles for the three main types of bad luck: black cat, broken mirror, and walking under a ladder.
Each round begins with no card on the table. Friday the 13th cards may be played in any pile. There is no Friday the 13th pile:
Do not start a fourth pile for these cards. Play your card so that everybody can see the values of the cards previously played.Then announce the new total of all of the cards in that pile.
If the total does NOT exceed 13, it is then the next player's turn .
If the total EXCEEDS 13, you must pick up all the cards previously played in that pile and place them in a face -down stack in front of you. The card you just played remains in the middle of the table to restart the pile. It is then the next player's turn.
Example: Jules plays the Friday the 13th card (value of 4) on the black cat pile and announces the new total: "13".
Marielle plays the broken mirror 4, thereby exceeding the total of 13. She must pick up all the broken mirror cards previously played. Her "4" stays on the table to start the new broken mirror pile.
Scoring
The round ends when all of the cards in the players' hands have been played. Some cards will be left on the table in the piles.
Then the round is scored. Each player counts his cards in each of the three main types of bad luck omens: cats, mirrors, and ladders.
If a player has more cards of a type than any other player, he discards all of the cards of that type. If there is a tie, none of the players discard that type of card.
Each remaining omen card is worth one bad luck point; each Friday the 13th card is worth two.
It is NOT possible to discard Friday the 13th cards. The value of a card doesn't affect the bad luck points it score. Record the points for each player.
Then, begin a new round.
End of the Game
The game ends after the fourth round. The player with the fewest bad luck points wins.
Strategy Tips
At the beginning of a round , take a moment to analyze your hand: How many cards do you have of each type and what are their values?
Try to guess whether you can take majority in a type. Try to take the majority of a type of bad luck with as few cards as you can.
If you take all the black cat cards, nobody will score bad luck points from them.
Scoring example (with 3 players):
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