Components
- 160 Cards:
- 4 decks each of 40 cards in 4 colors
- Rulebook
Object of the Game
Get rid of the cards in your Ligretto Stack before your opponents by quickly placing cards of the same color in numerical order on the piles in the center of the table!
Setup
Sort the cards into 4 decks of 40 cards determined by the pattern on the back of the cards (spheres, pyramids, cubes and crystals).
Give each player a deck of 40 cards. Each player should note the pattern and color on the backof their deck, which remains their deck for the entire game. Players shuffle their decks.
Players then deal out their own deck in the following fashion:
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Ligretto Stack: Players deal 10 cards face down into a stack in front of themselves and then turn the stack over to reveal the numbers.
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Row: Players deal another three cards in a Row to the right of the Ligretto Stack, with the numbers face up. If there are only two players, players deal five cards into the Row. With three players, players deal four cards into the Row.
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Hand: Each player keeps the rest of the cards in their hand with the pattern face up.
Game Play
The game play of Ligretto is simultaneous. In other words, there are no player turns. Players play cards to the table as fast as they can and at the same time.
One player shouts",Ligretto!"to begin the round. Players then begin playing cards from their Row or their Hand, creating Piles in the middle of the table.
Each Pile must begin with a 1 card and continue in numerical order until the Pile has 10 cards of the same color. The card play follows these simple rules:
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A new Pile must be started with a 1 card. The 1 card must be played from either a player's Row or from their Hand.
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Once there are card Piles started in the middle of the table, players may play any legal card, as along as it is the next highest card in numerical order and of the same color as the rest of the cards in that Pile.
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If a player has no 1 cards in their Row or no legal cards they are able to play, they must deal three cards from the top of their Hand and turn those cards over, revealing only the top-most card, face up.
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If the card revealed from the Hand is not playable, a player must continue to deal three cards, revealing only the top card, from their Hand until a legal card is playable.
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Whenever a player plays a card from their Row,that space is filled immediately by placing the top card from that player's Ligretto Stack into the Row, replacing the card just played.
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Once a card Pile is completed, with a 10 card being played on top, no more cards may be played on that Pile.
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Any player may play their cards to any Pile regardless of who started the card Pile, as long as the card is a legal play.
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If a player had dealt all the cards from their Hand they must turn the deck over and begin dealing again from the top.
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If at any time, no cards can be played from any player's Hand, Row or Ligretto Stack, the game is paused. All players may quickly shuffle their Hand, shout, "Ligretto!"and restart the round.
End of the Round
As soon as a player has no more cards left in their Ligretto Stack, they shout, "Ligretto stop!" No more cards may be placed on Piles at this time, and the round ends.
Scoring
As soon as a round ends, players' Rows and Hands are set aside, but their Ligretto Stacks must be left in place.
All the cards in the Piles in the middle of the table are then sorted into their respective decks, according to the patterns on the back of the cards.
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Each player receives 1 point for each card they played to the middle of the table, regardless of the number on each of those cards.
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Then,for each card left in their Ligretto Stack, players must subtract 2 points from this total. The cards in the Row and Hand are not included in the score.
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All players'scores are tallied for that round. Players collect and shuffle their 40-card decks, dealing out the Ligretto Stack and Row as specified above. Then a new round begins.
End of the Game
The first player to reach 99 points is the winner.
If more than one player scores 99 points in the same round, the player with the highest total score wins.
Advanced Variant Play
Additional cards may be placed on the Row from the Ligretto Stack and the Hand but only in decreasing order.
For instance, an 8 may be placed on a 9 or a 4 on a 5. Contrary to the cards in the middle, alternate cards on the Row must be differently colored. For example, a green 9 may be placed on a yellow 10, but not a blue 5 on a blue 6.
Note: be careful not to place too many cards in the row otherwise you might not be able to fill the gaps in the row with cards from the ligretto stack.
Expand your Game
Each boxed set of Ligretto contains enough card decks for 2-4 players. For some real Ligretto mayhem, combine all three boxed sets from Playroom Entertainment for a total of 12 Ligretto players!
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