The richest farmers are looking forward to harvesting the biggest potatoes. But POTATO MAN gets the small spuds into the best potato sacks.
In this trick-taking game, the player who will be successful in the end is not necessarily the player who has taken the most tricks with his potatoes or has the most powerful cards in his hand.
Instead, you have to use cultivated cunning to turn your harvest into potato sacks filled with high-quality potatoes...
Components
- 14 red potato cards
- 13 blue potato cards
- 12 green potato cards
- 13 yellow potato cards
- 15 sack cards in 5 colors
- 3 neutral sack cards
- Instructions
Setup
Shuffle the potato cards thoroughly and deal them out according to the number of players:
- 2 players: Each player gets 12 potato cards in his hand and forms a draw pile of 8 additional face-down cards in front of him.
- 3-4 players: Each player gets 12 potato cards in his hand.
- 5 players: Each player gets 10 potato cards in his hand.
The remaining potato cards are put aside unseen.
Lay out the 15 sack cards face up, sorted by color, so that the number of cards can be clearly seen. In addition, you need pencil and paper to note down the results.
Game Play
The youngest player begins. He plays any potato card he wants from his hand, face up.
The other players follow in clockwise order until each of them has played one card. These cards form a trick. The following rule applies for playing the cards:
Each color may occur only once within a trick!
That means that each player must play a different color in a trick.
Rule variations in the 2- or 5-player game
2 players: In the 2-player game, a trick consists of 4 potato cards (and 4 colors); both players alternate, playing one card each (see example 2). After each card played, the player draws another card from his draw pile.
5 players: In a trick, just one color may be played twice. But all 4 colors must be represented in the trick (see example 1). Players may not play 2 cards with Potato Man in the same trick.
If a player is unable to play a potato card, the round ends immediately (see Example 3).
Taking a Trick
The player who has played the highest number in the trick wins it.
If two players lay out the same highest number in a trick, the card that was played later wins.
But: A trick that contains Evil Potato as well as Potato Man is always won by Potato Man. This applies regardless of what other cards are part of the trick.
Sack Cards
The player who takes the trick receives one sack card in the color he won the trick with.
In case there is no sack card left in the appropriate color, the winner of the trick may take one of the golden sack cards worth 5.
If there are not even any golden sack cards left, the player goes away empty-handed.
Example 1: In a 5-player game, the following trick can be played:
Thomas wins the trick since he has played his blue 16 after Christina's red 16. Thomas receives a blue sack card.
The winner of a trick does not take the cards played but puts them on a discard pile, along with the cards that had not been distributed in the beginning of the round. After that, he plays the first card of the next trick.
No suitable potato card - end of a round
If a player can no longer play a suitable potato card, he shows his hand cards and the round ends immediately. No sack card is given for this incomplete trick. All cards of this trick are put on the discard pile.
Example 3: Thomas, Christina, Lisa and Martin play a 4-player game.
Otherwise, a round ends at the latest when the players have played all their potato cards.
Players count the potato sacks they have collected and note down the totals.
For the next round, all 52 potato cards are shuffled and dealt out as in the beginning. All sack cards are laid out anew. The player to the left of the previous starting player begins with the first card of the new trick.
End of the Game
Players play the same number of rounds as there are players. After each has been starting player once, the game ends.
The player who was able to collect the most potato sacks overall is the winner.
In case of a tie, the player who got the highest total of potato sacks in a single round wins.
Possible Variant for 3 Players
For the 3-player game, there is another exciting game variant: All 12 green potato cards and the 3 green sack cards are removed from the game.
Now, each trick must contain all three remaining colors (yellow, blue and red). Apart from this, the game follows the normal rules for 3 or 4 players.
Continue Reading
