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How To Play
OBJECT OF THE GAME:
To obtain the highest number of points after playing the 8 hands of the
game. Points are obtained by taking EXACTLY the number of tricks you bid
in each hand.
HOW TO PLAY: Each
hand proceeds in the following order.
1. Shuffle
2. Deal
3. Bid
4. Play
5. Score
THE SHUFFLE: Shuffle
all the card thoroughly.
THE DEAL: Deal 8
cards to each player. Set aside the unused cards.
THE BID: The idea of
bidding is to decide on, and declare, the EXACT number of tricks you are
going to take during a hand. (A trick, all the cards played in a single
round, is taken by the player who plays the highest number card which
has the combination that has been led.)
Start with the player to the left of the dealer, and continue clockwise.
The dealer, who bids last, must bid a number that does not bring the
total number of tricks bid to 8 (the number of cards). The total must be
higher or lower than 8. Record the bids.
THE PLAY:The person
to the left of the dealer leads first. He/she plays a card from their
hand by calling one of the combinations on it. Everyone must follow, in
turn, by playing a card with that combination, if they have it. If they
don’t, they may play any card. The card with the highest points which
has the combination led takes the trick. If 2 (or more) cards of same
high point value are played, the card that was played last wins the
trick. The player who wins the trick leads the next round. The hand is
over after all eight cards are played.
SCORING: If a player
has taken EXACTLY the number of tricks he/she bid, then that player gets
a point for each trick taken. If you miss your bid, you don’t get the
points you bid; instead, you must subtract the number of tricks taken
over or under your bid by from your overall score. For example, if a
player bid 3 tricks and took 4, he/she would get –1 that hand. High
score wins at the end of the 8 hands.
AN EXAMPLE:
(To
give a quick ‘feel’ for how to play a hand of Xactika, we’ll play with
only 3 cards, instead of the normal 8 cards you will have in your hand.)
THE SHUFFLE & DEAL:
The players are Tim and Anne. After shuffling Tim deals 3 cards to each
player, & sets aside the unused cards. The cards they get are as
follows.
Tim’s hand has
Anne’s hand has
THE BID: Anne thinks
she can take 1 trick because she has a ‘10’, so she bids 1. Tim cannot
bid 2, as that would make the total tricks bid equal to 3 (the number of
cards), so he bids 1. The Bids are recorded.
THE PLAY: Anne bid
first so she decides to lead her 10, and calls the combination ‘2balls’.
Tim must play a card with 2 balls on it. He has to play his 10. Because
he played last, his 10 takes Anne’s 10.
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Anne
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Tim |
Having taken the trick it
is Tim’s lead. He leads his 6, calling ‘2 cubes’. Having no cards with 2
cubes on them, Anne is free to play any card she wants. She chooses to
play her 7. Tim takes the trick because Anne couldn’t play the
combination led by Tim.
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Tim
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Anne |
Tim has now taken 2 tricks,
and is over his bid. Tim then leads his 5 calling ‘2 stars’, and Anne
plays her 8 (with ‘2 stars’) winning the last trick in our example hand.
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Tim
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Anne |
SCORING:Tim bid 1
and took 2. Since he missed his bid by one, he gets -1. Anne also bid 1,
and made 1, so she gets 1 point this hand.
End of example.
SCORE KEEPING:We
have found it is easiest to keep score using the following chart.
Note:Place an * next to the first dealer, in case you need to
figure out whose turn it is to deal.
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,
cubes
,
cones
,
and stars
.
The cards range in value from 4 - 12 points. An example of the four
combinations on a card of value ‘9’ shows 3 balls, 2 cubes, 1 cone,
and 3 stars.
