Regicide

What You Need

• A standard 52-card deck. No Jokers for two players.

Setup

1. Pull out the 12 face cards. Shuffle the 4 Kings face down into a pile. Shuffle the 4 Queens and put them on top. Shuffle the 4 Jacks and put them on top of those. This is the Castle deck.
2. Flip the top card of the Castle deck face up. That Jack is the current enemy.
3. Shuffle the 40 cards left, 2 through 10 plus the 4 Aces. This is the Tavern deck.
4. Deal 7 cards to each player. 7 is the hand limit for two players.
5. Leave space for a shared discard pile. Either player may go first.

Enemies

• Jack: 20 health, attacks for 10
• Queen: 30 health, attacks for 15
• King: 40 health, attacks for 20

How a Turn Works

1. Play one card face up in front of you, or yield. The number on the card is its attack value. Aces count 1.
2. Resolve the suit power. Powers are mandatory.
3. Deal damage equal to the attack value. Add it to all damage already dealt to this enemy. If the total reaches the enemy's health, the enemy is defeated.
4. If the enemy survives, it hits you. Discard cards from your hand with a total value at least equal to its attack. If you cannot reach the number, you lose. An empty hand after paying is fine. Then your partner's turn begins.

Suit Powers

• Hearts, heal. Shuffle the discard pile, count out cards face down equal to the attack value, and slide them under the Tavern deck unseen. The rest go back face up.
• Diamonds, draw. You draw one card, then your partner, alternating until the cards drawn equal the attack value. A player holding 7 is skipped. An empty Tavern deck ends the draw with no penalty.
• Clubs, double damage. An 8 of Clubs deals 16.
• Spades, shield. Reduce this enemy's attack by the value played. Spades stack across both players and last until the enemy falls.

Each enemy is immune to the power of its own suit. A Diamond against the Jack of Diamonds still deals damage, but nobody draws.

Defeating an Enemy

1. Put the enemy in the discard pile. If the damage total hit its health exactly, put it face down on top of the Tavern deck instead. You may draw it later. In hand a Jack counts 10, a Queen 15, a King 20, with its suit power.
2. Move every card played against that enemy to the discard.
3. Flip the next Castle card.
4. The player who landed the killing blow skips step 4 and starts a fresh turn against the new enemy right away.

Combos and Companions

• You may play 2, 3 or 4 cards of the same number together if they total 10 or less. Every suit power in the set fires at the combined value.
• An Ace, called an Animal Companion, can be played alone or paired with any one other card, including another Ace, but never in a same-number combo. It adds 1 and its suit power fires at the pair's full value. A same-suit pair fires its power once. An 8 of Diamonds plus the Ace of Clubs draws 9 cards and deals 18 damage.
• When Hearts and Diamonds fire together, heal first, then draw.

Yielding

Say "yield" and skip straight to step 4. You may not yield if your partner yielded on their last turn.

Winning

Defeat all 12 enemies, ending with the fourth King, and you both win. You both lose if either player cannot pay an enemy's attack, or cannot play a card or yield on their turn.

Two-Player Notes

Two players use no Jesters and a hand size of 7. Do not tell or hint what is in your hand. "I have two cards left" is fine. Hinting at suits is not.

Strategy Tips

• Aim for exact kills. A recycled Jack of Clubs is a 20-damage card.
• Spend Spades early against Kings. A 20-point attack empties a 7-card hand fast.