Once upon a time, a sinister iguana stole fire and fled with it high into the mountains, under the very sky... and only a brave possum volunteered to return the stolen thing, ran to the iguana`s cave, set fire to its tail and quickly ran to its lair! This is a fast-paced card game with bets based on an old fairy tale, in which you will try to bring as many embers as possible to the hearth of your possum family. But beware, because if you are not careful, your opponents can steal what you have already won.
Clever Fire Thieves
In addition to the basic rules, this board game also offers players a game mode with the Rogue, which will diversify the bets for games of two or three. None of the participants will play as the Rogue, but he can still steal cards from other players and prevent them from getting closer to victory.
But before we get to know the Rogue better, let`s look at the basic rules of the game.
Preparation for the game
- Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding deck. The decks contain possum cards, a den card, and a hearth card.
- All participants lay out a hearth card of their color face up in front of them and place one possum card on it so that the fire symbol on the hearth card looks out from under the possum card. This cannot be a joker card with a value of "+1", and all the initial hearth cards on the table must be of different denominations. If the players have revealed cards with the same denomination, one of them must be replaced.
- The remaining cards from the players` decks will form their starting hand.
- Shuffle the iguana deck and place it in the center of the table face-down.
- You can begin!
Game progress
The game will continue until the iguana deck runs out. Then the players count the fire symbols on the obtained hearth cards. The player with the most fire symbols is declared the winner.
Each round has several stages.
- Player selection of cards. At the beginning of the round, take all the cards under the lair card and all the prepared cards into your hand. The pile of used cards can only be added to your hand in the next round. Choose from the cards in your hand three possums with the most suitable values for success. These three brave men remain in your hand. Place the rest of the cards under the den card in front of you.
- Hunting. The initial bet is determined by the top card in the iguana deck. The iguana card determines the lowest value of the first bet, so, for example, "4+" means that the next bet must be a bet with a value of 4 or higher. The player who won the previous round goes first, or the oldest player if this is the first round. On their turn, participants can make a bet - play a card from their hand face up into the discard pile that is at least 1 higher than the previous bet. If there is no bet, or the player does not wish to do so, they can pass. If the round does not end and the turn returns to you, you can play the card again.
- Winning the round.If your bet was last and the turn comes back to you, you gain fire for your possum family! Take the top card from the iguana deck, place it in front of you, and cover it with the possum that won you the victory. If there are any other players in front of you with fires covered by possums with the same value as your victorious daredevil, you steal the fire cards from under them! Yes, even the starting fire card! Place the stolen cards under the card you won in this round so that their fire symbols are also visible.
- Preparing for the next round. If the iguana deck is not finished yet, all participants take their den and possum piles, from under which the hearth cards were stolen, and the used cards from the previous round that are ready for play. After that, sort the discard pile by color and form separate piles of used player cards from them.
Playing with the Rogue
The Rogue is a non-player character. Just like in role-playing games! He will prevent the other players from winning, but he cannot win the game himself, even if he is able to win the round.
- At the beginning of the game, take a black deck of cards and return the den and hearth cards from it to the box. Shuffle the remaining cards and form the Rogue deck from them.
- Each round, the first player will make moves for the Rogue. The Rogue can bet from cards in his reserve. At the start of the round, the Rogue has no cards in his reserve, so place the top card from his deck in it.
- If the top card in the Rogue`s reserve meets the bet requirements, place it in the discard pile. Otherwise, reveal the top card from his deck in the Rogue`s reserve.
- If the Rogue wins the round, the hearth card he won and any cards he might steal are returned to the box and are no longer used in the game.
- At the end of the round, all cards from the discard pile and reserve are returned to the Rogue`s deck.
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