Lockdown

For 2-8 players (4-6 for ideal)
Difficulty: 2/5

Starting the Game: Deal 4 cards to each person playing. Cards are then immediately locked, if applicable (see below). The dealer goes first.

Goal: Avoid getting 4 cards of the same value while trying to eliminate the opposition.

Gameplay: The game progresses in a series of turns. However, turns do not proceed clockwise around the table. In fact, there is no set pattern of turn order at all. Instead, the general rule is: the player who was just affected by an action is the next to go. When an action does not affect any player in particular, the active player chooses the next to go. A player may not choose himself.

Actions (choose 1)

1. Draw a card face-down
2. Give a card to any player from your mobile hand
3. Take a card from any player’s mobile hand
4. Force any player to draw one card, revealing the card to the table before putting it in his hand
5. Shuffle: Have each player count the cards in his mobile hand. Take all the cards in the mobile hands and shuffle them, dealing out the same number of cards to each player afterwards
6. Clear (see below)

Clear

• Aces and Jokers never lock or cause a player to lose.
• A pair of Aces or a single Joker allows a player to Clear, shuffling his mobile hand and locked hand into the deck and drawing a new hand of 4 cards
• Clearing does take up a player’s turn (it is not automatic), and after clearing the player decides which player will go next
• Used Clear Cards are not reshuffled into the deck (they are sent Outside the Game), and therefore the number of available Clear Cards goes down as the game progresses
• If a deck is missing Jokers, take out two Aces. Aces now act as Jokers (2s can replace Aces if desired)

Locking

• Whenever any player has 2 cards of the same value (two 3s, two Ks, etc.) in his mobile hand, he must immediately lock these cards by putting them together face-down on the table
• If a player receives the 3rd card, he must immediately put it down with the first 2 on the table, and flip the 3 cards face-up, revealing them to the entire table
• If a player receives the 4th card, he is immediately out of the game (see below)
• A player may have any number of pairs and triplets locked on the table at the same time
• Each locked set remains discrete on the table from the player’s other locked sets
• Locked cards may not be taken, given away, shuffled or otherwise moved from the player, except if the player initiates a Clear (see below)

The Rule of 3

• If a player has a triplet face-up on the table, whenever any other player has a chance to choose who goes next, that player must choose the player with the triplet (for example, if a player draws a card, he would normally choose the next player to act, but instead he must choose the player with the triplet)
• If two or more players have triplets, then the player may choose either player with a triplet
• For all other actions any player may be chosen as normal (for example, if a player chooses to give a card away, that player may or may not give it to the player with the triplet)

The No-Give-Backs Rule: In order to avoid endless loops of giving and receiving the exact same card, a player may not give away a card that he/she just got from the deck or another player. On that player’s second turn after getting the card, however, the player may give it away as normal. If the player really wants to get rid of a card he/she just got, he/she may still choose to Shuffle. Losing: A player is eliminated from the game when he/she receives a 4th card of the same value (four 10s, four Ks, etc.). Upon elimination, all the player’s cards are gathered, minus the 4 offending cards, and reshuffled into the deck. The 4 losing cards are sent Outside the Game as a reminder of the player’s loss. The player who causes the elimination immediately takes another turn.

Winning: A player wins by eliminating the last remaining opponent. Therefore the winner is the only one who is not eliminated.

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