Objective — Figure out which cards you have and accumulate fewer points than anyone else by replacing high cards for low ones, trading matching cards for a single card and swapping cards with your opponents.
To Start — Start each round by dealing everyone 4 cards face-down – this is your field (don't look at them yet!). Place the rest of the cards face-down for the draw pile and leave some space beside it for the discard pile. Without looking at any of the dealt cards, each player lays them face-down, side by side. The cards may be placed in any pattern or location as long as they are not on top of each other and their order and location must remain the same throughout the round. All players may then look at 2 of their cards only once after each deal. Remember these cards because you may not look at them again.
For the first round, roll a dice to decide who goes first. In the rounds that follow, the winner goes first, the loser shuffles and deals. In the case of a winning tie, the person with the lowest overall score goes first and in the case of a losing tie, the player with the highest overall score shuffles and deals.
To Play — Taking turns in a clockwise direction; each player must take the following actions:
1. Pick up the top card from the draw pile, look at it, and decide if you would like to keep it or discard it. If you decide to keep it, replace, face-down, one of your own cards; putting the replaced card into the discard pile.
2. If you decide to discard the picked-up card, place it face-up in the discard pile. If it is a special card, carry out its ability.
3. Optional – Call Pablo (see below).
If the draw pile runs out of cards, reshuffle the discard pile and place it face-down as the new draw pile.
Matching Cards — 2-of-a-kind matches may be played from your field to the discard pile if the number is identical to the current top card of the discard pile. Only one card may be used to match the discarded card (the faster one gets to discard!). A player may discard another player’s matching card and then replace the discarded card with one of their own. If an incorrect match is made, the attempted card must be shown to the rest of the players then put back to their original places – the player who attempted the incorrect match then has to pick up an extra card (the player can view the drawn card).
Example I: If you have a 5 in your field and draw another 5, you may place the drawn 5 into the discard pile and also get rid of the 5 from your field. Alternatively, if you know an opponent has a 5 and a 5 has been played, you may pick up the opponent’s 5, placing it in the discard pile. After doing so, you may give one of the cards in your field to the opponent whose card you discarded.
Example II: If you incorrectly match a 5 that is on the top of the discard pile, show the incorrect match to everyone and return the card face-down back to its original position. You then draw another card from the draw pile, look at it, and place it face-down on your field. As an incorrect match has been made, the 5 can still be matched by a second attempt or by another player.
Special cards
Peek (10) — Look at one of your own cards;
Spy (J) — Look at one of another player's cards (make sure no one else sees what it is);
Swap (Q) — Swap one of your own cards with one of another's (but no peeking! Neither the swapper nor the swappee may look at either of the swapped cards). A swap must be made;
Special Swap (K) — Swap one of your own cards with one of another's (you may look at one of another player's cards before deciding to swap).
Special cards may be used for their points or for their action. However, the action may be used only when the special card is drawn and discarded in the same turn. When creating matches with Special cards, the matching card does not have any special abilities.
Calling Pablo — When a player believes he or she has fewer points than anyone else at the table, that player may call Pablo at the end of his/her turn. A player may not call Pablo out of turn. Once Pablo is called, all of the players other than the one who called Pablo each play one more turn. Matching and special cards can still be used normally, however, the person calling Pablo is protected from any swapping abilities (the person who called Pablo can still match cards).
Score — After Pablo has been called and everyone has played their last turn, flip over everyone’s cards and add up the points of the cards in each player's field. The player with the lowest score wins the round. Everyone receives the points in their hand. If the player who called Pablo does not have the lowest score, he or she receives 10 penalty points on top of their score. In the event of a tie, the player who called Pablo receives 5 penalty points on top of their score.
The points of each card are equal to the value seen on the card (2 is worth 2 points, 10 is worth 10 points) with picture cards (Jack, Queen, King) being worth 10 points. However, there are a few exceptions – Aces are worth -1points and the Red Kings (King of Hearts and King of Diamonds) are worth 0 points.
Ending the Game — Once a player exceeds 50 points, the player with the lowest score wins. However, if a player scores exactly 50 points, that player's score gets reset to 0! (If you are about to lose, you can try to total your score to exactly 50 in order to reset – but don’t forget to take into account any penalty scores!)
Advanced Rules:
Last Modified by: Pran Phakdeekitcharoen 24/06/2018