RenfieldRules.pdf

Blaze:

The object of Blaze is to take the most bugs .

Players ante one dollar to begin. The bidding goes

around the table multiple times, until everyone

passes. (You can’t pass and then come back in.)

You are not bidding in dollars, but in bugs.

Whoever bids the highest arranges the Key Cards

and leads the first trick. Play six tricks as usual.

Winning: If the bidder makes his bid in

bugs, he wins the pot. If he does not, he must

match the pot, (or pay some other established

penalty) and the game restarts. If a player folds, he

stays out until someone wins the pot.

About Cheapass Games:

RENFIELD

We here at Cheapass Games are aware of two

basic facts about games: they cost too much, and

they are, at some level, all the same.

If you ignore the clever shapes they come in, the

cheap little plastic pawns are an interchangeable part

of most of the board games in your house. So are the

dice, the money, the counters, and just about every

disposable spare part. These parts can account for as

much as 75% of a game’s production cost, and that

cost gets handed to you.

If you had your choice, you’d probably invest a

little bit of money in one good set of gaming para-

phernalia instead of twenty crappy ones, and then just

buy the new part of every “new” game. Yet most game

companies insist on selling you the whole package

every time; it’s a little like bundling a can opener with

every can of beans.

Cheapass Games come packaged with the bare

essentials: boards, cards, and rulebooks. If you need

anything else, we’ll tell you. And it’s probably some-

thing that you can scrounge from a game you already

have, or buy cheap at a hobby store. Heck, if you

need to, you can even buy the parts from us.

And once you’ve got a collection of pawns, dice,

counters, and money, you can use the same ones for

every Cheapass Game. We’ve standardized our

designs so your gaming toolbox will last.

To learn more about Cheapass Games, visit our

double-secret Website at www.cheapass.com .

A Cheapass Card Game for 4-7 players

Mmmm. Bugs. You can’t eat just one.

on the cards. You have to eat at least one bug (take

at least one point) to win the game, but among the

people who take bugs, the one who takes the least

bugs wins.

Okay, eating bugs is not the real object of the

game. The point is actually to soak the other

gravediggers for their pocket change. Eating bugs

is just the fun part.

Buying the Trick:

In this variant, you can fold with no points. To do

so, wait until your chance to play a card, and then

pay the pot for every card currently in the trick. It’s

usually cheaper than taking the whole trick.

Welcome to the wonderful world of

Renfield, where gravediggers and other

miscreants spend their spare time playing a

brutal game of cards.

During the week, these grisly fellows

make their living digging up the freshly

dead, and pawning off their ill-gotten bits

to the body shops and boneyards of Parts

Unknown. So you can only imagine the

kind of game these guys play to unwind.

Game designed by James Ernest and E. Jordan

Bojar , with help from Paul Peterson and Toivo

Rovainen . Illustrated by Michael O’Connor.

Thanks also to a sly cadre of villainous Guinea Pigs.

The Format: Renfield is a trick-taking game.

Each hand is played in six rounds, or “tricks,” in

which each active player plays one card onto the

table, and the highest card takes the set. The play-

er who takes one trick leads the next one, and so

on for six tricks.

Renfield is also a gambling game, sort of

like Poker, in which everyone has his own stake,

and money is played into a pot in the center of the

table. Like Poker, it has developed a family of

variants which are listed at the back of this rule-

book. (You’ll also find one of our favorite Poker

variants there, Frankenstein .) The variants are

all written as extensions of the core rules, so learn

the basic game before moving on to the rest.

Like Poker, this game plays best with 4, 5, or

6 players, though it is possible to play with as few

as 3 or as many as 8. Expect a good deal of chaos

in the larger games, and a lot more order in the

smaller ones.

Well, you don’t have to imagine any more.

Bonus Poker Game: Frankenstein

Folding: It is only legal to fold when the bet

comes to you. You cannot fold after your last

chance to bet, call, or raise. This prevents some-

one from looking at the Zombie’s cards, and

then folding because he can’t beat them.

Once you fold, you’re out for good.

This vicious little Poker game has been floating

around the Cheapass offices since long before

they were the Cheapass offices. Since it’s so

remarkably appropriate, we thought we’d throw

it into the Renfield rules at no extra charge. (It

plays with a standard Poker deck.)

What you Get: The Renfield Deck, 54 cards in

three suits. Plus this fine rulebook.

What you Need: Money. Renfield is a gambling

game. If you aren’t playing for real money, start

each player with $100 in chips, and compare

scores at the end. If you come out with more than

you started with, you’re doing well.

Rotating Open: For the sake of fairness, the

role of first bet and first draw moves one player

to the left with each new deal. This still isn’t per-

fectly fair, but it helps. For more “fairness” you

can start the rotating open at a random player,

rather than to the dealer’s left.

Frankenstein is basic five-card draw with one

major change, a Zombie hand . The Zombie

hand is built from the discarded cards (but not

the folded hands) and is allowed to make its best

five-card hand in the

showdown.

If the Zombie beats

the high hand, then the

would-be winner must

match the pot , and

the game is re-dealt.

The Goal: The object of this game is to take the

fewest points, as long as you take at least one. The

points are represented as yummy delicious bugs

Strategy: You will probably be throwing your

best cards into the Zombie and trying not to have

the best hand, until so many people fold that you

have a chance to beat the monster. Basically, this

is a game of lowball that mysteriously changes

into straight poker somewhere in the middle. It’s

up to you to decide exactly when that will be.

The Cards: Each card has four important details

down the side. A Rank (1 through 17); a Suit

(Tools, Parts, or Stones); Bugs (i.e., points, zero

through six); and a Dollar Cost (zero through

five dollars).

Rank determines the highest card within a

particular Suit . The order of the Suits is set by

Cheapass Economic Fact:

As with automobiles, baseball

cards, and precious stones, it’s

less profitable to sell a whole

dead body than to break it up for

parts. Don’t believe us? Get the

sister game, Parts Unknown !

the high bidder at the start of each hand, and is

represented by the arrangement of the Key Cards

(the zeroes of each suit, which do not shuffle into

the deck.) The Bugs represent how many points

the card is worth towards your score, and the

Dollar Cost is the amount you must pay the pot

when you take the card. ( Not when you play it.)

Doublers: Some of the cards, 2’s and 12’s,

are doublers . The “D” in the dollar slot doubles

the money you must pay to take the trick contain-

ing that card. “Double” on the bug line doubles

your score for the entire hand .

Note: The PDF version of Renfield is the only

one to sport “Double” on the 12s. This was left out

by a printing error in the original paper version.

this trick, you must play a Stone if you have one. If

not, you can play whichever other suit you want.

There is no other “following” rule; you can

play higher or lower than the lead, and you can

play anything you want if you are out of the suit

that was led.

Folding: Once you have taken at least one

bug, you may fold instead of playing a card. If

you fold, turn over the cards you have collected,

and lay down your hand. You are now out of the

hand, and cannot win. Note: you can only fold at

a time when you would play a card. If you take a

trick, you must pay for the cards you’ve taken

before you have the opportunity to fold.

Variations:

Breathing Room:

Max six players. Players are

dealt eight cards, of which

they will play only six.

Once you have the hang of basic Renfield, you’ll

probably want to try some variations. You might

settle on a favorite house variant, or let the dealer

call a new game with each hand. Most of these

options can be combined to form more complex

variants; and don’t be afraid to make up your own.

Wild Cards:

Before dealing, the dealer declares one or more

cards to be wild. Wild cards may be played as any

suit or rank, but revert to their actual value once

taken. In other words, play these cards as if they

were wild, determine who takes the trick based on

the wild value, and then pay for and score them as

their face value.

Stud:

Seven players max. Players get seven cards, of

which they will play only six. Deal three cards

facedown, and four faceup. After the cards are

dealt, play proceeds as normal, with players able

to play either upcards or downcards as they wish.

The Death Card:

If your deck came with a black-faced card, you

can use it as the Death Card. Otherwise, you can

use any other card. Any trick including the Death

Card is not taken by anyone, and those cards are

removed from the game. The lead goes to the play-

er who would have otherwise taken the trick.

The Death Card has no suit, and cannot be

played unless its owner has no cards matching the

lead. (Option: the Death Card has all suits, and

can be played as a follow to any suit.) In either

case, the Death card can never be led, and if it is

a player’s last card, he must fold (points or not)

rather then lead the trick with it. This is actually

good, if you need to get out of the game for free.

Taking the Trick: If you played the highest card

on the trick, you take it. The “highest” card means

the highest ranked card of the highest suit, as dic-

tated by the order of the Key Cards.

Pay the pot for all the cards in this trick. (A

“D” in the dollar slot doubles the price of the

trick.) Arrange the cards on the table in front of

you, so that other players can see how many bugs

you have, and which cards have been played.

Whoever takes one trick leads the next one,

and so on. If a player folds instead of leading, the

lead passes to the left.

To Begin: Remove the three Key Cards , the

zeroes of each suit, and put them in the middle of

the table. These are the indicator cards for their

respective suits, and they will be arranged on the

table to show the hierarchy of suits on this hand.

Choose a dealer , who shuffles the deck and

deals a hand of six cards to each player. Set the

rest of the deck aside.

After each hand, the deal will pass to the left.

Draw:

After the deal, there is a betting

round as in Poker, in which

players may check, bet, call,

raise, or fold. Then there is a

drawing round, in which players

first discard up to four cards,

and then all discards are reshuf-

fled into the deck, and the play-

ers’ hands are refilled to six

cards. The normal game then

resumes at the bidding round.

The Bidding Round: Before playing the hand,

players bid to determine who will order the suits

and lead the first trick.

Starting to the dealer’s left, each player must

make a bid in dollars, or pass. The bid goes

around the table just once, ending with the Dealer.

Players must bid higher than the standing bid. If

no one bids, the Dealer must take the lead for $5.

Whoever makes the largest bid puts her bid

in the pot , and arranges the Key Cards so that

her choice for the highest suit is on the top , and

the lowest on the bottom. Every card in one suit

outranks every card in the suit(s) below it.

Winning: After all six tricks have been played,

players who have not folded compare their scores.

Whoever has the smallest number of bugs, but at

least one, wins the pot. Note: It is possible to take

a trick and still have no bugs!

If two or more players are tied, they split the

pot and leave the odd coins for the next game.

After each hand, the deal passes to the left.

Auction:

Seven players max. After the deal, players buy dif-

ferent cards as follows: deal seven cards into a

facedown pack. Reveal the top card. Players bid in

an open auction to buy the card. Players must bid

in dollar increments, with a maximum bid of ten

dollars, which buys any card outright. The player

who buys the card pays the pot, and adds it to his

hand. He then puts another card from his hand up

for auction in the same manner, but splits the

proceeds of this auction with the pot, with any

odd dollar going to the pot. (Mean players tend to

bid in odd numbers in this stage.)

If a card is not bought, it is discarded and the

next card is revealed from the pack. Once the

pack is exhausted, the game resumes with the nor-

mal bidding round.

Flatline:

There are no Key Cards. Players bid only to lead

the first trick, with the Dealer taking an unbid lead

for only $2. Players must still follow suit, but all

suits are considered to be of equal value. Cards

are compared on the basis of rank only, with

recent cards ranking above previous cards of the

same rank on the same trick. In other words, if

two 15’s are played on the same trick, the second

15 is higher.

It is possible to shuffle the zeroes into the

deck for Flatline. In this variant, if a Zero is led,

that suit is high for that trick.

Playing Each Trick: The Leader (on the first

trick, this is the player who won the bid) plays a

card onto the table. Proceeding to her left, every

player must play one card.

Following Suit: If a particular suit was led,

players must play a card of the same suit if possi-

ble. So, for example, if a Stone was played first on

To ols

Arranging the Key Cards (Parts is high here.)

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: