Deal everyone 3 cards. Pick anyone to be Smackhead ( = start player).
The game ends as soon as somebody is out of (hand) cards. The number of cards you won is your score: highest score wins!
Gameplay happens in rounds. There are no turns: everyone plays at the same time.
- All players pick a secret card from their hand.
- Once done, reveal all cards simultaneously.
Now everyone quickly studies what has been played and taps a card. Once you tapped something, you can’t change anymore.
The first player to tap the winning card, wins this round.
How do you find the “winning card”?
- Every card has a shape ranking at the top. The one on the Smackhead’s card is true for this round.
- The winning card is the one with the earliest shape in that ranking.
- If multiple cards have that shape, the one with the highest number of them wins.
The winning player collects all cards played and places them facedown in their “score pile”. They become the new Smackhead.
Played the base game and ready for more? Or looking to tweak the game to fit your playing group better? Check out these variants and expansions!
This game has no official variants.
You probably noticed that cards have colors too. These become important now.
Firstly, this expansion adds a new rule.
If all cards in the round have the same color, the round “inverts”: you must tap the last shape in the ranking, and the lowest number of it.
Secondly, this expansion adds special cards. They have a written action on them that is true for this round.
This can lead to multiple winning cards. This is fine! Every player who was the first to tap a winning card, is a winner that round. Distribute the cards fairly over all winners, discard any leftovers.
It can also lead to no winning cards. In that case, you win if you’re the first to slap empty space in the center of the table and yell: “Nothing to smack!”
