Chimera-Rulescompressed.Pdf
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OBJECT OF THE GAME Chimera is a 3-player card game of two against one. It is similar to climbing and shedding based card games like Tichu, The Great Dalmuti, Big Two and Beat the Landlord. Each hand one player is designated Chimera and the other two players team up as the Chimera Hunters to defeat the Chimera. Players compete for points in several hands of play and the winner is the player who scores the most points once the designated Score Limit is reached by one or more players. Chimera is normally played to 400 points although longer or shorter games may be played. COMPONENTS The game is played with a 54-card deck: • 4 cards each of ranks 1 through 12 (although suits are included, they have no effect on game play) 8 of these cards are Treasure cards and provide points 2 2 to the player who takes them in a trick. • 4 Rank 2 “Fortune Toads” worth +10 points each. 11 11 2 • 4 Rank 11 “Prosperity Cats” worth +5 points each. 2 11 • 4 Heroes, which rank higher than the cards ranked 1 11 through 12, but have no numerical value and so cannot H H be used in playing straigths, or ranked sequences (except as added cards). H • 1 Pi Ya card (P), which outranks all other single cards P H P except the Chimera and can optionally be used to substitute for any ranked card 1-12 to assist in making a P straight. For example, 8-9-10-Pi Ya-12. P • 1 Chimera card, which outranks all single cards. PREPARATION AND THE DEAL Any player may deal each hand. The dealer shuffles the cards and presents them to another player to cut near the middle of the deck. After the cut, the dealer takes the top card from the bottom half of the cut and places it face up on the top half of the cut. The dealer then completes the cut by placing the bottom half of the deck on top of face-up card and deals the hand. Deal the first three cards face down in the middle of the table, this is called the Chimera’s Den. Then, deal out the remaining cards to the players (17 cards to each player). THE BID The player who receives the face-up card starts the Bid. • In clockwise order, players may pass or bid. • Legal Bids are: Pass, 20, 30 or 40. 2 2 The bidding can start at any of these bid options. • For example, a player may want to preemptively bid 40, the maximum, to shut other players out and automatically win the 2 2 Bid. Each Bid must be higher than the last Bid. Players may re-enter the bidding after passing. • Bidding continues until a player bids 40; or, there are two consecutive passes after a Bid. If all players pass without any bid, then the hand is thrown in: shuffle and deal again. On the re-deal, if all 3 players pass again, the player with the the face-up card automatically bids 20. Other players are free to bid as in a normal bidding. Legal CARD Combinations See the complete description of each combination at the end of the rules. 11 11 Single Card 8 8 8 8 11 Pair 11 8 888 8 8 98 98 910 109 10 10 8 8 8 Sequence8 of at least three pairs 10 10 9 9 8 888 99 2 2 22 2 2 1010 9 9 9 10 9 10 10 10 8 8 8 Triplet 8 1 1 1 1 21 21 22 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Sequence2 of at least two sets of triplets 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 6 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 Triplet with an attached card 1 1 1 6 1 1 1 1 6 9 9 99 9 9 H H H H 1 1 1 1 1 6 6 Triplet with an attached pair 1 9 9 999 1 1 1 61 1 1 262 2 212 2 2 12 9 9 9 9 9 9 H H H Sequence of triplets with attached card each H 12 1 1 6 1 1 11 6 12 6 6 6 610 610 6 710 7107 7H 7H 7 H H 12 12 1 1 1 6 1 1 2 6 2 2 2 2 2 Sequence of triplets with attached pair each 1 7 7 7 10 10 6 6 6666 1010 777 1 2 3 14 25 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 10 10 10 10 H H H Straight (Five or more cards in sequence) H 3 4 5 1 31 45 ... 7 7 77 77 72 710 2 10 1 2 1 4 2 5 3 4 5 Quad with two single attached cards 3 7 7 7 7 7777 10 10 7 7 77 77 7H 7H 9 H9 H 9 9 2 2 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 10 Quad with two attached pairs 10 7 7 7 7 9 7777 999 9 9 99 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 7 7 7 7 H H 7 7 7 7 H Trap (Four of a kind) H 9 9 9 999 9 P P 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 Chimera Flight 9 P P PREPARATION OF THE HAND The winner of the bid becomes Chimera. The Chimera picks up the Chimera’s Den of 3 cards and adds them to his hand, bringing his total card count to 20. The Chimera does not discard or pass any cards! The other two players will now play as a team, the Hunters, against the Chimera. Based on the winning bid, the Hunters secretly and simultaneously exchange 0, 1 or 2 cards following this: • If the Bid is 20, the Hunters do not exchange cards. • If the Bid is 30, the Hunters must exchange 1 card. • If the Bid is 40, the Hunters must exchange 2 cards. PLAY OF THE HAND Players are attempting to play out all of their cards in their hand first. The Chimera begins the round of play for the hand by playing one or more cards to the table corresponding to one of the H H 14 possible card combinations described previously. This is called leading the trick. In clockwise order, players may either play to the trick or pass. H H Subsequent plays to the trick must match the combination led and must be higher in rank. •For example if a 3 is led, the only legal play is a single card higher than 3. If pairs are led, the only legal play is higher ranked pairs, and so on. Players may also choose to play a TRAP or a Chimera Flight instead of the led combination. •If a Trap is played, now only a Trap of a higher rank or a Chimera Flight can be played. •A Chimera Flight is the highest possible play in a trick. Note: Traps and Chimera Flights cannot be played out of turn! Players may pass even if they have a legal play and players who pass may re-enter play unless the trick is won before their next opportunity. Play continues until two consecutive players pass. The player who played the last cards to the trick wins all the played cards and places them into a face-down pile in front of him. This pile is called his Tricks. The player then leads the next trick for the hand. Any Treasure cards (Fortune Toads & Prosperity Cats) taken will be scored at the end of the hand. The hand is over as soon as one player has played all his cards. This player takes all the cards played to the last trick and the hand is scored. Any cards remaining in other players’ hands are not counted and placed aside. SCORING THE HAND The score is calculated based on the Bid and who played all of their cards first, the Chimera or one of the Hunters. Then all players score their Tricks. Each player has a separate score. IF THE CHIMERA played OUT ALL HIS cards first: The Chimera scores double the amount of the Bid (40, 60 or 80). The Chimera scores an additional 25 points for each Bonus. BONUSES: Each of the following instances counts as a Bonus of 25 points: •A Bonus is applied for each Trap played. Note: Quad with attached single cards or pairs are NOT Traps! •A Bonus is applied if a Chimera Flight is played. •A Bonus is applied if either one or both of the Hunters did not play any cards. IF EITHER OF THE HUNTERS played ALL OF THEIR cards first: •The Chimera loses points equal to the amount of his bid (-20, -30 or -40). It is possible to get below 0. •The Chimera does not score any Bonus. •Each Hunter scores 20 points. ALL Players Score: TREASURES: All players score any Treasures they took in their Tricks. •There are eight Treasure Cards. 2 2 4 Rank 2 Cards, Fortune Toads, are worth 10 points each (shown on the Toad’s belly). 2 4 Rank 11 Cards, Prosperity Cats, are worth 112 11 5 points each (shown on the Cat’s collar). Note: Since the hand is over once one player has 11 played all his cards, any Treasure cards remaining 11 in other players’ hands will not count for this hand.