Designer game
Regicide
- Players
- 1–4
- Duration
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- 3/3
- Deck
- 52-card deck + 2 jokers
How to set up
A cooperative game for 1-4 players with a 52-card deck and both jokers. Together you face the twelve enemies of the castle, first the jacks, then the queens and finally the kings, and your hand is both weapon and shield.
Official rules (free PDF) (opens in a new tab) Publisher: Badgers From Mars
Regicide is a game by Paul Abrahams, Luke Badger and Andy Richdale, published by Badgers From Mars in 2020 and in Italy by Devir. This is just a summary to help you decide whether it's for you: the full rules are in the free official rulebook linked above.
Objective
Everyone wins together by defeating the twelve enemies of the castle: the four J, then the four Q, and finally the four K, each stronger than the last. Everyone loses together if a player cannot withstand an enemy's attack.
Setup
- Deck
- 54 cards: the 52-card deck and both jokers
- In hand
- depends on the player count, see below
- On the table
- castle of court cards with the first jack face up, tavern face down beside it
- one player
- 52 cards: the jokers stay out of the tavern; hand of 8
- 2 players
- 52 cards: remove the jokers; hand of 7
- 3 players
- 53 cards: remove one joker; hand of 6
- 4 players
- hand of 5, with both jokers in the tavern
- The castle The court cards form the castle: K at the bottom, Q on top of them, J on top, each group shuffled. Reveal the first J.
- The tavern All the other cards, from A to 10 plus the jokers needed for the player count, form the tavern, which you draw from.
- The hands Everyone gets a hand; you play without showing or hinting at your cards.
The enemies grow stronger with each group:
| Enemy | Health | Attack |
|---|---|---|
| J | 20 | 10 |
| Q | 30 | 15 |
| K | 40 | 20 |
- Mechanics
How to play
- Attack On your turn play a card, or a few cards together, against the enemy, or pass.
- The suit Each suit has a power, and its strength equals the value of the card played. An enemy ignores the power of its own suit.
Suit Power ♥ puts cards from the discard pile back under the tavern ♦ makes players draw, one card each in turn ♣ doubles the damage ♠ lowers the enemy's attack, until the enemy is defeated - Damage If the accumulated damage reaches the enemy's health, it is defeated and the next one comes out; if the damage exactly equals its health, the enemy is added to the tavern.
- Counterattack Otherwise the enemy attacks, and the current player must discard cards worth at least its attack. Players attack and defend with the same hand.
For the details (cards per player, combos, aces, jokers and solo rules) follow the official rulebook.