BASICS

REQUIREMENTS

• 3 - 4 players. Supports 5 players (see Player Variations below).
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards with optional 1 - 3 jokers.

BASIC IDEA

The heros (players) are trapped in a foe fighting limbo, trying to survive by fighting the foes (team solitaire) or indirectly each other (competitive game).

• START UP: The deck is divided into tactical deck (2 - 10) and foe deck (J, Q, K, A, jokers). Each player is dealt 4 hand cards and the foe deck turned around.
• BUILD UP: The foes appear from the deck one by one and the players play tactical moves in order to avoid or lure the foe into their corner.
• CHAOS: Before the round ends, the combats in each corner escalate to a chaos, where some foe-combos cancel each other out:
  • Having 2 foes of the same number and colour (or 2 jokers) in the same corner blast each other out of the arena. (A single joker stays single.)
  • Likewise 3 foes of the same suit in a straight (J, Q, K or Q, K, A) circle each other out. (Jokers cannot participate in straights.)
• The game can be played as a cooperative team solitaire, where the players win if all the foes were defeated. In (solo or team) competitive modes, the player(s) with the fewest foes left in their corner are winners.

START UP (& PLAYER VARIATIONS)

• One player shuffles the foe deck (J, Q, K, A and jokers), puts it into a clean pile and turns upside down, so that only 1 foe is visible at a time.
  • TEAM SOLITAIRE: In the team solitaire game mode, there should be 0 or 2 jokers in the foe deck. Otherwise 0 - 3 jokers. (2 jokers is a common default.)
• The next player clockwise shuffles the tactical deck (2 - 10) and deals each 4 hand cards. When the deck runs out, it's reshuffled by the same player.
  • 5-PLAYER-GAME: With 5 players, the players are dealt 3 hand cards each, and the tactical deck is reshuffled after there's only 1 card left (instead of being empty).
  • TEAM SOLITAIRE: In the team solitaire game mode, the difficulty can be increased for 3 or 4 players by reducing the amount of hand cards to 3.

PLAYING

TACTICAL CYCLES

The game proceeds in tactical cycles, where each player plays one hand card (or a random card) face up in clockwise order.

• HAND CARD: If playing a hand card, the player takes a new card from the deck right after.
• RANDOM CARD: Alternatively, can put one hand card face down and sideways (in front of the corner) and play the topmost card of the deck face up.
  • The player does not pick a new hand card and now has 1 hand card fewer (indicated by the face down card) until the tactical deck is reshuffled.
  • The player can repeat this again until he has no hand cards left (each is now a face down card), after which all he can do is play random.

When the tactical deck runs out, it's reshuffled from the discarded cards and any face down marker cards in the center.

• After shuffling the deck, the players with missing hand cards are dealt replenishment cards (so that each has 4 hand cards again).

TACTICAL TRICKS

The player who played the lowest number takes the foe into his corner. However moves can be hidden or redirected with the same number.

• 2 SAME - HIDE: Playing the same number as an earlier move in the cycle hides both cards from the foe (as if the cards didn't exist).
• 3 SAME - REVEAL: With 3 cards of the same number, the pair of the same colour remains hidden while the lonely colour card becomes visible (to the foe).
• 4 SAME / 2 + 2 SAME - DRAW: With 4 cards of the same number (or 2 single-colour-pairs of different numbers) all 4 cards are hidden. It's a draw.
  • Note that draws can only happen in 4-player-game (not with 3 or 5 players).
• For example, if cards ♥5, ♧5, ♧8, ♦7 were played, the foe goes to 4th player as the first 2 cards hide each other. But had the last player played, say, ♤5 then the 1st card would become visible - with ♦5 the 2nd card. With an 8 it would be a draw, and with 9 or 10 the 3rd player would be targeted.

NEXT CYCLE

The outcome of the tactical cycle is that the player with the lowest number takes the foe into his corner or then the cycle is replayed.

• LURING: The foe is collected face up in front of the player (overlapping earlier foes). The player on his left starts the next cycle (so the receiver gets to play last).
• DRAW: In a draw situation (see above), the foe stays on the deck and a new tactical move is started by the player who played the last card.

ENDING

CHAOS IN THE CORNERS

After the last foe has been collected into a corner, the round escalates to a chaos in each corner. The chaos is resolved in two phases:

• First, 2 foes of the same number and colour cancel each other out. This also works for 2 jokers (and is the only way to get rid of them).
• From the remaining foes, 3 foes of the same suit in a straight (J, Q, K or Q, K, A) cancel each other out. (Jokers not allowed.)
• Note that jokers are not any number and suit, but instead they are their own suit and own number (eg. number 15).

SCORING

Who wins depends on the game mode.

• TEAM SOLITAIRE: In team mode, the players win if all foes were defeated (in each corner). However should include 0 or 2 jokers (not 1 or 3).
  • The players should not communicate about numbers or playing low / high. However, for beginners, it's okay to plan where the foe should go.
• SOLO COMPETITION: In competition mode, the player with the fewest foes left in his corner after the chaos wins. If many, then shared victory.
  • Traditionally the competition mode is played for round wins, and the first to reach (2 or) 3 round wins, wins the game.
• TEAM BATTLE (for 4 players): The 4 players are divided into 2 teams where the teammates sit opposite to each other.
  • The game is played competitively between 2 teams, and after the round the foes left in the corners are summed per teams. (The team with fewer foes wins.)

Regardless of the game mode, you can play a single round, count round wins or count down from initial lives foe per foe (until someone loses all).

EXTENSIONS

SHADOW HERO (for 3 or 4 players)

This extension introduces an extra random based hero into the layout and tactical cycles: the Shadow Hero.

• LOCATION: The Shadow is located in front of the deck, typically on the dealer's left, and starts the first cycle. So there's 4 or 5 players then.
• PLAYING: The Shadow uses the tactical deck for his moves. (So in terms of hand card count and reshuffling the deck, it's as if there's one extra player.)
• COLLECTING: The Shadow can collect foes and they interact in the end chaos as normally.
• GAME MODES: In the team solitaire he's part of the team, in solo competition usually ignored, and in team mode (2 vs. 2) should be a 5th bystander.
• Note. This extension is especially recommended for the 3-player-game to introduce more draws in the gameplay (otherwise impossible with 3 players).

STRATEGY

... coming soon ...

HISTORY

v4 - Limbo (2024-03-03 - 2024-03-13)

• only extensions (2024-03-13): Added Shadow Hero extension (similarly to Shadow Musketeer in Four Musketeers).
• v4.0 (2024-03-03): Simplified the Four Musketeers game into a non-modular form and without any lifelines or roles (but reusing the same core gameplay).

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Emmi Viitala, Piia Tamminen, Ville Viitala, Johannes Aho, Akseli Leinonen, Tuuli Vahtero, Tomi Laine, Matti Lehtinen and Ella Salminen.