▄████████ ▄█ ▄█▄ ███ █▄ ▄█ ▄█ ▄████████ ███ ███ ███ ▄███▀ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ █▀ ███▐██▀ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ █▀ ███ ▄█████▀ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ▀███████████ ▀▀█████▄ ███ ███ ███ ███ ▀███████████ ███ ███▐██▄ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ▄█ ███ ███ ▀███▄ ███ ███ ███▌ ▄ ███▌ ▄ ▄█ ███ ▄████████▀ ███ ▀█▀ ████████▀ █████▄▄██ █████▄▄██ ▄████████▀ # THE SPIEL The first player to win two challenges wins the game. Consider your initial hand of four cards your four life points, and when depleted, you're out 3 to 12 players http://www.skull-and-roses.com/pdf/Skull_EnP.pdf https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92415/skull # DEAL Give each player any three numeric cards (ROSES) and 1 face card (SKULL). These will be played by each player over multiple rounds, always returning to their hands at the end of plays # PREP Each player chooses a card in their hand to PLAY facedown in front of them # PLAYING A designated first player can choose to PLAY another card on top of their pile, facedown Going clockwise, each player can do the same and so on, or ... # CHALLENGE If a player does not PLAY a card because they cannot or do not want to, then they must CHALLENGE, bidding the number of ROSES they intend to reveal from the various piles in the game Going clockwise, each player can increase this bid (logically, the maximum bid is the number of cards on the table) When all but one player has passed, that player begins by first revealing all cards in their pile, and then continue with their choice of the next player's pile, until X number of cards have been revealed, but stopping at any point if a SKULL is revealed, failing the challenge Everyone should return all their cards to their hand (as always) # REVELATION ## FAILURE If the player failed while flipping cards in their own pile, they choose which of their cards to permanently remove from the game, facedown If the player failed while flipping cards in an opponent's pile, they will randomly remove one of their cards from the game, facedown ## SUCCESS If the player is successful, they get 1 point. The game ends when a player has 2 points (nice job, winner) # SPECIAL CASE If you only have a single card left, depending on the steps you'll have to: 1) During the PLAY you'll _have_ to challenge 2) During a BID you can pass or increase 3) If during a CHALLENGE your last card is revealed to be a SKULL, you are eliminated from the game ? UNKNOWN ? Q) https://boardgamegeek.com/article/28548128#28548128 What happens if two people have one card left, the challenger is one of them, and the challenger flips over someone else's final card and it is a SKULL. A) I'd say the player making the bid wins immediately upon seeing the final SKULL of the other player. So, I think the rules make me think the winner is the person making the bid.