Survive: The Card Game

Description from the publisher: CONTENTS 100 Playing Cards (20 Food, 20 Water, 20 Shelter, 10 Weapon, 10 Beast, 20 Trash) 21 Life Tokens OBJECTIVE In Survive the Card Game the players represent one of the final pockets of humanity desperately trying to stay alive in the face of a ceaseless and brutal nuclear winter. Players will need to spend one of each resource – food, water, and shelter – to survive through each round. For each resource they don’t have at the end of the round they lose a life token. Lose all life tokens and that player is out of the game. The last surviving player is the winner. STARTING THE GAME Shuffle the deck. Deal each player five cards, and give each player three Life Tokens. Place the deck in the middle of the table. The player’s Hand is kept concealed. The player’s Stockpile will be placed face up on the table in front of them. Cards are drawn from the Search Deck. Discarded cards go on the Trash Pile, which is placed next to the deck. There are six card types: Food, Water, Shelter, Weapon, Beast, and Trash. PLAYING THE GAME Each round is broken up into two phases: Search, and Negotiation. SEARCH PHASE In the Search phase each player takes it in turn. The player who hasn’t eaten for the longest time goes first. First, you can place any number of cards from your Hand face up into your Stockpile. There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in your Stockpile. You can also discard any unwanted cards onto the Trash Pile. In the first round, discard any Beast cards in your Hand before you draw from the Search Deck. You can now draw a number of cards from the Search Deck equal to five minus the number of cards in your hand (e.g., if you have two cards left in your hand, draw three cards). You may never have more than five cards in your Hand. You can only draw once per round. Any Beast cards that you draw from the Search Deck must be placed face up in front of you. This indicates that you have been attacked by one or more beasts whilst searching, and must defeat them to avoid losing any Life Tokens. Once you have drawn from the Search Deck play moves to the next player on your left. Once every player has had a turn the phase is over. If at any point the Search Deck is exhausted, shuffle the Trash Pile and start the deck anew. NEGOTIATION PHASE All players now negotiate at the same time and with anyone they choose. Players with missing resources should do their best to attain them from other players to avoid losing any Life Tokens. The only rule to negotiation is simple: you can’t steal cards from another player’s Hand or Stockpile (actually, there is one exception to this which is explained below under Weapons). You can trade, haggle, swindle, beg, coerce, threaten, lie, manipulate, make promises, break promises, form alliances, betray alliances, seek revenge, avenge others, be helpful, be unhelpful, do nothing, or do anything that you think might help you to win. Once a card has been played into your Stockpile it can’t go back into your Hand. Any cards you receive from other players must be placed into your Stockpile and not into your Hand. The phase is over when the majority of players agree that they’ve finished negotiating. NOTE: Trash cards are essentially worthless. That said, they can be useful for tricking other players into believing that you have more resources in your hand than you actually do, believing that you have a Weapon card in your hand, or even accepting them for trade (if you can get away with it). WEAPONS Weapon cards can be used in one of four ways: 1. Remove one Beast attack from any player including yourself. 2. Remove one Life Token from any player. 3. Steal all or part of a Stockpile from any other player. 4. Counter one Weapon card played. You must play the Weapon card immediately after the other player. You can play any number of Weapon cards during the Negotiation phase. Once a Weapon has been played it is discarded onto the Trash Pile. HINT: You can threaten to use a Weapon on another player before actually playing it, or even to avoid having to play it. You can also pretend to have a Weapon card in your Hand when you don’t, in order to bluff other players. END OF THE ROUND Each player must now discard one of each resource – Food, Water, and Shelter – onto the Trash Pile. These can be discarded from the player’s Hand and/or Stockpile. For each resource not available to discard, that player loses one Life Token. For each Beast card still in play on the table in front of them, that player loses one Life Token, and then the Beast card is discarded onto the Trash Pile. Once a player loses all of their Life Tokens they are out of the game. Players are encouraged to continue vocal involvement even after going out. END OF THE GAME The game ends when only one player is left and is declared the winner. If every last player is removed from the game in the same round, then nobody wins.