The goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand, and the six cards in front of you. The last player to do so, loses! For 5 or more players a second deck is recommended.

PRE-GAME PHASE: Shuffle the deck and deal each player three cards face down. DO NOT LOOK. These are the Unkown Fates. Place three cards directly on top of the face down cards, face up. These are the Known Fates. Lastly, deal three final cards to each player for their hand. Place the remaining cards in the middle as a draw pile. Before play begins, players have the choice to exchange cards in hand with the Known Fates, the face up cards, for a strategic advantage.

IMPORTANT NOTE: One strategy is to exchange any high value number cards and/or special cards in your hand for those which are face up. This will give you a leg up near the end. (See Special cards, for more info.)

START & PLAY: The player left of the dealer starts. They can place any card from their hand in the discard pile and immediately draw a new card. Players must always draw a card after play to maintain a minimum of three cards in hand. Play can start low or high. The next player must play one or multiple cards of the same number or higher.* If they cannot play at all, they must pick up the whole discard pile, ending their turn. To play multiple cards at once, all cards must be the same value. If at any time four cards of equal value are played in succession, ALL discarded cards are removed from play, and that player takes another turn. Play repeats until the DRAW pile is empty.

THE ENDGAME: Once your hand is empty, play continues with the Known Fates, the face-up cards. Playing only one at a time, the game continues until all the Known Fates are gone. From this point, players blindly play the Unknown Fates, the face-down cards, one at a time. Once again, if your card cannot beat what is in play, you must pick up the whole discard pile and play from your hand until it is empty. Once emptied, cards in the Known or Unknown Fates can continue to be used for normal play. Play can continue until there’s only one player left with cards to play.

Special cards/ Rules:

1’s: The Rug Can be played on any card. Out of sight, out of mind! The discard pile remains.

3’s: The Phantom Can be played on any card. Phantoms are invisible, so the card underneath is the card the next person must adhere to.

10’s: The Bomb Can be played on any card. Blow up the discard pile! Remove all discarded cards from play, and take another turn. If there are no cards to blow up, the card is discarded, and your turn ends. A bomb played on a Dalia Shrine behaves as if there were no cards beneath it, and the player loses their next turn.

7’s: Dalia Shrine can be played on a 6 or lower. When played, the next player must play a 6 or lower. If a Phantom is played, the next player must abide by the 6-or-lower rule. Bombs can be played on Shrines, but the player will lose their next turn.

15’s: Magic Man can be played on any card except Shrines. Magic men reverse the order of play. Any card can be played on a Magic Man. For two-player games, Magic Men grant an extra turn.

Knights & Dragons: These cards can be played in regular ascending order, but have additional rules. A Knight can be played on the Dragon with the matching suit. Once a Knight is played on a Dragon, play continues from a Knight or higher like normal.

Royal Rush! If at any time a player has a Knight, a Queen, and a King all of the same suit, the player can exclaim “Royal Rush!” and proceed to play all three cards at once, in order. A Royal Rush cannot be played on Shrines or Dragons. If the player's hand is empty, they draw three cards; if the player has more than three, they don’t need to draw any additional cards.