Description

Ortho is a game where players form words from letters on cards. The Ortho deck has 52 cards, each with a letter at either end; the two letters may be the same or different, and if different the player chooses which letter is used. There are also two "Chief" cards that are wild and can stand for any letter.

Players start with seven cards each. In a turn a player draws the top of the deck or discard pile, and if possible either plays a word onto the table, or adds cards to a word on the table to make another word. In either case a word of 2 letters scores 1 point, and doubling for each additional letter (e.g. 3 letters 2 points, 4 letters 4 points, 5 letters 8 points, etc.). 32 points is the maximum allowed for any word.

The hand ends when a player uses all their cards in play, calling "Ortho!" and also earning from each player one point per card left in their hand. (Presumably a hand also ends when the deck is gone.) A player wins by either Ortho'ing with a total of 104+ points, or ending a hand with 128+ points.

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