Description

???! (Sokubaikai!) is a co-operative card game from Japan. It's a two-day spot sale, and the players want to clean up and grab all those bargains. The goal is to clear all their hands of all cards before the game ends. If any player is left holding a card at the end of the game, they all lose.

The game has a deck of 48 cards numbered 1-48. The cards are in sections each with their own theme, 1-9 (Kitakuba), 10-19 (butterflies), 20-29 (eyeglasses), 30-39 (yokai), 40-48 (fanzines).

The deck is shuffled and seven cards are dealt out face-down to each player. Players sort their hand and then choose a hand card, placing it face-down. Once everyone has chosen, they reveal their card, and the lowest card is placed first in the centre (onto an imaginary zero), and then the next card and so on (similar to 6 nimmt!. Cards are played into a pile, and lower cards are hidden and not to be examined later.

Then each player draws a card so their hand is back to seven, and play continues in the same way.

At any point, even at the start, a player can call for a trade, and all players pass a card to the left. Successive trades can be made in the same round, but only six trades are allowed in the whole game. A marker is moved along a track on the rear of the game box to count the trades.

Discussion is allowed in the game, but is limited. Players cannot say or imply a specific numbered card, but can talk in general about their cards. For example, 'I have two 20s', or 'I have zero Kitakuba'. In this way, players can work out which cards would be good to trade or keep in hand.

If a player cannot play a card to the pile legally, the first day of sales ends and the pile is set to one side. Play continues for a second day, starting at zero again. If a player cannot play legally again, day two ends and the players all lose.

If the players succeed in clearing their entire hands before day two ends, they all win.

(Note: this game was published in Japan in 2016, before The Mind in 2018).
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