Out of Season

Out of Season - Rules

Objective

Score more points than your opponent.  

Score points for cards played onto your Season Piles.  

Lose points for the cards remaining in your Hand at the end of the game.

General

A card's Season is determined by its suit. 

The top of the Discard Pile determines the Current Season.

Card values: A=1, JQK=10, Joker=0. All other cards are face value.

Setup

All cards are shuffled face down into the Deck.  

One card is discarded from the top of the deck to the Discard Pile.

Each player is dealt a Hand of four cards.

The player to go first is chosen randomly.  For subsequent rounds, the losing player of the previous round goes first.

Play

On your turn, draw a card.

Play a card to a Season Pile or discard a card.

After playing or discarding a card, your turn ends, and it becomes the next player's turn.

If there are no cards in the deck at the start of a turn, the game is over and scores are calculated.  

Pile Restrictions

Out of Season: A played card's Season must not match the Current Season.

Matching: The Season of the card must match the Season of the pile.

Balance: A player may not play to a Season Pile containing more cards than their smallest pile.

Jokers

Jokers have no Season.

Jokers may be played on any Season Pile.

A Joker on top of the Discard Pile causes there to be No Season.

When there is No Season, the Out of Season Restriction does not apply.

Scoring

Each player's final score is the sum of the values of the cards in their Season Piles, minus the sum of the values of the cards remaining in their Hand.