Aw Ducks! - Rules

72 Number Cards (2x 1~6, in colors: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black)
24 Duck Cards (4x Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Rainbow)
2 Rules Cards
2 Reference Cards

Number Cards

Ducks

Reference Card

Objective

Score the most points! Play one round, or play several until an agreed upon total is reached. Suggestions are 400 for 2P, 300 for 3P, 250 for 4P. If this is your first time playing, play a single round first.

Setup

Shuffle the deck, and choose a start player randomly.

Gameplay

Players take turns until the deck runs out. Each player will have a face-up tableau and a face-down score pile. There is a communal Duck Pond, face-up, and a discard pile next to the deck.

Duck Pond

Deck

Discard

Tableau

Score Pile

Turn Options

On your turn, you can Draw, Score, or Discard.

If your Tableau is empty, you must Draw.

1. Draw.

Reveal the top card of the deck:

If it's a number, place it in front of you (your Tableau), face-up.

If it's a duck, place it in the center of the table (the Duck Pond), face-up, and discard all number cards from your tableau that match the duck's color. Black numbers don't match any ducks, and Rainbow ducks match all non-black numbers. Then, draw again, repeating until you get a number.

2. Score.

All the cards in your tableau will go into your Score Pile, face-down.

All cards are scored

➞

Score Pile

Also, score every duck from the Duck Pond with a condition satisfied by your Tableau.

✖✖

✔

✔✔

✔

Duck Pond

Duck Scoring Rules

Red: Five Odds or Five Evens
Yellow: Four Numbers in a Row
Green: Three of the Same Number
Blue: Five Different Colors
Purple: Three of the Same Color
Rainbow: Always Scored

In this example, the tableau has satisfied the Duck rules for Green and Yellow, but not Blue. Black counts as a color for scoring rules. Rainbow Ducks are always scored! All those ducks are added to the score pile as well.

3. Discard.

Discard one card from your tableau face-down next to the Duck Pond, gaining the benefit below:

1 or 2

Safe Draw.Draw exactly 2 cards from the deck. Place ducks in the Duck pond, and numbers in your tableau. Suffer no consequences for drawn ducks.

3 or 4

Quick Quack.Draw exactly 3 cards from the deck, and resolve them one at a time. Each Duck discards numbers from your tableau and goes to the Duck Pond, each number goes to your tableau. Then, you must take a Score turn immediately.

5 or 6

Secret Stash.Take the top 2 cards from the deck and place them face-down in your score pile. Nobody may look at them. Then, you must take a Score turn immediately.

Round End

The round ends when a player tries to draw a card but the deck is empty. If this happens during a Draw or Discard turn, finish the turn ignoring any remaining draws. Then, each player takes a Score turn, starting with the player who ended the round.

Your score is the total of all the cards in your Score pile (including 5 per duck).

You can play one round, or several until someone reaches a specified total. 400 is a reasonable number for 2 players, 300 for 3, and 250 for 4. You can play to more points if you wish, of course!

Contents