Rising Seas
Players: 2 | Age 6+ | Game Time: 10 mins | Learning Curve: Low
Rising Seas is unlike any card game you have played before, and is good for strategic minded people.
Aim
To collect more cards than your opponent by creating chains of four or more cards around the outside of the “island” (card formation).
Setup
Arrange twenty-five cards face down in a 5 by 5 grid.
Surround the face down cards with face up cards, excluding the corners.
Each player is dealt two cards. The remaining three cards are communal and are placed on the table face up, separate from the other cards.
Game Play
In this game you will need to make chains of cards. A chain is a sequence of cards where each card is one higher, one lower or the same value as the previous card.
e.g. the following are acceptable chains:
2, 2, 2, 3
5, 6, 7, 6
Q, K, A, 2
On your turn, you may either swap one of the cards in your hand with any face up card (including one of the three communal cards), or you can pass and take no action for your turn.
If your move creates a chain of four or more cards, all face up cards that are part of the chain are placed in a scoring pile on your side of the table. All face down cards that are now on the outside edge of the card formation are turned face up.
The game ends when all face down cards are turned face up or both players agree no further moves are possible.
Winner
The winning player is the player with the most cards in their scoring pile.
Clarifications
Aim
To collect more cards than your opponent by creating chains of four or more cards around the outside of the “island” (card formation).
Setup
Arrange twenty-five cards face down in a 5 by 5 grid.
Surround the face down cards with face up cards, excluding the corners.
Each player is dealt two cards. The remaining three cards are communal and are placed on the table face up, separate from the other cards.
Game Play
In this game you will need to make chains of cards. A chain is a sequence of cards where each card is one higher, one lower or the same value as the previous card.
e.g. the following are acceptable chains:
2, 2, 2, 3
5, 6, 7, 6
Q, K, A, 2
On your turn, you may either swap one of the cards in your hand with any face up card (including one of the three communal cards), or you can pass and take no action for your turn.
If your move creates a chain of four or more cards, all face up cards that are part of the chain are placed in a scoring pile on your side of the table. All face down cards that are now on the outside edge of the card formation are turned face up.
The game ends when all face down cards are turned face up or both players agree no further moves are possible.
Winner
The winning player is the player with the most cards in their scoring pile.
Clarifications
If you get confused about the order of the face up cards around the outside of the formation, run your finger around the edge. As your finger touches each card this will demonstrate the order of the cards.
After you have completed a chain, added those cards to your scoring pile, and flipped the outer cards face up, check for “stranded” cards using the following method. Trace your finger around the outside of the formation. If your finger touches a card that has already been touched (shown in this photo by the numbers 1 and 2), this means that the previous card is stranded, and is also added to your scoring pile.
Let Mr Cosmo know what you think of this game in the comments below, and make sure to tell us if you come up with any fun new variations!
