How To Play

Instructions Printable Version

AGES: 12 to adult

PLAYERS: 2 to 10

OBJECT OF THE GAME: To obtain the highest number of points after playing the 8 hands of the game. Points are obtained by taking EXACTLY the number of tricks you bid in each hand.

THE DECK: The game consists of a deck of 81 cards. Each card has combinations of 1 to 3 of each of the following shapes: balls , cubes , cones , and stars . The cards range in value from 4 – 12 points. An example of the four combinations on a card of value ‘9’ shows 3 balls, 2 cubes, 1 cone, and 3 stars.

HOW TO PLAY: Each hand proceeds in the following order.
1. Shuffle
2. Deal
3. Bid
4. Play
5. Score

THE SHUFFLE: Shuffle all the cards thoroughly.

THE DEAL: Deal 8 cards to each player. Set aside the unused cards.

THE BID: The idea of bidding is to decide on and declare the EXACT number of tricks you are going to take during a hand. (A trick, all the cards played in a single round, is taken by the player who plays the highest number card which has the combination that has been led.)
Start with the player to the left of the dealer, and continue clockwise. The dealer, who bids last, must bid a number that does not bring the total number of tricks bid to 8 (the number of cards). The total must be higher or lower than 8. Record the bids.

THE PLAY:The person to the left of the dealer leads first. He/she plays a card from his/her hand by calling one of the combinations on it. Everyone must follow, in turn, by playing a card with that combination, if they have it. If they don’t, they may play any card. The card with the highest points, which has the combination led, takes the trick. If 2 (or more) cards of same high point value are played, the card that was played last wins the trick. The player who wins the trick leads the next round. The hand is over after all eight cards are played.

SCORING: If a player has taken EXACTLY the number of tricks he/she bid, then that player gets a point for each trick taken. If you miss your bid, you don’t get the points you bid; instead, you must subtract the number of tricks taken over, or under your bid from your overall score. For example, if a player bid 3 tricks and took 4, he/she would get –1 that hand. High score wins at the end of the 8 hands.

AN EXAMPLE: (To give a quick ‘feel’ for how to play a hand of Xactika, we’ll play with only 3 cards, instead of the normal 8 cards you will have in your hand.)

THE SHUFFLE & DEAL: The players are Tim and Anne. After shuffling Tim deals 3 cards to each player and sets aside the unused cards. The cards they get are as follows.

THE BID: Anne thinks she can take 1 trick because she has a ‘10’, so she bids 1. Tim cannot bid 2, as that would make the total tricks bid equal to 3 (the number of cards), so he bids 1. The Bids are recorded.

THE PLAY: Anne bids first so she decides to lead her 10, and calls the combination ‘2balls’. Tim must play a card with 2 balls on it. He has to play his 10. Because he played last, his 10 takes Anne’s 10.

Anne

Tim

Having taken the trick it is Tim’s lead. He leads his 6, calling ‘2 cubes’. Having no cards with 2 cubes on them, Anne is free to play any card she wants. She chooses to play her 7. Tim takes the trick because Anne couldn’t play the combination led by Tim.

Tim

Anne

Tim has now taken 2 tricks, and is over his bid. Tim then leads his 5 calling ‘2 stars’, and Anne plays her 8 (with &lsquo2 stars’) winning the last trick in our example hand.

Tim

Anne

SCORING:Tim bid 1 and took 2. Since he missed his bid by one, he gets -1. Anne also bid 1, and made 1, so she gets 1 point this hand.

SCORE KEEPING:We have found it is easiest to keep score using the following chart.