“Card Direction” specifies whether cards should be played in ascending order (‘Going Up’) or descending order (‘Going Down’). It doesn’t relate to player turn order.

For example, if a 7 is played and the direction is Going Up, the next card played must be 7 or higher.

“Play Direction” is initially set by the first player to play on an blank Play Area and only changes when Special Cards 1, 3, 10, or 12 are played, as directed by the cards.

The game comes with two decks of cards to let you increase the number of players up to 8 people by merging them together.

Besides the colours on the back, the two decks are identical. The backs are different between decks for ease of separating them when you’re done playing or want to reduce the number of players. Simply turn the cards upside down and deal the cards into teal and black piles. Ta-da!

There are 4 of every card with the exception of MEAN! cards, of which there are 6.

Yes! You must follow the current “Card Direction” but cards don’t have to be played sequentially.

Oh no!

When you run out of Punishment Piles, you only make more when a player gets punished. 

To create more, simply shuffle the Play Area and deal four new Punishment Piles (2 cards face down and one card face up). Any leftover cards can be put into the Graveyard.

If you need more cards, you can supplement with the Draw Deck. 

If you don’t have enough cards in the Play Area or the Draw Deck, just deal as many as you can with the top card face up (even if a pile has less than 3 cards).

No! If you have multiples of the card you’re playing in your hand, you can choose not to play all of them.

No! MEAN! cards have the value of 6. 

If the card direction is ‘Going Up’, you can only play a MEAN! (6) on a 1,2,3,4, 5 or another 6. If card direction is ‘Going Down’, you can only play a MEAN! (6) on another 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12.

As with any card, four-of-a-kind clears the Play Area.

If four MEAN! cards are played, the next player must draw 4 punishment piles. The player who played the fourth MEAN! card also gets to play again.

When clearing the Play Area with MEAN! cards, you may face a situation where there are not enough or even no Punishment Piles available to draw. In this instance, the Play Area is still cleared before dealing new piles and all the new Punishment Piles must come from the Draw Deck. 

If there are not enough cards in the Draw Deck to create new piles, the punished player deals and picks up as many as possible (this could be 0).

In a scenario where a player plays a MEAN! card on top of another MEAN! card, after a player has already been punished, the next player must only pick up as many unclaimed MEAN! punishments as are currently in play.

For example:

• Player 1 plays a MEAN! card.
• Player 2 picks up the Punishment Pile.
• Player 3 plays another MEAN! card on top of the existing one.

Even though there are now two MEAN! cards at the top of the Play Area, Player 4 only has to pick up one Punishment Pile, as the punishment for the first MEAN! card was already claimed by Player 2.

Note: The four-of-a-kind rule is still in effect.

In the above scenario, if Player 4 can pass the punishment by playing MEAN! cards from their hand, they may only play a maximum of two cards (to make four-of-a-kind using the two sixes already in play). This clears the Play Area.

The next player would then have to pick up three Punishment Piles:

1. One for Player 3’s MEAN! card.
2. Two for Player 4’s MEAN! cards.

The punishment for the first MEAN! card is not included, as it was already claimed by Player 2.

When the Play Area and the Draw Deck are depleted, the player picks up as many Punishment Piles as possible. In rare cases, this could be less than they’re supposed to, or even none. Lucky them!

The Graveyard is where you put all the cards that are removed from play. They stay there until you start a new game.

No matter how many ‘8’ cards are played from your hand at once, you will always select only one player to switch hands with.

If you play four ‘8’ cards (or a fourth ‘8’ card to clear the Play Area), you must switch hands before the Play Area is cleared.

Yes!

For example, if there is a three-of-a-kind on the top of the play area, you can play a Wild card as the same value to clear the Play Area.

In the same vein, if a Wild has been played, its played value remains the same in the Play Area. For instance, if a player plays a Wild Card as a 4, the next player could clear the Play Area by playing three additional 4 cards.

Remember, you cannot play a Wild Card with another card (except another Wild).

Yes! For instance, change the number of decks you play with based on the number of players (e.g., 1 deck for 5 players for a shorter, aggressive game) or increase the number of cards you’re allowed in a hand.

You could also try increasing the number of MEAN! cards required to clear the deck to 6 to allow for even larger punishments. 

We’d love to hear any other house rules you come with so please share them with us on socials!