Coloretto

Based on the game by Michael Schacht

Collect cards in your three best suits and avoid them in the others — a straightforward game of anticipation.

Cards needed

• 4-5 players: Use 7 suits: Clubs♣, Spades♠, Hearts♥, Diamonds♦, Caps■, Switches＋, Planets◉ (omit Stars✦).
• 3 players: Use 6 suits.
• 2 players: Use 5 suits.

From each of those suits, take ranks 1-9.

Then add three types of special cards:

• All 8 zeros (every suit, including Stars) — these are the "+2" cards.
• Any 3 Aces — these are the wild cards.
• The X✦ — this is the last-round card.

Depending on your player count, you should have:

• 75 cards for 4–5 players
• 66 cards for 3 players
• 57 cards for 2 players

Setup

3-5 players

1. Set the X✦ aside.
2. Each player chooses a different suit, takes 1 card of that suit, and places it face-up in front of them.
3. Shuffle all remaining cards (X✦ not included). Count out 15 cards face-down into a stack. Place the X✦ face-down on top of that stack, then place the rest of the deck on top of everything. The last-round card is now buried near the bottom of the deck.
4. Pick a starting player however you would like. Play proceeds counterclockwise.

During the game, there will be rows equal to the number of players in the middle of the table (3, 4, or 5 rows). A row is just a spot where cards accumulate, capped at 3 cards.

2 players

Each player ** chooses two different suits** (so 4 suits should be chosen) and takes cards from them instead of 1 suit each. Build the deck the same way (15 cards, X✦ on top, and the rest on top of that).

Two players play with three rows, but the top row may only have one card, the second row can have two, and the third three.

Gameplay

On your turn, do one of these:

A: Draw and place

Draw the top card of the deck and place it face-up in any row that has fewer than 3 cards. Your turn ends.

If all the rows are full, you cannot choose this option; you must take a row instead.

B: Take a row

Pick any row that has at least one card and take all of its cards into your play area, sorted by suit. You sit out the rest of this round (you play again next round). The row is now empty.

In a two-player game, there are 3 rows; when each player has taken a row, the third row is set aside, removed from the game.

End of a round

When every player has taken a row, the round ends. The next round starts with the player who took the last row, and play continues around the table as before.

Single-player exception: if every other player has already taken a row, the last player still active in the round may keep drawing and placing cards as long as they like before finally taking a row to end the round.

The last-round card

When the X✦ comes out of the deck, the player who drew it sets it aside (don't add it to a row) and immediately draws the next card to place normally. Play continues through the current round. When that round ends, the game ends — go to scoring.

Scoring

Each player picks 3 of their suits to score as plus points. Every other suit scores minus points. Use the same table either way:

Then add +2 for each zero you collected, regardless of suit.

Assigning wilds: Each Ace you hold can be assigned to any one suit of your choice, after you see all your cards. Different Aces can go to different suits. A wild added to a suit counts as one more card of that suit for the table above.

Example

Andy has: 1 wild Ace, 1 0, 6 Planet◉ cards, 4♦ Diamond cards, 3♥ Heart cards, 2 Club♣ cards.

Planets◉ is already maxed out (6+ = 21), so putting his Ace there would be wasted. He assigns the Ace to Diamonds♦, making it 5. He picks Planets◉, Diamonds♦, and Hearts♥ as his plus suits; Clubs♣ is minus.

Winning

Highest score wins.