Prey Another Day
Based on the game by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert
A straightforward, quick game of competitive anticipation. Try to guess what kind of hunter your friends are, and make them prey.
Setup
Clubs (1–5), Spades (1–5), Hearts (1–5), Diamonds (1–5), Caps (1–5)
Clubs1–5
Spades1–5
Hearts1–5
Diamonds1–5
Caps1–5
Also needed: A way to keep score (tokens or unused cards work well)
Assign one suit for each player.
Give each player the cards 1-5 of their suit. These are your animals, 1 being an apex predator and 5 being the bottom of the food chain. Feel free to decide what animals your numbers represent.
When scoring a point, a player places a token or unused card face down in front of them, with all face-down point cards being visible at any time, so it’s easy for everyone to keep score.
Gameplay
Choose a player to call ranks first however you would like (there is no advantage or disadvantage to this).
The game happens over multiple rounds. A round is 1–3 hunts.
At the start of a new round, each player takes their set of 5 cards into their hand.
How hunting works
A hunt consists of three phases:
- Play card
- Call ranks
- End hunt
1. Play card
Select a card from your hand and place it face down in front of you.
If you strike out during the round (in phase 2, calling animals), you’re eliminated for the rest of the round and do not play more cards during this round.
2. Call ranks
The starting player now calls out the lowest rank, 1.
If any player (including the starting player) played a 1, they must now turn it over.
If no card is turned over: Nothing happens. The starting player now calls “2” and so on, until one or more animals are revealed.
If exactly one card is turned over: The player who revealed a card may hunt exactly one other number. You hunt by calling out a higher number. So, 1 can hunt 2, 3, 4, or 5, but 3 can only hunt 4 or 5. Remember you must pick just one number from the ones you can potentially hunt.
Anyone who played that hunted card must now reveal it. They’re eliminated from the round. Set down your hand of cards, so everyone knows you’re out.
North
4
West
East
You
2
You played a 2 face down. When 2 is called, you are the only one to flip your card, so you may hunt. You decide to hunt "4". North flips their 4 and is out for this round. A new hunt begins without picking up the currently played cards.
If two or more animals* are turned over: No hunt takes place (you can only have one hunter). So call out the next number — if it was 2, call out 3. Continue calling out the cards in order until all the played cards have been revealed. In the next round, the next player in clockwise order will be the one to call out the cards.
North
West
2
East
You
2
In the same example, West also played a 2, so no hunt occurs.
3. End of the hunt
- Have several players survived, and this wasn’t the third hunt? Start another hunt, without picking up the played cards (so you start the hunt with fewer cards in your hand, and more information on the table).
- Did exactly one person survive the hunt? The round ends and is scored (see below).
- Was this the third hunt of the current round? The round ends and is scored, even if more than one person survived.
Scoring
If only one person survived, they get 2 points.
If two or more people survived: All survivors add up the values of the cards they played.
- Whoever’s tally is highest gets 2 points.
- If there’s a tie, everyone tied gets 2 points.
- Anyone whose tally is lower gets 1 point.
To keep track of the points, use tokens or extra cards from the deck (placing them face down) in front of you as counters.
Winning
Once a player reaches 5 points, they win. If no player has reached 5 points yet, play another round. If multiple players reach 5 points on the same round, continue playing rounds until there is no longer a tie for the most points. The player with the most points wins.
