How to Play

In Yokai Septet, you will be playing in a team of 2 versus 2, competing on capturing high-scoring Boss Yokai cards (7's of each suit). The game is played over multiple rounds until one team scores 7 or more points.

At the start of the round, after hands of 12 cards have been dealt, the last card remaining in the deck is revealed: this is the trump Suit for this round. Players will look at their hands and pass 3 cards of their choice to their partner. Then, if this is the start of the game, the player who was dealt the A card reveals it, and takes the lead player card. If the A card is the face-up trump suit card, then instead the player who was dealt the 13 (Snow) card reveals it, and takes the lead player card. In future rounds, the lead player card remains with the player that had it at the end of the last round.

One round consists of multiple turns called tricks. Each trick starts with the lead player who can play any card from their hand. All other players must follow suit by playing a card of the same suit as the lead player. You can play any card if you don't have a card of that suit.

After everyone has played a card, check to see if anyone played the A card. If they did, that player wins the trick. If no one played the A card, then if anyone played a card of the trump suit, whoever played the highest ranking card of that suit wins the trick. Otherwise, the player who played the highest ranking card of the lead suit wins the trick.

The winner of the trick takes all played cards and the lead player card, starting the next trick.

The round is over when any of the following conditions is met:

• One team has taken 4 or more Boss Yokai cards → That team wins and scores

• One team has won 7 tricks but has won 3 or fewer Boss Yokai cards → The opposing team wins and scores

• 12 tricks have been played → The team that won the last trick wins and scores

The next round is played in the same manner, except that the lead player card will remain with the player that last had it.

Scoring

Score is calculated at the end of each round. Only the team who won the round scores points. The other team does not score, regardless of how many cards they took.

If a team won the round because the other team took 7 tricks, the winning team takes all Boss Yokai cards remaining in all players' hands. They add these to the Boss Yokai they took this round.

The winning team looks at the Boss Yokai cards they took this round. Discard the Boss Yokai card of the Trump Suit; it will not score. All other cards will score based on the chart below.

Card Distributions

There are 7 suits (colors) and 7 cards in each suit. Wind has the lowest ranks and is least powerful; Snow has the highest ranks, and is most powerful.

A is a special card that trumps all other cards. It is Wind (Green) suited (and you must follow suit if another Wind is played by the lead player).