NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Four (two teams of two)

AGE APPROPRIATE: 12 to adult

THE DECK: Universal Card Deck – 54 cards and two Galaxy cards (Mars and Venus)

RANK OF CARDS: Galaxy (high), Sun, Moon, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

VALUE OF CARDS: The Mars and Venus cards (Sun through 1) are valued at one point each. The Mars and Venus Galaxy cards are valued at one point only if all the cards in their respective suits are taken totally by one team; otherwise, they have no point value.

RANK OF SUITS: The six suits are divided into primary suits (Earth, Jupiter, Mars) and secondary suits (Neptune, Saturn, Venus). The ranking in the primary suits from high to low is E, J, M. The ranking in the secondary suits from high to low is N, S, V. The primary suits as a whole are not higher in rank than the secondary suits.

THE SHUFFLE AND CUT: Draw or cut for deal; high suit deals. If any players draw or cut the same highest suit, the card rankings go into effect. Dealer shuffles. The player at dealer’s right cuts the deck.

THE DEAL: All 56 cards are dealt face down, one at a time. Each player receives fourteen cards. Deal and play are clockwise.

OBJECT OF PLAY: For each team (both players collectively) to take as many Mars and Venus cards as possible, except the two Galaxy cards, OR take all nine Mars cards AND the Mars Galaxy card and/or take all nine Venus cards AND the Venus Galaxy card.

THE PLAY: The player left of the dealer plays a card to start the first trick. (Mars and Venus cards may not be led until a card from their respective suits has been played on a previous trick.) The other players in clockwise order must follow suit if possible. If they do not have a card of that suit, they may play any card. The person who played the highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a player cannot follow suit and chooses to play a card from a higher ranked suit; e.g., a

Saturn card is led and a player who doesn’t have a Saturn card plays a higher ranked secondary card to take the trick. The player could also play a lower ranked card if he/she doesn’t want the trick or the lead, or play any card from the other grouping of suits; e.g., and secondary suited card is led and the player chooses to play a primary suited card. Keep in mind, if a secondary suit is led, only secondary cards will have any power. If a primary suit is led, only primary cards will have any power. The player taking the trick leads to the next trick.

SCORING: At the end of the hand each team counts the number of Mars and Venus cards they have captured. The team that captured the Mars Galaxy card does not get credit for any of the other Mars cards captured, unless all of them were captured, which would mean the team gets 10 points (1 for each Mars card) plus 10 bonus points for getting them all. The same scoring also applies for the Venus suit. If a team is able to get all the Mars and Venus cards plus the two Galaxy cards, that team gets 20/20 or a total of 40 points. The game continues until one team has reached a total of 56 or more points and is then pronounced the winner.

SKUNK RULE: If one team gets 20/20 on the first hand, the skunk rule goes into effect and the game is over.

©Copyright 2001 by John Frampton & Craig Richter