First Impression: Master of Rules

By W. Eric Martin
October 12, 2007

Publisher: Kawasaki Factory
Distributor: Japon Brand
Designer: Susumu Kawasaki
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Release Date: October 2007

Game Played: Late prototype
Number of Plays: Once with 5 players

The title “Master of Rules” might bring Fluxx to mind, but for those tepid souls who have yet to discover the glories of that game, you’ll be glad to know that Master of the Rules goes in a completely different direction with how it handles rules.

To start getting into the game, we first need to tackle the terminology. Master of Rules lasts 2-4 rounds depending on the number of players, with each player starting one meld in the round. A meld consists of two tricks, which isn’t the best term as Master of Rules isn’t a trick-taking game.

Each player has a hand of four number cards (which are valued 1-9 in five colors) and three rule cards (more on them below). In the first trick, in clockwise order, each player plays either a number card or a rule card; the rule card can’t duplicate one played previously in the meld. In the second trick, each player must play a card of the other type. In other words, after going around the table clockwise, each player will have a number card and rule card in front of himself on the table.

Each rule card determines the winning condition for that player in that meld. The five rule cards are:

• Limit 23: If the total of all cards played is less than 24, you score for the meld.
• Only One: If no one else has played the color and number of your number card, then you score.
• Trio: If three number cards on the table match in either color or number, then you score.
• Best of the Best: If your number card is the highest number of the most popular color on the table, then you score.
• Support: If the player to your right scores, then you also score.

Whenever you score, you place your current rule card in a scoring pile. At the end of the game, you score one point for each rule card, plus bonuses for collecting triples of a single type or all five types. The player with the highest score wins.

I have a hard time saying what I think about the game after only one playing, which lasted ten melds total. Other players said they felt like they had little control, especially since you’re prohibited from playing a rule that’s already been played, which forces you to sometimes play a rule that you know has no chance of scoring. This puts you in the spoiler situation for the meld as you’re then trying to play an optimal card to wipe out as many people as possible. (You can frequently do this, and in one meld in which my number card was the final card played, I wrecked all four other players at once, when they were all previously going to score. That satisfying feeling of destruction, on its own, should be enough to encourage some to play.)

These players wanted six rules, perhaps, or maybe even seven so that you would still have choices of which rule card to play, just as you have choices for a number card since there are no restrictions on them.

A couple of players also initially questioned why anyone would play a rule card first since you’ve then locked in your goal before seeing what number cards others play. Within a couple of melds, though, we were all playing rule cards early in order to have a goal we might achieve rather than risk being forced into a hopeless rule. Then we shifted a bit to mixing up number and rule cards.

With one playing, I’ll refrain from making any pronouncements over how the game should be played or changed, a topic I addressed in one of my weekly columns. Instead, I’ll say only that the game was an interesting challenge and reminded me somewhat of Schnäppchen Jagd in the way that you wanted to manage your hand and try to anticipate all possible plays from opponents while also working towards future turns. (You draft cards to refill your hand, so you have some information about what you’ll see from them in the future.)

I’ll also point out that when playing with only three or four players, you add two or one dummy players to the game. In both of these cases, only four rules will be played, which gives the fourth player at least two options for rule cards and eliminate that burdened fifth player. Five number cards will still come out, as random draws fill in for the missing players, so the odds of achieving a goal remain roughly the same (although you can’t anticipate what will happen randomly whereas you do so with a human opponent).

If you’re a fan of tricky card games, both trick-taking and otherwise, I’d recommend trying it for yourself – preferably more than once – and seeing what you think. Me, I’ll get back to it after Spiel ‘07 ends and game time returns to normal…

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