It Ain't Over ...
The Rules
1. Ages 5 - ∞
2. 2-4 players.
3. Shuffle the deck thoroughly.
4. Deal 7 cards to each player.
5. Place remaining cards face down in the middle. This is the draw pile.
6. Turn over the top card from the draw pile. This is the discard pile.
7. The player to the left of the dealer goes first. The direction of play begins clockwise, but may change during the game.
8. You must respond to the action dictated by the top card on the discard pile at the start of your turn. See card list for details of card action.
9. Play of cards must follow suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) or number (e.g 2, 3, 4) of the card at the top of the discard pile, unless a special card dictates otherwise. If a Ghost or Mirror card is the last card played, follow suit based on the last suited card played.
10. Multiple cards of the same number or symbol can be played at the same time on the same turn.
11. If you cannot play or don’t wish to play, you must draw one card from the top of the draw pile. You may play the drawn card if you are able and wish to play it.
12. When you play your second last card you must declare “Last Card”. If a player forgets to declare “last card”, they must pick up 5 cards from the top of the draw pile.
13. When you play your final card, you must still complete the action dictated by the card.
14. The first player to get rid of all their cards is the winner.
Card actions
G
Ghost card: effectively this means you miss your own turn. Any action on the previous card now applies to the next player.
If a Ghost is played in response to cards assigned from a Joker, the missed turn and cards to pick up are passed to the next person in order of play (not necessarily back to the person who played the Joker).
You can play a Ghost on a Ghost, but you cannot Mirror or Block a Ghost.
Note: Ghost cards may be played at any time. But they only have impact when played response to a Ghost, Mirror, Joker, Ace of Spades, 2, or King.
M
Mirror card: reflects the action of the previous card back on the person who played it.
You cannot Mirror a Block. You cannot Block a Mirror.
You can Ghost a Mirror—the action of the card passes beyond the player who played the Ghost (not back to the player who played the Mirror).
You can Mirror a Mirror—reflects the card back again.
Joker
Assign 5 cards to be picked up by players around the table (you may divide the cards between different players). Every player misses their next turn. You may change the suit of play.
If a player blocks a Joker, they don’t miss their turn but the Block card counts as a card played for their turn. Blocking a Joker only impacts the cards and missed turn assigned to 1 player, not the other players.
A
Ace of spades: chose one player and they must give you their best card.
Order of “best cards” = Ghost, Mirror, Joker, Block/Queen, King, 8, 2, J. If a player has none of these "best cards" a random card it drawn and given.
In response to an Ace of Spades, a player may play a Block, Ghost or Mirror card.
Ace of hearts, diamonds and clubs have no special action.
2
Next player must pick up two cards. Additive if more than one is played by a single player or if played by successive players.
If a Ghost, Block or Mirror card is played between successive 2s, they are no longed additive.
3
A 3 played on it's own has no special action.
If a pair of 3s are played together, you MUST swap hands with another player.
4
Change direction of play (e.g. if clockwise, switch to counterclockwise).
If two 4s are played at the same time, there is no impact on direction of play.
In a two player game this has no effect on play.
5
No special action.
6
No special action.
7
No special action.
8
Change suit of play. The player who plays the 8 can name the new suit of play.
An 8 may be played at anytime; it does not have to match the suit on the discard pile.
9
Red 9s (heart/diamonds): pick a random card from another player’s hand.
Black 9s (spades/clubs) have no special action.
10
No special action.
J
Jack: skip the next player’s turn. Two Js skips the next 2 player’s turns, 3 skips the next 3 player's turn, etc. You cannot Block, Mirror, or Ghost a Jack as your turn is skipped.
Q
Queen or Block card. Depending on how the card is played it has 2 functions.
Queen: you may play a Q as a regular card following suit of play.
Block: you may play a Q as a “Block” card. May be played at any time (suit does not have to match). Blocks the action of the card played by the previous player.
Only the action of certain cards can be blocked: Joker (the portion assigned to you only), King, Ace of Spades, another Block (Block a Block), 2, pair of 3s (change hands), red 9 (if player is selected for card to be taken from their hand).
You cannot Block Mirror, Ghost, Jack, 8, 4, or any other non-special action card.
You can still play a Q without blocking, however, you must follow suit on discard pile.
K
King: next player picks up 3 cards and loses their turn. If multiple Ks are played at once, it doubles (or triples, or quadruples) the number of cards to be picked up but NOT the number of turns missed.
If the next player plays another K, the pick up is NOT additive from the previously played K.
Zoe, Canada
“Fanstastic game! Love to play it when family get together"
Pearce, Canada
"Love the new special cards in this game -- adds so much exciting strategy."
Claire, Canada
“Easy to learn and super fun to play for the whole family!”
The Creative Team
