Lizard is a classic card game of trump that can be played by 3-5 players.
To play you need a basic deck of 52 cards, and an additional 4 cards marked as "lizards" and 4 cards marked as "snakes". In total there are 60 cards in the deck.
The game is played in n rounds, depending on the number of players participating (see Appendix).
The game has dealer, this role shifts clockwise after every round. To determine who starts as the dealer, each player must draw a card at random from the deck. The player with the highest card will start to deal.
A round consists of four phases
- The dealer phase
- The estimation phase
- The play phase
- The end phase
At the beginning of the first round each player is dealt one card. The second round each player is dealt two cards and so on.
After all cards have been dealt, the top of card of the deck is turned face up, the suit of the cards determines the "trump" suit for that round. For example: if a nine of hearts is turned up, hearts is the suit for that round.
Before the play starts each player shall, starting clockwise from the dealer, estimate how many tricks they will win. The number of tricks in a round equals to the number of cards each player has been dealt. For example: in the third round there are three tricks to be won.
The first person to play card is the one clockwise from the dealer.
The goal is to win as many tricks as you've guessed during the estimation phase.
To win a trick you have to play the highest card in suit, or play a Lizard card, or if you play the highest trump card.
- The first card played determines the suit that has to be followed. You must
- follow color and suit if you can A Lizard card will always win a trick (unless
- a lizard has already been played by another player in the same trick) A snake
- will always lose a trick (unless a snake has already been played by another
- player in the same trick)
- Be the first player in a trick to play a Lizard Play the highest card in suit
- Play the highest trump card (in case a player cannot follow suit)
At the end of the round, each player counts the number of tricks won.
If a player won the same number of tricks as estimated, they get 20 points, plus 10 points for each trick won. For example: A player estimated and won 5 tricks, they get 70 points (20 + 50).
If a player didn't match their estimation, they get minus 10 points for the difference between their estimation and number of tricks won. For example: A player estimated 5 tricks, but only won 3, they get -20 points (5 - 3 = 2 x -10)
The score for each player during a round is subtracted/added to their existing score from previous rounds.
The last round happens when all the cards in the deck have been dealt. For example: if there are 4 players the game will last for 15 rounds, in the last round each player will be dealt 15 cards, which means all 60 cards in the deck have been dealt.
The player with the highest score after all rounds have been played is the winner and the new Lizard Emporor!