Ames' syllabi

Introduction

Quads is a fast-paced card game that blends the style of Poker with the mechanics of Spoons. Players pass cards between themselves, aiming to collect a winning hand to bet on. After a timed card-passing phase, players bet on their hands for the chance to win the pot.

What you will need:

3-6 players
1 deck of cards that includes Jokers
A 30 second timer
Betting chips with least two different colors

Game Setup

Shuffle the deck of cards. Remember to include the jokers.
Pass 1 card to each player. The player with the highest card becomes the “Passer”, who will cards from the deck during the Passing Phase. If two players tie, repeat this process between the players who tied until a tiebreaker is reached. If a joker is drawn, discard it and draw another card.
The winner chooses the direction for passing cards: clockwise or counterclockwise. All players must pass cards in that chosen direction. (If you’d like, you can alter the direction of play after every round)
Deal a number of chips depending on the difficulty you choose to play the game:
- Easy: Deal 5 green chips and 6 red chips to each player (21 points to start)
- Normal: Deal 4 green chips and 3 red chips to each player (15 points to start)
- Hard: Deal 2 green chips and 6 red chips to each player (12 points to start)

Green chips will be counted as 3 points, and red chips will be counted as 1. Extra chips should be made accessible if players run out of certain chips, and wish to exchange for chips of an equivalent value. If new to the game, play the game with a Normal level of chips.

Hand Rankings

This game borrows the hand ranking system from Poker, but removes some of the winning hands. Familiarize yourself with the ranking of hands below. Players with the highest ranking hand will claim the pot, or all chips in play. In the event of a tie, players must split the pot evenly, regardless of any extra cards (unless you are playing the Advanced Edition). When ready, start the passing phase.

Here are some examples of the hands you should be looking for.

Four-of-a-Kind (Quads) – 4 cards of the same number (all suits): (4♠,4♥,4♦,4♣)
Straight Flush – 4 sequential cards of the same suit: (2♠,3♠,4♠,5♠)
Three-of-a-Kind – 3 cards of the same number (regardless of suit): (3♣,3♥,3♠,1♥)
Two Pair – 2 pairs of cards with the same number (regardless of suit: (6♥,6♦,8♣,8♠)
Pair – A pair of cards that share the same number (regardless of suit): (7♦,7♠,2♦,6♦)

Passing phase

Shuffle the deck and deal 4 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards in an accessible place, this will become the draw pile. If a player receives a joker, reshuffle the joker back into the draw pile.
When ready, the Passer will begin by drawing a card and discarding a card in their chosen direction. The player who received the card from the passer must collect the card and discard a card in the direction of the passer.
When the last player in the cycle receives a card, they must discard a card in a pile adjacent to the draw pile. You should maintain a hand of 4 cards at all times.
At any point during this process, players can “lock-in” their hand by placing their cards face-down and announcing it to the table. Locked-in players can no longer receive or discard cards. Players must pass around the locked-in player, and can draw if the previous passer locks-in.
Continue this process until the first player locks in, or a Joker is drawn. If a Joker is drawn, the passing phase ends immediately.
The first player to lock-in starts a 30-second timer, in which all other players must lock-in their hands. When all but one player lock-in their hand, the passing phase ends immediately.
Players who are holding more than 4 cards by the end of the Passing Phase are disqualified from the betting phase.

Betting Phase

Once the Passing Phase ends, all players (that are not disqualified) enter the betting phase. Given their current hand, players can choose to:

Bet High – Place one green chip worth 3 points.
Bet Low – Place one red chip worth 1 point
Fold – Place your hand face down and disqualify yourself, making no bet.

The player who is locked-in first must start the betting phase, and the order of betting will follow the order of passing. After all decisions have been made, players enter the Reveal Phase.

Reveal Phase

Once the Betting Phase ends, all betting players must reveal their hand to the table. The player with the highest ranking hand will take the entire pot, or chips in play. If two players tie, and no other hand outranks them, they must split the pot as evenly as possible. Exchange chips if needed. If all players but one fold, the winner can take the pot uncontested and do not need to reveal their cards (It would make the game funnier if they did though). Players who run out of chips are eliminated from the game.

Collect the cards, shuffle the deck, then restart the Passing Phase. Continue until a Win Condition is reached.

Win conditions

Players can decide a winner using points, number of rounds, disqualification, or some mixture of the 3. Here’s some standard examples to provide a framework, but feel free to create your own:

After 5/10/15 rounds, count the value of the chips. The player with the highest number of points wins.
Given the number of points each player starts with, set a winning number of points players must reach to win.
The last player to be disqualified wins the game.

Advanced Edition (Optional Rules): Read if you’ve played Quads enough

If you’ve played enough Quads to understand the game, and want more of a challenge, feel free to add some bonus rules:

No betting limit: Players can bet as many or little points as desired (be sure to adjust the points/starting chips to account for this)
Add more winning hands to the game
- Straight – Any hand of cards that progress in numerical order, regardless of suit
- High Card – If two players tie with the same hand rank, the player with the highest unmatched card wins the pot.
Add 1-2 more decks to the original to increase variety
Expand the hand limit from 4 to 5
Play with more players (alter time and decks for extra players)

Once out of the muster deck and discard deck, you can only steal and put down, not pick up.
Only put down your Keep cards at the beginning of the turn
If not enough cards to complete an action roll, you forfeit your turn
Use physical coins for TP.
→ Use TP when you’re out of cards
- Use TP to freeze other players from taking your cards
Adjust the game if there are fewer than 4 players
Roll 4 needs to change to 3 of the same suit instead
Make it clearer to shuffle the deck and have something that allows players to know that when picking characters, you can’t choose those of the same element
They need to know when to pick up their cheat sheet cards
Change the treat Point paper with actual coins
make known the cheat sheet cards in the directions, and the cards
Make clear what cards get pulled specifically
Make it clear in the directions that when allowed to be back, you would peek at the cards after you picked up
Pick up a card based on Roll, then if you have left over, discard to five for your hand limit. Specifically, picking up after your turn is completed
The hand limit no longer applies when both the discard and mustard decks are empty. Make sure to replenish your hands to keep a consistent five cards in your hand until both decks die out, then it is a free-for-all
After the mustard deck is emptied and there is a discard deck left, make sure to shuffle the deck and use that as the new mustard deck until all cards are fully given out
Three of one to be used and add more points to them, as far as what you can buy with treat points
Make clear the order in which a player must play the game, with the first step being the roll and the last step being replenishing their hand.