
2024Kei Kajino (梶野 桂)
Mostly how-to-play and reviews. dnup is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 16 reviews, 20 how-to-play guides, 7 recorded sessions, and 1 other video.
From BoardGameGeek
Your goal in dnup is to empty your hand of cards. Each player starts with eight or ten cards in hand, with each card having different numbers (from 1-10) at top and bottom, e.g. 1 and 7. Pick up all your cards at once; you can rearrange cards from left to right at any time, but you can't revolve them. On a turn, first discard any cards on the table in front of you, then you can: 1. Play cards from your hand. 2. Add one card to the table. 3. Take cards from the table. 4. Rotate all cards in your hand. When you play cards, you can play one or more cards of the same value - but if you play as many cards as another player has in front of them, your cards must be of higher value. If you overplay someone, e.g. playing two 5s when they have two 2s, they must revolve their cards, then return them to their hand. When you add one card, you add a card of the same value to someone else's played cards - but if that player would now have the same number of cards as a third player, the third player's cards must be a lower value, in which case they revolve them and return them to hand. When you pick up cards from in front of another player, revolve them, then add them to your hand. The first player to empty their hand scores 2 points, and cards don't return to their hand, even if beaten. The second player to empty their hand scores 1 point. Play multiple rounds until someone has at least 4 points, then whoever has the most points wins.
dnup has 44 videos from 41 creators: 16 reviews, 20 how-to-play guides, 7 playthroughs and 1 other video. They date from 2025 to October 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "All the Games with Steph: DNUP - Teach" by Steph Hodge, which runs 9 min. For a quicker teach, "Ludochrono - Dnup" by Ludovox runs 5 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "DNUP Review: It's Called Down Up." by The Dice Tower. 15 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "The card game where Up becomes Down || dnup" by BoardGameBarrister, one of 7 playthroughs.
If you like it, try SCOUT and Reputation, also by Kei Kajino (梶野 桂), or Jungo and Oh My Brain, which share several of its mechanics. It appears in convention videos from Spiel Essen 2026.
8 of 41
2022Kei Kajino (梶野 桂)
3 - 5 players30 - 45 minLight weight
2025荒尾 俊樹 (Toshiki Arao)
2 - 5 players15 minLight weight
2021Bruno Cathala, Théo Rivière
2 - 5 players10 - 15 minLight weight
From BoardGameGeek:
Your goal in dnup is to empty your hand of cards. Each player starts with eight or ten cards in hand, with each card having different numbers (from 1-10) at top and bottom, e.g. 1 and 7. Pick up all your cards at once; you can rearrange cards from left to right at any time, but you can't revolve them. On a turn, first discard any cards on the table in front of you, then you can: 1. Play cards from your hand. 2. Add one card to the table. 3. Take cards from the table. 4. Rotate all cards in your hand. When you play cards, you can play one or more cards of the same value - but if you play as many cards as another player has in front of them, your cards must be of higher value. If you overplay someone, e.g. playing two 5s when they have two 2s, they must revolve their cards, then return them to their hand. When you add one card, you add a card of the same value to someone else's played cards - but if that player would now have the same number of cards as a third player, the third player's cards must be a lower value, in which case they revolve them and return them to hand. When you pick up cards from in front of another player, revolve them, then add them to your hand. The first player to empty their hand scores 2 points, and cards don't return to their hand, even if beaten. The second player to empty their hand scores 1 point. Play multiple rounds until someone has at least 4 points, then whoever has the most points wins.
Designer
Kei Kajino (梶野 桂)
Artist
Gilles-Romain Fonteny
Publisher
asmodee
Categories
Mechanics