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Feb 16, 2024·How to play·10:53·3676·Watch on YouTube

How to play Pairs, by James Ernest

James Ernest

James Ernest

Watch “How to play Pairs, by James Ernest,” a how-to-play guide for Pairs from James Ernest on BoardGameVideo.

Description provided by James Ernest on YouTube:

James Ernest of Crab Fragment Labs explains the rules to Pairs, both the basic and continuius versions, from Cheapass Games. Pairs is a simple press-your-luck game where the object is to avoid getting a pair. The deck is a "triangular" deck, with ranks 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, and so on up to 10x10. So the odds of pairing each card are different from the start! When you take a card and catch a pair, you score points equal to the value of the pair, and if you collect too many points, you lose. If you don't want to risk it, you can fold instead, collecting the point value of the lowest card in play. You can download the complete rules to Pairs, and dozens of other unique games with the same deck, from the Pairs page at Crab Fragment Labs. We also have dozens of different art decks for Pairs, all cross-compatible. Find your favorites, and play Pairs today! Crab Fragment on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crabfragment Crab Fragment Labs: https://www.crabfragmentlabs.com/ Pairs Page: https://crabfragmentlabs.com/pairs

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Pairs

Pairs

2014·James Ernest, Paul Peterson, Heinrich Glumpler

2 - 8 players
15 min
Light weight: Learn it in minutes

About Pairs, from BoardGameGeek:

Pairs is the name of the game, and pairs of cards are what players want to avoid. The game uses a 55-card deck that contains one 1, two 2s, three 3s, and so on up to ten 10s. At the start of the game, shuffle the deck, then remove five cards from play unseen. Deal one card face-up to each player. Whoever has the lowest card is the first active player. She decides whether to "hit" - that is, be dealt another card - or forfeit the round. If she hits and is dealt a card that doesn't match a card she already has in front of her, then the next player clockwise becomes the active player; if the card does match, then the round ends, she keeps one of these matching cards as penalty points, then everyone else discards their cards and a new round begins with each player being dealt a card. If the active player forfeits, the round ends and she takes the lowest-valued card visible on the table as penalty points, then a new round begins. Penalty cards remain set aside, even if the deck is shuffled to continue play. If a player acquires more penalty points than the predetermined threshold, then the game ends and this player loses. (Alternatively, players can use coins to track scores between games, with the loser paying everyone one coin, paying her score in coins to the player with the lowest score, etc.) There are many versions of Pairs from Cheapass Games. The base game play is identical, but the artwork (and artist) vary across the versions. Some include special game rules relevant to the theme of the deck. In general, you can find new/experimental/user-submitted rules at the official website, and many non-English versions of Pairs also include rules for additional games to play with this deck.

Designers

James Ernest, Paul Peterson, Heinrich Glumpler

Artists

Brett Bean, BJ Becker, Echo Chernik, Ferran Criado, James Ernest, Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, Mutsumi Hagiiwa and 19 more

Publisher

Cheapass Games

Categories

Card Game

Mechanics

Push Your LuckPlayer Elimination
View on BoardGameGeek ›
Pairs

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How to play Pairs, by James Ernest