Based on the classic game of Memory, players try to match their cards with those of their opponents in order to make sets. The player with the most sets at the end of the game wins. At the Ringling Game Design Club, we have lately been conducting weekly Game Jams. In these Game Jams, we impose a set of limitations upon ourselves and design a game within those limitations. First and foremost, we have a two hour time limit, and secondary elements could be “using a standard poker deck”, “using the assets of a board game”, or “race game”. This philosophy of Game Jamming has infiltrated my daily life, and that all started with me asking “How do you make Memory a two-player game?” So, through playtesting with my colleagues at Ringling, I developed Competitive Memory.
Objective
The winner is the player who has the most sets at the end of the game. The game is over when all players agree no sets can be made using the cards in play.
Instructions
1. Remove any jokers, rules, or advertisements cards from the deck.
2. Assign one player to be the dealer.
3. This player shuffles the deck, then deals, face down, one card to each player, starting with the player on the left, and continuing to the next-most left player, until all players have a number of cards according to the chart below:
4. Once the dealer has finished dealing each player their cards, the dealer places the remaining deck of cards face down in the center of the table. This is the draw pile.
5. Once dealer has finished dealing each player their cards, all players may look at the cards dealt to them. From this set of cards, the player chooses a number of cards (according to the below chart) to place, in any order, on the playing surface, in a line, face down. These cards are in play. Other plays will attempt to match their in-play cards with yours.
6. The player can view, at any time, their remaining cards. These cards are the player’s hand.
2 Players – 10 Cards dealt, 5 card hand, 5 cards in play
3 Players – 8 Cards dealt, 4 card hand, 4 cards in play
4 Players – 6 Cards dealt, 3 card hand, 3 cards in play
7. Starting with the player immediately to the dealer’s left, players take turns and must choose one, and only one, action from the following list:
- Match – The player chooses one of his cards in play (one card MUST be from the player’s set), and one card from one of his opponent’s cards in play. The players reveal their cards. If the number value of both revealed cards is the same, the player who initiated the action takes both cards and places them face down in a pile behind their cards in play. These two matched cards is one set.
- If the player chose to Match, and the cards that player picked created a set, both players choose one card from their respective hands to replace the now-missing card in play. Both players now draw one card from the top of the draw pile to replace the card missing from their hand.
- Once players have re-filled their in-play set of cards, the player who matched the cards may now choose another set of cards to match.
- If, at any point, the cards chosen do not match, the player who owns the card turns the card face-down and places it back in his set of in-play cards. The player who initiated the action’s turn is now over, and the next player on the left starts his turn, also choosing from this set of actions.
- There is no limit to the number of times a player can successfully match cards. If a player fails to match one set of cards, his turn is over, and the next player to the left starts his turn, choosing from the set of actions above.
- Players may not match two of their own cards.
- Draw – The player removes one card from their hand, and places it face up to the right of the deck. The player then draws one card from either the deck or the discard pile and places it in his hand. The player’s turn is now over, and play the next player on the left starts his turn, also choosing from this set of actions.
- Replace – The player moves one card from his set of cards in play to his hand, and replaces that card with a card of his choosing from his hand. The player’s turn is now over, and play the next player on the left starts his turn, also choosing from this set of actions.
8. If, through play, the draw pile is depleted, shuffle the discard pile, turn it face down. This is the new draw pile.
9. At no time may a player look at the cards “in-play” unless it is part of a Match or Replace action.
10. At no time may a player view the hand of another player.
11. If the draw pile is depleted, and no discard pile exists, players may no longer draw cards, or replenish their hands after one of their cards has been matched. The player may still
12. If all players agree, by vote, that no sets can be made with the cards in hand and in play, the game is over. The game is still over, even if it is revealed that one or more sets were possible with the remaining in-play cards.
13. The player with the most sets when the game is over is the winner. Any cards in play or in any players hand do NOT count toward the player’s total number of sets.