The Bucket King Instructions

Alles im Eimer
The Bucket King
Components:
• 4 sheets of buckets in 5 colors (18 of each color)
• Deck of cards with 110 cards in 5 colors (22 of each)
2x 1's and 8's; 3 each of 2-7
• Rules
Object:
In this game, you want to protect your own pyramid of buckets from the ravages of animals. Players play
cards which show the attacking animals. The colors on the cards match the color of the bucket that the
animal is trying to kick over. The cards are used for both the attacking animals and to defend your own
pyramid. Whoever does not have the cards to defend their pyramid gets a bucket of the appropriate color
kicked out of their pyramid. When a bucket goes, it also takes out all of the buckets it is supporting.
At the end, the player with the most buckets remaining wins.
Setup:
Punch out the buckets.
Each player gets 15 buckets, 3 of each color. The rest go back in the box. Choose a start player.
Shuffle and deal 12 cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed in a draw deck in the middle of the
table.
Building the pyramids:

First players look at their hands, and use that information to construct their pyramids. Suits that you are
strong in, you want to place the appropriate buckets near the bottom of your pyramid. The pyramid is a
5,4,3,2,1 structure faceup in front of you.
If you have no cards in a suit, you will want to place the buckets right at the top of your pyramid.
Once all player have built their pyramids, you may start the game.
Playing cards:
The start player leads. He chooses a color of animal to attack the pyramid of his lefthand neighbour.
1) The player chooses 1-3 cards of the same color, lays them faceup, and announces the sum of the cards.
- He then takes ONE card from the draw pile.
Important: Regardless of how many cards you play, you only draw ONE.
- Reshuffle the deck if you run out of cards.
- If a player forgets to draw his card, tough. He will play with a smaller hand from now on.
2) The next player clockwise may then defend his pyramid. He may play up to 3 cards with the same animal
and a HIGHER summed value. This will fend off the animal.
Example: The start player leads a Horse-5. The player to his left then plays a Horse 3 and a Horse 7 for a
sum of 10. (He could have just played the 7 alone as its value is greater than 5.)
3) If the player successfully defends by playing a higher value:

- The player draws ONE card.
- The next player in turn now has to defend his pyramid from the onslaught. The new defender, however,
must beat the sum of the player who JUST played. Thus, the target number to defend is going to keep going
up until someone gets hurt.
4) If the trick makes it around to the player who led the trick, he may add 1-3 new cards to his original
cards. The new sum is now the value to defend against.
5) Eventually a player cannot or does not want to defend his pyramid. The player does not play or draw
cards, and removes a bucket of the same color as the played suit from his pyramid:
- Buckets that are no longer supported by two buckets below are also removed, which can lead to a chain of
buckets being removed
- The player then leads a new set of 1-3 cards (which may be the same color just played), and draws a card
- If the player does not have a bucket of the appropriate color, he instead removes one bucket of any color
(his choice.)
If a pyramid is broken into two parts, one section of the pyramid is removed. This can only happen by
removing one of the middle three buckets on the bottom row.
End of Game and Scoring:

When a player loses his last bucket, he is out of the game. A player with a single bucket is still in the game.
The game ends if:
- With 3-4 players one pyramid is dismantled
- With 5-6 players two pyramids are dismantled
The winner is the player with the most buckets remaining.
The game lends itself to several rounds. Sum the scores over each round to determine a winner.
Tips:
The start player has a few different tactics!
a) Powerball: He can lead 2 or 3 cards of a strong animal.
b) Bluff: Pick an animal of which he has only one card, but only stands to lose a single bucket.
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Alles im Eimer

The Bucket King

Building the pyramids:

3) If the player successfully defends by playing a higher value:

End of Game and Scoring:

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