Rotten Apple

How to play

3 to 6 players. Each player owns four apples: three good ones and a rotten one. Win two tastings, or be the last player left with apples.

A round

• Everybody puts an apple face down on their own pile, at the same time.
• Then, in turn, each player either adds an apple from their hand to their pile, or opens the bidding: "I can taste this many good apples", from 1 to the number of apples on the table.
• Once the bidding is open, nobody adds apples any more. In turn, each player raises the bid or passes; a player who passed is out of the bidding until the next round. A bid of every apple on the table ends the bidding at once.
• The last bidder left tastes: first their whole pile, then the top apple of any other pile, one at a time, until they have tasted as many good apples as they bid.

After the tasting

No rotten apple: the taster wins a point. A rotten apple: the tasting stops, and the taster loses one of their apples, drawn at random; only they see which one. A player with no apple left is out.

The taster starts the next round, unless they bit somebody else's rotten apple: its owner starts it.

The end

The first player to win two tastings wins, as does the last player still holding apples.