Lantern Night

How to play

A team game for 2 to 5 players: everybody wins or loses together. 50 cards in five colours, each colour three 1s, two 2s, two 3s, two 4s and one 5. You hold your cards facing the others: you see every hand but your own. The team shares 8 hints and 3 sparks. The cards each player holds:

• 2 players: 5 cards each
• 3 players: 5 cards each
• 4 players: 4 cards each
• 5 players: 4 cards each

A turn

• Give a hint (it costs one): show another player all their cards of one colour, or all their cards of one number. What a hint said stays on the cards.
• Or light one of your cards: if it is the next number of its colour (a 1 starts a colour), it joins the row, and a 5 gives a hint back. Otherwise it burns and the team loses a spark.
• Or put one of your cards away (only when a hint has been spent): it gives a hint back.
• After lighting or putting a card away, draw one. Once the last card is drawn, everybody has one more turn.

Winning

The team wins when the cards lit reach the goal (18 by default; all 25 always wins) before the third spark is lost.

Playing with the computer

The computer players read a hint this way: it points to the oldest card in the hand that no hint has named yet, if the hint names it, else to the newest card it names for the first time. A hint of 2 or 5 that names that oldest card means "keep it"; any other hint means "light it". They give their hints the same way.