Secret Keeper

How to play

2 to 6 players. Each player holds one character card. Knock the others out, or hold the highest card when the deck runs out, to take a seal. The first player to collect enough seals wins: 6 with two players, 5 with three, 4 with four, 3 with five or six.

A turn

• Draw a card, so you hold two, then play one of them face up and do what it says.
• A card that chooses a player can only choose a player still in the round and not guarded. If nobody can be chosen, the card is played for nothing.
• Played cards stay face up in front of their player, for everybody to see.

The cards

• 1 Snoop (5 cards): name a card other than the Snoop. If the chosen player holds it, they are out.
• 2 Lookout (2 cards): look at a player's card.
• 3 Duelist (2 cards): compare cards with a player in secret. The lower card is out; a tie, nobody.
• 4 Guard (2 cards): nothing can touch you until your next turn.
• 5 Jester (2 cards): a player, you too, discards their card and draws a new one. Whoever discards the Keeper is out.
• 6 Trader (1 card): swap cards with a player.
• 7 Advisor (1 card): no effect, but you must play it if your other card is the Jester or the Trader.
• 8 Keeper (1 card): if you play or discard it, you are out.

With five or six players, the deck holds one more Snoop, Lookout, Duelist, Guard and Jester. At each deal one card is set aside face down; with two players, three more are set aside face up.

The end of a round

The round ends when only one player is left in it, or when the deck is empty after a turn: then the highest card in hand wins, and a tie goes to the highest total of played cards. The round's winner takes a seal and starts the next round.