Yenta

By Aaron Richards and James Ernest

Yenta is based on a game by Aaron Richards called "Stoopid Cupids," sort of a cross between Liar's Dice and Go Fish.

Players: 3-6

Equipment: Five 6-sided dice for each player.

To Begin: Each player rolls all five of his dice and keeps the values secret. Cover your dice with your hand, or obscure them with some kind of screen.

Bidding Round: In a freeform auction, players now bid on the number of points they think they can score. The player who bids highest takes the first turn. Before the round ends, he must collect points equal to his bid. Otherwise, he will lose those points instead.

Turns: On your turn, you may ask another player if they have a die of a certain value, and that player must relinquish one such die if he has it. Dice you ask for must match dice you have, and the pairs you assemble are scored and removed from the game. For example, if you ask for a "4" you must have a "4" to put with it. If you get one, take them both out of play and score 8 points.

The active player may continue asking for dice until he misses, at which point he passes the turn, and must discard the unmatched die he was trying to pair up. The active player may also pass the turn instead of continuing to guess, in which case he does not discard a die.

Play proceeds until only one player has dice left.

Scoring: Pairs you capture are worth their face value. For example, if you pair up two 6's, you score 12 points. If you pair up two 1's, you score 2 points. In addition, the last player to have any dice left gets to score the face values of those remaining dice. For example, if the only player with dice remaining has a 2 and a 5 left, he scores 7 points.

Scoring the Bidder: If you won the lead and made your bid, you score either twice your bid, or your actual score, whichever is greater. If you had the lead but didn't make your bid, you score nothing for the dice you took, and subtract your bid from your score. Track your score into the negatives if you have to.

Winning: Play to 100 points.

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