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Skull & Roses rules

Bluffing game for 3-12 players. Deal each player 3 number cards ("roses") and 1 face card ("skull"). Put away the rest of the deck.

1. Start hand

Each player chooses a card and places it face-down in front of herself.

2. Place card or challenge

Starting with the first player, going clockwise around the table:

• Place another card face down on your previous card
• Or challenge. A player with no cards in their hand must challenge.

3. Challenge: Pass or raise bid

The player who issued the challenge bids the number of cards she intends to flip. Going clockwise, each player must:

• Raise stakes by increasing the previous bid,
• Or pass and push their cards to the middle of the table.

This continues til all players but one pass. High bidder is the "challenger."

4. Reveal

• The challenger reveals all her cards.
• She may then reveal any card from the top of any other player's stack.
• She continues to flip cards one at a time.
• If a skull is revealed, the challenger loses the bet. Players take cards back. The challenger loses a card: whoever had the skull randomly picks one of the challenger's cards to discard face-down. If you revealed your own skull, choose a card to discard. If you lose your last card, you're out of the game.
• If the challenger flips roses equal to her bid, the bet's won. If you win your second bet, you win the game!
• Challenger plays first next round. If eliminated, the player whose skull was revealed goes first. An eliminated challenger chooses the first player if eliminated by her own skull.

Source

Based on game aid by drasher25 at BoardGameGeek. Official rulesheet pdf.