darkSpyro

These rules are intended to create a Skylanders Challenge card game using only the character cards that come with the Skylanders toys (and it can use the Location and Item cards from the Adventure Pack expansions too).
It's quick and simple – suited more to the playground than adult gamers. There are quite a few elements for tactics and strategy – it's not based on luck. I haven't had much chance to playtest it, so how much FUN is it? Can it be improved? Find out for yourself! Report back!



YOU NEED: 2-6 players. (The more the merrier!)

Each player carefully chooses 5 of their Skylanders cards to be their "deck". It is advantageous to keep the contents of your deck secret – hold your cards so you can see the face side while the other players can only see the backs.


EACH ROUND:

Each round consists of every player (clockwise) in sequence taking a turn. A turn involves issuing a challenge to another player of their choice, and resolving the challenge, which may result in a card needing to "rest" in the player's discard pile.

At the end of the round, players with no cards left in play (ie they're all resting) are themselves no-longer in the game. The last remaining player is the winner (or it's a tie if the last players rest their last cards during the same round).


EACH TURN:

If it is your turn, you must issue a challenge. Carefully do the following; choose a player, choose a card from your deck, and choose a stat on that card. The stats are:

• Attack (the fist and stars symbol)
  
• Defence (the shield symbol)
  
• Agility (the running elf symbol)
  
• Luck (the four-leaf clover symbol)
  

Challenge the player and name the stat – "I challenge [player's name] to a battle of Agility!", then place your chosen card face-down between you. This is the challenge card.

If you are challenged, you must respond in one of three ways:
[1] You can choose one of your cards, place it beside the challenger's card, this is the response card. The cards are turned over and compared. The one with the higher stat wins - the person who played it puts it back in their deck. The losing card must rest - the person who played it puts it in their discard pile.

• If the stats match, it is a tie, and both cards return to their respective decks.
  
• Cards in your discard pile are placed face-up (so other players can see them when tying to figure out what card you might be about to play).
  
• Location and Item cards (eg. from Skylanders Adventure Packs) don't display stats on the card – they have 50 for every stat. This makes them somewhat weak, but they have a special power – read on.
  

[2] If you have a Location or Item card in your deck, before placing your response card beside the challenge card, you can reveal a Location/Item card and change the stat that the challenge will use to one of your choice. "I use the [Location/Item name] to change it to a challenge of Attack!". Then you return the card to your deck facing the other way – its special power has been used up for this game, and keeping it facing the other players instead of you ensures it doesn't mistakenly have this power used again. Finally, you choose a card from your deck (which could be the Location/Item you just used), put it beside the challenge card as your response card, and compare them in the stat that you chose to determine the winner.

[3] If you think you can't win the challenge but want to take the challenger down with you, before you place your card you can announce "I'm going all-in!". This means that your card must rest at the end of this challenge regardless of whether it wins or loses or ties, but it gets a 10 point bonus on its stats – so it's more likely to send the challenge card to the challenger's discard pile at the same time!

• You can go All-In after playing the special power of a Location/Item, and the must-rest penalty of All-In only applies to the card that has its stat compared against the challenge card.

ADVANCED EXTRA RULE:

In addition to the options above when you have been challenged; before you place down your card you can also declare that you are making an Elemental Attack! An Elemental Attack means that you think you know the element of the challenge card and you think you can match it. If you have placed a card that turns out to be the same element as the challenge card, your card gets a 10 point bonus on its stats (for the duration of this challenge only) – but if the elements are different, your card loses 5 points from its stats (for this challenge only).

• Location/Item cards are treated as if they are a ninth "element" - the element of Adventure!
  
• If you have been paying attention to which cards have been played in earlier rounds, you can get an idea of which cards the challenger has available, which can inform you of when to use this attack. It is bad form to use this attack if you were able to sneak a peek at the face of the challenge card as it was placed down – you should only use this attack when you think you have deduced the challenge card's element through brains, or if you want to take the chance.
  

When the challenge has been resolved, the player next to the challenger can begin their turn.


NOTES:

5 cards to a deck is a suggestion, not a rule. If a player does not own enough Skylanders to create a full deck of 5 cards, then either the players agree on all playing with smaller decks, or else some cards can be loaned among players until everyone had enough to form a deck. By the same token, if everyone has a lot of cards and time to for longer games, players can agree on a larger number of cards in the deck.

Enjoy!

Why not make triple Triad cards like on FF8? I did that with Sunburn, His directions left, right, up and down (<,>,^,v) are as follows 4,A,1,7. It goes like that and my bro and I play and we ignore the stat #s.

I think they will eventually just make a skylanders card series with like booster packs, booster boxes, and decks. Maybe if we all suggest it.

it sounds like it would be fun i will have to try it

Looks like someone else besides me made a card game. This seems simpler, but also easier to pick up. I am baffled that there isn't an official card game (Skylanders is in basically every other market), but if Activision decides to take a player's suggestion, they'd probably choose yours. It seems more fitting to the game than mine does, anyway.

If anyone has an extra card, I'd say that this might come in handyin a game like this.

There is no need for there to be just one game, or an official game. Lots of games that we can play with the cards is better than one game
The cards are very clearly playing cards, designed to be played with, and the company went to some trouble to produce them, the quality is very nice, but no rules are provided. I take that as them having faith in everyone here that people will come up with their own games, find their own fun, and share and spread the fun. And you know what, that's a pretty cool thing to do! I like that - they gave us an extra toy, and left it up to us to play with it however we liked.

Heh that Kaos card is great!