There we are, two decks of Uno. I will take the newer one, you may take the Hannah Montana-themed deck. I assume you have a daughter? Please do not answer this.
Let us review the Uno cards. I will then explain how they will be used to play a match of Boile de Muertre. Here is a selection of my deck. I have fanned them out so we may look at them together.
As you know, an Uno deck has one hundred and eight cards. Each deck has Number cards of 4 different colors – red, blue, green and yellow that range from zero to nine. Each color also has several Action cards which in Uno parlance are known as Skip (our deck has a blue null symbol for this card), Reverse (the red card here with arrows going two directions) and Draw Two (see this green card with a picture of two cards here). Lastly, we have the two types of Wild cards, the simple Wild (which is here, with a wheel with all four colors upon it) and the Wild Draw Four (which is represented with a card like so with all of the four card colors represented as four different cards).
Older decks of Uno represent their Action cards differently (the Reverse is a giant R in some, the Skip is a hand with a null, or other variations). For the purpose of playing Boile de Muertre, you may use any of these decks. But for aesthetic purposes, I prefer the deck you can purchase at one of your disgustingly gargantuan shoppes.
The colors of the cards correspond to one of your boile team members. All of the red cards you play mean that your team’s red player attempts a play in the match. All of the blue cards go to the blue gladiateur and the green to the green… you understand me, no?
Numbered cards hold a value equal to the number on the face, except for the zero card. The zero card can be a value of zero or a value of ten, it is up to the player and declared when the card is revealed. The Numbered cards represent two possible outcomes in Boile de Muertre. When played, they are either compared to the card play of the opposition with the intent of scoring a point or of doing harm to an opposing player in the neutral zone. What is the neutral zone? Ah yes, I am ahead of myself. I will explain the neutral zone in a moment.
Numbered cards are opposed by Numbered cards if the intent of the opposing players are conflicting. If I play a Blue 5 and you play a Red 6 and both of us are attempting to score, then my Blue Gladiateur “Lore” has tried to knock the etoile into your team’s territory to score a point and your Red Gladiateur… let’s call him “Hannah”, has somehow repelled the attack and scored a point for your team. How does this happen? Your play wins the point, so you describe it however you wish. Not now. I am still explaining the game to you.
Action cards each have different outcomes than Numbered cards. They are rather simple, but they add some interesting complexity to the game. I shall describe them in turn:
The Skip (which we call Nulle) card is used to block. This card blocks any attempt to score or harm a teammate with the play. It cancels a Reverse as well, but the person playing a Reverse decides how this happens. A Draw Two is not canceled, but any attempt to score or harm would be blocked.
The Reverse card is used to turn an attack back on an opponent. This card will turn back any Numbered card towards the opposition in a one-for-one value. A Reverse played against a Skip is canceled. A Reverse played against a Draw Two will turn back any attack resulting from the cards drawn. The player of a Reverse describes how the action occurs.
The Draw Two card is a multi-faceted card. When one plays a Draw Two, their Gladiateur corresponding to the color of the Draw Two will perform a maneuver. The player draws two cards from his deck and can elect to immediately play both cards together as a combined attack. For example, let’s say I play a red Draw Two and then draw up a Yellow 5 and a Blue 6. I may play both cards immediately for a combined 11 point attack. This would defeat any one Numbered card attack, so it is a very powerful maneuver. However, it is my option to not play those two cards at that time and instead place them into my hand. This is dangerous, because it means that any Numbered card you play will result in a point score against me.
Now we get to the truly interesting Action cards – the Wilds, which in my world are called the Glory cards. A Wild card is used to change the color of the gladiateur acting. Tactically, this can be used when one of your team is injured and unable to act, but you have a powerful Numbered card in his color. It is also useful to change the color of the Gladiateur making an attack to harm an opponent in the Neutral Zone with the etoile. Otherwise, the Wild is used to change the color of the Gladiateur acting in order to focus the scoring of points on a certain member of the team. The Wild is also powerful because it allows the player to see what his opposition has played before he chooses to act. Once the cards are revealed, the player who used his Wild card may then take a card from his hand and play it under the originally stated intention.
The Wild Draw Four is the most powerful card in the deck. It is truly a game changer and one often saved until the third pass for a truly impressive attack. When one plays a Wild Draw Four, they are able to draw four cards from their deck and use those cards to attack, score points or even replenish their hand and the player can determine the color of all the cards played resulting from the Draw Four. The Wild Draw Four is only available to Boile teams of the highest ranks.
Now that you understand the cards, I shall discuss how one keeps score and how to play the cards. For this example, we shall use the Diviseur scoring method created in Nice forty years ago in my world. Diviseur was developed to keep overall Boile de Muertre card game scores lower to align with the results frequently seen in live games played.
The playspace is an important part of Boile de Muertre. Here, let me scribble down an example:
This is not only an example of the court in an actual game, this is how the play space for the card game is also apportioned. Players sit on opposite sides of an imagined court and declare a certain amount of the middle space between them to be neutral ground.
When a player plays a card near the edge, he is declaring an action coming outside the neutral zone and he is playing to score points or defend. When no cards are played in the neutral zone, no member of the boile team is at risk for physical injury.
If you play a card in the neutral zone, you may choose to damage your opponents. But, you may only have half of your team in the neutral zone in each third, meaning that you can only play two different colors in the neutral zone in each period of play.
Whenever a player plays a Number card higher than his opponent’s Number card, or uses a Reverse to send a Number card back at his opponent, he wins the pass and scores one point.
Each third consists of three passes or card plays. A pass consists of each player laying a card face down in the neutral zone or on the edge while stating either “I’m playing to score.” or “I’m playing to murder”. If a player wishes to play a Wild card, he lays down this card while stating his intention, then after the opposing card is revealed, he may pick a different card from his hand and play it.
You looked confused. Perhaps I should give you some time to let this sink in? Ask questions if you wish, although I’m not yet finished with my explanation. You must pardon my inelegant descriptions of Boile de Muertre. The game is so popular in my world that I’ve never had to teach it to anyone before. I will continue shortly.
Orklord's Haven 