Negotiating the divvy at the end of a heist is always awkward. You want to have some of the loot, as much as you can, but there’s always a catch in the argument…
Access
You Can’t Win needs a bit of space to play. Players will need ways to keep their hands private, and need to be able to flip cards where everyone can see them.
And always: Remember to respect the players and their needs.
Components
In your copy of You Can’t Win, you should have the following:
- 20 Loot Cards
- 2 Gun Cards
- 2 Facing Cards to make the game look pretty
How To Play
You Can’t Win cards have two things on them you need to know: They have a number and a rule. Your number is what value that card has, the rule says what other cards can’t win.
Setup
Set aside the facing cards, and, If you’re playing with three or four players, remove one of the gun cards. Then, deal all the cards out to each player. Each player discards cards until they all have the same number of cards as the player with the
fewest cards.
Play
Each turn, players pick one of their cards and forwards it, face down. Once everyone’s picked their card, they flip them over at the same time.
Each player then checks their number against the rules. If your card can’t win this turn, it’s knocked out. This happens all at once—it’s possible for two cards to knock each other out, or even three or four cards. Put the knocked out cards aside, in a discard pile, or in a convenient hat, perhaps feed them to a stooge.
Any cards that aren’t knocked out remain. When you play your next card, you play it on top of your remaining cards, covering up the card’s top number, but not the rule. The rules persist, even as you change the number. Of course, cards can also be knocked out, even if it’s stacked on other cards—and if that happens, only the card with a number on it is knocked out.
If a rule’s already in play that says one of the numbers you have in your hand can’t win, you can still play that number. It won’t get knocked out unless a card gets played in the same turn that knocks it out. It can’t win, but sometimes you’re trying to get a rule out there to stop your opponents.
Guns
Guns don’t have numbers. If you play the gun, you pick one person’s card in the round, and they discard it—and you discard the gun as well. You do this after all the cards are revealed. You don’t have to pull the trigger once you’ve presented the gun.
Winning?
The odds are simply against you: It’s so easy to make it so nobody can win, it’s not worth asking about. But, hypothetically, when everyone’s out of cards, check the Numbers that remain in play. The winner is the player whose final number is the highest number that can win. But that might not even be possible.
If your last card played is a gun, you definitely lose.
Credits
Game, Rulebook, Art: Talen Lee
Special Thanks:
To Ellyse, for art consultation
To Æryn for reviewing the rules
To Fox, for the dog walks and ditching a LOT of it
To Rachel, for thinking of hiding guns in the loot