Rules of RAGE

Sources

These RAGE rules have been adapted from the official rules that are included in the game.

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to be the player with the highest score at the end of the game by accurately bidding on the number of tricks you will take per round of play.

Players

Officially, 2 to 6 players may play the game. Unofficially, the game may be played by up to 8 players. Players may also play in pairs or teams.

Ages

Ages 8 and up

Deck

The RAGE deck contains 110 playing cards.

Number cards

There are 96 number cards, each with a colored border. These colors determine the suit to which the card belongs. The terms color and suit are used interchangeably and have the same meaning.

• • The cards are divided into 6 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

  • Each color contains 16 cards with numerical values from 0 to 15. 

  • Each of the two WILD RAGE action cards has a value of 16 in the color selected by the player of the card. The terms color and suit are used interchangeably and have the same meaning.

Action cards

There are 14 Action Cards. All the Action Cards have black borders and are not a part of any suit. However, a WILD RAGE Action Card may be any color chosen by the player who plays it, including the trump color. Action Cards may be played when a person cannot follow suit.

The quantities of action cards in the deck are as follows:

2 - WILD RAGE cards

2 - BONUS RAGE cards

2 - MAD RAGE cards

4 - CHANGE RAGE cards

4 - OUT RAGE cards

Following Suit

After a player leads a card, the remaining players MUST follow suit. If they cannot follow suit, they may play any card in their hand, including a trump or action card.

Trump

Trump is a card of a designated color that is considered a higher rank than any card of any other color. 

• • The trump color is the color of the card face-up on the Trump Pile. 

  • When a WILD RAGE card is played, it may be called the trump color, which makes it the highest-ranked trump and thus takes the trick. 

  • The trump color may be changed by the playing of a CHANGE RAGE card. Since there are 4 CHANGE RAGE cards in the deck, it is possible for this to occur up to 4 times in a round.

  • The use of trump may be suspended for a period by the playing of an OUT RAGE card. Trump may be re-established by playing a CHANGE RAGE card.

Bidding

After the players have been dealt their cards:

• They arrange the cards in their hands, usually by color in numerical order and by action cards. 

• Then they consider the color and rank of the cards they hold, including those of the trump color, and decide how many tricks they think they can take in the round.

• A bid may range from 0 to the number of cards dealt for the round.

Taking a Trick

A trick is taken by the highest-ranked card played. 

• • The player who played the highest-ranked card in the color that led the trick takes the trick unless a trump card is played. Then the highest card in the trump color usually takes the trick. 

  • However, the FIRST WILD RAGE Card played that is announced as the trump color always takes the trick since it now becomes the highest-ranked trump card.

Action Cards

Action Cards cause a change in the manner of play once they have been played.

• • Action Cards can only be played when a player cannot follow suit, or they are leading. 

  • Action cards do not belong to any of the six suit colors.

CHANGE RAGE 

When this card is played, the trump color is changed. 

• The player immediately searches the Trump Pile and places a new color card on top of the pile. The new color must be a different color than the previous one. 

• The new card sets the trump color for this and any further tricks until: 

  • • Another CHANGE RAGE card is played.

    • An OUT RAGE card is played.

    • The round ends.

OUT RAGE

When this card is played, the use of trump is suspended. 

• • The current face-up trump color card of the Trump Pile is turned face-down.

  • For the remainder of this trick and subsequent tricks in the round, there is no trump color. 

  • For the remainder of this trick, the player who played the highest card of the color that led the trick wins the trick. 

  • If a CHANGE RAGE card is played later in the current trick or in any subsequent trick, the player’s choosing of a new trump color will reestablish trump. A card of this new trump color is selected from the Trump Pile and placed face-up on the pile.

BONUS RAGE 

When a BONUS RAGE card is played, the player who takes the trick has 5 points added to their score at the end of the round.

MAD RAGE 

When a MAD RAGE card is played, the player who takes trick has 5 points subtracted from their score at the end of the round.

WILD RAGE

The WILD RAGE card is unique in that it is the only action card that can take a trick.

• • When played, the player must announce a color, which becomes the trump color. The new color must be a different color than the previous one. 

  • The WILD RAGE is the highest value of the new trump color. If both WILD RAGE cards are played in the same trick and are called the same color, the card played first outranks the second card.

  • If an OUT RAGE card has suspended the use of trump, then the WILD RAGE card is only considered to be the highest value of the new color.

Scorekeeper

The group decides who will be the scorekeeper. To keep score, the scorekeeper uses either:

• • an official paper scoresheet (available online for printing),

  • an online scoring spreadsheet,

  • a paper version of an online scoring spreadsheet,

• • • or a sheet of plain paper.

Dealer

The group decides who will be the first dealer. 

• The dealer shuffles and cuts the deck and then deals the appropriate number of cards to each player. 

• The cards are dealt clockwise.

• After each round, the first player to the left of the dealer becomes the dealer for the next round.

Number of cards dealt

RAGE consists of 10 rounds of play. 

• In the first round, the dealer deals each player 10 cards. 

• In each subsequent round, the dealer deals players 1 card less than the previous round until the 10th and final round when each player is dealt only one card.

Trump Pile

The remaining cards after completing the deal are put face down in the middle of the play area.

• • The top card is turned face up and the suit of this card is now trump and the pile becomes the Trump Pile.

  • If the overturned card is an Action Card, the dealer inserts it back into the stack and the next card is turned over until a number card is shown.

Bidding

After viewing and organizing their cards by color and value, the players consider how many tricks they plan to take this round ranging from zero to the total number of cards in hand. 

• • Bidding begins with the first player to the left of the dealer.

  •  Each player states their bid in turn based on the number of tricks they think they can take in the round.

  • Bidding is non-auction; a player's first and only bid is binding.

  • It is possible for the total number of bids from all the players to be more or less than the number of available tricks. 

  • In the case of teams, bids are summed to form a team bid.

  • The scorekeeper records each bid as it is announced.

Play

Play Pile

After all the bidding is completed, the first layer on the dealer's left leads by selecting and playing a single card from their hand to the center of the play area to form a Play Pile. Progressing to the left, each player in turn plays a card onto the Play Pile. 

Must follow suit

EACH PLAYER MUST FOLLOW SUIT by playing a card of the same color as the last card played, including trump, if they have one. If it is not possible to follow color, the player may play any card from their hand including a trump or an Action Card.

Leading with an Action Card

The lead card of a trick may be an Action Card. If this happens: 

• • The second card played may be any other card. 

  • Since an Action Card has a black border and does not belong to any suit color, the color of the first number card played or, if a WILD RAGE card is played, the color that is chosen for the card, will determine the lead suit of the trick. 

  • If only Action Cards, not including WILD RAGE card, are played, the first card played in the round wins the trick

Best card takes the trick 

• • The player playing the highest card of the color being played takes the trick. 

  • If a trump card is played, the highest trump card takes the trick. 

  • Action cards, except for the WILD RAGE card, cannot take a trick. If a WILD RAGE card is played, depending on its called color, may take the trick.

Trick completed

• • When all players have played one card, the trick is complete.

  • The player who takes the trick gathers the cards played and places them in separate face-down piles to help keep track of the number of tricks taken.

  • The player who took the trick starts the next trick by leading with a card from their hand.

  • The first card of a trick may be an Action Card. The second card played in a trick beginning with an Action Card may be any other card.

  • The first color or WILD RAGE card played will determine the lead suit of the trick. If only Action Cards, not including the WILD RAGE card, are played, the first card played in the round wins the trick.

Scoring

After a round is complete:

• Players count the number of tricks they have taken.

• Players count the number of BONUS Rage or MAD RAGE cards they took. 

• The scorekeeper will poll each player for their results.

The round is scored as follows:

Official scoring method

This is the method described in the official rules.

The scoring is as follows:

• • +1 point for each trick taken.

  • +10 points for taking exactly the number of tricks bid.

    • • Except when the player bids and takes zero tricks, then only +5 points are awarded.

  • +5 points for each BONUS RAGE card taken. 

  • -5 points for each MAD RAGE card taken.

Alternative scoring method

This alternate method of scoring makes the game more volatile and competitive. It makes it even more important to make your bid,  allows challenges for reneging, and, for players that have taken more tricks than they bid, it encourages them to continue to take tricks to minimize their losses, which makes it more difficult for other players to make their bid.

The scoring is as follows (differences from official rules are in bold):

• +1 point for each trick taken.

• +10 points for taking exactly the number of tricks bid. (including a zero bid.)

• A player who takes every trick in the round (except in the last round where only one trick is taken,) (whether they bid to do so or not) earns an extra 1 point per trick taken.

• -5 for missing your bid (either higher or lower.)

• +5 points for each BONUS RAGE card taken. 

• -5 points for each MAD RAGE card taken.

Reneging

Reneging is an offense of playing a card from another suit or a trump card when the player has a card from the suit that was led. 

• • Any player can challenge the play of a card other than the suit led.

  • If the challenged player HAS a card in his hand from the suit that was led, the challenged player loses the challenge and has 10 points deducted.

  • If the challenged player DOES NOT HAVE a card in his hand from the suit that was led, the challenging player loses the challenge and has 10 points deducted.

The scorekeeper may chose whether or not to use the reneging challenge in a game.

Dealing the Next Round

After a round, the first player to the left of the dealer becomes the dealer for the next round. This rotation of dealers continues until the last round is completed.

End of the Game

The game ends after ten rounds. 

Winner

The player or team with the highest Running Total score is the winner. In the case of a tie, the player or team who had the most rounds in which they bid correctly is the winner.

Variations

Official variations

The game lends itself to many variations. Among the variants listed in the instructions packaged with the game are:

• • A player may play an Action card even if they could follow suit.

  • Bids are made in secret, written on a piece of paper kept by the player, and only revealed after the round is over. This means it is unclear during the round how many tricks each player needs to win.

Unofficial variations

Additionally, unofficial variants can easily be added, such as:

• • The number of rounds and number of cards dealt in each round can be varied widely, such as starting with a single card and increasing to 10, dealing 10 rounds of 10 cards each (no reduction in hand size in subsequent rounds), etc. 

  • The effects of Action Cards may also be altered.