Brokies rules

Brokies is a climbing card game for 2 to 6 players: in a haunted mansion, broke monsters race to empty their hands by always playing stronger than the player before them.

Players

2 to 6

Age

8 and up

Playing time

10–20 min

Mechanic

Hand shedding

Overview

Tonight, monsters who need resources for various reasons have gathered in a mansion to play a very special game.

The game is played over several rounds. You win a round by getting rid of all your cards before your opponents. The first player to score 3 points wins the game.

Card strength is determined by the numerical value: 1 < 2 < 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 < 7 < 8. The higher the number, the stronger the card.

This game is colourblind accessible: each colour is associated with a symbol printed under the numbers on the cards.

The three ways to play cards

• Single card play — one card of any value. Examples: 1 · 4
• Multiple card play — two or more cards of the same value. Examples: 5 5 · 2 2 2
• Sequential play — three or more consecutive numbers of the same colour. Examples: 1 2 3 · 2 3 4 5

Components

• 56 Monster cards:
  • 33 Classic cards (11 per colour: red, blue, yellow)
  • 23 Special cards: 9 Plus cards (3 per colour), 7 Wild cards (multicoloured, numbered 2 to 8), 6 Stop cards (2 per colour) and 1 Stop & Wild card (multicoloured, value 1)
• 6 Point cards (front 1 pt / back 2 pt)
• 12 double-sided player aids

Setup

1. Deal 1 player aid to each player.
2. Shuffle all the Monster cards and deal them face down to each player, according to the player count:
   • 2 players: 11 cards in hand per half-round · draw pile 6 cards
   • 3 players: 14 cards in hand · draw pile 14 cards
   • 4 players: 12 cards in hand · draw pile 8 cards
   • 5 players: 10 cards in hand · draw pile 6 cards
   • 6 players: 9 cards in hand · no draw pile · 2 unused cards
3. Place the remaining Monster cards face down as a shared draw pile (except in a 6-player game).
4. Set the Point cards aside; they are used at the end of each round.
5. Choose the first player freely for the first round. Afterwards, the player to the left of the last first player becomes the new first player.

How to play

Players take turns clockwise. On your turn, you must do one of the following.

1. Play one or more cards — you must follow the previous combination, so play the same number of cards, but with higher values. You can use Plus cards to get there.
2. Pass and draw — if you cannot play, or strategically choose not to, say “pass”. Take the top card of the draw pile and add it to your hand. If the draw pile is empty, you still pass but take no card. On your next turn you can play or pass again.

Example — 2 3 5 can be answered with 3 4 5. A pair of 3s can be answered with 4 4 or 6 6. The sequence 2 3 4 can be answered with 3 4 5.

Continue until one player has played all of their cards.

End of the round and scoring

As soon as a player has used up all their cards, the round ends and only that player scores. Count the Special cards remaining in the other players' hands and in the shared draw pile:

The scoring player takes the matching Point cards to keep track of their score, then a new round begins from setup. The game ends as soon as a player reaches 3 points or more: that player wins.

2-player mode

With 2 players, every round is played in two halves.

1. At the start of each round, both players are dealt two separate hands of 11 cards: one for the first half, one for the second. Without looking at either, pick one up and set the other aside.
2. For the first half of the first round, choose the first player freely. At the end of that half, the losing player becomes the first player for the second half.
3. For the first half of the next round, the first player is the one who did not start the previous round.
4. As soon as a player runs out of cards, the current half ends and that player scores according to the number of Special cards remaining. Points are therefore awarded twice per round.

Download the rules

Game designer: Kenichi Kabuki · Illustrators: Sai Beppu & Makoto Takami · Graphic design: Stéphanie Lairet & Mariama Bah · Translation and text editing: Ambre Poilvé
© 2025 Musoka Studio — 58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France