Ligretto Rules

Ligretto is a card and speed game for several players. The game can be played by anyone who’s 8 or older. The object of Ligretto is to get rid of as many cards as possible to collect the highest number of points.

Note

• Ligretto is sold in a box.
• The number of players determines the number of boxes to play with.
• There are 3 boxes of different colors: blue, green and red.

Contents of a Box

• 4 decks of cards

The Deck

• A deck differs from another as it has different symbols and colored backs. The symbols are pyramids, spheres, cubes and crystals.

The cards

• A deck contains 40 cards, of 4 different colors, numbered from 1 to 10.

Setup

• Take 1 deck of cards each.
• Shuffle your deck.
• Draw 3 cards, which you will line up one by one, the number visible in front of you. This is the row.
• For a 3-player game, the row consists of 4 cards.
• For a 2-player game, the row consists of 5 cards.
• Draw 10 cards, which you will place, number visible, to the right of the row. This is the Ligretto draw pile.
• Keep the rest of the cards hidden. Those cards are your hand.

Object of the Game

• The object of the game is to earn the maximum number of points.
• To do this:
• Play the cards in ascending order and in the same suit.
• Play all the cards in your row.

Gameplay

• Ligretto is a speed game, therefore everyone plays at the same time. There are no turns.
• At the signal “Ligretto” the game begins.
• At the start of the game, everyone who can play places the “1” card in the center of the table.
• Since the players are playing at the same time, sometimes several cards are played simultaneously.
• Then play your cards by placing them in ascending order and in the same suit.
• The played card can be taken from the row, the Ligretto draw pile or the hand.
• As soon as a card from the row is played, it must be replaced by a card from the Ligretto deck.
• If a player cannot play a card from their row nor play a card from their Ligretto deck, they must play a card from their hand.
• To do this, they draw 3 cards.
• The 3 drawn cards are discarded.
• Only the top card of the discard pile can be played.
• As long as the player does not find their card, they continue to draw 3 cards from their hand and discard.
• If the player’s hand is exhausted, the player takes back the discard pile.
• The cards played will eventually form a stack.
• As soon as a stack reaches 10 cards, it is considered complete.

End of the Round

• As soon as a player uses up their Ligretto draw pile, they announce “Ligretto Stop!”.
• Then, you proceed to counting the points.

Counting the Points

• Sort the played cards by symbol.
• Every card played earns 1 point.
• Each unplayed card from the Ligretto draw pile causes the player to lose 2 points.
• Add up the points won and lost.
• Play again

End of the Game

• When the score determined at the beginning of the game is reached.
• When the tricks determined at the beginning of the game are played.

Expert Variation

• You can add cards from the Ligretto hand and draw pile to the row.
• The cards are placed on top of each other in descending order and in different colors.