A fast-paced challenge for the whole family that combines THREE exciting games — word, battle & board game — into one madcap romp!
Any card game can give you one game. Any card game can give you several games, played one at a time. But only Mike & Joe’s Card Game gives you and your friends and family three games at once!
How M&JCG works
The object of M&JCG is to be the first player to gather seven cards of the same color/suit — red card with flying saucers, blue cards with banjos or green cards with pirate swords.
Each card in the deck has the components for each of the three games, along with a banner identifying one of those games.
Here is a seemingly and scarily complicated infographic of the various elements on the M&JCG cards:
In a nutshell: The yellow letters are for the game Patter, the silhouette battle icons are for the game Peril and the two white spaces at the bottom of the card are for the game Pointz.
To begin, each player is dealt a hand of three cards. Your hand will both gain and lose cards throughout the game. Three cards are placed face-up on the table to begin the Prize Pool. The rest of the deck becomes the Draw Deck.
At the beginning of each turn, each player places a card from their hand face-down in front of them. These are the Player Cards, the cards that are at stake that turn. The current player then reveals the top card on the Draw Deck. This is the House Card, which reveals the game to be played that turn, either Patter, Peril or Pointz. The current player then plays the game indicated. At the end of the turn, any unclaimed Player Cards are returned to their owners’ hands. If the House Card is unclaimed, it is added to the Prize Pool. Play then moves to the left.
PatterThe object of Patter is to create, in the time limit given, a single word of at least three letters from the large, yellow letters on all revealed cards.
Your opponents will be counting down your time. To remind them not to count too fast, the time limit is superimposed upon a silhouette of the state of Mississippi.
As in, “Five Mississippi, four Mississippi, three Mississippi …!“
If you create a word in the allotted time, you win all the cards used in the creation of that word. If you fail to create a word, you lose a card to the Prize Pool.
(We’ve sprinkled some crazy symbols among the letters to add some distraction and confusion!)
Peril
Peril pits player vs. player in a challenge to see who has the strongest card. The victor of the Peril Battle receives the Peril Prize, a hefty reward of valuable cards.
There are three battle icons: Meteors, Dinosaurs, and the Astronaut.
- Meteors kill the Dinosaurs.
- Dinosaurs eat the Astronaut.
- The Astronaut flies into space and destroys the Meteor in some heroic fashion.
When the House Card on your turn reveals that you’re playing Peril, you are the Tournament Director, inviting your opponents to challenge you for the Peril Prize. If more than one opponent wishes to challenge, you must conduct Semifinals, quick icon-vs.-icon battles of their Player Cards to see who gets to compete for the Peril Prize. The last challenger standing then goes against your Battle Icon. The winner gets the Peril Prize, either two or three cards.
Pointz
Pointz is a board game, the object of which is to gain cards through observation and quick action. Don’t worry, the game board and the dice are on the cards.
Use your finger as your playing token, moving around the game board spaces on the various Player Cards, and then following the instructions on the destination space.
The two spaces on the lower half of all Player Cards combine in a Pointz game to make the “game board.” Start with the right-hand square on your card (that’s square one) and move clockwise.
Most of the spaces are pointing instructions. For instance, you might be given six seconds (a “Mississippi countdown,” just like Patter) to point at any object in the room beginning with the letter G. Or at a red article of clothing. If you can point to the indicated object in time, you win the number of cards indicated on the square. If you can’t, you lose a card to the Prize Pool.
Special Instructions
Some of the cards have Special Instructions, which take effect in that particular turn as soon as the House Card is revealed. For example, the House Card might reveal the special instruction, “Increase card prize/penalty by 1” in that turn’s game of Pointz. Or, in a game of Patter, you might see a lineup of forbidden letters, or a Wild Card Letter, which will help you in the construction of a word. In a game of Peril you might be instructed to shuffle all of the Prize Pool cards back into the Draw Deck and deal three new Prize cards.
FAQ
What does “Punto Blanco” mean? Quick story: Mike & Joe had one last Pointz square to fill, so Mike said, “Let’s just have the player point to a white item.” Joe said, “Fine, but let’s put it in Spanish, just to throw them off.” (Joe gets ideas like that.) Unfortunately their first pass at Google Translate threw them off a bit, as players more skilled in Spanish informed them that “Punto Blanco” was closer to “blank point” or “blank dot.” The space will be edited in future releases, making the “Punto Blanco Edition” worth millions of $$ in the collectibles market. In the meantime, just point at something white.
Is the House Card considered a Prize Card? One of the red Peril cards says, “Return all red Prize Cards to Draw Deck.” Would that House Card be included in that instruction? Here’s how the Prize Pool works: When it comes time to collect a prize, all revealed cards at that point are considered part of the Prize Pool. That includes Prize Pool cards, Player Cards (if revealed) and the House Card. Until then, however, the House Card is simply the House Card, so it would not be included in that Special Instruction.
Check out the video below to see Mike & Joe’s Card Game in play.
Buy the game!
Mike & Joe’s Card Game costs only $15 plus shipping per set. Order it at the Games of Ghoulash Store!