Coloretto
Encyclopedia
Coloretto is a card game
designed by Michael Schacht
, originally published in 2003
. The game cards depict chameleon
s, showing that "a player may change his color many times during the game". Rules are provided in both English
and French
. The published game is designed for 3-5 players,
but rules for a two player version of the game are available at the Rio Grande Games website.
, that can be matched with any color of a player's choice. The important factor in Coloretto is that only three colors contribute positively towards a player's score, while any remaining colors count against their score. The three colors are chosen individually by each player (e.g. player 1 can score positively for green, yellow, and blue cards, while player 2 scores positively for brown, green, and pink).
There are also a number of "+2" cards which score 2 points independently of the colored cards.
Each player initially receives a card of a color, with no two players receiving the same color. The remaining cards are shuffled together, and a "last round" card is then placed fifteen cards from the bottom of the shuffled stack. There are a number of (initially empty) card rows equal to the number of players in the game. Coloretto provides "row markers" to easily track the rows, and to remind players who has taken a row (see below).
A player's turn consists of performing one of the following actions:
Once a player takes a row of cards, he or she is finished for that round and places the cards taken into his or her play area so that all other players can see them (adding them to other cards already in possession). The remaining players continue drawing/placing cards, subject to the "three-card" limit above, or taking rows themselves, until every player has taken a row of cards in that round. The player who took the last row begins the following round, with empty rows again at the start of the new round.
When the "last round" card has been drawn, play continues to the conclusion of that round, after which scoring is performed to determine a winner.
s, namely one card is worth 1 point, two cards are worth 3 points, three cards are worth 6 points, etc, up to six (or more) cards being worth 21 points.
Each "+2" card is worth 2 points.
The player with the highest total wins the game.
The game rules state that players need not match the wild cards with colors until the end of the game. One variation is that a player is required to decide the color of a wild card on the round that he or she takes it.
This means that "the card is still powerful, but not always an immediate grab".
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
designed by Michael Schacht
Michael Schacht
Michael Schacht is a German game designer, graphician and owner of the small publishing company Spiele aus Timbuktu.- Life and work :...
, originally published in 2003
2003 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2003. For video and console games, see 2003 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 2003:*International Gamers Award: Hammer of the Scots...
. The game cards depict chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
s, showing that "a player may change his color many times during the game". Rules are provided in both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. The published game is designed for 3-5 players,
but rules for a two player version of the game are available at the Rio Grande Games website.
Objective
Players collect cards in order to score points. There are seven colors of cards in Coloretto, together with three wild cards, or jokersJoker (playing card)
Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets.-Name:It is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Jucker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. The card was originally introduced in about 1860 for...
, that can be matched with any color of a player's choice. The important factor in Coloretto is that only three colors contribute positively towards a player's score, while any remaining colors count against their score. The three colors are chosen individually by each player (e.g. player 1 can score positively for green, yellow, and blue cards, while player 2 scores positively for brown, green, and pink).
There are also a number of "+2" cards which score 2 points independently of the colored cards.
Gameplay
(Note: The rules that follow assume there are four or five players. The only difference for three players is that one color of cards is removed from the deck before play begins.)Each player initially receives a card of a color, with no two players receiving the same color. The remaining cards are shuffled together, and a "last round" card is then placed fifteen cards from the bottom of the shuffled stack. There are a number of (initially empty) card rows equal to the number of players in the game. Coloretto provides "row markers" to easily track the rows, and to remind players who has taken a row (see below).
A player's turn consists of performing one of the following actions:
- (1) Draw a card and place it onto one of the (remaining) rows. Note that no row can have more than three cards placed on it.
- (2) Take a (non-empty) row of cards (and the "row marker" to indicate this action).
Once a player takes a row of cards, he or she is finished for that round and places the cards taken into his or her play area so that all other players can see them (adding them to other cards already in possession). The remaining players continue drawing/placing cards, subject to the "three-card" limit above, or taking rows themselves, until every player has taken a row of cards in that round. The player who took the last row begins the following round, with empty rows again at the start of the new round.
When the "last round" card has been drawn, play continues to the conclusion of that round, after which scoring is performed to determine a winner.
Scoring
As stated above, at the end of the game each player decides which three colors will score positively for him or her, with the other colors scoring negative points, and matches any wild cards in their possession to colored cards as desired. The points (positive or negative) for any single color are based on the triangular numberTriangular number
A triangular number or triangle number numbers the objects that can form an equilateral triangle, as in the diagram on the right. The nth triangle number is the number of dots in a triangle with n dots on a side; it is the sum of the n natural numbers from 1 to n...
s, namely one card is worth 1 point, two cards are worth 3 points, three cards are worth 6 points, etc, up to six (or more) cards being worth 21 points.
Each "+2" card is worth 2 points.
The player with the highest total wins the game.
Variant play
One (unofficial) variation on play concerns the wild cards.The game rules state that players need not match the wild cards with colors until the end of the game. One variation is that a player is required to decide the color of a wild card on the round that he or she takes it.
This means that "the card is still powerful, but not always an immediate grab".
External links
- Rio Grande Games' Coloretto page
- Coloretto review at FunandBoardgames.com
- Coloretto review at RPGnet