On January 29th, 2025, I had a dream that ended with an incomprehensible card game with arcane rules and bizarre turns of order, woke up 2 hours before my alarm went off, and wrote the rules for "Mayflower."

Mayflower is a courtisan war game using two playing card decks. The goal is to get the diamonds or eliminate all other players.

These rules have not been play-tested at all.

Preparing Decks

• 3 players may play with one Deck
• 4 to 6 players play with two decks
• Remove all Court cards in the Diamond suit
• Separate all number cards from Court cards
• Jokers are shuffled in with the number cards

Suits, Numerals, and Court Cards

Suits and Numeral Cards

Numeral cards are used to attack, defend, heal, and determine wealth.

The number values directly contribute to whatever you are trying to do:

Hearts - heal after combat and before player elimination
Clubs - attack other players
Spades - defend from attacks
Diamonds - the objective of attacks; determines wealth

Aces count as 10, not 1.

Jokers

Jokers are shuffled and drawn with the numeral cards; however, they can be played at any time to counter any single player action. Once played, they are discarded from the entire game.

Court Cards

Court cards (also called Royals) give the players different bonuses in a given season based on their rank and suit.
Their abilities and bonuses only persist for the season they are drawn in.

Three or More Players

Jack - Front Line Leadership; +2 morale boost to one Club attack and one Spade defense.
Queen - Diplomacy; call another player to defend one attack against you.
King - Enemy of my Enemy; Redirect one attack by another player to another player.

Two Player

Jack - Front Line Leadership; +2 morale boost to one Club attack and one Spade defense.
Queens - Sultry Looks; Change opponent Aces from 10s to 1s.
Kings - King's Hoard; You do not have to play Diamond cards during the Court phase.

The suit of the Royal card gives the player a +1 bonus to each played card in their category (e.g., a King of Hears would give the player a +1 for all played Hearts).

Play

Players begin with 20 hitpoints (HP). If a player loses all of their HP, they are eliminated from the game.

Seasons

The game is played over 4 seasons. Each season is composed of 7 phases.

Players begin the game by drawing a Royal card and placing it before them.
Then they draw 7 number cards to their hand, and do not share them with other players.

Phases

1. Court
   1. In a display of wealth to other players, all Diamond cards in a players hand are played face up behind their Royal.
2. Fortify
   1. Players may place one spade in front of their royal tapped.^[1] This card defends against all attacks for half its value (rounded down to a minimum of 1), reducing the attack value by that amount.^[2]
3. Attack
   1. Players may place one or more Club cards in front of the Royal(s) they wish to attack, with each card counting as an individual attack.
   2. A player may attack two or more different players by placing one or more Clubs in front of each they are attacking.
   3. The attack total is based on the number on the card, with any bonuses from the Court card. If the defending player has a Fortification, reduce the attack total by the fortification number.
4. Defend
   1. Attacked players may deploy Spades to counter attacking Clubs.
   2. Only one Spade may be used to counter one Club, and only a spade of equal or greater value to the final attack number can be used to parry an attack.
   3. If the attack is fended off, it fails, and the attacker gains nothing. If the attack succeeds, the attacker moves into the Pillage phase.
   4. A player being attacked may request help from another player in exchange for a Favor.
      1. A Favor allows you to call on that player to help in an attack or defense before the cards are played in the respective round.
      2. Favors are tracked by token or written agreement and persist between seasons.
      3. Diamonds gained from attacks played as a Favor go to the attacker, not the person who called the Favor.
      4. Favors may be traded between players for Diamond cards or Actions (attacks or defences)
         1. A player may buy back their Favor in this way.
5. Pillage
   1. Successful attackers have a chance to pillage Diamond cards from their victim.
   2. In order from the lowest attack value to the highest attack value, attackers take the lowest value Diamond card from the victim.
      1. This means that if there are fewer Diamonds than attacks, the highest value attacks may not get any loot.
      2. Looted Diamonds are added to the attackers hand.
         1. Only active cards can be taken; not the gains from other pillage attempts.
   3. Finally, players lose hitpoints equal to the final damage dealt.^[3]
6. Rebuild
   1. Before a player is determined to be eliminated, they may play hearts to restore hitpoints.
   2. A player may offer a Favor in exchange for healing.
7. Begin Again
   1. All clubs, hearts, and spades that are shown on the table are returned to the Numbers deck and shuffled. Players retain all numbered Diamond cards and any cards in their hand.
   2. All Royal cards are returned to the Court cards and shuffled.
   3. Players draw a new Royal card and place it before them.
   4. Players draw a new hand of number cards equal to n-1, n being the number of cards drawn from the previous round.
   5. The next seasons begins.

Ending the Game

The game concludes after the 4th season, or all but one player is eliminated. There are two modes of success:

1. The player with the highest summed total of Diamonds wins the game.
2. The last player standing wins the game.