Cross Kings is a two player card game. It uses a small deck — Ace through 8 in every suit, plus the four Kings, 36 cards in all. Over the course of a game you each collect cards from a grid, and at the end you score the cards in your hand for runs and sets. The player with more points wins.
The 36 cards are dealt into a 6×6 grid. The cards on the two diagonals are dealt face down; every other card is face up.
A single marker — a blue dot — sits on the grid and shows the current position. It starts on one of the four central cards. The player who is not moving first chooses which of the four central face-down cards to start the marker on at the start of the game
When the marker has been placed, the game starts and players take alternating turns. On your turn you move the marker to any card in the same row or column as its current cell, and collect that card into your hand. You must move the marker on the very first turn — you can't take the card the marker starts on
Taking a card leaves a gap in the grid. The marker can slide straight over any gaps left by cards already taken, so it can still reach a card further along the same row or column.
The game ends when the marker is left with no card remaining in its row or column — there is nowhere left to move. Both players then score the cards they have collected.
Both hands are open the whole game: you can always see which cards your opponent has taken. When a face-down card is collected, it is revealed to both players.
At the end, each player scores the cards they collected. You earn points for two kinds of group:
Runs — consecutive cards of the same suit.
Sets — cards that share the same rank.
A single card can count towards a run and a set at the same time. A group needs at least three cards to score: three cards are worth 3 points, and every additional card beyond that adds another 2 points.
| Run or set length | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 11 |
| 8 | 13 |
A King can stand in for any card to help complete a run or a set, whichever scores you the most. There is a catch: each King that forms part of a scoring group makes that group worth one point less than it otherwise would be.
Any Kings you collect will be automatically placed in the highest scoring positions for you as you play
Your total score is the sum of every run and set you can form from your hand. The higher total wins; equal totals are a draw.
This is what other players and spectators will see instead of "Player 1" / "Player 2".