Twelve face-down cards, from -2 to 12. Draw, swap, flip, line up three matching values to swallow a whole column. The lowest total wins.
Each player dives into the abyss with twelve cards laid out in three rows and four columns, all face down.
At the end of the game, the player with the lowest running total wins. Values run from -2 to 12: negative cards lighten your dive, high ones weigh you down.
The deck holds 150 cards: five -2s, ten -1s, fifteen 0s, then ten copies of every value from 1 to 12.
Each player is dealt twelve cards face down, then one card is turned over to open the discard pile. The rest forms the draw pile.
At the start of EVERY round, each player flips two cards of their choice. Whoever reveals the highest sum opens the round — on a tie, the highest single card decides. That choice matters as much in the last round as in the first.
On your turn you “probe”: either you take the face-up card on top of the discard pile, or you draw a face-down card from the draw pile, or you simply flip one of your still-hidden cards — and your turn ends there.
A card taken from the discard pile has to be placed on one of your twelve spaces: the card it replaces goes to the discard pile, face up.
A card you draw leaves you a choice: place it on a space (the card it replaces goes to the discard pile), or discard it outright — in which case you must flip one of your still-hidden cards.
Placing a card always reveals the space underneath, whether it was hidden or already face up.
Flipping a card without taking anything costs nothing and gains nothing: it is how you open up your grid when neither the discard pile nor the luck of the draw suits you. But every space you reveal brings you closer to closing the round, and that is a commitment.
The discard pile is open: at any time you can look through every card that has passed through it, from the most recent to the oldest.
Nothing in it is secret — all those cards were played face up in front of the whole table. Looking through it gives no hidden advantage: it simply saves you from memorizing everything, and puts card counting within everyone’s reach.
It is valuable information: if the deck’s five -2s have already gone, there is no point hoping to draw one. Careful, though — when the draw pile runs out, the discard pile is shuffled back into it and the count starts over.
As soon as the three cards of one column are face up and share the same value, the column is swallowed: the three cards go to the discard pile and those spaces stop counting toward your score.
This is the central tactical lever: three 12s lined up cost 36 points… or nothing at all if you manage to complete the column.
The round stops as soon as one player has no face-down cards left. Every other player then takes one last turn, and everyone turns their remaining cards over.
Each player adds up the face-up values in their grid. And there is a trap: if the player who closed the round does not have the strictly lowest total, their score is DOUBLED. A tie is enough to trigger the penalty, but a score of zero or below is never doubled.
Rounds follow one another and the scores add up. As soon as one player reaches or passes 100 points, the game stops at the end of the current round.
The player with the lowest total wins the game. On a tie, the win is shared.