Connections
(The first step to advanced games should be preceded by
at least 1 or 2 hands of
Region Rummy.)
Object: To score through partnerships with other players where cities of two regions are joined into a larger set with a connecting city.
Number of Players: 3 to 6. Card Deck and Dealing: Use all 42 regional cards plus the 13 white cen-tered linking city cards. Either side of each card may be played. Take turns as dealer; deal according to how many are playing:
3 players - 8 cards to each player
4 players - 7 cards to each player
5 players - 6 cards to each player
6 players - 5 cards to each player
Place the rest of the cards in the center for the draw pile. A discard pile is created as players draw and discard. Each player selects a color and takes 12 game tokens of that color.
Play: Player to the left of the dealer goes first and either draws a card and discards into the discard pile, or plays down 3 cards of the same color. Other players do the same, in turn. When a 3-card set is played, the player finishes the turn by drawing the top card from either the main deck or the discard pile. Any time a card is played, that player places a game token on that city on the world map game board.
Links: White-centered cards are valuable .links. that can be added to a 3-card set when they have a color section matching the color of the 3-card set. For example, Chicago can be added to 3-card set of Atlantic North America or Pacific North America. Some connectors join 3 regions. For example, Gibraltar can be added to card sets of Western Europe, Mediterranea or Africa. After adding a linking card to a set, a player can add a single card matching another section of the linking card on his/her next turn.
Partnerships: A player who has played a linking card can invite another player to join in a partnership by playing a card from an adjoin-ing region. When a partnership is formed both players can proceed to play single cards of the regions linked by the colors on the white-centered connector card.
All partnerships are organizations of 2 players only, connected by a white-centered linking card. However, the regional cards of a single player can be used by that player in a second partnership.
For example, player Anton with Western Asia cards is in a partnership with player Boris who has Eastern Europe cards. They are linked by Istanbul. Player Kathy with Southeast Asia cards invites Anton to join a partnership around Lahore. At the end of the round Anton's Western Asia cards add to the value with of the partnership with Boris, and the same cards add to the value of his partnership with Kathy. But Kathy and Boris share no points even if Boris holds a stray card of Southeast Asia or Kathy a stray card of Eastern Europe. In the case of a 3-colored linking card, the two partners (and only two) can score by playing cards of three regions.
Trading: Trading can happen between two players, when it is not either player's turn. Trades are agreed upon and accomplished during a third player's turn. All trades must be one-for-one.
Ending the Round: Any player can announce that the round is over as long as all players have had at least 6 turns. The announcement must be made before the player would ordinarily take a turn, and that player has no more turns. All other players then get 2 more turns, the round is then over and the scores are counted (see below). This does not apply to the final round: the last round dealt. The final round of the game is over when on two successive turns by all players, no one is able to play down a card. If a player cannot make a play the next player simply proceeds in playing.
| Cards |
1 | 2 | 3 |
4 | 5 | 6 |
7 | 8 | 9 |
10 | 11 |
| Points |
0 | -20 | 4 |
8 | 15 | 30 |
60 | 125 | 250 |
500 | 1000 |
Ending the Game: The game is over when all players have dealt one round each. If agreed upon ahead of time, this rule can be modified by the players so that each player deals more than one round. This modification is more reasonable with a small number of players. With six players, each player dealing only one round is generally preferable.
Scoring: With card sets potentially as large as 11 (two complete regions plus a connecting white-centered card) points can go quite high, and so can the penalty for unplayed pairs. Points for various sets are scored as follows: Only the cards played down count for points. Except for unplayed pairs, cards in a player's hand when a round is ended have no value. The point value of any partnership is split between the partners. When splitting an odd number of points, the odd number goes to the partner who played the linking card. Players cooperate to form partnerships, but at the game's end, points are calculated for each player individually.
Only the cards played down count for points. Except for unplayed pairs (having negative points), cards in a player's hand have no value when a round ends. The point value of any partnership is split between the partners. When splitting an odd number of points, the odd number goes to the partner who played the linking card. Players cooperate to form partnerships, but in scoring points are calculated for each player individually.
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