Flamboyance Game Rules

2 – 5 players

Goal: 

To win, be the first player to play three different coloured sets. 

A set is three cards of the same colour. 

Each colour also has a matching icon, to aid players with colour blindness. 

Set-up: 

Remove the jokers, and shuffle the deck of cards. 

Deal three cards to each player. 

The player that has won something most recently, such as a game of Flamboyance, will go last. 

Play in a clockwise manner, starting with the player on the left of the player that has won something most recently. 

How to play: 

At the beginning of your turn, draw two new cards. 

You can then play up to two actions. 

An action is to either: 

• Use the ability on a card, and then discard it. 
• Play a set of three cards of the same colour.
  • Sets must be complete to be played. (i.e. you must have all three cards of the same colour to play the set). 
  • Place the completed set of 3 colours in front of you, with the cards face up to play the set. If you later manage to ‘protect the set’, you will turn the set sideways (horizontally) to indicate that it can’t be stolen or reshuffled.
  • Remember, to win you need to play three sets of different colours. You can never have two sets of the same colour in front of you. That means you can’t steal a set from another player if it is the same colour as a set you have already got placed front of you.

You may choose to only play one, or no actions if you wish—sometimes it is more advantageous to save your cards for later. 

At the end of your turn, you may have a maximum of seven cards.

If you have more than seven cards at the end of your turn, you must discard excess cards until you have a maximum of seven cards left in your hand. 

Special actions: 

Protect a set: If you have played a set, you can protect it by using certain cards such as the coalition of cheetahs. Turn a completed set of your choice horizontally to indicate that it cannot be stolen or reshuffled. 

Steal a set: Some cards can be played to allow you to take a completed set from in front of another player—as long as their set isn’t protected. Note that you cannot have two sets of the same colour.

Re-arrange: Some cards allow you to privately look at the next six cards in the deck, and re-arrange them in any order you wish.

Shuffle a set: Some cards can be played to disrupt other players by shuffling one of their completed sets back into the deck—as long as their set isn’t protected. Place the set of choice into the deck and shuffle. 

Miss a turn: Pay attention as to whether the card says ‘the next player’ will miss their turn, or whether you get to choose a player to miss a turn. 

Avoid any action: You can play an avoid any action card whenever a player plays a card that will directly impact you. This will allow you, and only you, to avoid whatever ability is used against you. For example, if a player plays ‘shuffle the cards from every player’, you can avoid your cards being taken but the rest of the players will still be impacted. As an example, you can avoid missing a shot, having your cards stolen, or players looking at your cards.

Note that you cannot avoid the ‘band of gorillas’ card. 

Combine cards: Some cards allow you combine everyones’ cards, shuffle them, and deal them equally. This includes the cards belonging to the player that uses this card. When played, the player should redeal the cards equally, starting with themselves.

Identify card: Some cards ask you to ‘identify’ a card. This means, you will have to name the full group name and animal: i.e. “A tower of giraffes”. You must correctly pair the group name and animal on the card to gain it.
The wombats card will force other players to name an animal in their hand (e.g. ‘Giraffes’) and the player using the card would need to correctly state the group name on their first guess (e.g. ‘A tower’). 

The bears card will force other players to name a group name from their hand (e.g. ‘A tower’) and the player using the card would need to correctly state the group name on their first guess (e.g. ‘Giraffes’). 

The hawks card will allow the player to guess any card from the discard pile, and if they correctly state the full group name and animal on their first guess, they will get the card if it is in the discard pile (e.g “A tower of giraffes”). 

Reverse order: In 3-5 players, some cards allow you to reverse the order from clockwise to anti-clockwise at the end of your turn. In 2 player games there is no effect. 

Ask for colours: The Whoop of Chimpanzees card allows you to pick a player, and name a colour. The chosen player must give you all cards of that colour from their hand. Rainbow cards only need to be handed over if the player has specifically asked for rainbows. 

Band of Gorillas: If you have this card in your hand when another player plays their final, third set of cards, you can automatically play this to force them to reshuffle that final set back into the deck—keeping the game alive.

Cannot discard: Some cards have no ability, and cannot be discarded. You can, however, give these to other players when given the option to swap or remove cards. If you have more than seven cards at the end of your turn, the ‘cannot discard’ cards must stay in your hand.

Rainbow cards: You can use rainbow cards as part of any coloured set. Three rainbows form a rainbow set if desired, whereas two rainbows and one blue or one rainbow and two blues would be a blue set. 

Joker cards: You can add joker cards to the pack to add your own custom rules. Agree what the jokers will do before the game. For example, you may let jokers allow a player to draw cards until they have seven cards in their hand. 

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