The Great Dalmuti
more than 4 Players
muti is easy
to learn and quick to play.
A game is best played with
5 to 8 players,
though you can play with 4 players,
or with more than 8 players.
The faster you get rid of
your cards,
the higher your social class
will be in the following hand.
Since your social class
is indicated by your seating,
each hand ends with players
changing seats to reflect
the new social order.
<Components>
The deck (80 cards)
The number that appears on
a card is called its rank.
The lower the rank,
the better the card is!
- 12 Peasants
- 11 Stonecutters
- 10 Shepherdess
- 9 Cooks
- 8 Masons
- 7 Seamstress
- 6 Knights
-5 Abbess
- 4 Baroness
- 3 Earl Marshal
- 2 Archbishop
- 1 Dalmuti
A card's rank also corresponds
to the number of cards of
its type in the deck.
The only exceptions are the Jesters,
which are wild cards.
When played alone,
Jesters are the worst ranked cards (13),
but when played along with
one or more other cards,
Jesters take on the value of
the other cards.
<Set Up>
Shuffle and fan the deck,
and let each player draw
and reveal a card.
The person who drew
the best card wins and
takes the seat of his or her choice.
To that person's left sits the person
who drew the second best card,
and so forth around the table.
Treat the Jesters as
the worst cards possible.
The winner of the draw is
the Greater Dalmuti.
The person to his or her left
is the Lesser Dalmuti.
The loser of the draw
is the Greater Peon.
The person to his or her right
is the Lesser Peon.
All other players are varying
classes of Merchants.
The Greater Peon collects
and shuffles the cards and
deals them to all the players,
starting with the Greater Dalmuti,
one at a time, clockwise around
the playing area until
the deck is exhausted.
Some players may get
more cards than others.
Players may collect and
organize their cards.
<Game Progress>
In each hand of The Great Dalmuti,
the object is to get rid of
your cards as soon as you can.
The faster you get rid of your cards,
the higher your social class
will be in the following hand.
If you get rid of your cards first,
you have the title Greater Dalmuti.
If you get rid of
all your cards second,
you take the seat to the left
of the Greater Dalmuti
during the next hand, and so forth.
If you are the last person
to get rid of all your cards
you become the Greater Peon
during the next hand
and are responsible for
shuffling, dealing, and collecting
the played cards.
Tax time gives the Greater
and Lesser Dalmutis
warm fuzzy feelings,
though it is a somewhat
less pleasant time for the Peons.
After examining his or her cards,
the Greater Dalmuti passes
any 2 cards from his or her hand
to the Greater Peon
and in exchange gets
the Greater Peon's best 2 cards
(the lowest).
The Jesters are considered
the worst cards.
Otherwise, the lower the rank,
the better the card.
At the same time,
the Lesser Dalmuti passes
the Lesser Peon any card
from his or her deck and
receives in exchange
the Lesser Peon's best card.
If a player is dealt both Jesters,
he or she may call a revolution.
A revolution means
there is no taxation,
to the disappointment of the Dalmutis,
and to the ill-concealed
delight of the Peons.
If the player declaring a revolution
is the Greater Peon,
then the revolution is called
a greater revolution.
In a greater revolution
all players exchange seats
with their opposites.
That is, the Greater Peon becomes
the Greater Dalmuti,
the Lesser Peon becomes
the Lesser Dalmuti, and so forth.
Each round starts with
the lead player playing
a set of one or more cards
of the same rank face-up.
Each player in order to
the left has the option
of either playing a set of
the same number of cards
of better rank, or passing.
Playing a better-ranked
set of cards is called topping
the previous play.
A player may choose
not to top the previous play.
Players continue topping
the previous plays or passing
until all players have opted to
pass a particular play.
This ends the round,
and the Greater Peon collects
the cards from the table.
The player who made
the last play then gets the lead
for the next round.
The Greater Dalmuti has the lead
in the first round of play.
The Jesters are wild cards
and can be used to extend sets.
A Jester played by itself
counts as a card with rank (13),
that is, a card ranked worse
than even a Peasants (12).
A player who has played
his or her last card is said
to have gone out.
The player who goes out
first wins the hand and
becomes the Greater Dalmuti
in the next deal.
The second person to go out
sits to the left of
the Greater Dalmuti and
becomes the Lesser Dalmuti,
and so on around the table.
If no one tops the last play
a player makes when going out,
then the lead passes clockwise
to the next player who still
has cards in his or her hand.
<How to Finish the Game>
Each hand of The Great Dalmuti
is played for its own sake,
becoming the Greater Dalmuti
is winning and becoming
the Greater Peon is losing,
and all the other players
are somewhere in between.
The Great Dalmuti, like life,
is not fair, and so it is often
difficult to hold your position,
let alone move up in rank.
Players are encouraged to
act out their status
as they see fit,
making the Dalmutis arrogant,
or perhaps magnanimous.
The Peons may be played as
subservient or defiant,
while the Merchants may try
and schmooze with
the upper classes while
snubbing the lower.
<Optional Rules>
Players may wish to
incorporate one or more
of the following variations
into their game :
First Deal Revolution
The first deal automatically
has a revolution,
and so no taxes are collected.
If the Greater Peon
is dealt both Jesters,
he or she may still call
a greater revolution as usual.
More Appropriate Seating
Arrange the playing area
with ranked seating,
so the Greater Dalmuti
has the most desirable or
comfortable seat,
the Lesser Dalmuti,
a nice seat as well,
the Merchants,
fairly ordinary seats,
and the Peons,
less comfortable seats.
Some players have the Greater Peon
sit on something improvised,
such as a suitcase or box,
or even on the floor.
Stripped Decks For
4 or 5 Players
When playing with few players
you may want to strip out
some cards so you
have fewer to hold.
With four players, strip out
all the Peasants and Stonecutters.
With five players,
strip out the Peasants.
Scoring
After each hand,
a player scores 1 point for
every person he or she
beat going out.
Set a predetermined number
of hands to play,
and the person with
the highest score
at the end wins.
Twenty games is
a fine number to play,
though thirty or forty are good
if you have a whole night to fill.
Philanthropic Scoring
In addition to
the above scoring rule,
the Greater Dalmuti gets 1 point
if the Greater Peon
goes up in status,
and the Lesser Dalmuti gets
1 point if the Lesser Peon
goes up in status.
Other Status Symbols and Perks
Give all the players hats
indicating their ranks :
a crown for the Greater Dalmuti
and a straw hat for
the Peon, for example.
Give the Greater Dalmuti
a carnation.
Allow the Greater Dalmuti
first choice of the jellybeans,
the Lesser Dalmuti, second choice,
and so forth, so that
the Greater Peon only gets
the bubblegum flavored jellybeans.
Merchant Exchange
During taxation, the highest-class
Merchant may choose to
exchange a single card
blindly with another Merchant.
Misdeals
If the Greater Peon
accidentally exposes
a card while dealing,
the Greater Dalmuti
decides whether it goes to
the person to whom
it was dealt to or
to the Greater Peon.
If the card is given
to the Greater Peon,
then he replaces the card with
one randomly drawn
from his or her hand.
Social