Five Cucumbers


2 - 6 players


Five Cucumbers is a trick taking game

with the goal of NOT winning the last trick!

You have two choices on your turn :

Take over a trick by playing a high card

or discard your lowest card.








If you can scan the QR code above,

you can also see it on your mobile!








<Components>


- 60 playing cards

(four of each value from

"1" to "15")




- 30 cucumbers









<Set Up>



Place the cucumbers on the table,

so everybody can reach them.

Shuffle all 60 cards

and deal 7 cards to each player.

You do not need the remaining cards

for this round, set them aside.

In the first round,

the youngest player leads the first trick.






<Game Progress>



Five Cucumbers is played for several rounds.

Each round consists of seven tricks.


The goal

: do NOT win the last (seventh) trick.


The winner of the seventh trick takes

his score in cucumbers!

Than all cards are shuffled

and a new round is dealt.

The youngest player leads the first trick.

Then, the winner of the former trick

always leads the next trick.

After the first card is played,

each player in clockwise order

plays a card in front of himself.

You may play any card to lead the trick.

The other players have the choice

between the following two options :


1. They may play a card with the same

or higher number than the highest card

already played in this trick, 

or

2. They must play their card

with the lowest number.


The player who plays the highest card,

wins the trick and leads the next trick.

If several cards are played with the same number

and that number is the highest played,

the last person playing that number wins the trick.


ex)

Mary starts the trick with an “8“. 

Philip plays a “10“. 

Hazel cannot or does not want to play a higher card, 

so she is forced to play her lowest card, a “3“. 

Finally, Cordelia plays a “10“ and wins the trick. 

Cordelia then leads the next trick.



- Ranking

: “1“ is the lowest card,

“15“ is the highest card.

There are no suits in this game.

So you are never forced to follow suit.


- 0 - 5 Cucumbers

: This is the number of cucumbers

the player is forced to take,

if he wins the last trick with one of these cards.


- “2x“

: If somebody plays a “1“ in the last trick,

the number of cucumbers the player

is forced to take is doubled.








<How to Finish the Game>



The player winning the last (seventh) trick

must take cucumbers.

His winning card shows the number of cucumbers,

he is forced to take :


1 : 0 cucumbers

2 - 5 : 1 cucumber

6 - 9 : 2 cucumbers

10 - 11 : 3 cucumbers

12 - 14 : 4 cucumbers

15 : 5 cucumbers


If at least one player plays

a “1“ during the final trick,

the winner of the trick must take

twice the number of cucumbers!

Each player keeps cucumbers

from round to round.

If a player acquires more than

five cucumbers in total, he is out of the game.

Five Cucumbers are the most you can have!

In this way, more and more players

are eliminated from the game

until the final two are playing for victory!


The player who won the last round

leads the next trick.

If that player won too many cucumbers

and is out of the game,

the player sitting to his left leads the next trick.