Devious is an anti-set collection card game. Build the strongest faerie alliance over five rounds and claim the crown. To do so you must play and hold in your tableau a single faerie from each of the faerie tribes, of the highest rank possible. But be wary, a second faerie of a given tribe negates your score - and more than two plunges your score into the negatives. Seek only the highest ranking faerie from each tribe for the strongest alliance possible. But each tribe has a unique power and the ability to manipulate faeries from around the table, including your own. Gaining the upper hand will be both chaotic and devious.
To set up before the game, players decide which six faerie tribes to use in the game from the 13 suits included in the box. They can be mixed and matched so game play varies from game to game.
In each round, all players are dealt three cards. But interestingly, they are not yours, they are your opponents. You look at them, decide the order in which to stack them - and therefore in which order your opponent will later encounter them, then pass that stack in the direction of play. Likewise, you'll receive your stack in the same way.
Then look at the top card of the three-card stack and announce your intention to keep the card for your tableau or discard it, hoping for a better card your opponent may have buried deeper. If you choose to keep, discard the remaining stack of cards, without seeing them. If you choose to discard, look at the second card and choose to keep or discard. If the first two are discarded, the third card MUST be played. Did your opponent trick you into playing the worst card at the bottom of the stack. Was the best card the first card, which you discarded?
Once everyone has chosen their faerie card for the round, they are played in order of their Rank. The highest Rank plays their card into their tableau and executes the faerie's ability. Some Faerie Powers are only important for scoring purposes at the end of the game. Others have effects that target one or more faeries in play. A cunning player may choose to pass on a high ranking faerie for an ability that is more powerful when played later.
After the fifth round, players score each faerie suit in their alliances:
1 card of a Tribe: Score its Rank (from 1 to 5, depending on the card).
2 cards of the same Tribe: Score 0 points.
3-4 cards of a given Tribe: Lose points equal to the highest Ranking faerie in the Tribe.
5 or more cards of a Tribe: Score the summed value of all the fairies in the Tribe.
The player with the highest favor score wins.
Then, change the faerie bands in the deck, with their own unique powers for a new challenge and constant variety in play.
