Welcome to 4-Player Xeri!

Hey there! I’m here to tell you all about 4-Player Xeri, a super fun fishing card game for 4 players. The goal of the game is to score more points than your opponent by matching card ranks. Cool, right?

So, here’s how we play. We’re gonna have two teams, and you and your partner will sit across from each other. It’s gonna be a blast!

Before we get started, let’s all agree on how many rounds we want to play. We want to make sure everyone’s on the same page, right?

Let’s Set It Up!

Alright, so we gotta choose the first dealer, and it’s gonna be totally random. The dealer’s role is a tough one, so let’s mix things up and make it fair!

Once we’ve got our dealer, they’ll shuffle the deck. Then, the player to the dealer’s right will cut the deck. The dealer will deal each of us a 6-card hand. And hey, check this out – there’ll be 4 additional cards placed face up in the middle between us. The rest of the cards will form a stockpile on the side. It’s all coming together now!

Let me explain how the game works. The 4 cards dealt in the center of the table will make up the play pile. If any two cards in the play pile have the same rank or if the top card is a jack, the pile gets reshuffled into the stock, and a new play pile is dealt.

Ranking the Cards

We don’t use a ranking system for the cards in this game.

How to Play

The game begins with the player who sits to the left of the dealer and then goes in a clockwise direction. On your turn, you need to play one card from your hand onto the play pile. When you do this, different things can happen. You might capture the play pile, add to it, or even create a whole new play pile.

When playing the game, there’s a way to win cards called capturing. I can capture the play pile by playing a card with the same rank as the top card on the pile. I can also capture the pile by playing a jack on a pile that already has cards in it. When I capture the pile, I take all the cards and put them in my team’s scoring pile. The captured cards are kept face down, and I can’t look at them again until the game is over.

If the card I play doesn’t capture the pile, it just stays on top of the pile.

If there isn’t a play pile yet, I can start a new one by playing any card. This also creates the possibility of a Xeri.

Have you ever heard of a Xeri? It’s a special occurrence in the game when there’s only one card left in the play pile, and the player who goes next captures it with a card of the same rank. When this happens, the captured card is placed face up and perpendicular in the scoring pile, so you never forget it’s a Xeri. The best part is, Xeris give you extra points!

The game keeps going until all the players’ hands are empty. Then the dealer deals each player a new hand of six cards, and the cycle continues until there are no more cards left in the stock or the players’ hands.

At the end of each round, the last player to capture a card from the layout gets to score any remaining cards left on the table.

SCORING

When the round is finished, teams will tally up their score piles. You get 3 points if your team captured the most cards. For each Ace, King, Queen, Jack, or 10 that you captured, you earn 1 point. If your team captures the 2 of clubs, you get 1 point, and if you capture the 10 of diamonds, you also get 1 point.

If you manage to capture an Xeri, it’s worth a whopping 10 points. But if you snag a jack as your Xeri, it’s worth an impressive 20 points!

If there’s a tie for capturing the most cards, neither team gets the 3 points.

The team that scores the most points in a round wins.

GAME OVER

The game ends once the predetermined number of rounds is reached. The team with the most round wins becomes the final winner!

VARIATIONS

There are different ways to play both in a 4-player game and in traditional Xeri.

When it comes to playing this card game, I’ve discovered a few interesting variations that you might find intriguing. Let’s dive right in!

The first variation has to do with how we cut the deck. In some playgroups, when the deck is cut, the person cutting the deck shows all of us the bottom card. If they happen to see a jack, they continue looking at the next card until they find one that is not a jack. This non-jack card then becomes the new bottom card.

The second variation deals with the initial set up of the play pile. In this variation, we are allowed to have the top two cards of the play pile be of the same rank. We can even start the play pile with a jack as the top card.

Now, let’s move on to the third variation, which alters the rules of Xeri slightly. With this rule, the last card played by the dealer can never be a Xeri, even if it captures a lone card. It adds an extra layer of strategy to the game!

The fourth and final variation revolves around scoring Xeris. Normally, a Xeri is worth 20 points, but in this variation, if a Xeri is a jack, it is scored as 25 points instead. This change spices things up and keeps us on our toes!

Let’s talk about a different way to play the game. In this variation, we keep track of our scores throughout the entire game. The goal is to be the first player or team to reach 151 points or more. If both teams or players reach this total in the same round, we keep playing until someone reaches 251 points or more.

By keeping a cumulative score, the game becomes more exciting and competitive. It adds an extra level of strategy as we have to consider our moves carefully in order to score the most points. It’s a thrilling challenge to see who can reach the winning score first.

Now, let me introduce myself. I’m Amber, and I use the pronouns they/them. I’m an avid gamer and writer from Austin. I consider myself a gaming master and I have a passion for dogs, plants, and Dungeons & Dragons.