AVALANCHE

Hey there! Let me tell you about this awesome game called Avalanche. It was created by Légrády Gábor and Kápolnás György in 2010. It’s a super fun card collecting game where you have to strategically play sets of cards to a tableau. The goal? Be the player with the most collected cards when the game ends.

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

Now, let’s talk about the cards in Avalanche. The game uses a deck of 110 cards, which is made up of two standard 52 card French decks and six Jokers. The cards are ranked from 2 to Aces, with Jokers being the highest. Pretty cool, right?

Before we start playing, we need to determine who the dealer is. Each player draws a card from the deck, and the player with the lowest card gets to deal. After shuffling the deck, the dealer deals ten cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed in the center of the playing space as the draw pile.

THE PLAY

Alright, let’s get into the action! The game starts with the player to the left of the dealer. They have two options to choose from.

When I start my turn in the game, I begin by drawing a card from the top of the draw pile. It’s called Snow Fall. If I draw, I can’t do anything else during my turn.

Instead of drawing a card, I have the option to play cards onto the table. It’s called Starting the Avalanche. If I choose to start the avalanche, I can play either a single card or a set of cards with the same number. For example, I could play a single Queen or a set of three Queens. I can’t do both actions, though. I have to choose one or the other.

The turn then passes to the player on my left. If they’re the second player, they can either Start the Avalanche if it hasn’t already started or draw a card. Once the Avalanche has started, players can no longer draw cards.

If there’s an Avalanche in progress, we all need to join in. You can make the Avalanche bigger by playing a set of cards that’s the same size as the previous player’s set and has the same or higher rank. For instance, if the person before you played two 4’s, you can make the Avalanche bigger by playing two more 4’s or two 5’s. You can also make it bigger by playing a set of cards with an even higher rank. For example, if the previous player played two 4’s, you can make the Avalanche bigger by playing three 2’s or four Aces.

You can stop the Avalanche by playing a set of cards with the same number but a lower rank. For instance, if the person before you played three 9’s, you can stop the Avalanche by playing three 7’s.

Sometimes, I might decide to let the Avalanche Fall. This happens if I play fewer cards than the person before me. It can also occur if the person before me adds one card to the avalanche, and I add a card that is lower in rank.

If the Avalanche keeps growing, all the cards remain on the table with their faces up. But, if the Avalanche falls, the face-up cards go to the previous player. They keep them face down. And if the Avalanche stops, all the cards on the table are collected and kept face down in a neutral pile. No one gets any points for them.

After an Avalanche stops or falls, I can choose to draw a card or start the next Avalanche.

If you don’t have any cards left at the end of your turn, you have to draw up to ten cards. If there are fewer than ten cards left in the draw pile, you have to draw the rest of them. Once the draw pile is empty, it’s time to start an Avalanche on your turn.

If you run out of cards and you can’t draw anymore, you’re out of the game. The last player with cards in their hand has to give them up and put them in the neutral pile.

WINNING

The player who has collected the most Avalanche cards by the end of the game is the winner.

The player who has collected the most Avalanche cards by the end of the game is the winner.