TUSSIE MUSSIE

Hey there! I want to tell you all about this super cool card game called Tussie Mussie. It was created by Elizabeth Hargrave, who you might know from designing another awesome game called Wingspan. Tussie Mussie is a game where you get to draft cards and collect sets of beautiful flowers. The goal is to score as many points as you can by completing different sets. It’s so much fun!

Let me explain how it works. In Tussie Mussie, you and your opponent take turns drawing cards and offering them to each other. You have to make some tough choices about which cards to keep and which ones to give away. It’s kind of like putting together a bouquet of flowers, but with a twist. You not only collect different types of flowers but also hearts. The more sets you complete, the higher your score!

The game is played in three rounds, and at the end of the third round, the player with the highest score wins. Isn’t that exciting? You can imagine the thrill and anticipation as you try to outsmart your opponent and come out on top. I love how Tussie Mussie combines strategy with the excitement of collecting beautiful flowers.

If you’re interested in playing Tussie Mussie, you have a few options. You can purchase a print and play edition from PNP Arcade. Or, you can check out Button Shy Games, where they have a whole line of wallet games, including Tussie Mussie. It’s a compact and portable game that you can take with you anywhere, which makes it even more awesome!

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

So, here’s how Tussie Mussie works. We have this deck of 18 cards, and they come in five different colors: purple, grey, yellow, pink, and red. Each color has its own special flower. But that’s not all! Each card also has a special rule that you need to keep in mind while you’re playing.

Alright, first things first. Shuffle all 18 cards together and put them face-down on the table. Make sure to leave some space for a discard pile.

THE PLAY

A game of Tussie Mussie has three rounds. Let’s see how it goes!

OFFER

Now, who gets to go first? Well, it’s the player who has smelled flowers most recently! Nice touch, right? That player starts their turn by making an offer to the person on their left. Here’s how it works: they draw two cards from the deck. Then they look at those cards and pick one to show face-up and one to keep face-down.

RECEIVING THE OFFER

When I receive an offer, I get to choose between two cards. The card I choose becomes the starting point of my arrangement. If I choose the facedown card, I can’t peek at it until after I’ve made my choice. The chosen card goes on the far right of my arrangement, and any additional cards I get will be placed to the left.

The card that I don’t choose goes to the person making the offer. If it’s a facedown card, it stays face down and becomes the first card on their arrangement, on the far right.

After the offer is done, the game moves to the left. Everybody takes turns making offers until each player has four cards. Remember, the cards are added to the arrangement from left to right, so don’t mix up the order.

SCORING

After finishing a round, you’ll have four cards arranged in front of you. Some of them might be face up, while others could be face down. We call the cards that are face up the “bouquet” and the ones that are face down the “keepsakes.”

So here’s how it works: we’re all sitting at the table, sliding our facedown cards, our keepsakes, to create a whole new row. It’s like a secret shuffle without actually changing the order. And then comes the exciting part – we flip those keepsakes over to see what we’ve got.

Now, while we’re revealing our treasures, let’s not forget about the Before Scoring actions. Each of us can take a moment to do something special with one of our cards. The best part? You can choose the order in which you complete these actions. So let your imagination run wild!

Here’s the thing – even though the cards may end up in different rows, the ones on the left and right are still considered next to each other when it’s time to score points. Isn’t that neat? It’s like magic!

When we play the game, we need to keep track of our scores. Let’s start by scoring the hearts on each arrangement. Every heart is worth 1 point. We should also remember to add any points we earn from the special conditions on the cards.

Once we’ve finished scoring, we can continue playing more rounds. The first player should pass their cards to the left after each round. The game will end when we complete the final round.

How to Win

The player with the highest score at the end of the final round will be the winner. In case of a tie, we can break it by looking at the name of the flower on each player’s card. The player with a flower name that comes first alphabetically will win. For example, if we have a tie between a player with a Snapdragon and a player with a Hyacinth, the player with the Hyacinth card will break the tie and be the winner.