Welcome to Cambia! It's a fast-paced multiplayer card game that will test your memory and reaction. Play against AI opponents or with friends! 

Supports up to 4 players.

To learn the game, view the written instructions below.

Cheat sheet reference

Cards	Power Name	Power Description
7, 8	Peek	Choose one of your own cards to look at.
9. 10	Observe	Choose an opponent's card to look at.
Jack, Queen	Blind Swap	Choose one of your own cards. Then choose an opponent's card and swap them without looking at either card.
King	Full Swap	Choose one of your own cards to look at. Then choose an opponent 's card and look at that as well. You can then decide whether to swap them or not.

Objective

The goal of each round is to have the sum of your cards be the lowest out of all player's. For example, if you had the cards 3,4,5 and 6 at the end of the round, your sum would be 3+4+5+6 = 18. In Cambia, face cards (Jack, Queen, King) are all worth 10, Aces are worth 1, and Jokers are worth 0. 

Players can keep track of their scores each round and determine the ultimate winner by seeing who has the lowest total score after a certain number of rounds.

Setup

There will be a draw pile and a discard pile in the center. Each player is dealt 4 cards which are arranged face-down in a square in front of them (2 rows, 2 columns). Once players have their cards, they can pickup their bottom two cards and look at them. 

When all player's are ready, they will put down their two cards that they were viewing face down in the same place they picked them up. The first player will then flip over a card from the draw pile onto the discard pile.

Example of the start of a new round with two players.

Gameplay

When a player starts their turn, they can either draw a card from the draw pile or take a card from the discard pile. 

• Taking from the discard pile: If a player takes from the discard pile, they can replace one of their cards with the one they picked up. The card they replaced will then be placed on top of the discard pile.
• Drawing from the draw pile: If a player draws from the draw pile, they can choose to either play the card (place it on the discard pile) or replace one of their current cards with the drawn card.
  • Playing a drawn card: Some cards have powers that can be used to gain information and manipulate the board. See the table at the top to know what each card power is. Card powers are only activated when a player plays a card that was just drawn from the draw pile.
  • Replacing a card with the drawn card: If a player decides to replace one of their own cards with the drawn card, the replaced card will be added to the discard pile. Note that this will not activate any card powers even if the replaced card is in the card power table. Card powers only activate if the drawn card is immediately played.

Example of a card power in use.

Playing Cards

If the top card has the same value as a known card, a player can choose to play the known card. This played card is called the bonus card. After playing a known card, a few different scenarios can happen:

• The bonus card is their own card: If the card they played was from their own cards, then they will now permanently own one less card.
• The bonus card is an opponent's card: If the bonus card was owned by a different player, then the player who played the bonus card can pawn off one of their own cards (of their choosing) to the owner of the bonus card. This will result in the player who played the bonus card permanently owning one less card.

After playing a card, the card slot will be permanently empty as seen here. The slot will only be filled again if an error card is given.

Once a player has played a bonus card, no other players can play a bonus card until the next player takes their turn (taking turn means playing a drawn card or replacing a card with a drawn card). If two players attempt to play a card at the same time, the quicker one will play their card and the slower one will receive an error card (see Error Cards section below). 

The slower player will also have the card they tried to play revealed to everyone before putting it back in their play area. If that card also matches the top of the discard pile, it cannot be played until the following round. This is to prevent the faster player from being able to double dip and also play the slower player's card immediately after playing their own.

Error Cards

Of course, mistakes happen. Errors result in the player permanently receiving an additional card in their play area. Player's can have up to 6 cards at once in their play area. The following scenarios will result in an error card:

• Playing a card that does not match the discard pile: The number/name must match the top of the discard pile. There are also additional game modes where the color and the suit must also match. 
• Playing a bonus card after another player played a bonus card: Once a player plays a bonus card, only that player can play additional matching cards. If opponent's attempt to play a bonus card, they will receive an error card.

Example of a player who now has 6 cards due to receiving 2 error cards.
(don't be like them)

Calling Cambia

The round will end when a player calls Cambia! Cambia can be called at the beginning of a player's turn. A player should call Cambia if they meet the following criteria:

• Sum <= 5: The sum of their cards must be 5 or less.
• They have the lowest sum: If an opponent has a sum that is the same or less than the player who called Cambia, then the calling player will lose.

If the above is true, then the player who called Cambia wins the round and will receive 0 points for that round. The rest of the players will receive a score based on their sum.

If the above is not true, then the calling player will receive 40 points for that rounds and the rest of the players will receive 0 points. So be careful when you call it!

If a player has 0 cards, Cambia will automatically be called at the start of their turn. Having zero cards at the start of the your turn will automatically make you the winner of the round.

Additional Game Options

You can mix up the game in a lot of ways:

•  Increase the number of decks used in the draw pile which can create more variability and unknowns.
• Turn timers can be used to increase player reactions and decisiveness.
• Jokers can be excluded if you don't want to have cards with a 0 value
• If playing with multiple decks, requiring colors to match can add another layer of difficulty with the amount of memorization required.