Corrupt Cluster

A run of three cards in the same suit, but not the same subsuit. It scores 1 Point.

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Void Cluster

A rare score of all three Void cards in one cluster. It scores 9 Points.

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SETUP

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Draw Deck - A shuffled deck of 63 cards.

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Discard Pile - A face-up pile of cards discarded from the player's hands. Player may draw from the top of the Discard during play.

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Chip Stock - A stock of chips or coins representing the sum of a player's buy-in to the game.​

GAMEPLAY

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1. Set the Stake
 

A dealer is chosen and a stake is set. At the conclusion of the game, the winner will collect a sum equal to the Stake x the point value of the winning player's hand. The dealer also has the option to set an ante.

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2. Deal
 

8 cards are dealt to every player in a clockwise manner. The dealer starts and play begins.​

3. Draw

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Play proceeds from the dealer in a clockwise direction. 

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A player may either:

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Draw from the Draw Deck - Draw the top card of the Draw Deck.

Draw from the Discard Pile - Draw the topmost card from the Discard Pile. These cards are face-up.

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The player evaluates their new card and then discard a card of their choice from their hand.  A player always discards back down to a hand of 8 cards. 

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Play then passes to the next player.

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Exceptions to the above include when a player draws a new card and can complete 3 clusters and win the game. In that case, the ninth card is used to complete the win condition.

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The other is when a player has an opportunity to Call Laro.

3. Calling Laro

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If at ANY time, ANY PLAYER sees a newly discarded card that can be used immediately to form a cluster or win the game, they may shout 'LARO!' and collect the card from the discard.  They must then lay the cluster face-up to show it's validity, and then discard back to 8 cards in hand.  If the card collected on 'Laro!' wins the game for the player, they must lay all three clusters out for all players to see.

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The round then proceeds clockwise from the player that just declared 'Laro!' to seize a card and play a cluster.  This means that players turns can be 'jumped', and jumped players must wait until the turn order reaches them again.

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If ever two players want to call Laro for the same discarded card, in the first instance the tie is broken in favour of whoever can form the highest value cluster. A Pure Cluster beats a Wild Cluster, a Wild Cluster beats a Corrupt Cluster, and a Void Cluster beats any other type of cluster.

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If both players are tied for the value of Cluster they can create, the tie goes to whomever comes next in the turn order.

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If calling Laro will give the game to a player, the tie is decided in their favour, even if other players can claim a higher value cluster.  If both players could win, the game goes to whomever comes next in the turn order.

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​WINNING THE GAME

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When the victory condition is met and a player has three complete clusters when they draw a ninth card, the winner lays their three clusters on the table for all to see.

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The other players must pay a sum to the winning player equal to the stake x the point value of the winning player's hand.  They also receive any ante contributed at the start of the game.

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EXAMPLE HANDS