Draw blood!

The objective of Blood Draw is to assemble the most complete sets of similar cards.  While traditional GO FISH uses the face value on the card (Ace to King) to define 13 possible sets (for example, Queens of all 4 suits), Blood Draw matches 14 sets based on the card’s blood type (Rh + and Rh - ) AND displayed number of pints (1-7).  The sets that can be formed are:

Starting the game:

1.     Remove the Superhero cards (2) and all the information & instruction cards.

2.     Shuffle the remaining deck.

3.     Select the dealer by having each player draw a random card from the deck, with the highest numeric value indicating the Dealer. Ties for highest value are resolved by having the involved players repeat the random draw process as many times as needed.

4.     Dealer reshuffles the deck

5.     Deal cards:

                        2-3 Players = 7 cards each

                        4-5 Players = 5 cards each

6.     Place the remaining cards face down as the Draw Pile

Playing the Game:

1.     The player to the Dealer’s immediate left starts game as the first Active Player

2.     The Active Player seeks to build or complete a set by asking any one of the other players if he or she has needed cards.  For example, “Do you have any 7 positives?” [meaning 7-pint, Rh positives].  Only sets already represented in the Active Player’s hand can be requested.

3.     If the Asked Player has any cards in the set, those cards are surrendered to the Active Player. The Active Player repeats the process with a new request made to any other player.

4. If the Asked Player does NOT have any cards in the set, he or she tells the Active Player to “Draw Blood!”  The Active Player takes the top card from the Draw Pile.

a.     If it completes a set, the Active Player gets to repeat the process with a new request (step 8 above).

b.     If it is NOT a set-completing match, the Active Player adds the new card to his or her hand and ends that turn.

5.  The Player to the Dealer’s left becomes the new Active Player. Turns progress in clockwise order.

6.  When a Player completes a set, those cards a placed in an individual stack on the table for scoring purposes. The Player with most sets at the end of the game wins.

7.  If a Player runs out of cards by completing a set or having cards taken through an Active Player’s request, he/she pulls 5 more cards from the Draw Pile. If fewer than 5 cards are left in the Draw Pile, all the remaining cards are pulled. If there is no longer a Draw Pile, the Player can no longer participate while the game is finished by the other players.

8.  The game ends when all of the cards have been captured into their sets and no cards are left in any Player’s hand or the Draw Pile.

Submitted by:

Edward Elliott Armitage

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA