Splatter

Splatter! is a trick taking card game based off of the theme of the ever-classic amphibious arcade game. But the twist is that instead of playing the frog, you are the car. For that matter, all players are cars-competing to splat that blasted frog!

Players play tricks, earning and building up their stock pile of ammunition and weapons to better help them splat that frog once and for all. Of course the frog, Splatter, comes with 6 lives so he can handle quite a bit. Players earn victory points by winning the trick when they are in position to do so (by being next to the frog when they win a trick). If a player wins a trick and is next to the frog, they eliminated one of the frog's lives and earns a pink wedge victory point.

The game is over after 10 rounds or when the frog is out of lives, whichever comes first. Whoever has the most 'froggy bits' (pink wedge pieces) wins the game!

Below is a play through and review of the game. It is important to note that Splatter has undergone several revisions since this play through and has improved on what is stated at the end of the video.



--_-_===3 Round Example===_-_--
4 players-Alice, Bob, Carl, and Denise seated clockwise.

>>ROUND 1<<
>Round 1 Setup
Alice dealt the cards, so Bob starts the game (next clockwise player). 3 cards are drawn from the top of the "Stump Cards" (Stump Cards are cards that are played during game play to effect the round or aspects of the frog). The 3 cards are reviewed by all players. Before the frog is played, the 3 Stump Cards are given to the players who played the 3 best cards.

>Round 1 Card Play
Bob plays a 1 of water, because he knows nobody has a trump stump card on the first round.
Carl follows suit and plays a 3 water.
Denise plays a 5 water.
Alice plays a 2 of water.

>End of Round 1 Maintenance
Bob wins the trick. As such, he gets first choice of stump cards. He chooses the trump card.
Denise got second place and chooses the +1 card.
Carl got third place and gets the last left over card, thump thump.

>>ROUND 2<<
>Round 2 Setup
As before, 3 cards are drawn from the top of the stump deck and displayed for all players to see.

>Round 2 Card Play
Since Bob won the trick he starts again. He plays a 1 of log, attempting to do what he did before. He knows that he has the only 'trump' card so there is no chance anyone will take it from him.

Carl is annoyed seeing what Bob is doing-trying to run the table. But Carl doesn't have any logs. He could use trump if he had that card, but he hasn’t. But what he does have is the frog. The frog is always considered the highest trump card. Carl plays the frog.

Denise, seeing that the highest card has been played decides to discard a low card in the log suit. She plays the 2.

Alice does the same, playing a 3.

>End of Round 2 Maintenance
Carl won the trick. The frog (green wedge holder) with 6 pink wedges are placed in an area of the table within reach but not in the way of the card play. Carl’s yellow car is placed next to the frog.
As the frog is now out, the stump cards go to the lowest 3 player’s cards. Carl gets no stump cards this round.

Bob won 2nd place so he grabs the thump thump card. Bob’s red car goes next to Carl’s yellow car but on the opposite side of Carl’s car from the frog. On the table, in order, is the green wedge holder, Carl’s yellow car pawn, and Bob’s red card pawn.
Alice won 3rd place so she grabs the jump card. Alice’s purple car goes after Bob’s red car.
Denise won last place so she chooses the trump card from the 3 stump cards that are out. She places her blue car after Alice’s purple car and furthest from the frog.

>>ROUND 3<<

>Round 3 Setup
As before, 3 cards are drawn from the top of the stump deck and displayed for all players to see.

>Round 3 Card Play
Since Carl won the trick he starts again. He plays a 1 of lily pad, attempting to run the table. He knows that nobody has played a lily pad yet and thus everyone should have at least 1 lily pad suit. He also plays his thump thump stump card to double his reward if he wins the round.

Denise plays a 10 of lily pad, which is a second place card losing to the 1 of lily pad. But Denise has something up her sleeve. She plays the +1 stump card onto Carl’s 1 card. Carl’s card now counts as a face value card of 2. Denise is now winning.
Alice plays a 2 of lily pad, but also plays the jump card, ensuring that Denise won’t win. The jump card moves the frog to the other end of the row of cars. Alice happens to be at the end of the line of cars, and is now next to the frog.

Bob plays the trump card and calls out logs as the trump. This will remain in effect until another trump card is played changing the trump. Bob plays a 4 of the log suit and wins the trick.

>End of Round 3 Maintenance
Bob won the trick. As Bob was not next to the frog when he won, he earns no froggy bits, but he does advance to be next to the frog. Bob’s red car is moved in between Alice’s purple car and the frog. Only the winner’s car is moved after a round, so no other cars are moved.

Denise won 2nd place so she grabs the thump thump card.

As Alice and Bob tie for last place they each grab a card. However, when ties occur and is necessary to know the order, value is assessed with modifiers taking priority first. This means that in the case of Alice vs Bob, Alice would have the higher ranking card as Bob’s stump card was played onto him as a negative modifier. If it were the case that Bob’s card were played on him as a positive modifier he would be win the tie.