PLAYING THE "KingMaker" CARD GAME

- The card game of the ROYAL STING! -

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"CARDS IN PLAY"

You are on the ILLUSTRATION #1 page of KingMaker "CARDS IN PLAY"
The PRIMARY & "Landslide" WIN

INTRODUCTION
The following illustrations of "cards in play" will introduce you to one of the most innovative and fascinating card games ever created. Truly an ingenious concept, and definitely a "game players" game as well as a "great fun" game for everyone. KingMaker offers the player myriad opportunity for creative and excitng play making. The displays of the simulated scenarios of "cards in play" that follow are tutorial examples of how the cards might actually be played in a real game.

These pages start with the basics and guide the reader on through to the finer nuances of the game in as concise and clear a method possible. It is suggested that the interested reader review the pages by beginning with the KingMaker Home page and then the pages that follow the Home page in the order that they are presented.

The game board has 4 distinct strategic areas of play. On the actual game board the center board circle is the "candidate" circle where the lead off player of a Race plays the Candidate suit card. The Candidate circle it self is in turn surrounded by a larger circle called the Band Wagon circle - players who want to join in "supporting" the Candidate card (thereby forming the Candidate / Band Wagon "faction") play their cards in the Band Wagon circle. The total value of all cards played within the Candidate circle and the Bandwagon circle are summed to arrive at the "Total Point Value" (TPV) of the Candidate / Band Wagon Faction.

Players who want to make a play as a "stand alone" challenger (pitting him against the Candidate / Band Wagon faction, the Coalition faction, and all other "stand alone" challenger factions) will make their plays in their own "Challenger" play spaces (the Challenger strategic play area is a rectangular band that surrounds the Band Wagon circle(see illustraton below).

Players who want to join the COALITION faction play their cards in the rectangular band that skirts the outer edge of the game board (see illustration below).

These play areas are distinctly identified and outlined on the actual game board as described above.

The structure of a RACE

Each round of cards played is called a RACE. Each Race usually has two relatively short and rapid stages - The Primary and the Play Off (also called the Campaign). Sometimes, as you will see in the illustration below, the "Play Off" stage becomes unnecessary when in the "Primary" the Candidate faction wins the Race "without opposition" in a Landslide win. The Primary consists of each player in turn playing any one suit card in one of the four strategic play fields on the game board, this single opening play sets their strategy for this Race. The "Play Off" stage follows immediately after the last player in the Primary makes his play (ending the Primary stage). The "Play Off" following actively engages only those players who made their initial play in the Challenger field and the Candidate player. The challengers eliminate each other in a series of head to head match play until only one Challenger is left standing, this remaing Challenger is paired in match play against the Candidate player to determine the winner of the Race. Players in the Band Wagon field and the Coalition field do not actively participate in the Play Off process. (The highest card in the Coalition field is the King Maker and the KM player may or may not make the optional King Maker "Power Play" immediately after the Primary and before the Play Off matches begin. The "CARDS IN PLAY" illustdrations will show the King Maker's role)

OUR "CARDS IN PLAY" ILLUSTRATION PLAYERS
AL BILL CARLDAN EVE

Although the actual game board contains play accommodations for up to eight players, for convenience and clarity in our play example scenarios to follow we use only 5 players. The game board illustration below indicates our permanent "seat" positions around the game board of all 5 players.
Also, in each exhibit Race to follow we will always let AL lead off each exhibit Race with the CANDIDATE play (in actual play the lead off player of the Races will vary). To start any Race the lead off player will always play any one suit card in center board Candidate field. In the game board illustrations only the color and point value of the suit cards played will be indicated since the cartoon images on each card have no impact on play strategy.

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CARDS IN PLAY
ILLUSTRATION ~ RACE #1

The "Landslide" PRIMARY

The Game Board Strategic Play Areas and Senarios

COALITION
FIELD
 BILL CARL
CHALLENGER
FIELD
BANDWAGON
FIELD
CANDIDATE
FIELD
1
5
AL
10
10
3
 DAN
EVE

Scenario
"The PRIMARY"
The aim of this ILLUSTRATION is twofold - both to illustrate the mechanics and "cards in play" of a "Primary", and to show how a "Landslide" win during the playout of a "Primary" can come about. After AL plays the "Candidate" card in center board play continues clockwise to EVE. This ILLUSTRATION shows that AL played a red 10 in the Candidate field and all remaing players, in turn, made their plays in the Band Wagon field.
The TPV (Total Point Value) of the Candidate / Band Wagon faction in this scenario is 29 (10+1+5+3+10).

The Guidelines
The "CANDIDATE CARD" - The lead off player of the Race, the Candidate player, must play the Candidate card in center board. The "Candidate" card must be any one Suit card. Later on in the Race additonal follow-on Suit cards overlaid on the Candidate card must be the same suit color, or wild.

THE BAND WAGON PLAYERS: