BEOR (Black, Even, Odd, Red) Multi-player

Description

In multi-player BEOR, your goal is to build your hand of 6 cards into runs and/or sets. To get a new card into your hand, play a card from it onto one of four themed base piles, then draw a card from the base's associated stock pile. If you are unable to play a card, you lose. If you build a valid hand, you win.

Setup

This game uses a standard French-suited card deck.

For games with an odd number of players, add 2 Joker cards, so that the stocks will be of identical size.

Start

Dealer instructions:

• Draw cards from the top of the deck (ignoring Jokers) until you get 4 cards where one is black, one is even, one is odd, and one is red. Lay out these four cards side-by-side, in that order, as "bases". Shuffle any excess drawn cards back into the deck.
• Next, deal 6 cards to each player.
• Finally, deal the remaining cards face-down into 4 stock piles, such that each base has a corresponding stock adjacent to it.

For a 2- or 3-player game, each stock has 9 cards. For a 4- or 5-player game, each stock has 7 cards.

Rules of Play

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting from the left of the dealer.

First, play a card from your hand onto one of the bases, according to that base's theme (black, even, odd, or red).

Then, draw a card from that base's associated stock.

(To be clear: You may not draw until you play a card, and you may not play on a base that has no stock.)

Your goal is to build a hand of two groups of three cards, where each of the two groups may be either a run of one suit ("straight flush") or a set of identical rank ("three of a kind").

See the Cards section for details on which cards may be used in runs and sets.

In the unlikely event that a player cannot play a card — for example, they hold only red cards that are even, but the red and even bases have no stock — that player immediately loses. In games with more than 2 players, a losing player surrenders their cards to a "scrap pile".

Restocking

When the last stock is exhausted:

• Save the top cards of each base pile to form the new bases. (If the top card of the Even pile or Odd pile is a King, save the card below it instead.)
• Shuffle the piles' other cards together, along with any "scrap pile" cards.
• Repeat the process of dealing four stocks for the bases.

All the new stocks start face-down.

Cards

• Aces are 1 (odd), Jacks are 11 (odd), Queens are 12 (even).
• Kings may be played on their color base, or on the even or odd bases. They are not used in runs.
• Jokers may be played on any of the four bases. They are not used in runs or sets.

These cards have additional effects:

• When you play a 3 or 8 onto a base, turn over its corresponding stock pile (face-down to face-up or vice versa) before you draw.
• When you play a 4 or 7 onto a base, you may instead draw from any of the four stock piles.

Ending the Game

The first player to accomplish the goal wins.

Or, when all but one player have lost, the last remaining player wins.

Variants

BEOR is also available as a solitaire game.

Revision History

• 2021-01-19: First published online here, derived from offline documents dated 2020-09-23.
• 2022-03-23: Revised for brevity and clarity.

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