Playing Card Game: Moving Target

Introducing: Moving Target! It is an original card game using a deck of regular playing cards. It is satisfyingly strategic, simple to grasp and quick to play. Grab a friend and a deck of cards and go try it now! Then, come back and give me your feedback.

MOVING TARGET RULES

Players: 2-3

Playing Area:
The playing area is a 5x5 grid, similar to a BINGO card, with each cell in the grid large enough for one playing card. This grid does not need to be drawn, as it is small enough to be imagined.

Setup:
Each player is dealt 10 cards from the deck face down. (7 cards each if there are 3 players)
Players are allowed to look at their cards.
A single card is dealt from the top of the deck and placed face up in the center cell of the playing grid.

Play:
Each player takes their turn placing any card from their hand face-up onto an unoccupied cell on the playing grid.

• The card must be placed in a cell adjacent to another card. (left, right, top, bottom)
• The card must either share a suit or value with all adjacent cards that it is placed next to.
• Cards cannot be placed outside of the playing grid.

If a player is unable to place a card due to the above restrictions, they must draw a card from the deck into their hand - until they draw one that can be placed – and place it on the grid.

• A player can only draw up to 3 cards during one turn.
• If the player has drawn 3 cards and still has no moves to make, they forfeit their turn.

There must never be more than 12 cards on the playing grid, so once a player places the 13^th card, they must remove any card of their choice from the grid and place it in the discard pile.

• They must place a card before removing one.
• They cannot remove the card they just placed during that turn.
• TIP: Players should make an announcement when there are 12 cards on the playing grid, so that everyone knows that they must now remove a card during their turn.
• TIP: If your opponent tries to take their turn before you've removed a card, they must take back their card and you can counter by taking away their move.

If the draw deck runs out of cards, reshuffle the discard pile and use it as the new draw deck.

Winning:
The first player to empty their hand wins the game, however, the last card that they place MUST be placed adjacent to a card with the same value. If their final card only matches the suit of its adjacent card(s), they must draw another card from the deck and wait another turn.

• TIP: Draw the replacement card before you remove a card from the grid to make the most strategic decision.

Photos:
Here are some pictures of a game I played with a friend in Central Park.

Notes:
Moving Target is strategic enough to where the right decisions can turn the favor of a game around, but the game is still quick enough where luck can carry someone through a round. Because of this, I recommend playing a best-of-7 set.
Wild cards make the game too easy to be competitive.
There is an incredibly small chance of the grid becoming deadlocked. In this case, a draw is declared and the whole game is reshuffled.

Strategy:
If you don't play the game with much strategy, it can go really fast and you'll be left wondering if you played the cards or if the cards played you. The most important task is to limit the number of moves available.

• Stagger the cards. Cards in a straight line allow plenty of moves, but cards in a zig-zag shape require specific matches to fill in the blanks.
• Avoid unblocking moves when you remove cards.
• Pay attention to the cards your opponent removes. They may be clearing a path for their own.
• Use the sides and corners of the grid to limit the potential of the cards you place.

Moving Target is an original card game that uses a standard deck of playing cards. It was developed by Andrew Gonsalves. All rights to its name and rules belong to Andrew Gonsalves. You must obtain permission from Andrew before using these rules for commercial use.