Game Mode: Lizzy Ghosties
A dizzyingly strategic grabbing game where you start alone but finish together… Will you end with team Lizzies, or will you turn to the Ghosties? This game mode also includes a Dizzy Dice variation!
Hey friendies: This game is best enjoyed with four or more friends but can also be played by three players. This instruction is for a game with four or more starting players. When playing with three players, you can follow the alternative rules for a three-player game (see “alternative rules”).
Introduction
In Lizzy Ghosties, all players start as Lizzies with their own Lizzy bodies. During play, the Lizzies try to steal or burn body part cards from the other Lizzies, which, at some point, will lead to some of the Lizzies losing their bodies… Ooof. But don’t feel sad; their spirit lives on as they continue as Lizzy Ghosties! These Ghosties can torment the Lizzies by stealing cards from them, and as more and more Lizzies turn into Ghosties, the table prepares for the final showdown: The last standing Lizzies versus all the Ghosties. The team with the most cards in the end wins!
Game mechanics
Before we start preparing the table, let’s look into some of the game mechanics! First things first… Playing as a Lizzy, you may only steal or burn your opponent’s card if it can be used to complete a new valid Lizzy combination by laying it on top of your Lizzy! So when is it valid?
Valid Lizzy combinations
A valid Lizzy combination at least satisfies one of the following four combination conditions:
1. All colours are the same
2. All colours are different
3. All patterns are the same
4. All patterns are different
On top of valid combinations, Lizzies also works with Double Combinations and Golden Combinations. These are valid combinations with something extra.
Double Combinations and Golden Combinations
These Double Combinations and Golden Combinations display a valid combination both on colours and on patterns! They trigger events that will make all the difference. Playing as a Lizzy, the type of event depends on the combination made:
- Double (or Golden) combination with all the same colours = Steal Event
- Double (or Golden) combination with all different colours = Burn Event
Players can chain these events when playing their cards right and flip the tables at each turn! We’ll get deeper into these events later at “gameplay”.
For now, let’s set the table and get things started!
Preparation
- Select three random head-, body-, and tail cards per player + one extra head-, body-, and tail card from the deck of cards.
- The head, body, and tail cards are now shuffled into three piles (one with head cards, one with body cards, and one with tail cards).
- Now, each player receives three random cards from each pile (3 random heads, — random bodies, and random tails) and places them in three open piles in front of them (this is their Lizzy, this opening Lizzy does not have to be valid yet).
- One random head-, body-, and tail card is selected from the leftover cards, and they are placed in the middle of the table. This is the Burn Lizzy.
- The leftover cards are shuffled and placed in a blind stack to the side. This is the Side Stack.
Note for 6+ players: The cards might not be enough when playing with many players. In that case, you can either hand out two head-, body-, and tail cards per player or mix two card games of Dizzy Lizzy together, doubling your cards!
Gameplay
It's time for the game to start! To keep you from getting dizzy, we’ll explain the game in three phases: The opening phase — where all players are Lizzies. The transition phase — where Lizzies start turning into Ghosties. And the showdown phase — where team Lizzy and team Ghosty take on each other to see which comes out on top!
Phase 1: The opening phase
During this phase, all players are Lizzies, and they can steal cards from other Lizzies, give cards to other Lizzies (but why would they do that?), or burn cards from other Lizzies to the Burn Lizzy.
Players take turns clockwise. The first player starts and passes the other players in order clockwise. When passing each of the other players, the Lizzy player may attempt to do one of the following three actions:
- Steal a card from the other player
The player may only do so when the stolen card can be added to the player’s own Lizzy while making a valid combination. - Give a card to the other player
The player may only do so when the given card can be added to the other player’s Lizzy while making a valid combination. - Skip the other player
Choose not to steal or give any card and move on to the next player.
As long as the player is grabbing single combinations, such as in the example above, the player’s round continues as usual. However, a steal or burn event is triggered once a player makes a Double Combination or Golden Combination!
The event starts immediately, and these events can even be chained together by making new Double Combinations during the event.
When chaining a new event, the old event stops immediately, and the new event starts from the same place (opponent) as the previous event.
After the event (or chain of events) has ended, the player’s regular turn continues as usual.
Whether an event triggered is a burn or a steal event is based on the type of Double Combination made.
Double combination with all the same colours = Steal Event
You draw a random card from the Side Stack. You win the draw if the card is the same colour as your Lizzy combination. If it is a different colour, you lose the draw.
- Steal event draw won: You may attempt to steal one extra card from every other Lizzy player. In clockwise order, starting with the player coming after the last player you grabbed a card from during your turn.
- Steal event draw lost: You still get to steal one extra card of your choice from one of the other Lizzy players.
Double combination with all different colours = Burn Event
You draw a random card from the Side Stack. You win the draw if the card is the same colour as the corresponding body part on your Lizzy combination. If it is a different colour, you lose the draw.
- Burn event draw won: You may attempt to burn one card from each other Lizzy player by taking it and placing it on the Burn Lizzy (keeping the Burn Lizzy valid). In clockwise order, starting with the player coming after the last player you grabbed a card from during your turn.
- Burn event draw lost: You still get to burn one card of your choice from one of the other Lizzy players on top of the Burn Lizzy.
Burn events grow the number of cards on the Burn Lizzy, and these cards will play an important role during the showdown phase! Just like making Double Combinations on your own Lizzy, making a double combination on the Burn Lizzy triggers a new event, so the Burn Lizzy can also be used to chain events during a turn.
Combination with all Golden Lizzy Cards = Lucky steal or burn event
A combination with all Golden Lizzy cards immediately triggers the Steal Event (when all body part colours are the same) or Burn Event (when all body part colours are different) as if you won the draw event without having to draw a card!
After the event (or chain of events) has ended, the player’s regular turn continues as usual, and once the player has passed all other Lizzies (players), his/her turn ends. It’s the next player's turn (clockwise), and this circle continues until some players start getting short on body parts!
Phase 2: The transition phase
Once a Lizzy player has only two body parts left he/she can be turned into a Ghostie by losing one of these last two body parts. But this does not have to be a bad thing! A player may even choose to become a Ghostie by giving away cards. On the other hand, other players may also choose to give cards to a Lizzy player in an attempt to keep this player alive.
Why would you want to become a Ghostie? Well, maybe you see your chances of becoming one of the last two Lizzies standing slim, and you see better odds in stealing cards for the Ghosties early on. Giving bigger chances to team Ghostie. Likewise the other Lizzies might attempt to keep you as a Lizzy, because the shorter you are a Ghostie the less you can steal for team Ghostie during the game!
As the turns continue, the newly became Ghostie awaits his/her next turn, where the Ghostie can attempt to steal as many cards from the Lizzies as possible (maybe turning more Lizzies into Ghosts?). But having no bodies of their own, their options changed — At each turn, a Ghostie can either:
1. Steal a card of choice from one of the Lizzy players
Which is added to the upside-down cards of the Ghostie, after which the Ghostie’s turn ends.
Or:
2. Steal a Double Combination from the Lizzy players by grabbing at most one card per Lizzy player
This way, a Ghostie can ‘loan’ a Lizzy body during its turn and trigger a Ghost Event. Ghost Events can be chained just like regular events by forming a new Double Combination on the ‘loaned’ body. Once the Ghost Event (or chain of Ghost Events) ends, the Ghostie’s turn ends. All cards stolen during the event are added to the upside-down cards of the Ghostie.
Any Double Combination stolen as a Ghostie = Ghost Event
You draw a random card from the Side Stack. You win the draw if the card is the same colour as the corresponding body part on your Lizzy combination. If it is a different colour, you lose the draw.
- Ghost event draw won: You may attempt to steal one card from each living Lizzy player (keeping your ‘loaned’ Lizzy body valid). In clockwise order, starting with the first Lizzy to your left.
- Ghost event draw lost: You still get to steal one extra card of your choice from any of the living Lizzies.
Once Lizzies start turning into Ghosties, their ghostly shenanigans will make it more and more difficult for the Lizzies to keep standing. And once only the last two Lizzies are standing, the game enters the last phase: Showdown!
Phase 3: The showdown phase
At the final showdown, it’s team Lizzies versus team Ghosties. Team Lizzies can now finally collect all the cards previously burned away on the Burn Lizzy. But they need to do this as quickly as possible because team Ghosties continues to steal cards from their Lizzy bodies! Once all cards from the Burn Lizzy are collected, the game ends. The team that ends up with the most cards wins!
From now on, turns are taken in teams: Team Lizzies and Team Ghosties take turns. Team Lizzies gets the first turn. During their turn, team Lizzies can:
- Move one card from on top of their Lizzies to another Lizzy (as if one Lizzy player is giving one of his/her cards to the other Lizzy player).
- Grab one card from the Burn Lizzy into one of the team’s two Lizzy bodies (as long as the Lizzy body stays valid, of course).
When Team Lizzy makes a new Double Combination, they get an extra turn. If not, the turn goes to Team Ghosties. During their turn, team Ghosties can:
- If possible, steal one card from each Lizzy body and one from the Burn Lizzy to form a Double Combination Lizzy ‘loaned’ body and trigger a Ghost Event — This Ghost event follows the same rules as before and can potentially be chained when new Double Combinations are made during.
- Otherwise, Steal one card of choice from one of the two Lizzy bodies.
It might seem like team Lizzies has the upper hand during this final stage. But they’ll need to tread carefully: One critical mistake might trigger a chain of Ghost events, completely flipping the tables!
Game rules
- Valid combination — Cards may only be grabbed to be put on another Lizzy when the new Lizzy made displays a valid combination.
- Events triggered — When a double combination is made and called, the event is triggered immediately. After it finishes, the player’s regular turn continues with the next opponent of his/her turn. The type of event triggered depends on whether a Lizzy player or a Ghosty player triggers it.
- Chain events — New Events can be triggered during Events when a new double combination is made. In this case, the old Event stops immediately, and the new Event occurs. New events start from the same opponent as the previous event has started.
- Only top cards visible — Players may at all times only look at the top layer of cards during the game.
- Clockwise turns — All players take turns in clockwise order.
- Lizzy turns — While playing as a Lizzy, you can pass each other Lizzy player clockwise and choose to steal one card, give one card, or pass the player without interacting.
- Ghostly give — Lizzy players may choose to give away cards even if it means they willingly turn into Ghosties.
- Ghosty turns — While playing as a Ghosty player, you may choose to steal one random card from a Lizzy player or attempt to steal a double combination from the Lizzy players by grabbing at most one card per Lizzy player, triggering a Ghosty Event.
- Turning Ghostie — A Lizzy can continue playing as a Lizzy as long as it at least has two body parts. Once the Lizzy only has one body part left, the cards go upside down, and the player continues as a Ghostie.
- Showdown Phase — Once the last two Lizzies are standing, the showdown phase starts with team Lizzies taking the first turn.
Alternative rules
- Three-player mode — In three-player mode, there is no showdown phase. Instead, the game keeps going until one Lizzy is standing (and the other two have turned into Ghosties), at which point all Burn Lizzy cards go automatically to the last Lizzy standing! If the total of the cards of the last Lizzy standing is more than that of the Ghosties, the Lizzy wins. Otherwise, the Ghosties win.
Game variant: Dicey Lizzy Ghosties!
Instead of opening cards from the blind stack when an Event is triggered, the Dizzy Dice can be thrown! To win each Event the following Dice will need to be thrown:
- To win a Steal Event: Thow a combination with all the same (same colours or same patterns).
- To win a Burn Event: Throw a combination with all different (different colours or different patterns)
- To win a Ghosty Event triggered by all the same colour cards: Thow a combination with all the same (same colours or same patterns).
- To win a Ghosty Event triggered by all different colour cards: Throw a combination with all different (different colours or different patterns).
Let’s share play ideas!
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Get Down ‘n Dizzy with us! — Team Dizzy Lizzy
