by Mark Major with illustrations by Klemens Franz
Players: 3 to 6 Ages: 10 and up Duration: about 45 minutes
Components
60 cards in eight different colors,
with the following values:
Black (colts): 0–10
Red (boots): 11–20
Blue (hats): 21–29
Brown (horseshoes): 31–38
Green (cacti): 41–47
Yellow (stars): 51–56
Purple (wheels): 61–65
Grey (skulls): 71–74
The Idea of the Game
Texas Showdown is a trick-taking game. This means that in each round, every
player in turn plays one card from their hand into the center of the table and the
player who played the strongest card takes the trick. However, the goal of the
game is to get as few tricks as possible, since each trick is worth 1 penalty point.
The player with the fewest penalty points after a number of hands wins.
Setting Up the Game
In a 3-player game, leave out the black (colts) and grey (skulls) cards; sort them
out of the deck and put them back into the box. If there are four, five or six
players, play with all the cards.
Shuffle the cards and deal them out equally to all players. All players take their
cards into their hands.
Playing the Game
Texas Showdown is played over several hands. A hand consists of as many tricks
as you have cards in your hand.
A Trick
In clockwise order, each player plays one card from their hand and puts it in the
center of the table, face-up. This is called a “trick.”
The player who has the 0 card always opens the first trick of the hand by placing
the 0 in the center of the table.
Note: In a 3-player game, the player who has the 11 opens the first trick by
playing that card (instead of the 0).
Then, in clockwise order, the other players each play one card from their hands
into the trick. The card you play must be the same color as a card that is already
in the trick. If you cannot play a matching card, you play any card from your hand
instead.
Who takes the trick?
Once everyone has played a card, determine who takes the trick. To do so, figure
out which color has the most cards in the trick. The player who played the
highest-ranked card of that COLOR wins the trick.
Example:
amigo-spiele.de/01805
This indicates how
many cards there are
of this color (there
are 7 green cards).
This shows how high
the card is ranked in
its color (the 42 is the
second-lowest green
card).
Katrin opens the
first trick with the 0
(black)
Beate must play a
black card and chooses
the 2 (black).
Alexa must also
play a black card and
chooses the 1 (black).
Holger also has to
play a black card. He
plays the 6 (black).
Christian would
normally have to play
a black card, but he
doesn’t have one in his
hand, so he plays the
42 (green).
Black is the color with the most cards in the trick, and
the highest black card played is the 6, so Holger takes
this trick.

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If two or more colors are tied for most cards in the trick, the player who played
the highest-ranked card of any of the tied colors takes the trick.
Example:
When you take a trick, put all the cards in that trick in front of you in a single face-
down pile. Put any other tricks you may take later in separate piles, so everyone
can easily see how many tricks each player has taken.
On to the next trick, then!
Who opens the next trick?
As a general rule, the player who takes a trick always opens the next one. That
player may freely choose which card to play from his/her hand.
There is one exception, however: If you take
a trick with the highest-ranked card of a
particular color, you may decide which player
opens the next trick (you can pick yourself).
End of a Hand
When you have played all of the cards from your hand, the hand ends. Each player
scores 1 penalty point for each trick he/she has taken. Note down everyone’s scores
for the hand and start the next one by reshuffling and dealing the cards.
The End of the Game
Keep playing hands until at least one player has reached or exceeded a certain
number of penalty points at the end of a hand:
3 or 4 players: 15 points
5 players: 12 points
6 players: 10 points
The player with the fewest points wins! If there is a tie, all tied players have won.
© AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH, D-63128 Dietzenbach, MMXVIII Version 1.0
You have purchased a quality product. Should you have any reason for complaint,
please do not hesitate to contact us.
Do you have any questions? We will be glad to be of help:
AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH, Waldstraße 23-D5, D-63128 Dietzenbach
www.amigo-spiele.de, E-Mail: hotline@amigo-spiele.de
You can easily recognize
the highest-ranked card
in each color by the
fully filled-in scale and
the large symbol in the
center.
Red and green are tied for most cards in the trick. Since 43
is the highest number in either of these two colors, Holger
takes the trick again.
Holger opens the trick
with the 43 (green).
Christian must play a
green card if he has one
but he doesn’t, so he
may play any card. He
plays the 11 (red).
Katrin must now
play either a red or
a green card. She
plays the 13 (red).
Beate would have
to play either a
green or a red card,
but has neither
of those colors in
hand, so she plays
the 8 (black).
Alexa must play a
green, red, or black
card. She plays the
41 (green).
Do you know these games?

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