Paule Panik

Ravensburger 1996
2-5 players
Designed by: uncredited
Translation by: Pitt Crandlemire

Contents
85 number cards (5 different colored suits of 17 number cards)
5 poker cards

Goal of the game

Whoever in the growing chaos keeps his cool on the one hand and the big picture on the other hand, will get rid of
his cards the quickest. And therefore get points, many points. Whoever gets to 55 first wins the game - it's that
simple.

Preparation
With 2 players use 3 suits (from 1-17).
With 3 players use 4 suits.
With 4 or 5 players, all cards are used.
The different colors on the cards have no meaning in play, they are simply to make it easier to sort out suits for 2 or
3 player games and to make the game more colorful. Each player gets a poker card before the game starts.
Whoever uses this card skillfully in the course of the game, has already almost won - or maybe not!
Shuffle the number cards well.

How do the cards get distributed?

With 2 players give each one a stack of 21 cards that each player puts face-down in front of him without looking at
them.
With 3 players, each gets 20 face-down cards.
With 4 players each gets 19 face-down cards, while with 5 players each must be content with 15 face-down cards.

The remaining cards are crucial:

2 of them are placed face up side by side in the middle of the table. The remaining cards are now divided into 2
equal stacks and placed face-down, one stack to the left and one stack to the right of the 2 face-up cards in the
middle of the table.
(refer to the illustration on p. 4 of the German rules)

Each player now takes the top 6 cards from the face-down stack in front of him into his hand.

Going out
Whoever first gets rid of all his cards, wins the first round.

How do you get rid of your cards?

Your number cards may be played on top of the face-up cards on the table in either ascending or descending order.
The color of the cards has no role! All players begin and continue to play at the same time! Among the players, no
turn order is kept, cards may be played wildly in confusion. Always go by the motto: "Whoever plays first, gets
there first!" But always play only one card at a time, never several cards all at once!

Here is a probably desperately needed example.

(refer to the illustration on p. 5 of the German rules)

Either a 5 or a 3 can be played on the 4.

If a 3 is played, you can immediately play a 4 again or a 2 can be played on top of the 3. If you are super fast you
can get rid of a whole run of cards. But, remember, you can only play one card at a time, one after the other always.

What happens if a 17 is on top?

(refer to the illustration on p.6 of the German rules)

Either a 16 or a 1 can be played on a 17.

What happens if a 1 is on top?
(refer to the illustration on p.6 of the German rules)

Either a 2 or a 17 can be played on a 1.

Because 2 cards will always be face-up, players will have the chance to simultaneously get rid of several cards one
after the other. If only there were not this abysmal chaos and feverish activity...
Whenever you play a card from your hand, you should immediately draw a replacement card from your face-down
stack. But in the rush to play, it may happen that you play several cards before drawing back up to 6 again. You
may still draw back up to 6 at any time.

NOTE: It may happen that no player can play a card on the two face-up stacks. In this case, simultaneously turn a
card from each of the two center face-down stacks onto the face-up stacks - and resume play! Only no faking
tiredness!
(refer to the illustration on p.8 of the German rules)

The end of the first round

Uff, made it!
Whoever first gets rid of all his cards, wins the round. With more than two players, play continues until second and
third place finishers are decided.

Scoring
The first place finisher draws two cards from the remaining face-down stacks in the middle of the table. He adds up
the value of these two cards and records it as his score for that round. Afterwards, he selects one of these two cards
and gives it to the second place finisher, giving the other card to the third place finisher (assuming there are enough
players for a second and third place finisher). These two players score the value of the cards they were given.

On to the next round:

All the cards are shuffled and everyone gets the appropriate number of cards again. The rest of the game is played
as already described, so on to the next panic round...

End of the game

Whoever remains cool and round after round collects points and is able to get to 55 points, will win the game.

Cordial congratulations!

If several players should break through the barrier of 55 points in the same round, then the player with the higher
total points wins the game. If 2 players are still tied, then these two should go out in the hall out and settle it among
friends...

Incidentally
In a game with 4 or 5 players, the feverish game ends when any player reaches 44 points or more.

Cordial congratulation to the champion!

Poker variation
For all players with a poker face: Each player has the opportunity once during the game of going all out for victory.
To do so, he puts his poker card on the table before the round begins. By doing this, he shows that he has decided
wildly to win this round (several players may do this in the same round).

If he really wins the round, het gets a 7 point bonus in addition to the two winning cards score. If he doesn't win the
round, a penalty is assessed. All other players, besides the Phony Pokerer, get 5 additional points. In both cases,
that player's poker card is then removed from the game.

Penalty Variant
(House Rule – not in the rulebook)
At the end of each round, players with cards remaining in their hand and face-down stack lose one point per card.