Schotten Totten

To set up the game, lay out the nine stone tiles in a straight line between both players. Shuffle the clan cards thoroughly and deal six cards to each player to form their starting hand. The remaining clan cards are placed face down in a central draw pile. The player who has most recently visited Scotland or been near it takes the first turn.

The primary objective of Schotten Totten is to claim stones along the border. You win the game immediately if you are the first player to claim either three adjacent stone tiles or a total of five stone tiles anywhere on the border. To claim a stone, you must form a stronger set of three cards on your side of the stone than your opponent has on their side.

On your turn, you must perform two actions: First, choose one card from your hand and play it face up next to any stone tile on your side of the border. You can only place one card per turn, and once a card is played, it cannot be moved. There can be no more than three cards on your side of any single stone. Second, draw a replacement card from the central draw pile to replenish your hand. Your turn then ends.

A stone can be claimed once both players have placed three cards on either side of it. The player with the stronger set of three cards claims the stone. The hierarchy of sets, from strongest to weakest, is: color run (three successive cards of the same color), three of a kind, three cards of the same color, a run of cards (three successive cards of any color), and finally, the numerical sum of three mismatching cards. If both players have the same type of set, the set with the highest total value wins. If it's still a tie, the player who placed their third card first claims the stone. It is also possible to claim a stone before all three cards are played if it becomes mathematically impossible for the opponent to beat your current set with the remaining available cards.

The game concludes immediately when one player successfully claims either three adjacent stone tiles or a total of five stone tiles across the border. That player is declared the winner. If you choose to play over a series of rounds, players score points equal to the number of stones they claimed in that round. The player with the highest total score after a predetermined number of rounds wins the overall game.