Advice

Special situations...
O We do not advise beginning players to take part
...for a player who only in 3-player games, as it's a game configuration
has one card remaining: which requires a lot of tactics and which
O Card placement phase: is particularly unforgiving when it comes to mistakes.
if he is the first player or O It's very advantageous to be the first player.
it reaches his turn, he It's worth the trouble of taking risks to get that
MUST issue a challenge. position, even if it means losing a card.
O Revelation phase: Don't hesitate to bluff by issuing a challenge
Traditionally, biker gangs chose their leaders through a merciless contest
O

if his revealed card or increasing the bet while having just played a Skull.
is a Skull, that player called “Back on the Pavement”, which consisted of seeing who could last
It's the best way to reassure the future challenger
is eliminated from the longest while being dragged behind a heavy cylinder...
and have him or her choose your cards only to fail.
the game. without spilling his beer.
O Foster a mood of anxiety by commenting on
If a player accidentally the choices of the challenger. The sorry state of their leather after such trials caused some of them
reveals one card on their to look for a cheaper alternative, however.
O As with other confrontation-based games, by the end
mat, that card remains of the game, when there are only a few remaining It's during their regular meetings at their favorite bar,
visible until the end players with about as many cards, there are winning the “Skull & Roses”, that the more Machiavellian bikers created
of the round. strategies! a fearsome game of bluff which is still used to this day
to choose their supreme leader.
Skull & Roses is a game O You can combine 2 Skull & Roses boxes to play
by Hervé Marly, illustrated
par Rose Kipik. with more than 6 players.
Collection edited
Multiple
crazy
tory and on:
by Philippe des Pallières.
TRADITIONAL VOCABULARY IN SKULL & ROSES: p lan a You're sure you can dominate
A big thanks for all the MANY ex a it you
aw your opponents? Then prove it!
brave playtesters O A bet consisting of revealing all cards at the table videos -roses.com
(15 years of perseverance...) -a nd
and to the real bikers, heroes
is called attempting a “burn out”. skull
of the surprise film O The second player to speak when a challenge

to be discovered on our web site! is issued is said to be “under the gun”.

“Skull & Roses” O The last one to speak before the highest bidder
© 2011 - éditions « lui-même »,
Hervé Marly. is “the cop”.
Translation: Eric Harlaux. O A player with only one remaining card is “stoned”.
Revision: Eric Franklin
8
 This is an intense bluff Contents 1. Start of the hand Clarifications:
game which requires nerves O 6 packs of 4 cards each with identical Each player secretly looks at the hidden O The first player verifies
of steel, audacity and a nose backs, consisting of 3 Roses cards face of the cards kept in their hand, then that the players have all placed
for subtle strategy. and 1 Skull card. chooses a single one to be placed face their cards before playing.
down on their mat. O Be careful to never reveal
the hidden face of your cards.
Each player begins 2. Placement of cards Don't hesitate to comment on
the game with exactly
O

Place a card or challenge someone? your actions or those of

4 cards:
The first player can play a second card your opponents, for example
3 Roses cards by saying “I'm warning you,
face-down on top of the first one played.
and 1 Skull card.
I'm playing a Skull right now!”
The player to their left can do the same,
and so on. To win, you'll have to gain
a psychological edge over
To win the game Continue in this way, clockwise, until a player
your opponents.
a player must manage either can no longer play or no longer
O 6 double-sided game mats. wants to continue. When their turn
to do the following twice: One rulebook. The first player can challenge
comes to play a card, a player can decide
O O

O Make the most daring bet, not to play an extra card and can challenge someone as soon as this phase
Then flip over the corresponding Goal of the game begins, instead of playing
someone instead.
O

number of cards without revealing a second card.

a Skull! O Win 2 bets.
O Only one card is played
How much risk are you willing EXAMPLE at a time.
to take?
Game Set-up
The 6 players have placed a card.
O The cards are placed
Too safe and another player will outbid
O Each player takes a game mat which on the game mat on top
is placed in front of them, Skull-side Panthers (who is first player) and the next of each other in a way
your bet to try and steal victory away
from you. up, and chooses a pack of 4 cards two players have added a second card. that makes the number of cards
with the same back, which are held Snakes, the fourth player, would rather issue present obvious at a glance.
Too risky and you'll run the chance
in that player's hand, keeping the card a challenge.
of being defeated by revealing one A player who no longer
faces hidden from the other players.
O

of those damned Skulls. There are therefore 9 cards currently placed has any cards in hand MUST
Good luck… O A first player is chosen. on the mat. issue a challenge.
2 3
Clarifications:
3. Challenge - Pass or Bid More? 4. Revelation
Clarification:
The player who issues the challenge announces The challenger must reveal the number of cards
O No player can place cards The challenger can,
the number of cards he or she intends to flip
O

on their mats anymore. from his or her bet while following these rules:
after having revealed
over from among all those placed on the play mats The challenger starts by revealing
A challenge can be issued
O
his or her own cards,
O
of all the players. the cards from his or her own mat.
by offering to flip over just freely choose from
Going clockwise, each player must then: On the mats, the cards are revealed in order, which player’s cards
a single card. O

Either raise the stakes by increasing starting from the top. he or she will flip
The value of the following
O
O

the previous bid. The challenger is never forced to reveal the remainder of his
bids is open, and doesn't O

Or pass their turn and push their game mat all the cards placed on the mats of other players. or her bet, one card
have to increase by only O

to the middle of the table. at a time.

1 at a time. O The cards are revealed one at a time.
O A player who passes cannot We continue until all the players have
bid again. passed except one, the highest bidder,
called the “challenger”.
Panthers will attempt to make his bet.

Turn1: “2” 1 He starts by flipping over his own cards: 2

Werewolves announces: “I bet 2 cards”.
O

O Turn 2: “pass” 2 Roses, he hasn't bluffed.

Snakes says: “3 cards”,
O Turn 1: “pass” O Turn 1: “3” 2 Then he flips Werewolves' card:
Himself passes and pushes his game O Turn 2: “pass” it's a Rose. Good show!
mat to the middle of the table.
3 Now Himself's card: it's also a Rose.
It's Panthers' turn, who says: Good guess!
“Ice-cold guys, 5 cards”.
There's only one Rose card missing to win
The other players pass one after his bet. The suspense is terrible...
the other. Panthers is the challenger.
4 Panthers chooses to flip Eagles' first
If he wants to win his bet, Panthers
card (Eagles had placed 2) and falls
will have to flip 5 cards from the 3
into a trap! It was a Skull! 4
9 placed on the various game mats...
How sad... the bet is lost! 1
But only Roses! O Turn 1: “pass” O Turn 1: 5 O Turn 1: “pass”
4 5
rŁgle US ESP.qxp 25/01/2011 15:00 Page 6

Clarification: Winning bet

Panthers has lost his bet: Lost Bet
The challenger must never reveal If the challenger flips the number
He revealed a Skull from Eagles.
O

If the challenger reveals a Skull, the remaining cards, as the strategy of cards called and reveals
So it's Eagles who'll choose the card they have failed and stops flipping of the other players must remain secret. only Roses, the bet is won
to be discarded. cards for their bet immediately. A player can, however, reveal his own and the challenger flips his or her
Panthers shuffles his cards and places them cards himselves in order to see game mat so that the Roses side
O The players each take their
the possible disconcerted reaction
face-down on the table. cards back into their hands. is visible.
of the challenger...
Eagles chooses one of them. O The challenger loses one
Panthers secretly checks which card it is of his cards for good. O The Skull has been revealed among
and places it face-down in the middle He will be the only one to know
the cards of an opponent:
of the table. if it was a Skull or Roses.
the challenger shuffles his cards and
If the challenger loses his last places them face down. The opponent
card, he is eliminated from randomly selects, without touching it, one
the game and turns in his mat. card to be discarded. That card is placed in
the middle of the table and remains hidden.
O If the challenger has revealed his own
Skull, the challenger chooses the card
to be discarded himself, by looking As soon as a player
at them, without showing anything wins a second bet, that player
Clarifications: to the other players. WINS THE GAME.
O If the eliminated challenger In all cases, the challenger will remain
has revealed his own Skull, the only one to know if the discarded card Panthers was the challenger,
he will decide who the first player is a Skull or a Rose.
so he'll be the first player
for the next turn will be. for the next turn.
New turn It's an advantageous position,
O Otherwise, the first player
for the next turn will be Whether the bet has been won or lost, so it's up to him to make
the owner of the revealed Skull. the challenger is the first player for the most of it!
the next round, which starts again at phase 1.
6 7