Scram! (2023) Card Game: Rules for How to Play

Are you looking for a specific Scram! rule?  |  Setup  |  Playing the Game  | Drawing a Card | Communication | Using a Card’s Action | Replacing Cards in Your Campsite | = Cards | Scram | Scoring | Winning the Game | Three Player Rules | FAQ | Components |

Objective

The objective of Scram! is to work with your teammate to score the least points in the game.

Setup

• The players will divide into teams of two. If there are only three players, you will use special rules found in the three players rules section below.
• The players on each team should sit across from each other so the teams will alternate taking turns during the game.
• You either need a piece of paper and something to write with, or use the Scram! app in order to keep score during the game.
• If there are four players you will remove one set of number cards (1-13) and one = card from the deck. If there are six players you will use all 70 cards.
• Randomly choose a player to be the start player. The player to their right becomes the dealer.
• The dealer shuffles all of the cards. They will then deal two cards face up in front of each player. Next deal three face down cards in front of each player. Players cannot look at the face down cards unless they play a card that specifically allows them to look at a face down card. The face down and face up cards in front of you are considered your campsite.
• Place the rest of the cards face down in the middle of the table to form the draw pile. Flip over the top card to start the discard pile.

How to Play Scram!

In front of each player there are a number of cards with some being face up while others are face down. Each card in front of you is worth the amount of points printed on it at the end of the round. The goal is to work with your teammate in order to try and get rid of all/most of the cards in front of both of you.

On each of your turns you can choose one of three actions:

• Draw the top card from the draw pile
• Take the top card from the discard pile
• Scram

After you take one of these actions, your turn ends. Play passes to the player on your left/clockwise.

Drawing a Card

For most of your turns you will end up drawing a card. You can either take the top card from the draw or discard pile. The card you draw will immediately be played in one of a couple ways.

Should you choose to draw the top card from the draw pile, you will look at the card secretly without letting the other players see it. You can then choose one of three ways to play it. You can play it for its action, use it to replace one of the cards in your campsite, or discard it. See the corresponding sections below for details on what taking each action with a card entails. If you choose to discard the card you drew, you just add it to the discard pile and your turn ends.

When you choose to take the top card from the discard pile, the card remains face up. You can only use the card you take from the discard pile in order to replace one of the cards in your campsite.

Should you have no cards in your campsite, you can only take the top card from the draw pile. You can either use the card for its action, or you will discard it.

Communication

There are some rules that must be followed when talking with your teammate:

• You can never tell your teammate what number is on a face down card that you have seen. This includes the card that you just drew. You may never ask a teammate what number is on a face down card.
• When your teammate is choosing what cards to replace, you cannot give them any hint on what cards to pick.
• You may tell you teammate what cards you know the value of, but you can’t tell them the value.
• Players can always discuss face up cards.
• Teammates can always discuss strategy as long as it doesn’t lead to revealing the value of any face down cards.

Playing a Card For Its Action

When you draw a 5-13 card from the draw pile (not the discard pile), you have the option to play them for their action. Should you choose to use the card’s action, you will add the card to the discard pile, and then complete the action printed on the card. You must fully complete the action printed on the card.

The special actions on these cards include letting you look at face down cards, flip cards face up, discard cards, or exchange cards between campsites. Unless the action specifies differently, you can use the action on any campsite or the top card from the draw deck.

Should you use a card that allows you to swap cards, cards will stay on the side they were on before you swapped them. Face up cards remain face up. Face down cards remain face down.

 Five

Choose one face down card to look at. You can look at one of the face down cards in your own campsite, or in another player’s campsite.

 Six

Choose two face down cards to look at. You can look at your own face down cards, or cards in front of other players.

Seven

Pick one card that is face down that you want to flip over. You can choose to flip over one of your own cards, or another player’s card.

You could also use this ability to look at the top card on the draw pile.

Eight

Choose two cards that you want to flip over. They can be your own cards, or they can be cards in front of other players. You could also choose to look at the top card on the draw pile.

Nine

Should you use a nine card for its ability, you will choose two cards to discard. You will then place the nine card face up in your campsite on either the left or right side.

After you have chosen the two cards you want to discard, you should place the lower number on top of the other card in the discard pile. If one of the cards is a = card, you will discard it below the other number card.

Ten

Choose one of the cards in a campsite. You will move the chosen card to the discard pile.

Eleven

Choose two cards that you want to swap. Each card is placed in the position of the other chosen card. You can choose to take the top card from the draw pile and exchange it with a card in any player’s campsite.

Twelve

Twelve cards let you look at two cards. You can choose to “view” a face up card in order to exchange it. After looking at the two cards, you have the option of switching the positions of the two cards. You can use this ability to look at the top card on the draw pile and swap it with a card in a player’s campsite.

If you want you can use the twelve card’s ability to look at the top two cards on the draw pile and swap their positions.

Thirteen

When you play a thirteen card for its action, you will choose which player you want to place it in front of. You will place the card face up at either end of the chosen campsite.

Replacing Cards in Your Campsite

When you choose to replace cards in your campsite, you have the opportunity to remove cards from your campsite and replace them with the card you just drew. If you choose to use a card’s special action, you cannot replace cards in your campsite this turn. You can choose to take this action with a card you took from the draw or discard pile.

First you will choose one card from your campsite and slide it forward. You cannot choose a card from your teammate’s campsite. The card you slide forward does not have to match the card you just drew. You can either choose a face up or face down card. If you choose a face down card, you cannot flip it over to look at it.

Next you will decide if you think there are any other cards in your campsite or your teammate’s campsite that match the number of the card you slid forward. If a card is face up, this is obvious. Should a card be face down though, you may have looked at the card on a previous turn (through the use of a card action) or you can just guess what a face down card is. You cannot look at any of the face down cards to see what number is on them. There is a risk if you pick a card that doesn’t match the card you slid forward though. So you should be cautious of sliding random cards forward.

Slide forward any other cards that you think match the first card you slid forward. You can slide forward as many cards as you want, or just the first card you slid forward.

You may not slide the card you just drew forward to try and get rid of it right away.

Comparing the Cards Slid Forward

After you are done picking cards you want to remove from your campsite, flip over any face down cards. Verify that all of the cards that you slid forward are the same number.

If all of the cards are the same number, pick them all up and add them to the discard pile.

Should any of the cards be a different number, you will return all of the cards to their previous position in your and your teammates campsite. All cards will remain face up in the players’ campsites.

Whether all of the cards matched or not, you will add the card you drew at the beginning of your turn to your campsite. If you drew it from the draw pile, the card will be placed face down in your campsite. If you took it from the discard pile, the card is added face up to your campsite. Should you have any holes in your campsite due to getting rid of cards, you will add the new card into one of the empty spaces in your campsite. Slide the rest of your cards together to fill in any holes in your or your teammates campsite.

Penalties

If the cards you slid forward don’t match, you will add the new card to one of the ends of your campsite. You potentially might receive an additional penalty due to the cards not matching:

• If there are only two different numbers in the cards you slid forward, you receive no penalty outside of adding the card you drew to your campsite.
• Should there be three different numbers, you draw one extra card from the draw pile and place it face down at one end of your campsite. You don’t get to look at the card.
• If there are four or more different numbers, you will draw two extra cards and place them face down at the ends of your campsite. You don’t get to look at either card.
• Finally if there are five or more different numbers, you draw three extra cards and place them face down at the ends of your campsite. You don’t get to look at any of the cards.

= Cards

Most of the cards in the game feature a number. There are five cards that feature a = though. These cards automatically match the other cards you choose. This can be very helpful when you are trying to find matching cards in campsites since they automatically match any other card. It can only match one number though, so if you end up picking two different numbers you will still fail to get rid of the cards.

Whenever you end up discarding = cards, you will place them below any number cards you also discard on your turn.

Scram

Should you have two or less cards cards in your campsite at the beginning of your turn, you can choose to take the Scram action. You should only take this action if you think you and your teammate have less points in front of you than the other team(s).

If you choose to take the action, your turn immediately ends. You do not get to draw a card. The rest of the players have one turn left this round. No other player may also take the Scram action this round.

Once all of the players have taken their last turn, the round ends.

Scoring

A round can end in one of two ways:

• A player takes the Scram action and all of the players have taken their last turn.
• Should there be no cards left in the draw pile at the start of a player’s turn. The round then immediately ends.

Once a round has ended all of the players flip over any face down cards. Each team counts up the points printed on each of the cards in their campsites. = cards are worth points equal to the lowest card in your campsite. If all of the cards in your campsite are = cards, you score zero points.

If the round ended with the draw pile running out of cards, all of the teams total their scores and writes it down/uses the app.

Should a player use the Scram action, all of the teams total their scores for the round. The team(s) that didn’t use the Scram action score points equal to their total. The Scram team has to compare their total to the totals of the other teams.

• If the team that declared Scram had the lowest total or is tied for the lowest total, they score zero points in the round even if they had points in front of them.
• If the team that declared Scram did not have the lowest total, they will score points equal to their total and will score an additional ten points.

Whichever team scored the least points wins the round. The winning team determines which player had the lowest score on their team. That player starts the next round. If there is a tie, the lowest scoring player closest to the left of the player who started the current round starts the next round.

In four player games, you will play four rounds. If six player games, you will play three rounds.

Winning Scram!

The game ends after either four (four players) or three rounds (six players) have been played.

All of the teams total their scores from all of the rounds. The team that scored the least points in the game, wins.

If there is a tie, the team that scored the least points in the last round wins. Should there still be a tie, you move onto the second to last round. The team that scored the least, wins. This continues until the tie is broken. If the teams had the exact same score in every round, all of the players lose the game.

Three Player Rules

If there are only three players, you need to modify the rules of Scram! some. Two players will play on one team, while the remaining player plays on their own team.

You will remove one set of the number cards (1-13) and one of the = cards from the deck before you shuffle the cards.

The players on the two player team are both dealt three face down and two face up cards. The solo player is dealt six face down cards and two face up cards. The solo camper starts the game.

During the game the solo camper takes a turn after each time one of their opponents take a turn.

Should the solo player declare Scram during the game, they do not get to take another turn. The two players on the other team both get to take one turn in clockwise order. If one of the players on the duo team declare Scram, the solo camper gets two turns and the other player on their team gets one additional turn.

The three player game consists of three rounds. The team that scores less points, wins the game. If there is a tie at the end of the game, the solo camper wins.

Scram! FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components

• 70 cards
  • 5 of each number 1-13
  • 5 = cards
• Instructions

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Year: 2023 | Publisher: Bézier Games | Designer: Ted Alspach | Artist: Agus Muqith

Genres: Card, Family, Memory

Ages: 15+ | Number of Players: 3-6 | Length of Game: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate

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For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.