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Rainbow Blackjack — Rules

Overview

Two players build 6 colored towers together. Goal: Get as close to 21 as possible in each tower. The player who placed the last stone in a tower wins the point for that tower.

Components

• 36 colored stones: numbers 1–6 in Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple
• 6 gray joker stones (3 per player)
• Player 1: Primary colors (Red, Blue, Yellow) + 3 jokers = 21 stones
• Player 2: Secondary colors (Green, Orange, Purple) + 3 jokers = 21 stones

Setup

• The program will remove 3 random stones from each player. These will not be a part of the game.
• Your first 9 stones will be arranged in a 3×3 grid by the program — they stay hidden from your opponent!
• You may look at your own stones and memorize their positions.

Color Wheel & Adjacency

The 6 colors form a wheel: Red — Orange — Yellow — Green — Blue — Purple (and back to Red).
Each stone may be placed in its own color tower or the two neighboring towers:

• 🔴 Red → Purple, Red, or Orange tower
• 🟠 Orange → Red, Orange, or Yellow tower
• 🟡 Yellow → Orange, Yellow, or Green tower
• 🟢 Green → Yellow, Green, or Blue tower
• 🔵 Blue → Green, Blue, or Purple tower
• 🟣 Purple → Blue, Purple, or Red tower

Player 1 example (primary colors): Red stones can go in the Purple, Red, and Orange towers. Blue stones in Green, Blue, and Purple. Yellow stones in Orange, Yellow, and Green.
Player 2 example (secondary colors): Orange stones can go in the Red, Orange, and Yellow towers. Green stones in Yellow, Green, and Blue. Purple stones in Blue, Purple, and Red.

This means both players compete for the towers — each tower can receive multiple colors from both players!

Gameplay

• Each round consists of 3 turns.
• At the start of each round, each player picks a row in any direction (3 stones) from their grid and announces either the colors or the numbers (Gray = 0).
• Then players alternate placing 1 stone into a tower (3 turns per round).
• Each colored stone may be placed in its own color tower or the two adjacent towers on the color wheel. Gray jokers may go in any tower.

Grid & Rounds

• Rounds 1–3: Stones from the first 3×3 grid. Pick 3 stones from your grid in a row (any direction). In the 2nd round, choose one of the 2 remaining rows.
• Rounds 4–6: Remaining 9 stones arranged by the program in a new 3×3 grid. Same rules apply.
• The direction you choose for your first row stays for the rest of that grid.

Turn Order

Round 1: P1 starts, Round 2: P2, Round 3: P1, Round 4: P1, Round 5: P2, Round 6: P1. The round starter picks their row first and places the first stone in each turn.

Gray Jokers

• A joker takes the value of the previously placed stone in that tower.
• A joker cannot be the first stone in a tower.
• Two jokers cannot be placed consecutively.
• Replacing a joker: If a joker is on top and you have a colored stone that gets closer to 21, but with the joker it would exceed 21, you may remove the joker and place your stone.

Scoring

Each tower shows a colored dot (red = Player 1, green = Player 2) indicating who placed the last stone.

• Instant win: The first player to own 3 towers that each reach exactly 21 wins immediately!
• If no one reaches 3 towers at 21, the player who owns more towers at the end wins.

Got it!