It’s good to be nice, but sometimes it’s even better to be a little naughty! A game of social balance for 2 to 4 players.
by Jonathan A. Leistiko
Object
End the game with the highest Naughty and Nice ratings and the smallest difference between the two.
You Need
A deck of Naughty & Nice cards
(~10.5 MB)
One six-sided die
Set Up
Shuffle the Naughty & Nice cards. Put them face-down in the middle of the table where everyone can reach them, along with the die. The player who celebrated a birthday most recently goes first.
Play
On your turn, you may draw from one to four cards. Play cards from your hand one at a time until you have two cards or fewer in your hand. Before drawing, you can declare that you’re being Naughty or Nice. If you do, show everyone your cards as you draw them; discard cards of the opposite type (they still count as draws).
You may play cards on any player (including yourself).
When you play a Shiny! card on another player, you can take up to that Shiny! card’s value in cards from that player. For example, if you play Sparkle Lip Gloss (+6) on me, you could take my Bad Movies (+1 and +2 = 3 points) and my XXXenophile Comics (3 points).
Discarded cards go face-up in a discard pile. If you run out of cards, shuffle the discards and make a new draw pile.
Ending the Game and Winning
If any player has 10 or more cards in play at the end of your turn, you may declare that the game will end at the end of your next turn. At the end of your next turn, the game ends.
Every player with Shiny! cards must turn them face-up or face-down. Roll one die. If it is odd, all face-down Shiny! cards count for points. If it is even, all face-up Shiny! cards count for points.
You (and all other players) sum your Nice points. Sum your Naughty points. You can (but do not have to) add each Shiny! card you have that counts to your Naughty or Nice. For example, if you have a +4 Shiny card, you can not use it, add it to your Naughty score, or add it to your Nice score. You can not split it across your Naughty and Nice. You can split your Shiny! cards across Naughty and Nice or add them all to just one.
Your score is the smaller of your Naughty and Nice scores. If you have the highest score, you win!
Origin and Credits
After being invited to Frank’s birthday, I needed to make a card game for him. Frank’s just such a gosh-darn nice and nifty guy, that it took me a moment to figure out what to make his game about. Then it struck me that part of what makes Frank fun is his playfully naughty side. Naughty and Nice was an easy, iconic contrast to make. Frank’s also big on shiny things, so I incorporated that into the game too.
Big thanks to Jens Alfke for figuring out and explaining a much simpler scoring formula.
Happy Birthday, Frank!
It’s good to be nice, but sometimes it’s even better to be a little naughty! A game of social balance for 2 to 4 players.
by Jonathan A. Leistiko
Object
End the game with the highest Naughty and Nice ratings and the smallest difference between the two.
You Need
A deck of Naughty & Nice cards
(~10.5 MB)
One six-sided die
Set Up
Shuffle the Naughty & Nice cards. Put them face-down in the middle of the table where everyone can reach them, along with the die. The player who celebrated a birthday most recently goes first.
Play
On your turn, you may draw from one to four cards. Play cards from your hand one at a time until you have two cards or fewer in your hand. Before drawing, you can declare that you’re being Naughty or Nice. If you do, show everyone your cards as you draw them; discard cards of the opposite type (they still count as draws).
You may play cards on any player (including yourself).
When you play a Shiny! card on another player, you can take up to that Shiny! card’s value in cards from that player. For example, if you play Sparkle Lip Gloss (+6) on me, you could take my Bad Movies (+1 and +2 = 3 points) and my XXXenophile Comics (3 points).
Discarded cards go face-up in a discard pile. If you run out of cards, shuffle the discards and make a new draw pile.
Ending the Game and Winning
If any player has 10 or more cards in play at the end of your turn, you may declare that the game will end at the end of your next turn. At the end of your next turn, the game ends.
Every player with Shiny! cards must turn them face-up or face-down. Roll one die. If it is odd, all face-down Shiny! cards count for points. If it is even, all face-up Shiny! cards count for points.
You (and all other players) sum your Nice points. Sum your Naughty points. You can (but do not have to) add each Shiny! card you have that counts to your Naughty or Nice. For example, if you have a +4 Shiny card, you can not use it, add it to your Naughty score, or add it to your Nice score. You can not split it across your Naughty and Nice. You can split your Shiny! cards across Naughty and Nice or add them all to just one.
Your score is the smaller of your Naughty and Nice scores. If you have the highest score, you win!
Origin and Credits
After being invited to Frank’s birthday, I needed to make a card game for him. Frank’s just such a gosh-darn nice and nifty guy, that it took me a moment to figure out what to make his game about. Then it struck me that part of what makes Frank fun is his playfully naughty side. Naughty and Nice was an easy, iconic contrast to make. Frank’s also big on shiny things, so I incorporated that into the game too.
Big thanks to Jens Alfke for figuring out and explaining a much simpler scoring formula.
Happy Birthday, Frank!
Invisible City Productions is a collective of game designers, writers, and artists who provide this as a space for the creators of secret media to come together and touch antennae.