Rules Overview
Game design: David McDougal
Firewall is an asymmetric partnership trick-taking game in which two teams alternate between defending and attacking a network.
The Blue Team builds Firewall layers across four network Ports. The Red Team attempts to strip those defenses away.
Each suit represents a Port. Cards stacked on a Port form its Firewall. The top card sets that Port's Cap, which changes which cards can win tricks when that suit is led.
Tricks do not score points directly. Winning a trick gives the winning team an opportunity to change the Firewall.
At the end of each round:
- Red scores Ports with 0–1 Firewall cards.
- Blue scores Ports with 2 or more Firewall cards.
- Heavily fortified Ports can earn Blue an additional point.
Players: 4
Play Time: 30–45 minutes
Ages: 10+
Mechanic: Partnership Trick-Taking
What You Need
- 1 standard 52-card deck
- A way to record match score, Ports won, and tricks won
- Tokens or markers, if desired
Cards rank high to low:
A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
There is no trump suit.
Teams and Roles
Players form two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
Randomly determine which partnership begins as Blue.
Roles alternate each round:
- Round 1: Team A Blue / Team B Red
- Round 2: Team A Red / Team B Blue
- Round 3: Team A Blue / Team B Red
- Round 4: Team A Red / Team B Blue
Each partnership therefore plays twice as Blue and twice as Red.
Ports and Firewall Stacks
Each suit represents one network Port:
- Hearts
- Diamonds
- Clubs
- Spades
Each Port may contain a stack of Firewall cards.
The number of cards in the stack is its Firewall depth.
The top card is its active Cap.
A Port containing no cards is OPEN.
Setup and Boot Sequence
At the beginning of each round:
- Shuffle all 52 cards and deal 13 cards to each player.
- Each player secretly chooses 1 card from hand as their Boot card and places it face-down.
- Reveal all four Boot cards simultaneously.
- Beginning with the Round Leader and proceeding clockwise, place each Boot card onto the Firewall Stack matching its suit.
- If multiple Boot cards share a suit, stack them in placement order. The last card placed is on top and becomes the active Cap.
- Boot cards are now neutral Firewall cards and no longer belong to either team.
Each player begins play with 12 cards, creating 12 tricks in the round.
Boot cards may share suits. No Port is guaranteed to begin with a card.
Choosing a Boot card is part of the strategy. Players may use it to influence the starting Firewall, remove an awkward card from hand, or communicate strategic intent through gameplay.
Boot Sequence Example
The four Boot cards are: 4♥, J♣, 8♥, 2♥
If placed in that order:
- Hearts begins with three Firewall cards, with 2♥ as the active Cap over 8♥ and 4♥.
- Clubs begins with J♣.
- Diamonds and Spades begin OPEN.
Opening Leaders
Randomly select the Round 1 leader.
Use the following sequence for the remaining rounds:
- Round 1: randomly selected player
- Round 2: that player's partner
- Round 3: player to the Round 1 leader's left
- Round 4: that player's partner
Every player therefore opens one round, and each partnership opens once as Red and once as Blue.
Playing a Trick
The leader plays any card.
Its suit becomes the Lead Suit.
Play continues clockwise.
Players must follow suit if able.
A player who cannot follow suit may play any card.
Only cards of the Lead Suit can win the trick.
Off-suit cards can never win.
OPEN Port
If the Lead Suit's Port is OPEN, there is no Cap.
The highest card of the Lead Suit wins the trick.
Protected Port
If the Lead Suit contains Firewall cards, the top card establishes that Port's Cap.
The highest card of the Lead Suit that does not exceed the Cap wins the trick.
Example
Spades has an active Cap of 8♠.
The trick contains: 10♠ — 9♠ — 4♠ — 8♥
Spades were led.
The 10♠ and 9♠ exceed the Cap.
The 4♠ does not.
Therefore, 4♠ wins the trick.
The 8♥ cannot win because Hearts were not led.
Packet Drop
Sometimes every card played in the Lead Suit exceeds the Cap.
When this happens, a Packet Drop occurs.
The card of the Lead Suit closest to the Cap wins the trick.
Because every Lead-Suit card is above the Cap, this will be the lowest-ranked Lead-Suit card played.
Example
Spades has an active Cap of 8♠.
The trick contains: 10♠ — 9♠ — K♠ — 8♥
Every Spade exceeds the 8♠ Cap.
The 9♠ is closest to the Cap, so 9♠ wins the trick.
The 8♥ does not matter when determining the winner because Hearts were not led.
The trick winner resolves their team's Firewall action and then leads the next trick.
After Winning a Trick
The winning player chooses whether and how to use their team's Firewall action.
Either card played by that team may be selected, including the card played by the winner's partner.
Cards played off-suit remain eligible for Fortify or Breach.
This makes voids, off-suit plays, and card selection important parts of Firewall strategy.
Blue — Fortify
After Blue wins a trick, the winner may choose either card played by Blue.
Place the chosen card on top of the Firewall Stack matching that card's suit.
That card becomes the new active Cap for that Port.
Blue may:
- Fortify an OPEN Port.
- Add another layer to an existing Firewall.
- Decline to Fortify.
Example
Hearts are led.
Blue wins after its two players contributed: 8♥ and 4♣
Blue may:
- place the 8♥ onto the Hearts Port, or
- place the 4♣ onto the Clubs Port.
The selected card becomes the new active Cap of that Port.
Red — Breach
After Red wins a trick, the winner may choose either card played by Red.
If the chosen card's suit contains at least one Firewall card, remove the top card from that Port and place it in the Firewall discard.
The next card underneath, if any, immediately becomes the active Cap.
If no cards remain, that Port becomes OPEN.
OPEN Ports
If the Port corresponding to the selected Red card is already OPEN, no action is taken.
Red does not redirect the Breach to another Port.
If neither Red card corresponds to a Port containing Firewall cards, Red wins the trick but performs no Breach action.
This is a normal part of play.
Red must therefore consider not only how to win tricks, but also which Ports its cards can attack.
Red may always decline to Breach.
Example
Hearts contains: 5♥ over 9♥ over K♥
The active Cap is 5♥.
Red wins a trick in which one of its players played a Heart.
Red chooses the Heart for its Breach and removes the 5♥.
The 9♥ becomes the new active Cap.
OPEN Port Example
Diamonds is OPEN.
Red wins a trick and its two played cards are: 7♦ and Q♦
Because Diamonds contains no Firewall cards, there is nothing to remove.
Red wins the trick but performs no Breach action.
The trick winner still leads the next trick.
Trick Resolution Order
After each trick:
- Determine the winner using the Lead Suit and its active Cap, if any.
- Record the trick for that partnership.
- If Blue won, the winner may Fortify.
- If Red won, the winner may Breach.
- The trick winner leads the next trick.
Continue until all 12 tricks are complete.
End-of-Round Scoring
After the final trick, score each of the four Ports according to its Firewall depth.
| Firewall Depth | Port Status | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 0–1 cards | BREACHED | Red scores 2 |
| 2–3 cards | SECURED | Blue scores 2 |
| 4+ cards | HARDENED | Blue scores 3 |
Only one team scores each Port.
Scoring Example
At the end of a round:
- Hearts: 4 cards → Blue scores 3
- Diamonds: 2 cards → Blue scores 2
- Clubs: 1 card → Red scores 2
- Spades: 0 cards → Red scores 2
Round score: Blue 5 — Red 4
Ports won: Blue 2 — Red 2
End of the Round
After all 12 tricks:
- Score the four Ports.
- Add those points to each partnership's match score.
- Record Ports won.
- Record tricks won.
- Gather all cards from tricks, Firewall Stacks, and the Firewall discard.
- Switch Red and Blue roles.
- Shuffle and begin the next round with a new 13-card deal and Boot Sequence.
No Firewall state carries between rounds.
Winning the Match
The match ends after four rounds.
The partnership with the most total points wins.
If tied:
- Most total Ports won
- Most total tricks won
If still tied, the match is a draw.
There is no sudden-death round.
Communication
Hands remain private.
Partners may discuss public information but may not reveal or explicitly describe cards still held in hand.
Players may not say things such as:
- "I have the Ace of Hearts."
- "I am void in Clubs."
- "Fortify Spades because I have a low Spade."
Boot-card selection, leads, follows, off-suit plays, and Firewall actions are legitimate ways to signal strategic intent through gameplay.
Advanced Variant: Complete Breach
For players who want a more demanding Red game, use Complete Breach scoring.
All gameplay rules remain unchanged.
Only Red's scoring changes:
| Firewall Depth | Port Status | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 0 cards | OPEN | Red scores 2 |
| 1 card | BREACHED | Red scores 1 |
| 2–3 cards | SECURED | Blue scores 2 |
| 4+ cards | HARDENED | Blue scores 3 |
This variant rewards Red for completely stripping a Port rather than merely reducing it to one remaining Firewall card.
A one-card Port still belongs to Red, but is worth only 1 point.
This creates an additional decision for Red:
- Spread Breaches across several Ports to take control of more Ports, or
- Continue attacking an already Breached Port to remove its final Firewall card and earn the full 2 points.
Once a Port becomes OPEN, Red cards matching that Port can no longer remove Firewall cards from it. Winning with those cards may therefore produce no Breach action.
The standard scoring system is recommended for normal play. Use Complete Breach when players want tighter attack sequencing and greater pressure on Red to finish its attacks.
