Hecka Tricky

Rules overview

Hecka Tricky Battleline

REQUIRES SPECIAL HECKADECK (BGG Link)

Components

• Heckadeck: 100 cards, consisting of 8 unique suits. Each player claims one suit.
• 12 Oddball Powers (single-use special cards).
• Score sheet and pencil.

Setup

1. Suit Assignment & Regions

• Divide the Heckadeck into its 8 suits. Each player claims one suit as their personal color.
• From each player’s suit deck, draw 2 cards (3 in a 2-player game) at random. Place these face-up in the center as Region Markers (active lanes).
• These drawn cards are not returned to the player's deck.

2. Personal Play Decks

• Each player shuffles the remaining cards of their own suit to form their personal draw pile.
• Players never mix their cards with other players. This ensures identical decks for all.
• Each player draws only from their own personal draw pile throughout the game.

3. Oddball Assignment (Core Game)

• Shuffle the 12 oddballs and deal 3 cards face-down to each player.
• Each player keeps 2 and discards 1.
• Discarded oddballs are removed from the game.
• All players will begin the game with 2 oddballs.

4. Additional Oddballs (Round 2)

• At the start of Round 2, redistribute any leftover oddballs:
• 4 players: 4 leftover oddballs → each player receives 1.
• 3 players: Draft remaining 6 oddballs in pairs (as per original rules).
• 2 players: Deal 3 to each player; keep 2.

Turn Structure

1. Draw Phase:

• Draw cards from your personal deck until you have 5 cards in hand (or as many as possible).

2. Trick Phase

• All players simultaneously reveal 1 card.
• Highest rank wins the trick. Ties are broken using suit hierarchy.

3. Placement Phase (Trick Winner Only)

• Trick winner chooses to:
• Place the winning card into any region, or
• Use an oddball (instead of placing the trick card).

4. Region Scoring

• Once a region has 4 cards on any side, it scores immediately.

Oddball Powers

• Each player starts each round with 2 oddballs.
• Each oddball is single-use, and must be declared when revealing your trick card (unless otherwise stated).
• Once used, oddballs are discarded permanently.

Oddball Tiers (for balance/reference only in Core Game)

Omnihedron

Wipe both sides of a lane. Place Omnihedron there as a marker.

Eleven

Place your trick card and Eleven into the same region. Only allowed if that region has ≤ 2 of your cards.

Place trick card as normal. Then place Hunter into a region where you have no cards.

Traveler

Swap one of your cards with another player’s between two lanes. Must match suit or rank.

Arrow

Move 1 opponent's card to opposite side, or move up to 2 of your own cards.

Lock a region: no placements allowed in that lane for rest of round.

Darkness

Remove one card from each side of a lane. Then discard Darkness.

Watcher

Peek at one card from each opponent's hand. You do not place a card this trick.

Crone

Reverse direction of play order until end of round.

Scoring & Tiebreakers

Winning a Region

• The player with more cards on their side controls the region.
• Once a region has 4 cards per side, it scores immediately.

Tiebreakers (if region is tied in number of cards)

1. Compare total value of cards for each tied side.
2. If still tied, the player whose personal suit matches the region wins.
3. If still tied, resolve using suit hierarchy (define during setup).

Game End & Sudden Death

• The game ends immediately when a player controls 4 regions.

• If no one controls 4 regions at the end of a round, begin a new round without clearing the regions.

• If the game reaches Round 3, enter Sudden Death:

• Trick winners may now place 2 cards per trick (trick card + one more, or as allowed by oddball).
• Game ends when someone reaches 4 regions or all cards are used.

• If tied in number of regions at game end, the player with the most tricks won is the winner.

Variants

Variant A: Purist (Battle Line Mode)

• Remove all oddballs.
• Scoring is based on 3-card hand types (e.g. Pair, Straight, Flush, etc.) per region.
• Use for 2 players or players who prefer more strategic purity.
• You may still require tricks to place cards, or allow open placement as per Battle Line rules.

Variant B: Tiered Draft (Advanced / Competitive)

• All 12 oddballs are laid face-up.
• In reverse turn order, players draft 1 oddball at a time until they have 3.
• Use point limits:
• Tier 1 = 3 pts
• Tier 2 = 2 pts
• Tier 3 = 1 pt
• Players may not exceed 6 points total in their selection.

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