Kindling

Rules overview

Kindling

One More Stick for the Fire, Keep It Burning

Overview

The night is long, the wood is scarce, and every trick matters. In Kindling, players compete for limited resources to keep their fires burning while denying fuel to their opponents. Winning tricks grants access to valuable fuel, but every loss causes a fire to decay. A healthy fire may grow. A damaged fire must be repaired. Keep your fire alive while starving your opponents.

Components

• One standard 52-card deck
• Score pad and pencil

Jokers are not used.

Goal

Score the most points over three rounds by maintaining the strongest fire.

Card Types

Wood

All black cards

• Clubs
• Spades

Flame

All red cards

• Hearts
• Diamonds

Rank Order

Highest to Lowest:

A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Aces are always high.

Two Player Setup

Each player begins with the following fire:

Wood

• Black Ace
• Black Queen
• Black 10
• Black 8
• Black 6

Flame

• One Red Jack

Place these cards face up in front of the player. Remove all starting fire cards from the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards. Deal 10 cards face down to each player.

Each player

• Draws 5 cards into hand
• Places the remaining 5 cards face down as their Personal Supply Pile

Create 4 Central Supply Piles from the remaining cards. Reveal the top card of each pile.

Three Player Setup

Remove the following Wood cards:

• Black Aces
• Black Kings
• Black Queens
• Black Fours
• Black Threes
• Black Twos

Shuffle these 12 Wood cards and deal 4 to each player.

Remove the following Flame cards

• Red Aces
• Red Twos

Shuffle these 4 Flame cards. Deal 1 Flame card to each player. Discard the remaining Flame card face down without revealing it.

Each player now begins with

• 4 Wood
• 1 Flame

Place these cards face up in front of the player. Shuffle all remaining cards. Deal 8 cards face down to each player. These cards form the player’s Personal Supply Pile. Each player draws 4 cards into hand. Create 3 Central Supply Piles of 4 cards each. Reveal the top card of each pile.

Hand Limits

Two Players

• Draw to 5 cards
• Maximum hand size: 7

Three Players

• Draw to 4 cards
• Maximum hand size: 4

Cards gained beyond the hand limit are placed on the bottom of the Personal Supply Pile.

Fire Structure

A fire may contain

• Maximum 6 Logs
• Maximum 3 Flames

Logs are arranged from left to right. The left side is the heart of the fire. The right side is the outer edge of the fire. New logs are always added to the far right side of the fire. Logs may never be rearranged.

Flame Support

A fire may support

• 1 Flame with 1–2 Logs
• 2 Flames with 3–4 Logs
• 3 Flames with 5–6 Logs

A single Burning or Smoking log may support a Flame. A fire may never exceed its Flame support limit.

Log States

Fresh

• Face up
• No Flame

Healthy.

Burning

• Face up
• Flame present

Healthy.

Smoldering

• Face down
• No Flame

Damaged.

Smoking

• Face down
• Flame present

Damaged.

Ashes

Removed from the fire and placed into the Personal Supply Pile.

Damaged Fires

A fire containing any

• Smoking Log
• Smoldering Log

is considered damaged. Damaged fires cannot gain additional logs. The fire must be repaired before it may grow.

Growing the Fire

A player may add a Fresh log only if

• No Smoking logs are present
• No Smoldering logs are present
• The fire contains fewer than 6 Logs

New logs are always added to the far right side of the fire.

Adding Flame

A Flame may be added to

• Fresh Logs
• Burning Logs
• Smoldering Logs
• Smoking Logs

When a Flame is added

Fresh → Burning Smoldering → Smoking Burning and Smoking remain unchanged. A player may never exceed their Flame support limit.

Playing a Trick

The lead player plays a card. All other players must follow suit if able. If unable to follow suit, they may play any card. The highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick.

Winner Resolution

Discard the winning card from the game. The winner may draft one visible Central Supply card matching the exact suit of the winning card.

Examples

• Spade wins draft Spades
• Club wins draft Clubs
• Heart wins draft Hearts
• Diamond wins draft Diamonds

If no matching suit is visible

Remove the highest ranked visible card of the same color from the Central Supply and discard it from the game. No card is gained. Reveal replacement cards as normal. If the drafted card can legally be added to the fire, add it immediately. If it cannot legally be added to the fire, place it on the bottom of the Personal Supply Pile. Reveal the next card from the affected Central Supply Pile.

Losing a Trick

Two Players

The losing player

1. Places their played card on the bottom of their Personal Supply Pile.
2. Damages the rightmost log in their fire.
3. Draws back to 5 cards.

Three Players

Each player who did not win

1. Places their played card on the bottom of their Personal Supply Pile.
2. Damages the rightmost log in their fire.
3. Draws back to 4 cards.

Damaging the Fire

Always damage the rightmost log.

Fresh Log

Fresh → Smoldering

Burning Log

Burning → Smoking

Smoldering Log

Smoldering → Ashes Move the log to the bottom of the Personal Supply Pile.

Smoking Log

Smoking → Ashes

Move both

• the log
• the Flame

to the bottom of the Personal Supply Pile. That section of the fire has burned out.

End of Round

After a trick fully resolves, the round ends immediately if

• All Central Supply cards have been exhausted
• A player has no Flames remaining in their fire
• A player has no cards remaining in hand and no cards remaining in their Personal Supply Pile

Round Scoring

Logs

Fresh Logs score 1 point each. Burning Logs score 1 point each. Smoldering Logs score 0 points. Smoking Logs score 0 points.

Flames

Flames on Burning Logs score 2 points each. Flames on Smoking Logs score 0 points.

Exhaustion Bonus

A player gains 2 bonus points if

• Their hand is empty
• Their Personal Supply Pile is empty

End of Game

At the end of each round, score all players' fires.

• If a single player has 25 or more points, that player immediately wins the game.
• If multiple players are tied for the highest score at 25 points or more, play another round.
• If the tied players remain tied after an additional round, they share the victory.