Where Even a Fool Can Wear the Crown
All four Crowns have been claimed!
Select a Noble and a Squire (or two Squires if you have no Noble).
Each player has five playable cards. The four Crown Aces begin in the center battlefield. Jokers are displayed separately when drawn and give a lasting +1 Battle Strength each; a replacement card is drawn to keep five playable cards.
Normally select one Noble (Jack, Queen, or King) and one Squire (2–10). Nobles are worth 10 Strength; Squires are worth their printed number, including the armored 10 Knights. If you have no Noble, you may use two Squires instead. The higher card is displayed face up.
If you have no Squire, you must perform a Noble Exchange: reveal your hand, discard two Nobles, draw two replacements, and sit out that round. Repeat next round if still unable to play a Squire.
Add your two cards together, plus any bonuses:
Example: cards worth 18 + Royal Alliance 1 + Crown Alliance 1 + Joker 1 = 21 Strength.
Every active player rolls two dice. A total of 6–12 qualifies; a total of 2–5 fails. The Joker face on a die counts as 1. Dice only determine qualification—not Battle Strength. Among qualifiers, the highest Battle Strength is the round winner. If the highest strengths tie, use the Roll Tiebreaker button; highest tiebreak roll wins, and ties reroll.
The round winner chooses one Crown from the center battlefield. You can claim at most one Crown per round. Crown suits matter: holding the matching Crown powers up a future Royal Alliance.
The highest-strength qualifying player is the round winner and the only player who can initiate a challenge. Other qualifiers cannot challenge just because they have no Crown.
Before committing, a player with a Joker may sacrifice one Joker per round to exchange 1–3 playable cards. The Joker is shuffled into the live draw deck before replacements are drawn, so it may immediately return! Drawn Jokers are revealed and replaced with another playable card. The player still commits and rolls normally, and can fail qualification. Computer opponents may also take this gamble.
Played cards are discarded and hands refill to five playable cards. The discard pile is reshuffled if the draw deck runs out. Held Crowns and Jokers stay with their owners unless transferred by the rules above. The first player to hold all four Crowns wins the game!