bruno

A multi-player card game

In early 2022, Aaron told me (with an excited voice) that he came up with a new card game, which is based on bridge and UNO. I was persuaded to try it out and actually found it interesting. This page descrcibes how the game works. Later I tried to build an application so everyone interested can play it online. In a hypothetical but implausible future, we want to build a reinforcement learning agent to play this game, with the hope that it can achieve similar or better performance than human players.

Game Overview

Players and Teams

This is a team-based card game for four players. Players take turns playing cards in sequence. Players not adjacent in the turn order form a team. For example, if the turn order is A → B → C → D:

  • A and C are teammates
  • B and D are teammates

Card Setting

The deck consists of 52 cards: 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/J/Q/K/A, each with 4 copies.

  • Ordinary cards: 4-8, J-A, ranked in ascending order
  • function cards: 2,3,9,10, each with a special effect:
    • 2: Skips your turn. The next player must respond to the last played card.
    • 3: Skips your and the next player’s turn. Your teammate must respond to the last played card.
    • 9: Forces the next player to play a card lower than 9.
    • 10: Collects all players’ hand cards, shuffles, and redistributes in turn order, starting with the current player.
      • The next player then responds to the last played card
      • The 10 is removed from the game after play and is not included in the redistribution

Dealing the Cards

At the start of the game, each player is randomly dealt 13 cards, divided into:

  • 6 table cards:
    • 3 face-down cards: Invisible to everyone, including the owner
    • 3 face-up cards: Visible to everyone
  • 7 hand cards: Visible to the owner only

Objective:

The goal is to be the first player to finish playing all (both hand and table) cards. When a player does so, their team wins the game.

The bruno game setting

How to Play

Playing Cards

  • The first player may play any card to start the round
  • Each following player must play:
    • A card equal to or higher than the last played card, or
    • A function card
  • Players may:
    • Play a single card, or
    • Play multiple cards of the same rank
  • If a player has a valid move, they must play it
  • If a player cannot make a valid move, they must collect all previously played cards into their hand
  • Winning restriction:
    • The final card played to win the game cannot be a function card
    • If a player’s last remaining card (from hand or table) is a function card, they must instead collect all previously played cards to their hand

Using Table Cards

  • Once a player has no hand cards remaining, they may play one of their face-up table cards
  • After all face-up cards are used, they may play one face-down (hidden) card
  • If a played table or hidden card violates the rules:
    • The player must collect all previously played cards into their hand

Resetting the Round

  • When a player collects all previously played cards:
    • A new round begins
    • That player may play any card, regardless of the previous played card
# 中文规则点这里

基本设置

使用一副去除大小王的扑克牌，共 52 张。四名玩家围坐进行游戏，不相邻的两人为一队，按逆时针顺序依次出牌。 任意一名玩家率先打完自己所有的牌（包括手牌与桌面牌），其所在队伍即获胜。

发牌与牌型

每位玩家在开局时获得 13 张牌，分为三部分：7 张手牌（仅自己可见）、3 张桌面明牌（所有人可见）以及 3 张桌面暗牌（所有人不可见，包括玩家自己）。

牌面点数为4–8、J–A 为普通牌，按点数递增比较大小；2、3、9、10 为功能牌，可在任何时候使用，不受大小限制，并具有以下效果：

  • 2：跳过当前回合，由下一位玩家接牌。
  • 3：跳过当前玩家和下一位玩家，由其队友接牌。
  • 9：强制下一位玩家出小于 9 的牌。
  • 10：收集所有玩家手牌并洗牌，按顺序重新发牌（从当前玩家开始），同时该 10 被移出游戏，随后由下一位玩家接牌。

出牌规则

1. 玩家使用牌时必须遵循以下顺序：先出完手牌，再使用桌面明牌，最后才能使用桌面暗牌。

2. 游戏开始或回合重置后的首位玩家出牌可以出任意牌。之后的玩家必须出点数不小于上一手的牌，或出功能牌。可以一次出一张或多张相同点数的牌，花色与张数均不作限制。

3. 若玩家既没有可出的普通牌，也不使用功能牌，则必须收回场上所有已出的牌到手中，并由自己重新出任意牌，开启新的出牌回合。

4. 当玩家开始使用桌面暗牌时，需要随机翻开一张并尝试出牌；若该牌不符合当前出牌规则（例如点数不足且不是功能牌），同样需要收回场上所有牌，并重新开始一个出牌回合。

胜利规则

玩家必须打完所有手牌、明牌和暗牌才能获胜，但最后一张牌不能是功能牌。若最后一张为功能牌，则需收回场上所有牌到手牌，并重新开始一个出牌回合。