Cap30 rules
Everything you need to play Cap30 at the table or online: setup, turns, every card, winning, and how to play with an ordinary deck of playing cards.
The game in 30 seconds
- Everyone shares one total. It starts at 15, and everyone starts with 7 cards.
- On your turn, play one card to move the total up or down.
- Keep it between 0 and 30. A card that would take the total outside that range can't be played.
- Land exactly on a ten (0, 10, 20 or 30) and you go again, up to three cards in one turn.
- Can't play? Draw a card. If it fits, you may play it straight away.
- Empty your hand first to win the hand. First to win two hands wins the game.
What you need
Players: 2 to 4. Time: about 2 minutes a hand, so about 5 minutes a game.
The Cap30 deck has 52 cards:
- 32 number cards: add and subtract cards from 1 to 10. There's one of each from 1 to 4, and two of each from 5 to 10, in both colours (add and subtract).
- 20 special cards: Take Two ×6, Double ×3, Halve ×3, Undo ×2, Reset ×2, Skip ×2, Switch ×2.
No Cap30 deck? You can play with an ordinary pack of playing cards: see playing with a standard deck.
Deal
- Shuffle and deal 7 cards to each player. In a two-player game, the player who goes first gets one extra card (8).
- Put the rest face down as the draw pile.
- Say the total out loud: it starts at 15. A scrap of paper or a phone calculator helps keep track at the table.
- Choose who goes first. Play passes to the left.
Play, chain, or draw
- Play one card face up on the discard pile and say the new total.
- The total must stay between 0 and 30. You can't play a card that would take it below 0 or above 30. Halve only works on an even total.
- If you can play, you must play. You can't draw instead.
- If nothing fits, draw one card. If it fits, you may play it straight away; if not, keep it and your turn ends. If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discards (except the top card) to make a new one.
Landing on a ten
- If your card moves the total exactly onto 0, 10, 20 or 30, you may play another card straight away.
- You can keep chaining, up to three cards in one turn. You may also stop whenever you like.
- It only counts if the total moves onto the ten. Skip, Switch and Take Two don't change the total, so they never chain.
Doubles
Two (or three) identical number cards, such as +4 and +4, can go down together as one move. They count as a single card for landing on a ten.
Your last card
Your last card must be a legal play too. When it goes down, you win the hand.
Every card, explained
| Card | What it does |
|---|---|
| +1 to +10 | Add that number to the total. |
| −1 to −10 | Subtract that number from the total. |
| Double ×2 | Double the total. The result must be 30 or less. |
| Halve ÷2 | Halve the total. Only works when the total is even. |
| Reset | Set the total back to 15. Always safe to play. |
| Undo | Cancel the last card played: a change to the total, a Switch, a Skip or a Take Two (the two cards go back to the bottom of the draw pile). An Undo can't be undone. Like every card, you can only play it on your turn. |
| Skip | The next player misses their turn. With two players, you go again. |
| Switch | Reverse the direction of play. With two players, you go again. |
| Take Two | The opponent with the fewest cards picks up two. If there's a tie, it's the first of them in turn order. |
First to two hands
- The first player to empty their hand wins the hand.
- The first player to win two hands wins the game.
- Between hands, shuffle everything, deal again, and reset the total to 15. The player who finished last starts the next hand.
The same game, with powers
Cap30: Power Up is played online at cap30game.com. Same cards, same rules, plus:
- A power meter. Every ten you hit adds a notch, and a third ten in one turn fills it at once. A full meter gives you a one-off power you can use at any time, even on someone else's turn: give everyone else a card, or swap a card for one of three action cards. In a one-on-one game you get the Wild ten instead: your next card lands the total on the nearest ten.
- You choose the target of your Take Two and Skip.
- Hand bonuses. The hand winner secretly picks a bonus for the next hand; whoever is left holding the most gets a comeback Bullseye and goes first.
- Drain cards knock two notches off someone's meter.
Cap30 to 50 and 100
The same rules with a bigger range and bigger cards. They're built from the 52-card deck plus expansion packs:
- Cap30 to 50 (68 cards): add the Cap50 pack, which has add and subtract 11 to 15, plus Take Two ×2, Double, Halve, Skip and Switch. The total starts at 25, Reset sets it to 25, and the tens are 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50.
- Cap30 to 100 (94 cards): add the Cap50 pack and the Cap100 pack, which has add and subtract 16 to 25, plus Take Two ×2, Double, Halve, Undo and Reset. The total starts at 50, Reset sets it to 50, and every multiple of ten from 0 to 100 is a ten.
Play Cap30 with a standard deck of cards
No Cap30 deck? A normal 52-card pack of playing cards (plus the two jokers, if you have them) plays almost exactly the same. All the rules above stay the same; only the cards change.
| Playing card | Cap30 card |
|---|---|
| ♠ ♣ Ace to 10 | Add 1 to 10 (black cards add, an Ace is 1) |
| ♥ ♦ Ace to 10 | Subtract 1 to 10 (red cards subtract) |
| Jacks | Take Two: the opponent with the fewest cards picks up two |
| Black Queens | Double the total |
| Red Queens | Halve the total (even totals only) |
| Black Kings | Skip the next player |
| Red Kings | Reset the total to 15 |
| Jokers (optional) | Undo the last card played |
That's 40 number cards and 12 to 14 special cards. There's no Switch card in this version, and if your pack has no jokers, simply play without Undo.
Like it? The boxed Cap30 deck adds more Take Twos, Switch and Undo, and the online game is free at cap30game.com.
Ready to try it?
Play Cap30 free in your browser against robot rivals, or make a private game and play online with friends.