BAM! How to Play

Terminology

ROUND	When each player has placed one card in the middle of the playing surface.
HAND	When each player has placed all his / her playing cards in the middle of the playing surface and there are no cards left to play. A hand will consist of either three, four, five or six rounds (which is equal to the number of cards dealt).
LEVEL	A number of hands played in succession.
POINTS	Earned through playing games. A certain number of points are required to progress to the next Hand.
SCORE	Accumulated points.
CREDITS	In-game currency used throughout BAM!. Each player begins each game with the same amount of credits (despite their score).
HAND AMOUNT	A predetermined amount of credits that must be played by every player for the length of a game (unless ‘BamBoozalled’ – see below).
POT (AMOUNT)	The total of each player’s hand amount (number of credits), including any player BamBoozals.
BAMBOOZAL / BAMBOOZALS / BAMBOOZALLED	The outcome achieved by any player who does not win any rounds in a single Hand. If the player is ‘BamBoozalled’, instead of contributing the hand amount for the next hand, the player must contribute the same amount of the pot from the hand in which they were BamBoozalled. Note: A BamBoozalled player does not contribute the hand amount. The player must contribute either the BamBoozalled amount or the hand amount; not both.
DEAL	To distribute individual cards face down to each player in a clock-wise direction.
SUIT	Diamonds / Clubs / Hearts / Spades. Each of these is of equal value with the exception of the Trump suit.
TRUMP SUIT	A suit that is elevated above the other suits. A trump card will always beat a non-trump card when played. The trump is chosen by the dealer at the beginning of a hand by turning over one of their cards.
ROUND SUIT	The suit determined by the first card that is played in a Round.
AI	Artificial Intelligence. All players in a game are AI except for the human player.

Pre Gameplay

At the commencement of a Level, the dealer for the first hand is randomly selected.
If it is not the first Hand, the dealer will be the next player who wasn’t the dealer in the previous Hand.
Once selected, cards are automatically dealt (by the dealer) in a clockwise order.
Each Hand requires each player to pay the Hand amount to receive cards for each hand.
This amount is automatically deducted from the player’s credits. If the hand being played is the first in a game all players pay the standard Hand amount. Both players contributing the Hand amount create a Pot.Note: Hand amounts will vary and increase per level as the difficulty increases.
The Trump suit is automatically selected and displayed.
The player’s cards display.

Gameplay

The player who is not dealing presents a card to play in the middle of the board/screen to start the Round.
The other player then presents a card to play in the middle of the board/screen.
Once all players have played a card, the round winner is determined and a point is added to their score.
Round Suit
The suit of the first card played in a round is the Round suit.
Note: The Round suit may also be the Trump suit.

All other players must play a card of the same suit if they have one. If they don’t have a card of that suit, they can play any other card they choose, including a Trump card. The highest round suit card is the winner unless a Trump card has been played.

Trump Suit
All Trump cards have a higher value than every other suit. The highest Trump card played during a round wins.
The player who won the previous round plays first in the next round.
This player presents a card to play in the middle of the board/screen.
The other player then presents a card to play in the middle of the board/screen and the round is complete.
The Hand completes when players have played all their cards.
The winner (if any) is determined by the player with the highest number of Rounds won for the hand.
Upon the commencement of any new hand, the next corresponding clockwise player is considered the new dealer.

Post Gameplay

Hand outcomes

There are five possible hand outcomes:

Player Wins – No BamBoozals
Player Wins – At least one BamBoozal
Player Draws – No winners or losers (‘Split Pot’)
Player Loses – One winner
Player BamBoozalled – AI Player winner

Note: the following scenarios assume the Pot amount is 100 credits and the Hand amount is 50 credits.

Player wins – No BamBoozals

A player is considered the winner of the Hand when he/she wins more rounds than any other player (e.g. in a five-round game, the human player wins three rounds and the AI players win 2 rounds).

A ‘You won the Hand!’ message will display.
The winning player’s credit balance has 100 credits added (the Pot amount) as the reward for winning the hand.
When the Next button is clicked, each player’s credit balance has 50 credits subtracted in preparation for the next hand.
The Pot amount is 100 credits for the next hand.
The Main Game screen displays, having loaded the next hand in the level.

Player wins – At least one BamBoozal

A player is considered the winner of the hand when he/she wins more rounds than any other player, whilst BamBoozalling the other player (e.g. in a five-round game, the human player wins five rounds and the AI player none).

A ‘BamBoozalled!’ message will overlay the Main Game screen.
A ‘You won the Hand!’ message will display.
The winning player’s credit balance has 100 credits added (the Pot amount) as the reward for winning the hand.
When the Next button is clicked, the winning player’s credit balance has 50 credits subtracted in preparation for the next hand.
The AI player is considered ‘BamBoozalled’, and as a consequence, has 100 credits (the Pot amount) deducted from their credit balance.
The Pot amount is 150 credits for the next hand.
The Main Game screen displays, having loaded the next hand in the level.

Player draws – No winners or losers (‘Split Pot’)

A hand is considered a draw when there is no clear winner and no player ‘BamBoozalled’ (e.g. in a four-round game, the human player and AI player wins two rounds each).

A ‘SPLIT POT!’ message will display.
Neither player’s credit balance is presented with any credits.
When the Next button is clicked, each player’s credit balance has 50 credits subtracted in preparation for the next hand.
The Pot amount is 200 credits for the next hand.
The Main Game screen displays, having loaded the next hand in the level.

Player Loses – One winner

A player is considered the loser when he/she fails to win more rounds than the AI player (e.g. in a five-round game, the human player wins two rounds and the AI player wins three rounds).

A ‘xxx won the Hand!’ message will display.
The AI player’s credit balance has 100 credits added (the Pot amount) as the reward for winning the hand.
When the Next button is clicked, each player’s credit balance has 50 credits subtracted in preparation for the next hand.
The Pot amount is 100 credits for the next hand.
The Main Game screen displays, having loaded the next hand in the level.

Player BamBoozalled – AI Player winner

A player is considered the loser when he/she fails to win a single round in a hand (e.g. in a five-round game, the human player wins no rounds whilst the AI player wins five rounds).

A ‘BamBoozalled!’ message will overlay the Main Game screen.
A ‘xxx won the Hand!’ message will display.
The AI player’s credit balance has 100 credits added (the Pot amount) as the reward for winning the hand.
When the Next button is clicked, the AI player’s credit balance has 50 credits subtracted in preparation for the next hand.
The Human player is considered ‘BamBoozalled’, and as a consequence, has 100 credits (the Pot amount) deducted from their credit balance.
The Pot amount is 150 credits for the next hand.
The Main Game screen displays, having loaded the next hand in the level.

Our BAM! Card Game