Jumbled GeoPower Choice:  2 To 8 Players

What You Should Know Before You Play

The object of the game is to be the first player or team to get 50 points, and your success depends upon your card playing skills, and the state rankings (from 1^st to 50^th) in size, statehood, and population of the GeoPlunge cards you play.  Your creative thinking will be important in this game as you’ll have to decide which GeoPlunge cards to play, when to play them, and how many to play. 

But luck will help you as well.  Your success will also depend on the GeoPower card selected each time, and you won’t know what that card is until you’ve made your decision as to what GeoPlunge cards to play. 

Each GeoPower card says either “Size”, “Statehood”, or “Population,” and the GeoPower card selected determines which ranking is important for the GeoPlunge cards you play.  For example, if the GeoPower card says Size, the size rankings of the GeoPlunge cards you play will be the ranking that matters).     

Play one round at a time until someone wins the game. You can play individually or with teams. Use the GeoPlunge and GeoPower cards, and shuffle both decks after every round.   

How to Play

n         To start each round, the dealer says either “Top Dog” or “Bottoms Up,” and then deals each player 6 GeoPlunge cards, even if you’re playing with teams.  A player must play exactly 5 of his or her GeoPlunge cards during a round.

n         There are 3 “sets” played each round.  A set consists of the players (all at the same time) playing 1 or 2 cards each.  A player must play either 1 or 2 cards on each set.

n         For each set, once you’ve chosen which cards to play, lay them face down with your hand covering them so your opponents can’t see whether you’re playing 1 or 2 cards.

n         For each set, once every player has laid the cards they’ll play face down, the dealer then turns face-up the top GeoPower card in the deck (which is placed at the bottom of the deck after it’s used.)  That card determines which ranking is important for that set.  For example, if the GeoPower card turned face-up says Size, the GeoPlunge cards played by the players in that set are ranked based on size.

Determining Who Wins Each Set

If the dealer says “Top Dog” before dealing the cards for a round, you’ll win a set during that round if the ranking of your card played on that set (or, if you played 2 cards on the set, the sum of the rankings of your 2 cards played on that set) is lower numerically than the rankings of the cards played by each other player.

For example, if the dealer says “Top Dog”, and you play Texas and California on a set, and your opponent plays South Dakota, and the GeoPower card for that set says Size, you’d win the set because the sum of your size rankings is lower numerically than the size ranking of your opponent’s card.  In this example, the sum of your size rankings is 5 (since Texas and California are 2^nd and 3^rd in size) and your opponent’s size ranking is 16.

If the dealer says “Bottoms Up” before dealing the cards for a round, you’ll win a set during that round if the ranking of your card played on that set (or, if you played 2 cards, the sum of the rankings of your 2 cards played on that set) is higher numerically than the rankings of the cards played by each other player.

Keeping Score 

You get 5 points for winning a set.  You get 5 bonus points if you win 2 sets during a round, and 10 bonus points if you win all 3 sets during a round. 

With teams, add up the points won by each teammate to determine how many points the team has.