GeoDouble:  2 Players

What You Should Know Before You Play

The object of the game is to be the first player to get 50 points by using your knowledge of U.S. geography, your quick reflexes and your card playing skills. 

Play one round at a time until someone wins the game.  Each round has two stages: Race for Borders and Capitals, and Play the Ranks, played in that order.  In the first stage of a round, your goal is to --  as fast as you can -- find winning groups of cards among those you were dealt.  Make no mistake about it – THIS STAGE IS A RACE.   You use what you know (and learn) about U.S. border states and state capitals to help you quickly find the winning groups of cards.

In the second stage of each round, 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, determine how well you’ll do. The Alaska card has the best (i.e., 1^st) size ranking, Delaware has the best statehood ranking, and California has the best population ranking.

Use the GeoPlunge cards only.  Shuffle the deck after each stage, and each round. 

Stage 1:  Race for Borders and Capitals

Ø        Deal both players 18 cards.  Don’t look at your cards until they’re all dealt, and the dealer shouts “Go.”

Ø      Then using only the cards you are dealt, try to – as fast as you can -- find two groups of 3 cards each, in which

o       For one group, one state in the group borders the other two states in the group; and

o       For the other group, the state capitals of each of the three states begin with the same first letter.

Ø        You cannot use the same card in both groups. 

Ø      Shout “GeoPlunge” as soon as you find 2 winning groups.  The first player to shout “GeoPlunge” and then immediately place face-up the 2 winning groups of cards (and no other cards) wins this stage.

 Stage 2:  Play the Ranks

D        Whoever wins Stage 1 of a round is the dealer for Stage 2 of that round. For each round, to start this stage deal 8 GeoPlunge cards to each player. Each player then chooses 2 cards to discard so each has only 6 cards left.

D       Beginning with the dealer, each player then announces whether he or she is “GeoPlunging” on this stage of that round.  GeoPlunging does not impact the play of the game, it only impacts the scoring (see “Keeping Score” below).

D        Play 6 “tricks”, one at a time, with the remaining cards. On each trick, each player plays 1 of his or her cards.

D        To begin a trick, one player plays a card face-up first (this is called “leading” on the trick). The other player then plays a card face-up.  At that point, the trick is over.  You’re now ready to begin the next trick.  This continues until all 6 tricks are played.

D       The dealer leads on the first trick.  After that, the player who wins a trick leads a card to start the next trick.  (Whenever you win a trick, put the cards played during that trick face-down in a separate pile next to you.)

D       Whenever you’re leading on a trick, before playing your card you must choose (by saying out loud) whether the cards to be played on that trick will be ranked based on Size, Statehood or Population.

D       To win the trick, you must play the best ranked card played on the trick in the category announced by the person leading. For example, if the player leading says “Size”, you’ll win the trick if the card you played has a better size ranking than the card played by your opponent.

D       For each round, you need to win at least 4 tricks to win this stage.  However, if both players win 3 tricks, you win this stage for the round if YOU WON THE LAST TRICK PLAYED. 

Keeping Score

You get 10 points for winning Stage 1 during a round.  The winner of Stage 2 during a round wins 5 points, except that if either player is GeoPlunging on Stage 2 of that round, the winner of that stage receives 10 points, and if both players are GeoPlunging on Stage 2, the winner of that stage receives 20 points.