The 10th Night

Suitable for 1 to 4 players. Requires a standard card deck for 1-2 players and two decks for 3-4 players.

In a cursed village, the inhabitants must endure nights filled with horrors while trying to survive one more day. As players, you will represent a group of people trapped in this place, facing supernatural attacks that intensify with each passing night. During the day, you can reorganize, trade resources, and prepare, but when darkness falls, everyone must fend for themselves.

Intro (v1.6)

This game follows the story of one to four groups of people arriving in a village where supernatural creatures attack humans every night.  Each round has two phases:  

  • Day: When monsters hide, and players can freely organize their resources.  
  • Night: When players must withstand the monsters’ attacks until morning.  

The goal is to collaborate to keep as many people alive as possible for as many nights as possible, building strategies and sharing resources.  

Play Area and Hand

  • Each player is dealt 5 cards and places them face up in a row in front of them.
  • Each card in play represents a person.  
  • J, Q, K, or Joker cards go directly to the player’s hand, and cards are drawn until each player has 5 people in play.
  • If after dealing, some player has more cards than the rest in their hand, everyone else draws until they all have the same amount.
  • Cards in hand can be used during the day to:
    • Replace healthy people.
    • Heal injured people.
    • Improve defense.
  • A person injured during the night is represented by rotating the card 90 degrees.

Day

During the day, players have the opportunity to prepare for the night. They can reorganize their cards, exchange resources, and make strategic changes to improve their chances of survival. This is the only time when players can communicate and coordinate since, during the night, each player must defend themselves independently.

  • At the start of the day, each player draws a card.
  • Players can talk and freely plan strategies during the day.

Allowed actions:

  • Exchange cards between players (either in play or in their hands) in equal quantities (1:1).
  • Exchange a hand card for a healthy person card in play.
  • Healing injured people one of two ways:
    • Replace with another card of the same number but of hearts (original card is discarded).
    • Discard a hearts card to rotate the injured person’s card back to normal.
  • If a player forms a trio in their hand, they can discard two cards and play the third as an additional person (maximum of 5 people per player).
  • There is no limit to the number of actions during this phase.
    The day ends when the players decide there are no more actions to take.

Night

When night falls, the village unleashes its fury. Players can no longer communicate or help each other; each must face the attacks that target them. The threats appear unpredictably, following a counting pattern to determine their target. As the nights progress, attacks become more frequent, putting increasing pressure on the survivors.  

  • Each night begins with an attack represented by a card drawn from the deck and placed face up.  
  • The number of attacks per night equals the number of players (NP) and increases by 1 each night, up to a limit of 4 + NP. (see table)  
  • Players cannot strategize or assist each other during the night.  
  • The night ends when all scheduled attacks have been resolved, and the cards used during the attack must be discarded. 

Attacks

The attacking card is drawn from the deck and placed in the center of the play area.
Its number indicates the position of the victim, counting from the ends of the row:

  • If the attack card is red, counting starts from the left.
  • If the attack card is black, counting starts from the right.
  • Cards are counted back and forth in a zigzag until the target person is identified.

Damage:

  • The damage equals the number on the attack card and is compared to the number on the victim’s card:
  • If the attack is successful, the person is injured and rotated 90 degrees.
  • If the attack number matches the person’s number, the attack moves to the next card.
  • If the attack fails, nothing happens, and the night continues.
  • If an injured person is attacked again, they die and are discarded.  

Monster races and modifiers:

People with these suits represent a phobia of these monsters, which becomes a weakness.

  • If the attack card is the same color as the victim, the attack gains +1 strength.  
  • If the attack card is the same color and suit as the victim, the attack gains +2 strength.  
Races

Special Cards

Ace

  • As a person: Can only be injured or defeated by an attack of the same suit.
  • As an attacker:
    • Against people of the same suit, it becomes a mortal attack.
    • Against people of a different suit, it deals 1 damage.

Jack, Queen and King

  • Cannot be people or attacks, only modifiers.
  • If drawn when dealing people cards, they go directly to the player’s hand.
  • If drawn during an attack, they are placed under the attack card to add points: J = +1, Q = +2, K = +3.
  • Players can discard J, Q, or K cards from their hand to add defense to their victim.
  • Multiple J, Q, or K cards can be combined without limit.

Healing Hearts:

  • During the day, a hearts card can be discarded to heal an injured person.

Joker:

  • If drawn when dealing people cards, it goes directly to the player’s hand.
  • If drawn during an attack, it is placed under the attack card, making it a deadly attack with no defense unless the player has a Joker in their hand.
  • A player can discard a Joker to nullify an attack targeting them (not other players).
Special

Special Events

Fifth Night Raid

If the fifth night passes and at least half of the people have survived, it is considered that there has been a malicious raid on the group’s resources, and damage increases by +1 each night

Divine Protection

When a player has only one person left in play, they can discard their hand to give them divine protection:

  • They cannot be affected by deadly attacks.
  • They cannot receive two attacks in the same night (after they become injured, subsequent attacks move to the next person).
  • If the player doesn’t have cards left in their hand, they can receive Divine Protection for free.

Shorter Days (optional):

  • You can set a one-minute timer for the day phase, adding a sense of urgency and realism to the strategy.

End of the game

Everyone wins if they manage to survive the tenth night, although players have the option to continue to set a record.
On the other hand, everyone loses when one of the players runs out of cards.
The group’s final score equals the number of nights survived. The individual players’ score is the sum of their people cards values.

The 10th Night by Claudio Garcia is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0