RULES of NASTINESS

Be the first person in the neighbourhood to clean your yard while having the lowest score.

To clean your yard, get rid of rows, horizontally and vertically, (even diagonally but be careful, once you remove a row diagonally, it won’t be possible to remove any other row) by completing a run of three in the same suit (they don’t need to be in order. i.e.: you can have 2,3,1) or three of a kind in any suit. Beware of the STUMPED card that can block your cleaning success! 

Sounds easy right?  Did we mention your neighbours are going to be doing their best to sabotage you?  Don't worry... you'll be trying to do the same to them!  The player with the lowest score at the end of 10 rounds or 90 minutes of play, wins.  Be nice to your neighbours if you like, but being nasty is much more fun!  Making deals and convincing players to be nasty to each other is highly encouraged! 

SPRING (PREPARE YOUR YARD)

Every neighbourhood has a NOSEY NEIGHBOUR, well… so does this game!  The last player to sit at the table prior to the game starting is the NOSEY NEIGHBOUR.  The NOSEY NEIGHBOUR seat is now the dealer and scorekeeper for the ENTIRE game.  The deal does not pass to the next player at any point in time.

The NOSEY NEIGHBOUR shuffles the YARD CARDS (SUITS, STUMPED, WILD and INSTANT ACTION cards) together into one deck and deals 9 cards, one at a time and face down, to each player.  Players place their cards in a 3x3 grid in front of them.  This is considered your YARD.  DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR YARD CARDS.  Put the remaining YARD cards in the centre of the table.

The NOSEY NEIGHBOUR shuffles the NASTY NEIGHBOUR CARDS (the ones with the blue back) and deals 2 cards facedown to each player.  Players should make sure they look at these cards as they will stay with the yard they were dealt to if the player gets evicted! (See specialty cards for further explanation).

Starting with the player to the left of the NOSEY NEIGHBOUR, each player turns up one card in their yard.  Repeat this process until each player has 3 cards face up.

The reason you turn one card up at a time is because if a player turns up an INSTANT ACTION card, they MUST action it immediately.  If the INSTANT ACTION card is either VANDALIZED or NASTY DOG, the card is actioned, and the affected player CANNOT turn up any cards until regular gameplay begins.  If the INSTANT ACTION card is EVICTION NOTICE, the player who turned up the card chooses another player to switch seats with and then the turn moves on to the player who was originally next to you before you moved.

When each player has three YARD cards turned up, turn the top card from the draw pile face up and place it in the discard pile, called the RECYCLE BIN. If the first card turned over is an INSTANT ACTION card, place it randomly back into the deck, and turn up the next top card.  You’re now ready to start playing!

For a 2-player setup See ALTERNATE SETUPS, RULES AND SCORING.

SUMMER (CLEAN YOUR YARD)

Starting with the player to the left of the NOSEY NEIGHBOUR, players can either take the top card from the draw pile or the RECYCLE BIN. 

If the card is a any SUIT or WILD card, the player can replace any card in their own YARD, except STUMPED cards, or discarded it to the RECYCLE BIN.  If you replace a facedown card, place the drawn card faceup in your yard and the facedown card you're replacing is turned over so all players have a chance to see it at the same time then discard it to the RECYCLE BIN. 

A STUMPED card can be played to replace any card in ANY YARD.  Once played, it cannot be removed in the current round and prevents the player from completing any row it's a part of.  If playing in another neighbours YARD, the card that's replaced now becomes the player's drawn card and they can use it to play in their own yard or discard it. 

When an INSTANT ACTION card is drawn in any situation, it must be actioned immediately before being discarded.  Once a card is discarded to the RECYCLE BIN, that player’s turn ends, and gameplay moves to the next player.

You can play any NASTY NEIGHBOUR card at any time. It does not count towards your normal turn.  If multiple NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards are played (by a single or multiple players), play them in the order in which they were announced.  Any conflicts are ruled on by the NOSEY NEIGHBOUR and their decision is final.  Once a NASTY NEIGHBOUR card is played, it’s discarded to the side (keep these cards separate from the YARD cards).

Gameplay continues clockwise until any player turns up all their YARD cards.  Be careful: If you turn up all your yard cards and don’t have the cleanest yard (lowest score), you will take the score of the neighbour with the dirtiest yard (highest score). 

FALL (TURN OVER YOUR YARD)

Once a player has cleaned their yard (all their cards are turned up), any remaining NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards are discarded and can no longer be used in this round.  Remaining players have one more round of play before the WINTER phase.  If a player cleans their yard completely (no cards left in their yard), game play stops and players do not get one additional turn. 

Starting to the left of the player who went out, players turn up one yard card at a time.  INSTANT ACTION cards turned up during this phase of play will continue to be used as normal except against the player who went out first and you do not replace it with a card from the draw pile.  The spot where the card was drawn from is left blank.  If a player turns up a VANDALIZED or NASTY DOG card, action it as usual. Continue taking turns flipping up one card at until all YARD cards are exposed.

WINTER (SCORING)

SUITS are scored by the number on the card, WILD cards are 25 points and STUMPED cards are zero point.  Remember, if the player who went out first did NOT get the lowest score, they score the same as the person with the highest score.  Ties DO NOT count as the lowest score. 

2-PLAYER SETUP

For a 2-player game, deal each person 16 cards (instead of nine) and arrange them in a 4x4 grid.  Deal each player three or four (depending on your preference) NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards.  To clean your yard, get rid of rows, horizontally and vertically, (even diagonally but be careful, once you remove a row diagonally, it won’t be possible to remove any other row) by completing a run of four in the same suit (they don’t need to be in order. i.e.: you can have 2,3,1,4) in OR four of a kind in any suit.

ALTERNATE SCORING

500 Rule

Variation 1:  If a player scores 500 points EXACTLY, you reduce that player's score to zero.

Variation 2:  If a player scores 500 points EXACTLY, you match the points of the player with the lowest score.

Variation 3:  If a player scores 500 points EXACTLY, you swap the score with the player with the lowest score.

HOUSE RULES

We encourage you to create fun and creative rules, INSTANT ACTION and NASTY NEIGHBOUR powers for your neighbourhood!  We've included a few blank cards to use to create custom rules and cards in your game play.  We'd LOVE to hear about any rules you create so head over to the HOUSE RULES PAGE and share your ideas!

SUITS

There are five suits in the deck (BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, RED and YELLOW), numbered 1 thru 10.  Every suit has two of each number. 

WILD

WILD cards can be used as any suit and number in your yard for the purpose of removing rows.  WILD cards cannot be used as STUMPED cards.  WILD cards are worth 25 points if left in your yard when gameplay stops.

STUMPED

STUMPED cards can be placed in anyone’s yard, even your own!  Replace ANY card from ANY yard with the STUMPED card.  If you’re stealing a card from another player, you can use the stolen card in your own yard or discard it to the RECYCLE BIN.  Once a STUMPED card is placed, it CANNOT BE REMOVED, even if you reset your yard, and it blocks the removal of any row it occupies.  STUMPED cards are worth zero points.  Since STUMPED cards can never be removed, you can never truly clean your yard completely (get rid of all your cards) so even if you go out first with a score of zero, each player still has one more turn.

INSTANT ACTION

INSTANT ACTION cards get actioned by the player who turned them over IMMEDIATELY after it’s exposed.  The only thing that can stop an INSTANT ACTION card is the NASTY NEIGHBOUR card, HOME SECURITY.  After the FIRST player to go out ends their turn, INSTANT ACTION cards cannot be used against them.

Players cannot pick up an INSTANT ACTION card from the RECYCLE BIN after they’ve been played.  If an INSTANT ACTION card is turned over as your last action (the last card to be flipped in your yard), the action still happens.  If you must reset your YARD due to the action, replace all cards face up instead of face down.

If you turn over an INSTANT ACTION card when you’ve cleaned your yard or no one has any possible turns left, you MUST still play it. 

Example 1: 

You flip over your last facedown card to clean your yard and it’s the INSTANT ACTION card VANDALIZED.  You must reset your yard, but because you went out, you replace all your cards with faceup cards.  This is now your new “cleaned” yard.

Example 2: 

Player 1 exposes all their YARD cards and ends their turn.  Player 2 picks up the INSTANT ACTION card EVICTION NOTICE from the draw pile.  Player 2 cannot evict Player 1 from their seat and must instead choose one of the other remaining players as their target.  The same is true if an INSTANT ACTION card gets flipped during the final card turn up phase.  INSTANT ACTION cards that are exposed during the final turnup phase are not replaced with new cards.

for more information about wild, Stumped and instant action cards, head over to our Cards Page.

Each player is dealt two NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards (deal three cards for games with 2 or 3 players, deal one card for games with more than 5 players) at the start of every round.  They can be used at ANY time.  They do not count towards your normal turn.  Once used they’re discarded to the side (do not mix them in with the YARD cards).  NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards stay with the YARD, not the player.  If a player is forced to move, their cards stay with the seat.  After the first player cleans their yard, NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards CANNOT be used.

Any dispute or conflict between regular play and NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards is decided on by the NOSEY NEIGHBOUR, so suck up to them as much as you can.

for more information about Nasty Neighbour cards, head over to our Cards Page.

We included a three blank YARD cards and two blank NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards in case you want to create your own INSTANT ACTION or NASTY NEIGHBOUR cards or if cards get damaged you can use these as a replacement.  You can even use them to create your own custom house rules. 

good neighbours share information so we'd Love to hear from you about any custom cards and house rules you create so head on over to our house rules page.