Royal Ransom 2026

Royal Ransom is a finely-tuned bidding game in which the objective is to earn the highest score by winning the most "Royal" cards. The game utilizes two separate decks constructed from a standard deck of cards. The 40-card Main Deck consists of Aces and numbers 2-10, while the 10-card Royal Deck acts as the auctioned cards and contains Jacks, Queens, Kings, and a single Joker. Players are dealt a hand of 7 to 9 cards from the Main Deck depending on the player count, with the remainder set aside as the Bank.

Gameplay proceeds in rounds composed of a Bid phase and a Resolve phase. A Royal card is revealed, and players take turns bidding to win it using the cards in their hands. Bidding cards are valued at face value for numbers, 15 points for Aces, or 15 points if two cards of the exact same value are played together as a pair. Crucially, all cards played to the table are "spent" and discarded, regardless of who actually wins the auction. The highest bidder takes the Royal card; notably, winning a Jack lets you randomly "Hijack" a card from an opponent's hand. After the winner is decided, losing players can replenish their hands by either discarding one card to draw two from the Bank, or by sacrificing a previously won Royal for a larger draw.

If all players pass on an auction, a "rolling jackpot" takes place, keeping the un-bid Royal on the table to be won alongside the next revealed Royal. The game ends immediately after the final Royal card is won. Players calculate their final score by adding the points of their collected Royals—which range from 20 for a Jack up to 80 for the Joker—along with the total value of any cards remaining in their hand. The player with the highest overall score wins the game.

—description from the designer