Symbiote 2003

An organism-swapping card game for three or four players.

Object: To end the game with the most points in symbiotic pairs and royal symbiotes, ideally while hosting the symbiote. Keeping control of the Symbiote makes it easier to gather royal and paired symbiotes.

You Need:

* A poker deck. * A double-sided symbiote / parasite marker, like a CD-R from a failed burn.

Players try to make symbiotic pairs (a pair of cards that adds up to 10) or royal symbiotes (a Jack, Queen, and King.) If a player has the symbiote in front of them on his turn, he can draw additional cards. Tens can be used to change the symbiote into a parasite, which will hinder the player who has it.

The game ends when there are no cards in the draw pile at the start of a player's turn. Flip all of your symbiotic pairs and royal symbiotes face-up and add up their values. If you end the game with the symbiote, score an additional point for every symbiotic pair or royal symbiote you have. If you end the game with a parasite, then lose one point for every symbiotic pair or royal symbiote you have.

The player with the highest score wins. Ties go to the player with the symbiote (or without the parasite).