Martes 13. TRANJIS GAMES

Martes 13 Game Contents

Martes 13 (Friday the 13th / Poison) is a fast-paced hand management and tactical card game designed by legendary board game designer Reiner Knizia, where bad luck is your worst enemy! Black cats, broken mirrors, ladders, and of course, the dreaded Tuesday the 13th fill this card game where your sole objective is to finish with as few bad luck points as possible.

The rules are simple to learn, yet playing your hand effectively requires precise arithmetic and careful stack management. On your turn, you must play a card from your hand into one of three central stacks and check if the combined value exceeds 13. If it does, you must collect all the cards accumulated in that stack, absorbing their bad luck penalties!

However, collecting cards isn't always terrible. Securing the absolute majority in a given suit allows you to discard all cards of that suit during final scoring! This majority-chasing element transforms every turn into a high-stakes calculation of risk management, card play, and strategic timing.

How Do You Play?

At the start of each round, cards are dealt evenly among all players. Players take turns playing cards from their hands until everyone runs out. On your turn, choose a card from your hand and place it face-up onto its matching suit stack: Black Cats, Broken Mirrors, or Ladders.

Special Martes 13 wild cards can be played onto any of the three stacks. After placing a card, calculate the total sum of that stack. As long as the total remains at 13 or lower, play passes safely to the next player.

The danger strikes when a played card pushes a stack's total sum over 13! The player who triggered the overflow must collect all the cards previously sitting in that stack and place them in their personal score pile. The card just played remains on the table to start a brand-new stack.

Consequently, monitoring the cumulative values of all three stacks and anticipating your opponents' options is crucial. Sometimes you can safely bypass a dangerous stack by playing onto another; other times you'll be forced to take a hit and collect the cards.

Once all hands are empty, bad luck points are tallied. Collected suit cards normally incur penalty points, but securing a majority in a suit lets you wipe away those penalties completely! Wild Martes 13 cards cannot be wiped away and always score penalties.

A complete game lasts four rounds. After the fourth round, bad luck totals are summed, and the player with the lowest bad luck score emerges victorious!

Gameplay Experience

Martes 13 delivers an extraordinarily fast, engaging card filler experience where luck, timing, and tactical decisions collide. While the rules take less than two minutes to explain, mastering hand management offers genuine strategic depth.

Tension steadily mounts whenever a stack gets close to the sum of 13. A seemingly innocent card play can trigger a cascade that forces a player to scoop up a mountain of penalty cards, keeping table engagement high on every single turn.

The suit-majority mechanism introduces a brilliant tactical layer. Scooping up a large pile of suit cards looks painful initially, but if you manage to secure the majority by the end of the round, you get to discard the entire suit completely free of penalty points!

Wild Martes 13 cards inject unpredictable twists. Because they can be played anywhere, they serve as excellent escape valves—though taking them into your personal pile carries guaranteed penalizing points.

With quick 30-minute playtimes and support for up to 6 players, it stands as an exceptional choice for family game nights, casual gatherings, and warm-up sessions before heavier board games.

Game Components

The Martes 13 box includes:

• 42 Numbered suit cards (Black Cats, Broken Mirrors, Ladders)
• 8 Wild Martes 13 cards
• 1 Custom score pad
• 1 Rulebook

Why Choose Martes 13?

If you are looking to buy Martes 13, you will discover a classic Reiner Knizia card filler that distills risk management and majority control into a sleek, accessible format.

Its core rule—avoiding going over 13—is instantly intuitive, while its clever suit-majority scoring prevents run-away leaders and keeps matches competitive until the last card is played.

Designed for 3 to 6 players ages 8 and up with fast 30-minute playtimes, it serves as a fantastic pickup for families, card game enthusiasts, and fans of press-your-luck mechanisms.

Conclusion

Martes 13 turns bad luck superstitions into a wildly entertaining card game of arithmetic, hand management, and tactical risk! Keep stack totals under 13, force your opponents to scoop up penalty piles, and secure suit majorities to wipe your score clean.

Featuring 50 total cards, classic Reiner Knizia game design, and fast 30-minute playtimes, it is a brilliant addition to any card game collection.

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