New Game Release – Jalape-NO!
25th Century Games has released Jalape-NO!, a trick-taking game where players try to avoid winning “pepper” cards, into retail.
The deck consists of 108 cards (102 number cards and six pepper cards). Cards are numbered 1-18 in six colors and with the ones being peppers. Based on the player count, you use 4-6 colors of cards ranging from 1-9 to 1-18.
At the start of each round, you receive twelve cards in hand, and you must place any peppers on the table in front of you. The lead player in a trick plays any card from their hand or one of their peppers. Each other player must follow suit, if possible. Except that you are not forced to play the matching pepper card if you have it. (However, if you do have it, you cannot play a pepper of another color to this trick.) Whoever plays the highest card in the suit led wins the trick and leads the next trick. If you win a pepper in a trick, place it on the table in front of you; you can play this pepper on a future trick, whether to lead off the trick or to play it on a trick that’s already in progress.
As soon as a player has no cards in hand, the round ends. All players add any cards in hand to the cards in front of them, whether peppers or cards claimed in tricks. Each pepper you have is worth two points, and each card in the same suit as a pepper you have is worth one point. After five rounds, the player with the lowest score wins.
Jalape-NO! is for three to nine players, ages eight and up, and plays in around thirty minutes. It retails for only $14.99!
25th Century Games also previously released Mojo (see “Mojo card game“).
