Switchback

Goal

Empty your Goal pile of 20 cards first. Ascend the ranks. Descend into chaos.

2–4 players.

The deck

168 cards. Numbers 1–12 (12 of each), 16 Wilds, and 8 actions (2 each of The Dig, The Hijack, The Mutator, The Avalanche).

The center cross

• Two ascending stacks (vertical): start with 1, Wild, or a Mutator number. Build 1 → 12. A 12 clears the stack.
• Two descending stacks (horizontal): start with 12, Wild, or a Mutator number. Build 12 → 1. A 1 clears the stack.

A Wild, or a number matching the active Mutator, may be played on any stack as any value 1–12.

Your area

• Goal: 20 cards. Only the top is face up. Playing it flips the next.
• Hand: 5 cards.
• Discards: two public slots. Anyone may play a slot's top card.

Your turn

Play from your hand, your Goal top, or any discard top. Action cards play before you discard.

If you empty your 5-card hand without discarding, draw 5 and keep going.

End the turn by placing one hand card onto one of your discard slots, then draw back to 5.

Actions

• The Dig: look through one discard slot (buried cards too) and take one — into hand if you have room, or play it now.
• The Hijack: play an opponent's Goal top onto a legal center stack.
• The Mutator: name a rank. That number is a global Wild until your next turn starts.
• The Avalanche: every Goal top slides onto that player's emptier discard slot.

Bots

Easy bots play whatever is legal. Harder bots race their Goal, save Wilds, and Hijack a leader.