This game is named after a lively dance that was popular among the French aristocracy. These dances were a hotbed of flirting, intrigue, and trying your darndest to marry above your station.
Galliard the game is about winning rounds to befriend royals. If you win a round while having enough royal support, you win the game!
Table layout:
( opponent's hand)
↙ The dancers, face-up number cards
[Q] [2] [5] [2] [7]
↑
The wager, a stack of royal cards
( my hand )
Shuffle the deck, and deal 10 cards to each player. First person to get their hand empty (a la Uno) wins the round. A round is divided into two phases:
Each turn in Phase 1:
- You may wager a royal card from your hand (put it face-up on the wager pile).
- You must play a dancer (put a number card face-up on the table, not on top of any other card).
Either player may instead stamp (play a number card face-up onto a previous dancer), which moves the round to Phase 2!
Each turn in Phase 2, you must either:
- Stamp (play a number card face-up onto a previous dancer). You can only ever stamp if the cards are exactly 1 number apart, for example you can stamp a 4 on a 5 (or a 5 on a 4), but you can't stamp a 5 on a 5, or a 6 on a 3.
- Scuff (draw a card from the deck into your hand).
The round ends when either player runs out of cards, or only has royals left in their hand. That player is the winner of the round!
You get royals in your cabal, that's what! All the wagered royals get added to your cabal of supporters. With friends like that, who knows, you just might win the game ;)
Little dirty details:
- The player who lost the round doesn't get any royals. It's winner-take-all, baby.
- Any royals that were in play this round but never wagered, go back into the deck.
- If nobody wagered any royals, you get to steal a royal from the other player's cabal (your choice which card). If they don't have any royals, you can take your pick from the deck - again, with full freedom to choose. Jokers are really a good choice in either case, if you can get them.
- The loser of a round will take the first turn in the next round.
Finally, once you have at least 1 new royal card (maybe several), you may optionally force-trade 1 of those new royals for a royal in your opponent's cabal.
- It has to be either the same rank (queen for queen, etc.) or the same suit (club for club, etc.).
- It has to be a royal that you obtained from this round.
- You don't have to do force trading, but it can mess up your opponent's pattern, or help you make yours!
You're trying to collect enough royal friends in your cabal to be "supported", which means:
- You have at least 5 royals of any type.
- You have at least one "pattern" present in your cabal:
- All of a suit (so 3 cards)
- All of a rank (so 4 cards)
- Both jokers
You win the game, by winning a round that you started as "supported." It's a bit like match point in tennis. Be aware that if you lose this round, your opponent will have a chance to steal/trade cards from your cabal, just on the basis of being the round winner - and you can lose your supported status this way.
It doesn't get much more tense than both players going into a round as supported :)
The reason jokers are particularly valuable, is because it only takes 2 of them to form a pattern, and the pattern is really hard to break (you can't force-trade a joker, and it's easy to prevent stealing cards by always wagering something). So getting the two jokers doesn't guarantee a win, but you'll probably be supported for the rest of the game, at least.
Phase 1 is about playing enough dancers (and sometimes, getting rid of unplayable junk) that you can get through Phase 2 without scuffing. But there's also a time pressure - if Phase 2 starts before your opponent is ready, that can be a huge advantage. How long do you spend setting up the dance floor? Well... how long do you dare?
Phase 2 feels pretty fast-paced, and a nice mix of planning and surprises. Your opponent might take a dancer in a direction that ruins your original plans; fortunes can change back and forth like the wind. And of course, you often go into it feeling just-barely-prepared, all full of fragile ambition and flimsy hopes.
Wagers are a delicate balance. If you hold onto a card, there's no risk your opponent will get it if you lose the round, but there's no chance to gain that royal if you win the round. And of course, in some ways, the stakes are highest if nobody wagers anything before Phase 2 starts. The other advantage to withholding a card, is your opponent will have no idea how close you are to winning the round.
I haven't timed myself playing the game. I'd estimate that it takes about 15 minutes if you already know how to play. But it also might feel faster than it is, thanks to the flow and stakes of the gameplay.