Apex Alloy™

Each suit also has one Ruby (×2) and one Sapphire (×3) card. A gem card is worth no points on its own — instead it multiplies the total of its matching suit in your hand. The multiplier is applied first, then every card that does not match your chosen suit is subtracted as usual. Gem cards of a different suit cost you nothing.

Multipliers stack: a Ruby and a Sapphire of the same suit in one hand give ×6.

Example: gold and silver wolves (3 + 2 = 5) with a Ruby Wolf → 5 × 2 = 10. Add a bronze snake and it becomes 10 − 1 = 9.

When a Jade Chimera card is in your hand it changes the rules of deduction: instead of subtracting cards from other suits, every card's points are added together. Its icon is a green plus sign.

Example: Raven 1 + Catfish 2 + Wolf 3 would normally cancel out to zero — with a Chimera the hand scores 6.

Multiplier cards in a Chimera hand multiply the whole total. A Sapphire Snake (×3) with a Catfish 2 and a Wolf 3 scores 15 instead of 1.

The dealer shuffles all 60 cards and deals four cards to each player. The fourth card is dealt face down — it is the secret card, revealed only at the end of the discard turns. It may help or hurt your score depending on whether it matches your chosen suit.

Each player has three discard turns. On each turn you may discard one to three face-up cards and immediately draw the same number of replacements. You may also stand at any time if you're happy with your hand. The secret card cannot be discarded.

When both players stand, secrets are revealed. Choose the suit that gives you the highest score. Cards of the chosen suit add their metal's points; cards of any other suit subtract their metal's points. A hand's score never goes below zero.

Example: three wolves scoring gold, silver, and bronze (3 + 2 + 1 = 6). If the secret card turns out to be a gold snake, that subtracts 3, so the hand scores 3 total.

A match lasts twelve rounds. Scores accumulate. The player with the highest total wins.