Number Neighbours

How to play

The short version

Everyone starts with cards 1–6. Replace one number in the shared row, then score the two pairs beside your new card. Your played cards stay spent, so a tempting number may be worth saving.

Set up

Recommended ages 8+. Give each player six paper cards numbered 1–6, kept in a private hand. Make six additional cards for the shared row; their initial values come from a setup below. They may repeat. Leave a discard area. Randomly choose a first player and play clockwise for exactly six laps: every player gets six turns. Use Standard scoring for the first game and keep the scoring card visible.

Your turn

1. Choose one card from your hand and one position in the row. Remove that position's old card to the discard area and put your chosen card there. The new value must differ from the old value.
2. Score only the adjacent pair immediately to the left of your new card and the adjacent pair immediately to its right, using the current scoring card. An end position has only one pair. The row never wraps around.
3. Add the points to your total. Your hand is now one card smaller. Discarded cards never enter anyone's hand.

You may inspect the row and discard pile at any time. Hands stay private, but players may talk about them. There are no trades. If your remaining cards match all six positions, replacement with a different value is impossible: discard one hand card and score zero. This can only happen when your hand has a single value and the entire row has that value. You cannot pass voluntarily.

Score and finish

After six laps everyone has an empty hand. Highest total wins; tied players share the win. The final row gives no extra points. Each relationship can score again on a later turn if that player legally replaces one of its cards; unchanged pairs elsewhere never score.

Worked example

Under Standard scoring the row begins 1, 5, 2, 6, 3, 4. Lee replaces the 2 with a 4. The left pair, 5–4, differs by one, earning 1. The right pair, 4–6, neither differs by one nor sums to seven, earning 0. Lee scores 1 and cannot use that 4 again. Later, a newly made 3–4 pair earns 2 because it satisfies both conditions.

Three replay setups

• Standard: row 1, 5, 2, 6, 3, 4. Each adjacent pair scores 1 if the values differ by exactly one, plus 1 if their sum is seven.
• Echo: row 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6. Each adjacent pair scores 2 for equal values, or 1 for a difference of exactly two; otherwise zero.
• One-way: row 6, 2, 5, 1, 4, 3. Read each pair left to right: score 2 if the right value is exactly one larger, or 1 if the right value is exactly two larger; otherwise zero.

All players use the same scoring card for the entire game. To replay, change setup, reverse the starting seat order or shuffle the setup's six values. The shared row changes after every turn, so there is no fixed solution to memorise.

Phone, print and access

Keep the chosen setup and scoring card on a shared phone and handwrite the number cards, or print the materials. A player may record a private six-number list and cross off each played number instead of holding cards; replace row values with fresh slips. Nobody needs to see another player's unused list.

Original Round & Revel design. Not human-playtested; the 10–20 minute estimate and balance remain provisional.

Printable materials

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What you need

• One private set of six cards per player: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
• Six shared starting cards showing the selected setup's row.
• Paper and pencils for scores and a visible copy of the selected scoring rule.

Cards can be plain handwritten scraps; suits and colours do not matter. Do not reuse a discarded card as an available hand card. A score record needs Name / Turns 1–6 / Total. The three complete setups and scoring rules are printed in the rules.