OBJECTIVE:
◘ Players take turns playing cards in a shared ONION of cards. The first player to run out of cards wins the game.
WHAT YOU NEED:
◘ Two to five players.
◘ A standard deck of cards (without Jokers).
OVERVIEW:
On their turn, players may play a card, on either of two adjacent cards, with the numerical value equal to the difference between the two adjacent cards. (e.g. a 5 can be played on either of an adjacent 3 and 8, etc.)
A few cards, however, have special extra functions:
◘ 8 — may be played on any 8 in the ONION
◘ 9 — may be played on either of two adjacent cards of the same value
◘ 10 — may be played on a ROTTEN card to make it UNROTTEN
◘ J, Q, K — may be played on any card to make it ROTTEN (once the OUTER LAYER is peeled)
STARTING THE GAME:
◘ If playing with three players, remove one ROTTEN face card from the deck before playing.
◘ INNER LAYER of the ONION: Place four cards face-up in a 2x2 square in the center of the table. Replace any ROTTEN card with a new card from the deck until all visible cards are UNROTTEN.
◘ OUTER LAYER of the ONION: Place eight cards face-down at all cardinal (N, E, S, W) and intercardinal (NE, SE, SW, NW) points outside the INNER LAYER.
◘ Designate one player as the ONION HARVESTER. This player deals the rest of the remaining cards evenly to all players.
PLAYING THE GAME:
◘ Play begins to the left of the ONION HARVESTER in clockwise order.
◘ Players may play any one card that equals the difference between two adjacent cards in the INNER LAYER (ignoring diagonal adjacency for now) and place it on either of the ONION cards in question.
◘ In the INNER LAYER, no ROTTEN cards may be played. All spaces must remain UNROTTEN until the OUTER LAYER is peeled.
◘ A player may choose to CRY over the peeled ONION, meaning they pass their turn without playing. The first time that all players consecutively CRY exactly once, the OUTER LAYER is peeled and the player who CRIED first goes next.
◘ In the OUTER LAYER, play continues with more connections and possibilities available for adjacent cards. Now, face cards may be played on any UNROTTEN cards to turn them ROTTEN. No UNROTTEN card (except for a 10) may be placed on a ROTTEN card.
WINNING THE GAME:
◘ The first player to run out of cards wins the game; however, the other players may finish the turn they would have had, meaning ties are possible.
◘ If all players consecutively CRY exactly once in the OUTER LAYER before anyone runs out of cards, then the player with the lowest number of cards left in their hand wins the game. If multiple players have the same number of cards, then the player with the lowest total sum of cards in their hand (excluding ROTTEN cards) wins the game.
◘ The now-ROTTEN ONION is ceremonially juiced for its Purple, according to Quarternarian custom.