TARGET PRACTICE RULES v. 1 (Created by Jim DuBois, © 2000 - 2009)
STATS
* Number of Players: 2
* Duration: 10-30 min
* Atmosphere: light card game
* Theme: abstracted card capturing
COMPONENTS
* deck of 52 cards (no jokers)
OVERVIEW
Target Practice is a card game for two players where they take turns throwing cards at targets the other player has setup in front of them, trying to capture them by making their card land on them. The first player to capture all the opponent’s cards wins.
SETUP
Each player needs 1 deck of cards (or just split one deck and give half to each player - no need to count exactly half).
Each player sets up two rows of nine cards each, directly in front of themselves to serve as targets for the other player to aim for. They should be spaced the distance of one card sideways between cards in the row, and one card vertically between the rows (see diagram below). The resulting layout is one in which, if a player is good (or lucky) they can capture more than 1 card at once, up to four. The distance between the players’ sides can vary: the farther they are apart, the harder the game is.
Fred
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Sue
PLAY
A player throws a card at the opponent’s targets, trying to land on one of them.
If they do land on (come to rest on) an enemy target, they capture it.
If a player captures a target, they get to throw again.
If a player doesn’t capture a card, it becomes the other player’s turn.
After a player throws, their opponent collects the card they threw, as well as any targets they captured, and puts them into their deck.
WINNING
The first player to capture all the opponents targets, wins. They get a score equal to the number of targets left uncaptured in front of themselves.
VARIANTS
Handicaps
A better player can take a handicap by reducing the number of targets laid out in front of them, so their opponent has less targets to capture to win.
Variant 1: Speed target practice
Each player lays out 1 row of 5 cards spaced 2 cards lengthwise between the cards. Players throw at will! If you capture an enemy target, it stays on the ground, but you say that you have captured it, and the total number of targets you have captured. The first player to capture all the other player’s targets wins. If a card throw misses, just leave it where it lands. If you run out of cards to throw, collect some from the floor to throw.
Have fun playing,
-Jim DuBois