This matching-sets-for-points game has been played by Nadine Chestnut’s family for over 100 years. It is a tale of two queens, and the historical fate of Scotland’s Queen Mary. Character Artwork has been meticulously painted to capture the likeness of each historical figure from one of the bloodiest stories in the history of Scotland and England, which ultimately shaped the world we see today.

Instructions:

Choose a player to shuffle and deal the cards. Start by dealing 11 cards to each player and finishing with one card turned up beside the deck. The person immediately to their left goes first and will be the scorekeeper. Each player takes turns dealing, in clockwise order. The first player to reach a cumulative score of 1000 wins. If 2 players cross 1000 on the same turn, the person with the highest score wins. Keep track of scores on a piece of paper.

On each player’s turn; you start your turn by picking up a card and you end your turn by discarding a card face-up on the face-up pile.

When you pick up a card, you can pick up a card from the face-down pile or pick up the entire face-up pile, based on the most recent discarded card. To do this, you must have at least 2 cards (in your hand) that match the face-up card and place them down in front of you with this top facing card. The remainder of the cards from the face-up pile go into your hand unless you can place any of them down, either by making a new set or adding to an existing set with matching cards. You can only pick up the pile by matching to cards in your hand, not that which is already on the table. During your turn, you can choose whether to place down sets of cards, add cards to current sets, or hang on to cards. Your strategy will drive your decisions. When placing a set down, it goes on your side of the table only. At the end of a round, any cards on your side of the table count toward your score. Any cards in your hand are deducted from your score. You can only place cards down onto your own sets.

Card values are indicated on the bottom right of each card.

You can make a set of matching cards in front of you if you have 3 or more of the same card. You cannot mix and match cards unless they are part of the royal family (see below). You can place as many wild cards that you wish with a set, but the initial set MUST CONTAIN at least two matching cards or 2 cards from the royal family. You can add matching cards or wild cards to any set on the table in front of you during your turn.

A round ends when a player can completely empty their hand by placing their last card with a set on the table or the discard pile.

Scores are counted at the end of each round. It is possible to go into the negative and scores should be tracked accordingly.

The royal family cards are indicated by a crown over the coin in the bottom right hand corner.

Any member of the royal family can be paired with each other (including duplicates of King James). If placed down as an initial set, they can be matched with a wild card as long as at least 2 members of the royal family are placed down with the wild card. Royal family member cards are indicated by a crown over the coin in the bottom right-hand corner.

The crown jewels are wild. This card can be placed with any two matching cards to form a set. It can also be added to any set that is already on the table. If this card is face-up on the discard pile, it may be picked up if you have two crown jewels in your hand. You must show the other players that you have two in your hand to qualify but are only required to immediately play the wild card that was picked up. You cannot pick it up if you cannot immediately play it.

Contents:
108 card deck • Pen • Pad of paper for keeping score
• Game Instructions and more about the key historical characters of this tragic story.

-description from publisher